US Air Force Conducts Large-Scale Urban Eviction Training in San Francisco
In a bizarre exercise, the US Air Force transformed San Francisco into a mock battleground, pitting its personnel against a range of law enforcement agencies and military units playing the role of enemy forces. The event, dubbed "Exercise Sourdough," brought together over 150 personnel from the Department of War to sharpen their Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) skills in an urban environment.
The operation, which took place from December 8 to 11, involved 40 airmen inserted into downtown San Francisco for a grueling 72-hour period. Their mission was to evade capture while being hunted by teams of opposition forces, including the city's Sheriff's Office, the US Coast Guard, SWAT officers, and other military squads.
The airmen were tasked with using limited resources to survive in the urban jungle, with instructions modeled after real-life communications used in actual evasion scenarios. For example, one instruction advised them to approach a black vehicle with a specific license plate, flash headlights once, and then open the trunk to extract an overnight bag and depart without talking to anyone.
The results were impressive, with only five of the 11 teams being caught by law enforcement agencies. The success rate was attributed to the realism of the exercise, which provided valuable training for both the airmen and the participating law enforcement agencies.
"The training value cannot be understated," said Master Sgt. Jeremy Campbell. "There are few frameworks of this magnitude within the Department of War."
The event marked an important milestone in the development of SERE skills among US Air Force personnel, who will now face increasingly complex urban evasion scenarios in the future. As one participant noted, the exercise provided a unique opportunity for both the airmen and law enforcement agencies to train together, sharing best practices and gaining valuable insight into each other's tactics.
With its high-stakes scenario and impressive participation from multiple law enforcement agencies, "Exercise Sourdough" demonstrated the commitment of the US Air Force to developing effective Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) skills in an urban environment. The results will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on the future of military training.
In a bizarre exercise, the US Air Force transformed San Francisco into a mock battleground, pitting its personnel against a range of law enforcement agencies and military units playing the role of enemy forces. The event, dubbed "Exercise Sourdough," brought together over 150 personnel from the Department of War to sharpen their Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) skills in an urban environment.
The operation, which took place from December 8 to 11, involved 40 airmen inserted into downtown San Francisco for a grueling 72-hour period. Their mission was to evade capture while being hunted by teams of opposition forces, including the city's Sheriff's Office, the US Coast Guard, SWAT officers, and other military squads.
The airmen were tasked with using limited resources to survive in the urban jungle, with instructions modeled after real-life communications used in actual evasion scenarios. For example, one instruction advised them to approach a black vehicle with a specific license plate, flash headlights once, and then open the trunk to extract an overnight bag and depart without talking to anyone.
The results were impressive, with only five of the 11 teams being caught by law enforcement agencies. The success rate was attributed to the realism of the exercise, which provided valuable training for both the airmen and the participating law enforcement agencies.
"The training value cannot be understated," said Master Sgt. Jeremy Campbell. "There are few frameworks of this magnitude within the Department of War."
The event marked an important milestone in the development of SERE skills among US Air Force personnel, who will now face increasingly complex urban evasion scenarios in the future. As one participant noted, the exercise provided a unique opportunity for both the airmen and law enforcement agencies to train together, sharing best practices and gaining valuable insight into each other's tactics.
With its high-stakes scenario and impressive participation from multiple law enforcement agencies, "Exercise Sourdough" demonstrated the commitment of the US Air Force to developing effective Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) skills in an urban environment. The results will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on the future of military training.
but seriously its kinda cool that they got to test their survival skills against law enforcement i guess its good practice for them and helps the cops too gotta say though i hope no civilians were inconvenienced by the whole thing idk about exercise sourdough but its definitely not your average monday morning commute 
... like, what's next? Are we gonna turn New York into a giant playground for their "exercise" 
? San Francisco is already struggling with gentrification and affordability issues - do they really need to make it feel like a war zone too? 
. And what about the civilians who got caught up in the chaos? Were they even warned or anything? 
.
And what's up with the "black vehicle with a specific license plate" thing? Like, come on guys, it's just gonna make your job easier for them to catch you, right? 
And it's awesome that they got to work together with law enforcement agencies to share tips and whatnot.
All these trained operatives running around downtown SF, feeling kinda like a real-life action movie. 
. anyway, it's all about survival skills now, who knew urban warfare was gonna be a thing? 
i mean id be nervous trying 2 navigate thru haight ashbury w/ like a bunch of dudes in tactical gear 
its not like that's how it works in real life lol 
. I dont get why the US Air Force thinks we need more urban evasion training when they're basically gonna invade someone elses city next 
anyway, i guess its good that law enforcement agencies got to be part of it too 
idk how i feel about it, but if it helps our troops be better prepared for whatever comes next... then i'm all in 
lets hope its not just a bunch of unnecessary paranoia 
I'm really worried about this... Like, what's next? They're basically practicing war tactics in one of our major cities?! 
I'm not buying it...
. The fact that they got some decent results out of it is definitely a plus 
. Can't help but wonder what kind of scenarios they're preparing for though... wars in cities? natural disasters? 
)
I'm not sure how I feel about this "exercise" 
. Guess I'll just have to trust that they're doing this for a good reason 
. Anyways, more questions than answers here 
exercise sourdough or whatever it's called is such a cool name btw. 
what if some civilians got caught up in that? but i guess its all about preparing for the worst-case scenario... I mean, who doesn't want to play "urban survival" with the cops and SWAT teams 
?! anyway, i'm all about self-defense and knowing how to survive, but i have to wonder if this is really necessary... like, are we really expecting urban warfare scenarios now? 
. And what about all the stress and anxiety it must have caused for people living in the city? 
And hey, who knows, maybe one day this drill will be just as common as a Friday night coffee date 
️.
. Who knows what other crazy drills we'll see next?