SERE specialist trains Airmen to survive during Pacific Thunder

by Staff Sgt. Sara Csurilla
18th Wing Public Affairs

10/19/2012 - KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- Most Airmen from the 31st and 33rd Rescue Squadrons know Tech. Sgt. Bobby Colliton as their resident "SERE guy," but others may think he's the host of Man vs. Wild, or in this case, Air-Man vs. Wild.

For nearly three years, Colliton has worked as one of the few Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape specialists at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

As a SERE specialist, Colliton works primarily with 18th Operations Group aircrew to keep them up-to-date on different training requirements such as: conduct for capture, water survival and combat survival training.

Although Colliton works with Airmen from all over Kadena, he has built a close relationship with 31st and 33rd RQS Airmen due to their related personnel recovery mission set - which brought them all to Exercise Pacific Thunder 2012 at Osan Air Base.

During the two-week exercise, Colliton has had a number of opportunities to conduct training like combat survival training and specific combat search and rescue training scenarios.

Colliton said he basically has to take the 19-Day SERE course that he once taught and cram it into a few hours to refresh the Airmen's ability to survive and get recovered if their aircraft went down in hostile territory.

Specific things that Colliton teaches in the SERE classroom and in refresher training courses includes: camouflage and evasion techniques, radio training and how to survive on an "organic" plant and insect diet, for example, by eating an entire rose.

Before he dedicated himself as a SERE specialist, Colliton served as an Army airborne infantryman and he continues to be a static line jump master.

Colliton said he enjoys his job not only because he's able to share the confidence to survive with his students. Being that the Air Force is the only service with SERE specialists, Colliton said his job is rarely unappreciated by the people who actually understand what he does.

"My favorite part about doing this job is definitely teaching," Colliton said. "I feel very passionate that if something were to happen to any of my students they need to know what to do. So if I tell them the wrong information or they're not paying attention, something really bad could happen to them if something were to happen for real."
Members of the 33rd RQS work with Colliton at Kadena on a daily basis and have even deployed with him to Afghanistan.

"(Colliton) is very passionate and motivated about his job, he has so much initiative, and he's incredibly competent about his mission," said Lt. Col. Pete Ortiz, 33rd RQS director of operations. "He's the best SERE specialist I've ever had the privilege to work with."