Desert Lightning News So. AZ Edition, June 2 2017

Vol. 10, No. 6 Serving Southern Arizona’s military community, including Davis-Monthan Air Force Base June 2, 2017 AN AEROTECH NEWS AND REVIEW PUBLICATION • WWW.AEROTECHNEWS.COM
INSIDE
StorIES
MOH recipient dies, 3 AMARG backs AFSOC, 4 Staff Sgt. STEPS, 5 Culture change, 13 924th FG family, 18 Airman overcomes, 20
FEAtUrE
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Schultze
DrAgOn LADy
See Page 14
Tony Blauer, founder of Blauer Tactical Systems Inc., instructs Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape specialists during training. The SPEAR System takes advantage of the human body’s startle/flinch mechanism to convert an aggressor’s attack into a tactical counter.
SERE meets SPEAR:
Specialists learn unique combat skills
Continue to get Davis-Monthan Air Force Base latest news and information from these sources: http://www.aerotech- news.com/davis-monthanafb and social media
Desert Lightning News
Date of publication
First Friday
of the month Submission deadline 15th day of the month prior to date of publication
Veterans
Tell us Your Story Active-duty, Reserve, Retirees All military branches are included
Email name, phone number and a brief description of your service to deborah.leuthold@us.af.mil
Story and photos by Senior Airman ChRiS DRzAzgowSki
355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Your transport aircraft has just crashed in a remote and hostile environment. You and only a handful of other troops have survived the crash. As you survey the surroundings, you notice a crowd of local inhabitants running toward the wreckage screaming wildly, with brows furrowed and fists clenched. The level of fear inside you begins to skyrocket. You’re now scanning the crowd for its weak- est links, trying to formulate a progressive strategy with the little time you have before they make contact. Which combative system are you most confident to employ in order to save your own life?
Self-defense is a major component of support provided by Sur- vival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape specialists to troops who have a high risk of isolation in theater, such as downed-pilots and operators.
cuemen from the 68th Formal Training Unit convened at Davis- Monthan Air Force Base, to attend a one-week personal defense course led by a special guest.
“The intent of this week’s instruction was to give these Air Force SERE specialists the qualifications required to teach the SPEAR System as subject matter experts,” said Tony Blauer, founder of Blauer Tactical Systems Inc., and SPEAR coach. “We augmented the system and customized it with specific capture avoidance and SERE-type nuances — specific scenarios you wouldn’t see in a regular fight.”
The Spontaneous Protection Enabling Accelerated Response Sys- tem takes advantage of the human body’s startle/flinch mechanism to convert an aggressor’s attack into a tactical counter measure, according to Blauer.
“We weaponize the flinch,” Blauer said. “By combing the old brain’s most important function, to survive, with the new brain’s intelligence, to think and decide, we have reawakened a non-
SERE specialists across the 23rd Wing, along with Parares-
See COMBAT, Page 7