The Definitive Spec Ops Resource
THE DEFINITIVE SPEC OPS RESOURCE FOR FITNESS AND SELECTION
SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.23.2017
A heavy day of preparation with the pushups, sit-ups, and crunches. Plus, the longer ruck march to get you ready for a tough day ahead.
Training:
More Preparation for the UBRR:
100 x pushups (no time limit)
100 x sit ups (no time limit)
100 x crunches
3 x 20 dips or until muscle failure
25 x V-ups
6-mile rucksack march (45 lb minimum) over varied terrain, note your time
Stretch well after completion
The British police forces have conducted raids on six properties in London and Birmingham and have arrested eight people in the aftermath of the London terrorist incident of Tuesday. The attack outside of Westminster left four people dead, including the terrorist and injured 29.
The terrorist was a British born citizen turned jihadist who was investigated by MI5 for alleged extremism in the past. Authorities classified him as a “lone wolf” terrorist so the raids and arrests could be a separate crack down on extremists or related to the incident as the dead terrorist had lived in the properties at one time.
Scotland Yard said that it was ‘not prepared to discuss’ the operation coordinated with West Midlands Police. But a witness who works nearby said: ‘The man from London lived here.’
The Hyundai Tucson 4×4 which was used as a weapon to kill two pedestrians and maim at least 29 others was also rented in the same area.
Police believe the attacker worked alone and was inspired by ‘international terrorism’. They say there is no information to suggest any further threat to the public.
The terrorist suspect who has not yet been named by authorities ran down pedestrians on the Westminster Bridge injuring several, some fatally before trying to ram his way into Parliament. There armed with two knives he fatally stabbed a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad before being shot and killed by police around 2:30 p.m.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has been offered words of support from around the world including US President Donald Trump. She characterized the terrorist suspect as a ‘peripheral’ figure, adding: ‘He was not part of the current intelligence picture’. She told fellow Ministers of Parliament that there was ‘no prior intelligence’ of his intent.
To read the entire article from the Daily Mail click here:
Photo courtesy AP
The US Army is still embroiled in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria but is already planning on the next one, battling it out in mega cities. And the model that their using is being patterned after US Special Operations forces.
Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley stated this week that military will have ten years to prepare for combat in what he categorized as mega cities with a population of 10 million people in the surrounding urban area and said that the structure of Special Operations Forces will be the key to operating in the next great conflict.
“What this means then — and I have discussed this with the Army leadership — we are going to have to … optimize the Army for urban warfare. […] The Army will definitely have to organize differently, probably into smaller, more compartmented groups,” Gen Milley said at the Future of War Conference 2017.
“We will have to have, what I think, is a lot of relatively small formations that are networked and can leverage Air Force and naval-delivered joint fires.”
“If you think of how some of our special operations operate today, that may be a preview of how large your Army operates in the future,” the officer continued. “That doesn’t mean you do away with battalions and brigades, but the fighting element will probably end up having to be a much smaller entity. […] If you stay stationary for any length of time, say more than a couple of hours, you are probably going to get killed.”
Milley was speaking at the Future of War Conference 2017 in Washington, D.C and stated that while divisions and brigades will still play a large role in the military, the smaller units, the battalions will play a big role in urban combat.
But he warned that the Army will not become “Special Forces on steroids.”
To read the entire article from the Washington Times click here:
Photo courtesy DOD
While preparing to go to Selection, there is a lot of individual work that must be put in. Finding and breaking in the best boots for your feet and prepping your feet for the long road ahead. Then there is the Land Navigation training and map reading which, if you aren’t ready for can be daunting. Then, of course, is the physical training, and finally, the rucking that goes in to prepare. No one says you can’t have a little fun while rucking and preparing for Selection which leads us the GORUCK Challenge.
What is GORUCK? GORUCK is a company that was started by Jason McCarthy after his Special Forces service with the 10th SFG(A). He originally was trying to just sell his gear that he was manufacturing. But then he got an idea to promote the gear and let people, many of whom had never rucked or experienced anything close to being in the military a little taste of what Selection is like.
But this event is built on having fun, sweating up a storm, working within a team and accomplishing a goal under the watchful gaze of a Special Operations cadre member. It is built around events that you’ll encounter in Selection, doing PT in the sand, or in some cases the water, carrying heavy objects as a team, (logs, telephone pole sections) and then building an apparatus that has to carry about 500 pounds and then moving it around a city in the US. Sounds strangely familiar?
The different GORUCK events last anywhere from:
The Light – 4-5 hours, 7-10 mile distance
The Tough – 10-12 hours, 15-20 mile distance
The Heavy – 24+ hours, 40+ miles distance
Selection – 48+ hours, 80+ miles distance (has a less than 5 percent finish rate)
They also have an Orienteering course, a Scavenger Hunt, as well as others.
So, while you’re having fun, you are also getting some difficult and useful training in. Preparing for Selection is a lot of work. It is demanding, tough and generally a lonely process, as the onus is on yourself to get ready for the challenge ahead.
This is a chance to put together a like-minded group of individuals to enjoy the camaraderie of the course, getting some challenging training in, all while in a much more light-hearted atmosphere than the Selection courses.
If you want to give your friends a taste of wait awaits you or just want to get training partners involved in a break from the monotony of singular training than the GORUCK challenge would be a fun way to do just that. And if your Land Navigation is a particularly weak area, the 36-hour Navigator course, taught by Special Forces cadre members will be a good, learning tool while also being taught some survival skills.
Now don’t think that this is a harbinger of things to come at Selection. There is no way, I’d ever try to sell you that and the GORUCK people wouldn’t either. Their course is based on having fun while you’re working your tail off.
I’m in the midst now of trying to convince some friends and family members to put together a team and attempt one of the challenges that are upcoming in the next few months. My wife thinks I’m insane to want to do this, “After all this time, you want to go back to being in selection?” Perhaps she has a point.
But being a Special Forces guy means always being up to the challenge, right? That’s what it is all about. That and doing what we love and most importantly doing it with the ones we love. That being said, I doubt I’ll have any luck convincing anyone to do the Selection challenge, but hey, it is time to throw the ruck on and get outside and work out the kinks this morning. Let’s go rucking.
Photo courtesy of GORUCK
Back to the gym today. Unlike last week where we went heavier weight with less reps, we’re going the opposite this time, building up the endurance.
Training:
More Preparation for the UBRR:
Run 3 miles and record your time
Then, head into the gym:
3 x Front Squat 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)
3 x Goblet Squats 20-15-12 reps (lighter dumbbell)
3 x 10 Pull-ups
3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press
3 x 20 Push ups
30 x “V”ups
Stretch well after completion
The US-led coalition has dropped both American and Syrian fighters behind the city of Raqqa in an effort to cut off the ISIS escape route out of the city. That’s an encouraging sign that perhaps the battle to drive out the insurgents from Syria is going well.
According to reports from inside Syria, five helicopters, supported by five fighter jets, dropped US Marines and dozens of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters near the northern town of Shurfa on Wednesday afternoon.
The purpose of the operation is to seize the key Tabqa dam across the Euphrates River. This will isolate Raqqa from the remaining ISIS-controlled territory in Syria. Raqqa was named the capital city of the self-styled caliphate.
The group said in a statement that the operation was in preparation for an assault on Tabqa, an ISIL redoubt 28 miles west of Raqqa.
They claimed to have captured four villages and severed the main artery running between the extremists’ de facto capital and the western countryside.
Top officials from the 68-nation alliance are set to meet in Washington today to hear more about a revised plan drafted by the Pentagon and presented to US President Donald Trump in February.
The meeting was the first of all the coalition’s top diplomats since September 2014.
Meanwhile, the US and President Donald Trump are having discussions on whether or not to continue to support the YPG, the Kurdish group that is fighting ISIS but is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and President Erdogan. If the US should shift its allegiance away from YPG, it could signal a thawing of relations between Washington and Ankara.
The US is also ramping up plans to add another 1000 troops to Syria in support of the SDF.
To read the entire article from the Telegraph click here:
Photo courtesy DOD
President Donald Trump is using Special Operations troops to carry the fight against Islamic terrorists across the globe in an attempt to minimize large conventional troop deployments.
Trump will continue the plan put in place by the Obama administration to train, equip, advise, and support the indigenous forces in the region rather than post large American conventional forces on deployments overseas.
The global reach of Special Operators is widening. During the peak of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly 13,000 Special Operations Forces were deployed on missions across the globe, but a large majority were assigned to those two countries. Now more than half of the 8600 of the elite troops overseas are posted outside the Middle East or South Asia, operating in 97 countries according to the Special Operations Command.
Still, about one-third of the 6000 American troops in Iraq and Syria are Special Operators, many of whom are advising local troops and militias on the front lines. About a quarter of the 8400 troops in Afghanistan are special operators.
In Africa, about one-third of the 6000 troops assigned there are special operators.
The Special Operations forces of the US continue to do the work in trying to eliminate the terrorist enclaves around the world. And the president is removing some of the shackles that have constrained them under the previous administration, such as loosening the constraints on drone attacks, as seen by the strike recently against Al-Qaeda extremists meeting in a mosque, despite claims that they were civilians.
The US is expanding its influence in Africa, conducting counter-terrorism exercises in Chad, equipping and training local forces and building a $50 million dollar drone base in Niger that will monitor the ISIS insurgents that operate between Chad and Senegal.
To read the entire article from the New York Times click here:
Photo courtesy DOD
Today is a swim day, which hasn’t been a big focus on here recently but should be.
Remember the swim test is a big part of the initial testing phase and many candidates fail to properly prepare for it.
Warm up first – 3 x 30 seconds each of Mountain climbers and Spider-Man planks
Swim 300 meters with fatigues and boots. Ensure you wear the uniform and boots because when you’re swimming with them as on the Selection test it will feel like little gremlins are pulling you down in the water from the corners of your uniform.
Stretch well after completion
Special Operations troops from Ft. Bragg have the only airborne sustainment brigade in the US Army. And the 528th Special Operations Sustainment Brigade has a new home on Ft. Bragg.
The unit had been spread around the post but now occupies a 70,000-square foot facility, which is more than four times of the old one. The new headquarters is located in the new Yarborough Special Operations Forces Complex. Besides the 528th, it also holds units from the 3rd Special Forces Group and the 95th Civil Affairs Bn.
The brigade will furnish support in the areas of parachute rigging, logistical support, signal support, military intelligence and medical support for the Special Operations community according to the Brigade’s commander, Col. Lance Curtis.
Maj. Gen. James E. Kraft, commanding general of the brigade’s higher headquarters, the 1st Special Forces Command, said the headquarters was a “world-class facility” for “world class soldiers.”
He praised the soldiers for their efforts in support of Special Forces, psychological operations, and civil affairs troops. The 528th is the only sustainment brigade in the special operations community and the only airborne sustainment brigade in the entire Army.
The unit provides vital support to ongoing special operations missions and currently has about 125 soldiers deployed across 20 countries.
“Thanks for all you’ve done,” Kraft said. “Thanks in advance for all you’re going to do.”
This project is part of a huge overall plan to modernize and update the Special Operations community on base. It has been in the works for more than a decade in the making and allows with the demolition of the brigade’s old, outdated headquarters at the corner of Reilly and Gruber roads to make room for updated construction at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.
Eventually, all of the Special Operations forces will reside in the Yarborough Complex which is located on the site of the post’s old ammunition supply point.
To read the entire article from the Fayetteville Observer click here:
Photo courtesy US Army
Thousands of government, defense, and industry professionals within the Special Operations community are expected to attend the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) in Tampa, Florida. The conference which will take place from May 15-18 at the Tampa Convention Center, will showcase the latest technology and provide opportunities for interaction and collaboration among academia, government, industry leaders and the Special Operations Forces (SOF) community.
USSOCOM will open the conference with their “USSOCOM Marketplace” an available resource that will allow prospective customers an opportunity to explore doing business with USSOCOM. It will be especially valuable to those attempting to do business with USSOCOM for the first time.
“SOFIC provides the best opportunity to network with and engage the Special Operations Forces community,” said NDIA President and CEO Gen. Craig McKinley, USAF (Ret.). “As we seek to maintain the edge in technology and maintain our advantage, it’s important that these conversations take place among industry, the military, academia, and other stakeholders so we can work together to find the best solutions to enhance our capabilities.”
More than ten thousand attendees are expected at 2017 SOFIC and 400 companies and organizations will display their products and services in a sold-out exhibit hall. The complete list of speakers and current agenda for 2017 SOFIC can be viewed here.
Please follow updates on Twitter using #SOFIC and on YouTube at YouTube.com/SOFICTV. Additional information can be found at sofic.org.
In addition, there is expected to be numerous panel discussions and industry updates on the latest technology as it applies to Special Operations. On May 16-17 there is a presentation by the manufacturers of the TALOS “Iron Man” suit for Special Operations Forces as well as “Operation SOFtalk” a networking opportunity to discuss different facets of USSOCOM with the command’s senior leaders in an informal environment.
To read the entire article from PRNewswire click here:
Photo courtesy DOD