LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
A one-of-a-kind facility, built specifically to accommodate all Air Force Evasion and Conduct After Capture training, opened Monday.
That's when new students began the four-day Just-In-Time Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training course.
The program is for Airmen who will operate in high-risk environments that may place them at increased risk of isolation.
The new facility merges all Air Force ECAC training into one location under Detachment 2, 22nd Training Squadron.
"This is absolutely top of the line, and the only facility in the Air Force built specifically for this course to enhance the students' training," said Tech. Sgt. James Davis, Det. 2, 22nd TRS ECAC course manager. "The training is for Airmen deploying throughout the combatant commands who will be operating outside the wire.
"Students will either attend ECAC en route to their deployment, or they'll attend the training and return to their units before deploying. We expect 120 students a week or about 6,000 students a year," he said.
Students attending the Combat Skills Training course and the Basic Combat Convoy Course at nearby Camp Bullis will also get required ECAC training at the new $6 million-plus facility on Lackland, Davis said.
The facility has an urban evasion laboratory with more than 60 objectives to prepare Airmen for obstacles they may encounter while evading or moving in an urban environment.
The ECAC mission is to ensure students complete the course with the confidence and ability to employ evasion and resistance tactics, techniques and procedures necessary to survive and return with honor, regardless of the circumstances of isolation.
"The course provides personnel recovery procedures if they become isolated or separated from the unit," Davis said.
"When they leave this course, if they become isolated in any environment in any part of the world, they'll have the skills necessary adapt and overcome," he added.
In addition to ECAC training, the facility also oversees the SERE Specialist Selection course for non-prior service and career Airmen.