ACSC stands for Aircrew Combat Survival Course, a historical British course name for preparing aircrew and other RAF personnel at risk for military survival and captivity. Conduct after capture was an integrated practical component.
The historical British ACSC
The British ACSC was delivered at the RAF School of Combat Survival and Rescue. Its target group at the time comprised RAF personnel in operational duties that could expose them to capture or interrogation. Exposure associated with the duty determined attendance. The course name therefore did not restrict it to pilots or make it general training for all military personnel.
The practical CAC phase required prior briefing and the participants' written consent. They could withdraw before or during that phase. Personnel who did not complete the course were then reassigned to duties without the corresponding exposure to capture or interrogation.
What aircrew must manage after losing their aircraft
Following a crash or forced landing, an aircrew member may be injured, separated from friendly forces and exposed to an enemy search at the same time. The individual has to manage the immediate consequences, protect their body from the environment and assess further movement. Water, sustenance and a place to stay become prerequisites for retaining the ability to evade or contribute to recovery.
A later British land survival programme for aircrew from all three Services used a five-day course with field practice and minimal equipment. Tasks included basic first aid, shelter, foraging, purifying and storing water, and finding a way when a map or compass was unavailable. These abilities had to remain usable while injured, tired, cold, wet and hungry. A shelter addresses exposure; a water supply preserves the ability to move further. The individual has to provide both with the means that actually remain.
The same aircrew member may also need to evade an enemy. A separate later British programme moved this task into towns and cities and included Army Air Corps pilots and crews among its target roles. A week of instruction preceded several days in the field with little equipment and a professional opposing force. In this urban scenario, the opposing force searched slowly and methodically. Participants therefore had to use the environment to avoid capture over a prolonged period while also finding shelter.
Captivity and protection against enemy exploitation
Integrated CAC made capture a distinct training subject within the historical ACSC. In the later British SERE framework, this preparation continues as resistance to enemy exploitation. If evasion fails, the task of survival continues, with the additional need to protect what an enemy might exploit from the individual or their material.
For RAF personnel, this includes preparing to protect material that could be useful to the enemy. Information used for later authentication must also remain protected: an enemy able to use it threatens the distinction between a real aircrew member and a deception. For prisoners of war, required personal identity information is specific: surname and first names, rank, date of birth and service number or an equivalent number.
Australian usage and the environment
Aircrew Combat Survival Course was also used as an Australian course name at the Combat Survival Training School. It appeared alongside an Aircrew Initial Survival Course and separate preparation for personnel recovery forces. Aircrew training and training the forces tasked to bring people back serve different functions: the aircrew member must manage their own isolation; recovery forces must be able to locate and collect them.
A later Australian combat survival programme in North Queensland brought aircrew from the Air Force, Army and Navy together with international participants in tropical isolation. Practical tasks included establishing a survival site and shelter, and using fire. Individual skills and group tasks were combined. Participants practised surviving in a hostile environment, avoiding capture and holding out until recovery became possible.
Australian aircrew preparation addresses different survival environments: sea, coast, arid areas, jungle and extreme cold. Equipment serves four functions: protection from the environment, enemy and worsening injuries; location; water; and food. A signal fire or orange smoke serves the location function and was used in the tropical training model. Such a visible marker can also draw other observers' attention to the individual's position. Whether signalling or continued concealment is needed therefore depends on the enemy threat and the actual possibility of establishing contact.
Equipment that remains accessible after the event
The Australian equipment model distinguishes aids carried on the person, in a life raft and in separate aircraft packs. Items critical to immediate survival tasks have to be readily available. An undamaged, accessible aircraft pack can still be usable after landing; if the individual becomes separated from the aircraft or its contents are destroyed, only aids carried on the person and those otherwise accessible remain. A personal survival kit supplements the aircrew life support equipment as needed, with as little unnecessary duplication as possible.
Usability also depends on small design details. Water-sensitive items need protected packaging, retention devices prevent loss, and packaging must be openable with chilled or gloved hands.
Contact, collection and today's SERE classification
Preparation for recovery starts before deployment. In the present NATO/British context, an Evasion Plan of Action describes intended evasion movements, while prepared personal information supports identification and authentication. After isolation, the individual can report their location and condition if suitable working equipment and a connection are available.
Recovery forces authenticate the individual before collection. On return to friendly control, this check is normally repeated one final time. Until forces can actually reach the individual, protection, sustenance and evasion remain their own tasks. Available radios or signalling aids can support contact; location and authentication information, available forces and access that can be achieved under environmental and enemy threats determine collection.
Today's British classification uses isolation risk to select between SERE B and C. Level B is delivered at unit level; only the Defence SERE Training Organisation may deliver British Level C. Within the NATO framework, Level C comprises extensive practical survival, evasion and resistance training. ACSC, by comparison, is a course name from a particular national training context.