SERE -- Evasion

The second aspect of the SERE system is Evasion. Now before we can begin our investigation of this topic, we must first identify what "evasion" is. Evasion is the art of implementing cunning and deceptive tactics that allow you to avoid being located, tracked, captured, and/or killed. Evasion is the ability to lose your enemies by the use of a particular skillset that allows you to gain the upper hand. Evasion is more of a mental exercise than it is physical, even though physical fitness and endurance is a necessity if you wish to out run and out live your pursuers. Evasion requires the intelligence and presence of mind to be able to think on the run and on your feet. Evasion entails the proper use of camouflage, natural and man-made, the ability to cover ones tracks with the use of brush and natural foliage, and the physical endurance to be able to evade your enemies in the rain, in the snow, in the cold, in the heat, and at night. Each of these particular environments will require a slightly different approach when it comes to evading a hunter force. For instance, attempting to lose a pursuing force in the snow, where your tracks are very obvious, will be much more difficult and time consuming than evading your attackers at night, where your tracks will not be visible without close attention to detail.
Now, the ability to employ survival skills, which we discussed in our first lesson, is the foremost skill to perfect, before attempting to train in evasion tactics, because the ability to survive and thrive in the wild will improve your ability to evade capture in the wild. Now, with that out of they way, let's get into the "meat and potatoes" of evasion.
One of the most basic skills that helps compose "evasion" is the proper use of camouflage. Camouflage can be a number of things; it can be the use of natural vegetation, such as leaves, branches, high grass, etc, that can be located in and around your position in which you are located. This tactic of camouflage is very effective because your camo will be area specific to the location that you are in. There are a number of different methods with which you can attach natural vegetation to your gear, therefore creating an effective camo system. One of these is weaving the vegetation through your belt loops, on your gear, through the loops in your "boonie" hat, etc. While we are on the subject, boonie hats are the best hat for those who are interested in employing good camo tactics, because they come with a series of loops that encircle the cap, therefore allowing you to weave high grass, leaves, small branches, and twigs through your head-wear. Considering that your head is the most distinguishable member of the human body, because of the obvious round shape which is NOT found in nature, a sensible soldier will take extra precautions to break up that shape of the head. With that in mind, the boonie hat is the best choice. This brings us to the number one rule of camouflage. The key to achieving good camo is that you ensure that the natural shape of your body is broken up effectively. The body has many straight lines and round shapes, things which do not naturally appear in nature. Therefore, you need to break up your shape with branches, leaves, vegetation, grass, moss, and anything else that serves the purpose. This is why a ghillie suit is very effective. The best kind of ghillie suit is the home made one. There are some videos on YouTube which cover this in detail, so check them out. So by now you can figure out that going to Wal-mart and buying camo pants and a camo t shirt won't get the job done, because these items do not break up your shape. You need to wear these items underneath your actual camouflage system.
The second aspect of Evasion is the ability to cover your tracks. Trackers can use many tell tale signs you leave behind to follow and locate you. These tracks include the disturbance of vegetation, like broken branches, bruised grass, beat down leaves, etc. There are a few ways in which you can cover and eliminate these tracks. To begin with, when you are NOT being pursued, take extreme caution in where you step, how you walk, etc etc. When you are actually being pursued, you are going to be moving faster, but you still need to cover your tracks. The best way to cover your tracks is move in water, such as a stream, river, creek, even a pond. Any water is good when it comes to evasion. If you come to a pond, enter it and then exit in an unnatural direction that the hunter force will not be expecting, once they figure out what you did, you will have gained ground on them. Remember, a hunting force will be moving slower than you, because they are looking for your tracks, therefore they have to move slower. The key is to not panic. If there is not water available, and sometimes there's not, look for rocks, logs, anything that will not show signs that you stepped on them. As long as you stay in a highly vegetated area, you will leave signs of your being there. Try to stay out of dense vegetation, such as thickets and vines, because your busting throw them will leave a massive trail to follow. Stay in low vegetation, low grass, dirt, and moderately high grass. Even though you will leave tracks, the hunter force will take longer looking for them, therefore giving you more time to haul ass. The number one best time to be on the run is at night, for a number of reasons. First of all, it is demoralizing to the hunters, because they have a harder time seeing, and for a tracker, being able to see the tracks is how they know where you are. They will be moving slower, they will be more cautious, since you could be hiding in a tree just out of their sight with a sniper rifle, and they may even stop for the night, but don't count on that. However, night time is where you can gain your most ground, especially if you utilize water, rocks, logs, dirt, low vegetation, and other things that will make locating your tracks difficult, considering the hunter force can no long utilize natural light. If your hunters are utilizing tracking dogs, there is one outstanding tactic that always confuses them. Simply take a branch of leaves, a bundle of grass, even an article of your clothing, and rub it in your armpits and on your ass, then throw these articles in different directions. When the dogs reach these points, they'll be insanely confused, and the hunters will be equally frustrated. If you can use all of these elements to your advantage, you will be able to outrun, and more importantly outsmart your hunters.
The third and final aspect to Evasion is physical fitness. The ability to evade your hunters for days on end require a certain level of endurance, considering the fact that you will probably have a backpack, some gear, and maybe a weapon. The ability to run all day and all night, while being fully alert and aware of your surroundings is a must for being able to evade the enemy effectively.
If you can put these three aspects of Evasion together effectively, you will be a force to reckon with out in the wild. Considering that you should have your survival skillset already down pat, and then coupling that with your evasion skills, even the tracking dogs will be stumped.