Representatives of the SERE School Leaders Working Group (SSLWG) member Nations met for their 41st SSLWG meeting in Murcia, Spain, from the 7th to the 10th of May 2024. The meeting was attended by 52 participants, originated from 24 different Nations and other organisations. This meeting’s special topic was about “Resilience and Reintegration of Forces and Families” and was well-addressed thanks to the guest speakers from Denmark, the Netherlands and the “Hostage International” charity.
Of note, Portugal participated for the first time in the meeting as an observer and showed high interest in becoming a permanent member of the SSLWG community.
During the first day of the meeting, the Commander of the EPRC, Col (FRA) Hervé Lahille, updated the participants on the future of the EPRC and its steadfast support to the SSLWG. He also took advantage of his presence at the meeting to thank, in front of the whole community, the current Chairman Petrick “Pete” Blank for his outstanding commitment towards the SSLWG, all along the past five years, and unanimously-recognised outcome as Chairman.
Thanks to the outstanding efforts from host nation (HN) Spain throughout the week, all participants felt very welcomed and the HN granted a great meeting atmosphere. The Spanish SERE representatives offered the audience with an open sharing of their SERE training philosophy during the visit of the Spanish SERE school’s training facilities, which initiated a valid, candid and fruitful discussion among the participants, aimed to increase quality in the future training.
Later on, as a follow-up from the last meeting, the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency provided the WG with a lecture on space and radar Ground to Air Signal (GTAS). The meeting also included a briefing by the WG Secretary regarding possible future PR equipment, by gathering the main takeaways from his visit at the “Enforce Tac” fair in Nürnberg, DEU, earlier this year.
The final part of the meeting was focussed on a workshop on Reintegration, allowing participants to discover possible national training gaps, especially regarding the preparation of the soldiers and of their families, in case of captivity.
The next SSLWG Meeting is planned this November in Sweden.
