SEREously wrong
Rape is routinely used as a weapon of terror and torture. Yet do we imagine female soldiers--or any female--would sign up for rape survival school that involved repeated rape? Would you council your wife, "Hey honey, why don't you go get repeatedly raped? I think it would prepare you better in case is happens to you." Would you say to your husband, "Sweetheart, why don't you take that rape survival trainer position?"
Because of the link to the Bush torture program, we learn this logic was actually implemented at SERE schools. How many of our citizens are torture survivors, or torturers? What are the long-term consequences? Where is the evidence that torturing does anything other than harm the victim and the perpetrator?
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I'm sorry but this is a little overwrought. There is a debate to be had about that portion of the SERE training. However, this is more of an emotional reaction than an argument. Rape is a very bad analogy.
Nearly every military combat pilot and special forces person has gone through this training. It hasn't been kept a secret by any means. Portions of this were even featured in the movie "G.I. Jane". It isn't perfect and there have been problems, but the same could be said for every system ever devised by human beings. Where is your evidence of long term harm to the individuals who have participated in this.
We do a lot of training in the military that can be dangerous, even fatal. We do everything possible to mitigate risk of personnel injury, but not training would only make servicemembers MUCH more subject to making potentially fatal mistakes on the battlefield. Its part of the job description. One other note, even CWO4 Mike Durant credited SERE with helping him survive his 11 day captivity in Somalia following Black Hawk Down.
May 5, 2009 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I respect your military training, but why is rape a bad analogy to torture?
May 5, 2009 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mostly because we weren't really "tortured" as part of SERE training. At worst we were smacked around a little in the POW camp and had to eat roots or berries (or prickly pears in the case of southern California SERE graduates) for a week. Contrasting SERE School against the horrors that happened at GITMO and Abu Ghraib is like comparing Little League to the World Series when.
May 5, 2009 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was not responding to the wilderness training, escape, discomfort, etc. Over the last few weeks military folks report that one special branch of SERE includes waterboarding and other torture events, inflicted deliberately.
The specialists in that area are the ones who devised the Bush torture policy. I still question whether we should leave those people in a position to continue with other military personnel.
May 5, 2009 9:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is not what SERE students are reporting unless they never actually went through the program. They are saying that all of these techniques were used on us, but only for a single day in a very controlled situation. No matter how "bad" things go, we knew it was over in the morning. Hell, we knew we could end everything and fail the training at any point by throwing in the towel.
We always had our fail-safe, the ability to cry Uncle and make it stop. A single water boarding experience (or even a couple if you are really dense) as part of SERE training should not cause any sort of long-term psychological damage because of the context. I have yet to hear anyone who had that kind of consequences as having gone to SERE.
Comparing SERE training to torture (or rape) is taking the conversation to a ridiculous extreme and actually does more harm than good in bringing the real torturers to justice.
May 6, 2009 8:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
The military trains for combat too, often engaging in some very uncomfortable actions in harsh environments. I didn't want to wear my MTV with sapi plates along with my kevlar, rifle, and a pack with a combat load out in 29 Palms for a month as a training exercise, but I did.
May 5, 2009 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
First time I've ever heard anyone equate waterboarding or other torture with wearing uncomfortable equipment.
May 5, 2009 9:45 PM | Reply | Permalink