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The Air Force Institute of Technology’s Civil Engineer and Services School is truly taking its educational mission beyond classroom walls. Students in the School’s Mortuary Affairs Course (SVS 462) participated in a search and recovery exercise.

The goal of the exercise is for students to execute a search and recovery at a simulated aircraft crash site. Says Capt. Tim Short, Course Director, “What we look for as instructors are for students to assess the scene and identify the manpower, type of equipment, and search patterns they will need to conduct the recovery and for them to demonstrate proper procedures for conducting both the search phase and recovery phase of the operation.”

Immediately prior to the exercise, the students participate in a two and a half hour block of instruction where they learn about all the different aspects of a search and recovery: equipment, manning, search patterns, safety issues, logistical issues, etc. The students are then told of the “aircraft crash” that recently happened and that they will be conducting the search and recovery. One of the students is assigned as the Mortuary Officer and two other students are assigned as the team leads, one each for the search team and the recovery team. The students then plan over the lunch hour how they will execute their S&R with the manpower and equipment available. The MO and team leaders assign the remainder of the roles to the other students in the class before going out to conduct the recovery.

The School’s Services faculty sets up a very realistic crash scene, including aircraft parts, personal effects, and even parts from a local butcher to simulate the more gruesome aspects of a crash scene. Faculty members play each of the key base leadership roles at the crash site, to include the On-Scene-Commander and Security Forces. When the team arrives, the MO receives a site orientation briefing and the recovery begins. Once the students have demonstrated the ability to conduct the roles they were given, the instructors pause the exercise and reassign all of the roles, including MO and team leads, giving each student the opportunity to experience duties on both the search team and recovery team. The exercise continues to be played out later in the week, as the students brief the Person Authorized to Direct Disposition, commonly known as the next of kin, on their funeral and burial entitlements as they prepare to lay their loved ones to rest.

According to Short, the role of mortuary officer is “the most important and sensitive job a Services officer will perform, and search and recovery is a big part of that. S&R is something that must be done with the utmost care as we recover deceased members with the dignity and respect they deserve. Ensuring our mortuary officers are prepared to do this is a big part of this course.” For that reason, he says “the faculty strive to make this exercise as realistic as possible. We want to challenge the students and prepare them for the brutality and destruction they will encounter on a real search and recovery. We feel like we do a good job of this as the exercise always receives high marks in the critiques with students citing the realism we put into the exercise.”

In fact, students routinely call back after the course thanking the School’s faculty for how real the training is, saying they were prepared for what they saw when they had to do this duty. Says Short, “One student in particular called back and said, ‘At the time of the class I never thought I’d have to do a search and recovery. Unfortunately, within two weeks of returning to Edwards, I had to lead one. It was amazing how much the realistic training I received at AFIT helped us when we got to the real crash scene. We were able to do our jobs because we knew what to expect before we arrived!’”

The one week course is offered as a stand-alone course twice annually in conjunction with the School’s Services Leadership Course (SVS 400), so new Services Squadron Commanders and Directors can take both courses on the same TDY. The course is also offered for new accessions into the services career field as it is embedded into the School’s Initial Skills (SVS 101) course. Between the two variations, the course is usually offered four or five times annually. Learn more at www.afit.edu/cess.