336th Training Group

The 336th Training Group is a United States Air Force training organization headquartered at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington. Its principal mission is to operate and support the United States Air Force Survival School, which provides Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) instruction primarily for aircrew and other military personnel whose duties may expose them to isolation, capture, or survival situations. The group teaches practical and theoretical skills intended to help personnel survive in varied environments, evade hostile forces, resist exploitation if captured, and return safely to friendly control. The organization has roots in two distinct Air Force lineages. During the Second World War, the 336th Bombardment Group was established in July 1942 as a replacement-training organization for Martin B-26 Marauder crews. It trained personnel in the United States for later assignment to operational units overseas and was inactivated in May 1944. That wartime group was later redesignated as the 336th Air Refueling Wing, although it remained inactive, and was eventually consolidated with the postwar survival-training organization in 1993. The modern survival-training lineage began in 1949, when the Strategic Air Command established the 3904th Training Squadron at Fort Carson, Colorado. The squadron was created in response to concerns about the ability of aircrews to survive and evade capture after being forced down behind enemy lines. The 3904th Composite Wing followed in 1950, and the United States Air Force Survival School was established at Stead Air Force Base, Nevada, in 1951. Experience during the Korean War demonstrated that survival instruction should serve personnel beyond the Strategic Air Command, leading to transfer of the mission to Air Training Command and the creation of the 3635th Combat Crew Training Wing in 1954. The survival school moved to Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington in 1966 after the closure of Stead. The 3636th Combat Crew Training Group was organized at Fairchild to conduct the mission. In 1971, the organization was elevated to wing status and brought several geographically dispersed survival schools and detachments under a more unified structure. These activities included jungle, tropical, Arctic, desert, and water-survival instruction at locations in the continental United States, the Philippines, Alaska, and the Panama Canal Zone. The group also supported specialized exercises and developed combat-desert survival instruction. In 1993, the 3636th Combat Crew Training Group was consolidated with the inactive 336th Air Refueling Wing lineage. It was redesignated the 336th Crew Training Group in January 1993 and adopted its current designation, 336th Training Group, in April 1994. The group remains associated with Fairchild Air Force Base and the Nineteenth Air Force. Its subordinate activities have included the 22d Training Squadron, the 66th Training Squadron, and the 336th Training Support Squadron, with additional historical components and detachments serving specialized geographic or instructional roles. The group's training portfolio has evolved with Air Force operational needs. The 22d Training Squadron conducts combat-survival training, while the 66th Training Squadron provides SERE instructor preparation and related advanced instruction. Courses have covered survival in Arctic, desert, jungle, and open-ocean settings, water survival for aircrew, resistance-training theory, and instructor upgrade programs. A former parachute-water-survival activity at Naval Air Station Pensacola was relocated to Fairchild in 2015 and integrated with non-ejection water-survival instruction, reducing the need for student travel. The 336th Training Group is therefore best understood not as a commercial brand but as a military training identity and operational unit within the United States Air Force.

The 336th Training Group combines the lineage of a Second World War bomber-crew training unit with the later United States Air Force survival-training organization based at Fairchild Air Force Base. The wartime predecessor was established as the 336th Bombardment Group (Medium) on 9 July 1942 and activated six days later. Operating under the Third Air Force and III Bomber Command, it functioned as a replacement training unit for Martin B-26 Marauder crews. Trainees arrived after completing technical, gunnery, and twin-engine flight instruction, then received operational preparation in the B-26 before being assigned to combat organizations overseas. The group operated from several Florida fields and later from Lake Charles Army Air Field in Louisiana. It was disbanded on 1 May 1944. The survival-training lineage originated separately. On 16 December 1949, the Strategic Air Command created the 3904th Training Squadron at Fort Carson, Colorado, to teach aircrews survival, escape, and evasion skills. The 3904th Composite Wing was established in October 1950, adding the training squadron, an air-rescue unit, and support elements. In September 1951, the organization moved to Stead Air Force Base, Nevada, where the United States Air Force Survival School was established. The Korean War underscored the value of making this instruction available beyond a single major command. Consequently, the organization transferred to Air Training Command in 1954 and became the 3635th Combat Crew Training Wing (Survival). In 1958, it was redesignated the 3635th Flying Training Wing (Advanced) after taking on helicopter training as well. When Stead Air Force Base closed, the survival school moved to Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington in 1966. The 3635th wing itself was discontinued, while the 3636th Combat Crew Training Group was organized at Fairchild to conduct the relocated mission. During the following years, survival instruction was distributed across several specialized schools. Pacific Air Forces operated jungle-survival training at Clark Air Base in the Philippines; a tropical-survival school operated at Howard Air Force Base; Alaskan Air Command conducted Arctic instruction at Eielson Air Force Base; and Tactical Air Command operated water-survival training at Homestead Air Force Base. In April 1971, these activities were brought into a more unified structure when the 3636th group was elevated to the 3636th Combat Crew Training Wing. Squadrons and detachments supported instruction at Fairchild, Clark, Homestead, Eielson, and other locations. A detachment associated with Red Flag operations at Nellis Air Force Base conducted simulated search-and-rescue exercises in Nevada and at Canadian locations from 1976 to 1985. It also developed and tested a combat-desert survival course, contributing to a broader shift in Air Force survival education from a general global-survival model toward combat-survival preparation. The organization continued to refine water-survival training. In 1993, Detachment 2 of the 66th Training Squadron was located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where it conducted parachute-water-survival instruction for aircrew flying aircraft equipped with ejection seats in cooperation with the United States Navy. Students from Fairchild traveled to Pensacola for this phase. In August 2015, the activity moved to Fairchild and was combined with existing non-ejection water-survival instruction. The lineage was formally consolidated in 1993. The inactive 336th Air Refueling Wing, descended from the wartime 336th Bombardment Group, was consolidated with the 3636th Combat Crew Training Group on 1 January 1993. The surviving organization was redesignated the 336th Crew Training Group on 28 January 1993 and the 336th Training Group on 1 April 1994. It has operated within the Air Training Command and, subsequently, the Air Education and Training Command, with assignment to the Nineteenth Air Force in the modern period. The group continues to conduct combat-survival and SERE-related education through its Fairchild-based activities and associated subordinate units.

• 2015

  Water-survival instruction consolidated at Fairchild

  [1]336th Training Groupen.wikipedia.org

  The Pensacola-based parachute-water-survival activity moved to Fairchild and was combined with non-ejection water-survival training.

• 1994

  Current designation adopted

  [1]336th Training Groupen.wikipedia.org

  The organization became the 336th Training Group on 1 April 1994.

• 1993

  Lineages consolidated

  [1]336th Training Groupen.wikipedia.org

  The 3636th Combat Crew Training Group was consolidated with the inactive 336th Air Refueling Wing on 1 January and was redesignated the 336th Crew Training Group later that month.

• 1971

  Survival schools unified under a wing

  [1]336th Training Groupen.wikipedia.org

  The 3636th organization was elevated to wing status and assumed broader responsibility for geographically dispersed survival-training activities.

• 1966

  Survival training moved to Fairchild

  [1]336th Training Groupen.wikipedia.org

  Following the closure of Stead, the survival school moved to Fairchild Air Force Base, where the 3636th Combat Crew Training Group took responsibility for the mission.

• 1951

  Survival School established at Stead

  [1]336th Training Groupen.wikipedia.org

  The organization moved to Stead Air Force Base, Nevada, and established the United States Air Force Survival School.

• 1949

  Air Force survival-training lineage begins

  [1]336th Training Groupen.wikipedia.org

  The Strategic Air Command established the 3904th Training Squadron at Fort Carson on 16 December to teach survival and escape-and-evasion skills.

• 1944

  World War II training group inactivated

  [1]336th Training Groupen.wikipedia.org

  The wartime 336th Bombardment Group was disbanded on 1 May after training bomber crews in the United States.

• 1942

  336th Bombardment Group established

  [1]336th Training Groupen.wikipedia.org

  The 336th Bombardment Group (Medium) was established on 9 July and activated on 15 July as a B-26 Marauder replacement-training organization.

A specialized United States Air Force training organization focused on preparing aircrew and military personnel to survive, evade, resist, and return from hostile or isolated environments.

• SERE training · 1951

  United States Air Force Survival School

  The group's principal training institution teaches survival, evasion, resistance, and escape concepts and techniques. Instruction is primarily aimed at aircrew and addresses survival across multiple environments, recovery of isolated personnel, and conduct under conditions involving potential capture or exploitation.

• Combat training

  Combat Survival Training

  Conducted by the 22d Training Squadron, this instruction prepares personnel to apply survival skills in operational and contested environments. The broader program covers environmental challenges associated with barren Arctic, desert, jungle, and open-ocean settings.

• Instructor training

  SERE Training Instructor Course

  The 66th Training Squadron conducts a five-and-one-half-month course designed to prepare future SERE instructors to teach aircrew members how to survive in varied environments and to deliver resistance-training instruction.

• Aircrew training

  Water Survival Training

  The group's water-survival activities include instruction for aircrew of both ejection-seat and non-ejection aircraft. The former Pensacola-based activity was relocated to Fairchild in 2015 and integrated with the existing water-survival curriculum.

• 2015

  Consolidation of water-survival instructionStrategy

  Background

  Parachute-water-survival training for aircrew had been conducted at Naval Air Station Pensacola, while related students traveled from Fairchild for that phase.

  Action taken

  The activity was moved to Fairchild Air Force Base and combined with the existing non-ejection water-survival course.

  Aftermath

  The arrangement reduced student travel and placed the related water-survival functions at the group's principal station.

  Source

1. 1336th Training Groupen.wikipedia.org