Air Force Special Operations

SOF Selection PT Preparation 8.3.2017

We’re going to do a smoker this morning of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches that you can either do at the gym or on the ground and then head back out on the rucking trails. Let’s pump these out as quickly as possible, understanding that there isn’t a time limit but to build up your endurance.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

100 pushups (no time limit)

100 sit-ups (no time limit)

100 crunches

Rucksack March: Go as hard and as fast as you can for 1 hour. Do this without running. See what your distance is and make a notation. This will give you a goal to achieve in later training sessions.

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 8.2.2017

Back to the gym today, with our Wednesday work out and then practice our shuttle run to build up some explosion and lateral quickness in your legs. It will improve your overall running times. Try to limit the time between sets to 30 seconds or less.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Lat Pull downs, behind the neck (go as heavy as possible)

3 x 12 Lat Pull downs, front

3 x 10 Barbell Deadlift

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Arnold Shoulder Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

4 x 25-meter Shuttle Run (x3)

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 8.1.2017

How did everyone do on their UBRR Test from yesterday? If you passed but have some weak points, you now know what needs to be worked on. If you failed any portion of it, then you have a lot of work to do.

What we’re going to do now is start back from the basics and get everyone back on the same sheet of music. Stick with us and we’ll get thru this.

Training:

Preparation for the UBRR:

Run 3 miles (record your time) “Do the best you can.” Get used to hearing that.

Then, head into the gym:

3 x Front Squat 10 reps (heavy but doable weight)

3 x Goblet Squats 10 reps (heavy dumbbell)

3 x 10 Pull-ups

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

25 x Push ups

30 x “V”ups

Stretch well after completion

Team from Honduras Takes 1st Place in Fuerzas Comando Competition

The 14^th year of the Fuerzas Comando special operations forces competition brought competitors and key leaders from 20 countries together in a difficult training exercise last week in Paraguay. This competition pits the best teams of each countries Special Operations Forces competed against the other nations’ teams in the SOUTHCOM (US Southern Command) area of operations.

Although the competition is tough, the teams bonded as families, partners, and friends, said Navy Adm. Kurt W. Tidd, the commander of U.S. Southern Command said today.

Paraguay hosted Fuerzas Comando this year. The competition was first held in El Salvador in 2004 with 13 participating countries. Twenty nations sent teams to compete this year: Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Uruguay.
Honduras placed first in this year’s competition, with Colombia in second place and the United States taking third.
Special Forces
Leading a round of applause for the teams, Tidd, in prepared remarks, spoke directly to the competitors.
“Fuerzas Comando stands apart from the rest of our multinational exercises,” the admiral said. “There’s no other exercise like it. It brings together an elite group of warriors from 20 nations to pit their impressive physical and mental skills against one another.”
He called it an awesome display of physical fitness, weapons marksmanship, tactical capabilities and, above all, teamwork, and cooperation.
“For the past week, the best of the best have challenged one another, bested one another and learned from one another,” Tidd said. “No matter which unit we belong to or what our specialty is, when we join in exercises like these, we become stronger together.”
Fuerzas Comando
Each competing team consisted of a four-man assault team, a two-man sniper team, and an alternate in case of injury or illness. Each competing nation provided a judge to ensure the evaluation was fair and balanced, according to a fact sheet from the U.S. Embassy Paraguay.
The teams competed in events that included physical fitness tests; various live-fire events measuring speed, accuracy, and decision-making; precision sniper fire at known and unknown distances; combined assault; an obstacle course; a 14-kilometer team event; and a 20-kilometer ruck march.
Fuezas Comando 2017 came to a close with an airborne operation — a friendship jump — at Ñu Guasú Air Base yesterday and the closing ceremony today for all competitors and senior leader seminar participants.
This year’s motto was “La fuerza que nos une,” “Mbarate ñane moirûva” or “The strength that unites us,” the fact sheet said.

The annual exercise forges deep friendships within the Special Operations community of the countries involved and not builds trust, but serves as an invaluable tool as the best SOF forces learn to work together. Next year’s competition will be held in Panama.

To read the entire article from The DOD News, click here:

Photo courtesy US Army

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.31.2017

Today we’re going to see where our fitness level is at by using a test using the new Special Operations Upper Body Round Robin (UBRR) Fitness Test. It measures functional fitness for the Special Operators much better than the traditional PT test.

Pushups: (1min) 40 minimum +2 points for each additional rep.

Sit-ups: (1min) 40 Minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

Pull-ups: (not timed) 6 minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

Dips: (not timed) 6 minimum +2 points for each additional rep.

Bench Press: (80% body weight) 6 minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

20ft. Rope Climb: with weighted vest or body armor, Pass/Fail

Kick-ups: (1minute) 6 minimum, +2 points for each additional rep.

25 Meter Shuttle Run: x 4, 24 seconds maximum. +2 points for each 1/10 sec. under

5 Mile Run: 40 minutes maximum +2 points for every full 15 seconds under max.
or 5 Mile Ruck March: w/45 lbs +2 points for every full 15 seconds under max.

To pass the UBRR, participants must achieve a PASS in all events with at least the minimum score, and Receive at least 1100 total points from all the events combined.

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.30.2017

Sunday morning rucksack march. However, as we pointed out in yesterday’s post, with the UBRR (Upper Body Round Robin) Test on Monday, we’re scaling back our workouts this weekend. Just a light stretch and a very short ruck march to get the kinks out.

Training:

Warm up

Stretch well and hydrate

3-mile Rucksack march with a leisurely pace, not fast at all, just enough to loosen your body up. Save it for the test on Monday.

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.29.20

With an Upper Body Round Robin (UBRR) Test on Monday, we’ll scale back the work over the weekend with just some stretching and a short run. Stay hydrated, stretched out and be prepared to be tested for Monday’s test to see where you’ll fitness level is.

Training:

Stretch well before the run

2-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Do Your Job, That Is the Only Thing That Matters in Special Operations

The following is an opinion of the writer and doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of SOFREP or any other employee of it.

Usually, when someone writes that, you can assume that they are going to say something that is inflammatory. Well, this isn’t going to be one of those pieces… I guess it depends on your point of view.

Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past several days, all that you’ve read is about the declaration by President Trump that transgender persons will not be allowed to serve in the military in any capacity. That, of course, set off a firestorm on social media as people of every viewpoint came out to voice their opinion either for or against it.

And like all social media posts in the past few years, it quickly turned into shouting matches, with neither side trying to engage in any kind of meaningful conversation, but just insults shouted over one another. Count me out. And when I see one of those posts? Click…moving on.

But there is no escaping it, even today (Thursday), at a pro football training camp, the conversation somehow turned from the NFL into who is right, wrong or completely ill-informed on the subject of transgenders. Friends and family have asked my opinion on it which until now I’ve stayed away from.

I have always cherished my personal freedom that I enjoy as a citizen of this country. I believe in them, practice them and protect them. As long as your beliefs aren’t endangering myself, my family or the USA, I may not agree with you but respect your right to have a different opinion. I don’t preach my beliefs to others and don’t wish yours preached to or at me. That’s respect.

So for me, and this is just me speaking, I could care less if transgenders want to serve in the military with a single caveat, which I’ll get to later. The only thing I’m interested in, can you do your job? Are you going to be a trustworthy teammate, someone myself and the rest of the team can trust with their life? Can you heft a rucksack and carry it all day, all night and all day again? Can you pick up a hurt teammate with all of his gear and safely carry him out of harm’s way?

If the answers to all of those questions are yes, then sign up for Selection, go thru the course and meet the same standards as the rest of the Regiment. If you pass and are found capable, then I’ll give you a tip of the Beret, hoist a drink with you and welcome you to the regiment. If you can’t, for whatever reason, then sorry, that is what the course is designed for. That’s what the “Special” in Special Operations is for.

I don’t care if the man or woman next to me used to be another gender…could actually care less. If they want to serve and can, just like anyone else is my only concern, just like their “traditional” gender troops.

But…(I know what you’re thinking, here’s where the idiot shows his bias), here is my caveat. I am in full support for transgenders serving, but only after they’ve completed any and all therapy, surgery, post-surgical therapy. If you want to serve, come to us ready to serve not in three-to-four years after all of this process is done, at the government’s expense.

And by expense, I just don’t mean in terms of dollars for therapy and surgery. Time is a very valuable asset in today’s military. Time will have to be spent in not only speaking with and helping troops who identify themselves as transgenders, but with the other troops as well. The time that could be and SHOULD be spent in preparing for war. Separate facilities will have to be set up, more additional troops will have to be assigned to handle the administrative tasks to care for these troops.

Secretary of Defense Mattis has recently stated the military has to cease with “senseless” training and get back to strictly warfighting preparation. I couldn’t agree more.

The entire process from the time that a member of the military identifies him or herself as a transgender until the therapy, surgery and follow-on care is complete is measured in years not months. And as soon as a military member makes it known that they are transgender, that person is non-deployable. So yes, it does affect the readiness of the force. By the time all of that process is done a soldier would almost be done with their enlistment. What is the incentive for remaining?

The military isn’t a social experiment or a huge free clinic for the confused men and women of America. The military’s purpose, its sole reason for being is to protect the citizens of this country and to crush our enemies on the fields of battle. We’re currently engaged in one of the longest wars in our nation’s history. And there is no end in sight. In fact, there are other hot spots brewing all over the globe. We have more wars on-going or brewing at any time since World War II.

The military is very discriminatory on who it lets in the service. Those with physical and emotional disabilities aren’t allowed in. And from everything that is being published, even by those in favor of this state, that the suicide rate for transgenders is very high. Then why not have all of those issues taken care of before even enlisting?

We need every service member able to answer the call, having more and more troops non-deployable requires two to three times that number to also remain behind for support and administrative tasks.

Right now the point is moot. The Joint Chiefs have spoken and said that they’re not going to change the country’s transgender policy…at least for now. But the bottom line is this: If they can do the job and are ready to do the job (and not before) then let them. But let’s all remember that the military has a job to do and the mission comes first.

Photo Courtesy: DOD

SOF Selection PT Preparation 7.28.2017

Let’s get Friday started off right and hit the gym for Chest and Triceps day and then a 5-mile run. Remember to stretch well before and after and to stay hydrated. Mark your progress down in your workout log book.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Bench Press

3 x 10 Dumbbell Flies

3 x 10 Dumbbell Incline Press

3 x 20 Pushups (alternate sets with wide, narrow and shoulder width)

3 x 10 ‘V’ Ups

3 x 20 Sit Ups

3 x 20 Cable Push Downs (rope)

3 x 20 Dips or until muscle failure

5-mile run

Stretch well after completion

12-Mile Rucksack March Nothing To Worry About in Selection?

Well, this sounded like a good idea at the time… “Somebody” had the bright idea to conduct and then write about a 12-mile ruck sack march and then putting the results in our training blog with the whole encouraging headline for our prospective Special Operations readers, that it is STILL a piece of cake.

After all, since starting at SpecialOperations.com and SOFREP, I’ve had the pleasure of writing the “SOF Selection PT Prep” pieces every day. And not just writing them. It has been fun to strapping on a ruck again and doing some shorter distances with my fat bulldog keeping me company in the cool, pre-dawn air. It brought back many pleasant and some not so pleasant memories of carrying the pain pill while a member of a Special Forces A-Team and as a cadre member at Selection. And after following my friends and SF brothers doing the length of the Appalachian Trail, in a fundraising effort for the Green Beret Foundation, it got my motivation up to as high as it can get and I thought, a 12-miler for time with a 45-pound ruck shouldn’t be hard for this steely-eyed ole snake eater right? Hindsight can be a mother…

I had a couple of advantages that you kids in Selection do not. Number 1 is I knew where every mile marker was so I had instant feedback as to my time and distance. I had mapped a trail on flat ground along railroad tracks and a bike path so there was none of the element of the unknown as to time and distance. Which, is a part of the mind-fuck the course plays on you.

My second advantage is I wasn’t carrying a weapon on this, just a walking stick, my staff of Ra if you will. If someone had seen me in town carry a rifle down the road at my 3 a.m start time, you’d have read about the old SF guy being shot by the police for doing something shady, because no sane person goes out rucking at 3 a.m. for fun.

The author with his SFAS walking stick, the Staff of Ra, which a snapping turtle made the ultimate sacrifice for. Image courtesy of the author.

And my third advantage was having my iPod charged up. Having music blasting in your ear is a great motivator. And nothing kills the boredom of a long hike like music. Loud, metal. Metallica is a good choice, We’ll start off with S&M and then the Black Album.

Of course, I had a couple of disadvantages as well. Having blown my back out in SF, and having two surgeries that ended my career is never a plus, the resultant arthritis that crept in there is always a joy early in the morning. That and having two knees that the same. Two surgeries, arthritis…ain’t life grand? So things kind of evened out. Plus it has been ….. Ok, it has been a very long time since my days as a cadre member at Selection so that isn’t a plus…at all.

I got up, put on an old pair of fatigue bottoms from my days as a contractor with that god-awful ACU camouflage pattern. Whoever thought that shit was good? Stretched well and got ready to head out. My bulldog lifted her head and sensing it was much too early for this, looked at me with a “WTF” look and literally flopped over and went back to snoring. Maybe this was an omen…

The first mile wasn’t great as my knees were barking a bit with the cool, damp temps and they were a little bit stiff, but the last bit, I started to get loose and was feeling good. So far so good. Miles 2 and 3 were much better, I was loosened up and had a good sweat working and my stride was getting back to that nice, long, lope that eats up the distance and allows for a quick time. Going down one of the few downhill areas of the course, I stumbled for a second but kept my balance and turned it into a jog for a quarter-mile until the terrain flattened out. Those two miles went by quickly and a quarter of the way in, I had a very good time going, around 40 minutes which was better than I expected.

Having much more energy than I expected, I felt like it was a good time to kick it up a notch. Having nice flat, hard-packed terrain for the next few miles I set a pace that would have sufficed back in the day for the entire march, but for about two and a half miles the ground was falling by the wayside easily and I was making terrific time. Knowing where the mile markers were helped a great deal and having “No Leaf Clover” one of my all-time favorite Metallica songs made it a breeze.

Trying not to burn myself out too quickly, I backed off slightly in Mile 6, but at the halfway point, I still had a lot of energy and was feeling great. Hitting mile marker six, with “Until it Sleeps” blaring in the ears, I finished off one of the water bottles I was carrying. I took the time to do a bathroom break, take the rucksack off for a minute, and stretch out some more. Time at the turn around point was 1 hour 17 minutes and 40 seconds… I’ll take that all day long. That wasn’t a bad time back in the day, so I’ll take it.

Having a ton of confidence now and energy, I kicked it back into gear for the trek back.

Hitting the good hard-packed terrain for the two miles going back was another easy leg of the trip. I hit the eight-mile mark with still an excellent time, well under the standard and the weight of the 45-lb ruck, which was fitting nice and snug was negligible. That’s when things began to get tough. Stopping for a moment to catch my breath and taking a long pull from my water bottle, that old familiar ache in the knees began to kick in. Not good. Doing a couple of stretches with the ruck on didn’t help so I just continued to drive on.

The energy level was starting to taper off quickly, so to keep up the time, I lengthened my stride some more in an attempt to keep my time up. Between miles nine and ten, that downhill slope was now an uphill one. Going uphill the pace began to slow considerably. My energy was waning fast but I still hit Mile ten in excellent shape time wise. Between Miles ten and eleven, a couple of coyotes crossed the railroad tracks ahead of me about 75 to a 100 yards to my front left. They stopped and did a long take in my direction. After about ten seconds they bounded off into the woods near the highway.

Now it was a slog rather than a speed march. Knees aching, it was an effort to keep going. I was never so happy to see our town’s cemetery which meant I was a mile from the finish. The sun was coming up and I could hear the traffic picking up on the road to my right. After crossing the railroad trestle (thankfully no train was coming) I was on the downhill side. My feet were getting sore but no blisters (thanks, Merrell) but by now my pace was almost a crawl. I finished 12 miles (sans weapon) at 2 hours 48 minutes, 36 seconds to the perfect ending song of the Black album, “Wherever I May Roam.” Not bad for a former action guy, but a good 28-30 minutes off my old times, albeit many moons ago.

So for you young guys considering the course, many have asked questions concerning the 12-miler and other long range movements and have voiced concerns over them. If the old guys can still do it at this point, you can do it too. You may even see us out on the trail, look for the old greybeard with the big staff bouncing along to Metallica.

The biggest difference between now and then was back in the day, after putting my feet up for an hour or two and getting something to eat, I could do it all over again. Today, I’m beat and not embarrassed to admit it. The thought of crossing the room for the remote is a debate in my mind to which, as my wife leaves the room, sure Dr. Phil is fine. I think I’ll just nod off here for a while….who’s bright idea was it to do this stuff again anyway?

Featured image courtesy of DoD