What would you do if you got stuck in the desert? Twenty Airmen with the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing found out when the Kuwait Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape team -- better known as SERE -- taught a one-day desert survival class in February.

Tech. Sgt. Joshua Anderson and Senior Airman Sean Tanner asked the class to come prepared to get dirty and bring gloves, water, a knife and a good attitude.

The class spent the morning learning that attitude was the most important aspect of survival.

“People with positive attitudes who don’t panic survive,” Sergeant Anderson said. “Many people lose the battle for survival in the first few minutes because they panic and give up.”

He had students empty their front pockets and tell him how they could use the contents to help them if they got stranded in the desert. Lip balm can be used as fuel for a fire, and flashlights and whistles become signaling devices for rescue parties.

He also addressed some survival myths. “You can’t drink blood, urine or salt water to survive.”

Sergeant Anderson showed the class how to make a simple snare and some more complicated snares to trap food. He then gave the class a list of the most important things to keep in their personal survival kits.

“Multiple-use items are very important -- a huge kit doesn’t do you any good if it stays in the vehicle or the garage,” Sergeant Anderson said.

Airman Tanner closed the classroom portion with some urban evasion and survival tips for the deployed environment.

In the afternoon, the class got a chance to go in to the field and test some of the techniques they learned. They split into two groups to dig solar stills. Their goal was to purify water from plants and to try and reclaim bottled water from the soil. The groups made quick work of the stills because there were many willing hands.

However, Sergeant Anderson said in a solo survival situation, it’s important to weigh the water expenditure against the outcome.

“Ration sweat not water,” was his motto.

Solar stills are not the best use of energy unless you were forced to recapture water from a vehicle radiator or the sea.

“It’s a method of last resort when it is a case of ‘water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink,’” Sergeant Anderson said.

In fact, from about a pound of plant life and three liters of water, one group recovered about three teaspoons of water from their still; while the other group did not get any water.

The class was also taught how to make a stove out of a soda can, sand and some webbing. The stoves burned for about 30 minutes with about one-half cup of diesel fuel.

While their stoves were burning, the class tested the knowledge they acquired earlier in the day by trying to find edible plants in the desert scrub.

The class caught and ate ants to round out their edible practicum.

“I never thought I could eat a bug, but now I know that ants don’t taste that bad. They don’t taste like chicken, not at all like lemons (as advertised), a little on the crunchy side but not bad.” said Capt. Jessica Wright, 386th Expeditionary Medical Group family practice provider.

A couple of the more adventurous students nibbled on beetles as well.

As a final exercise, students learned how to use signal mirrors and a CD to signal for rescue.

At the end of the day, the students agreed that they had a good time and actually learned some valuable survival skills.

“I feel much more confident now about my ability to survive in not only a desert climate, but in any adverse situation,” Captain Wright said.