According to the announcements, the soldiers serving in the territorial defence units would undergo the SERE training, the goal of which would be to teach them survival skills for any scenario. The SERE abbreviation comes from the following terms: Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape.
SERE training is to be organized for the Territorial Defence branch at three level of advancement
- A, B and C:
- Level A – 100% of the Territorial Defence troops, during the 1st year of training,
- Level B + W – 100% of the soldiers of the light infantry companies of the Territorial Defence branch, during the 3rd year of training,
- Level C – Snipers, 3rd year of training.
The training activities are going to be organized as a continuation of the preceding stage, with increasing level of difficulty.
At the beginning SERE trainings are to be conducted and led by the former special forces instructors of the mobile training units, with support provided by their counterparts from the United States of America. Later, SERE instructors of the Territorial Defence forces would take over the aforesaid responsibilities. SERE courses for them are also going to be attended by the soldiers of the Territorial Military Service who are in possession of proper skills, mental mindset, physical conditions and who are proficient in English.
Creation of the Territorial Defence forces is one of the priorities of the Polish MoD’s leadership. The Ministry is willing to include more than 50 thousand soldiers in the new branch which is to operate together with the operational units, and which is also to be capable of being involved in crisis management and counter-terrorism scenarios. The Act which regulates the form of the new component also lists assistance in rectification of the ramifications of the natural catastrophes, protection of property, SAR operations, crisis management and cooperation with other national security and defence organs and entities, within the scope of the tasks that are to be carried out by the Territorial Defence units.