Air Force Special Operations

Getting Enough Shuteye in Selection? Never, But Here’s How to Maximize It

Sleep. We all crave it, especially on weekends. But do we ever get enough of it? If you are like the majority of most Americans, the answer is no. And when you are going thru Selection, it is a fair bet that you will not be enjoying the eight hours of slumber that doctors say everyone should have. But truth be told, some of us, (raises hand) have been living on 5-6 hours sleep max for the past 40 years.

And some people have a heck of a time falling asleep, even when they are mentally and physically exhausted. For many of us old hands from the military that was never an issue. We can drop off and fall asleep immediately and catch a catnap just about anywhere.

It has been a never-ending source of irritation for my wife that I was able to nod off anywhere, at any time when the opportunity availed itself to me. In a crowded airport waiting for a plane? No problem. Stuck in traffic, with someone else driving? Please. And many soldiers are quite similar. It comes with the territory. But if you aren’t one of those few…those lucky few…where have I heard that before? What then? Are they cursed for a lifetime of insomnia?

Nope. Now there is a not-so-new method that will let you fall asleep within two minutes and stay asleep longer during the night. And it comes to you courtesy of the U.S. military. During World War II, naval aviators were hard pressed to get enough sleep between missions.

The Navy brought in author and college football and track coach Bud Winter who was an Ensign during the early war years, to teach their Naval aviators how to properly relax, thus making it easier for them to fall asleep faster.

Winter before the war had partnered with a psychology professor to teach college athletes how to relax and therefore improve their performances while under the stress of competition. The Navy, having too many accidents in the aviation field, decided that Winter was the man to help them on both counts.

Winter’s system is comprised of two parts. The first was to teach the pilots how to properly physically relax and the second was to teach them how to mentally relax. This would accomplish several things and each is applicable to the aspiring Special Operations candidate. It will help them sharpen their focus, speed up their reaction time, limit their fear and then help them fall asleep in 120 seconds or less.

In his book, Relax and Win, Winter described the process of how to properly physically relax and do so quickly.

“Sit back in your chairs and put your feet flat on the deck. Knees apart, your hands limp on the inside of your lap. Now, close your eyes and drop your chin until it rests on your chest.

Let’s breathe slowly, deeply, and regularly. Take all the wrinkles out of your forehead. Relax your scalp. Just let go. Now let your jaw sag-g-g. Let it drop open. Now relax the rest of your face muscles. Get the brook trout look on your face. Even relax your tongue and lips. Just let them go loose. Breathe slowly.

Now, let’s go after the eight muscles that control your eyes. Let them go limp in their sockets. No focus, just let them go limp. Breathe slowly.

Now drop your shoulders as low as they will go. You think that they are low, but let them go more. Did you feel the muscles in the back of your neck go limp? When you think you are really relaxed, let them go even more.

Now, let’s relax your chest. Take a deep breath. Hold it. Exhale and blow out all your tensions. Just let your chest collapse. Let it sag-g-g. Imagine you are a big, heavy blob on the chair, a jellyfish. Breathe slowly. When you exhale, release more and more of your tensions.

Let’s go after your arms. Talk directly to your arm muscles. First, talk to your right bicep. Tell it to relax, go limp. Do the same to your right forearm. Now to the right hand and fingers. Your arm should feel like a dead weight on your leg. Repeat the relaxation process with your left arm. Breathe slowly.

Your entire upper body has been exposed to relaxation and a warm, pleasant feeling comes over you. You feel good. A sense of well-being invades your body.

Now for your lower body. Talk to your right thigh muscles. Let them go to a dead weight on the chair. Let the meat hang on the bones. Go through the same routine for the right calf muscles. Then all the muscles of your right ankle and foot. Tell yourself that your right leg has no bones in it. It is just a flabby, heavy weight on the deck. Repeat the process with your left thigh, calf, ankle, and foot.

At present you are all relaxed physically, or think you are. For a little insurance, let’s take three deep breaths and when you let them out, blow out all the remaining tensions, one . . . whoosh, two . . . whoosh, three . . . whoosh.”

From here, going from a very relaxed physical state to a deep sleep now required the pilots to get into a relaxed mental state. The key he said is to stop the train of thoughts running thru your head for at least ten seconds.

He says to cease any thought of physical activity because the studies he conducted showed that even thoughts about exercise would cause muscles to contract and thus keep a person awake. He suggested three still thoughts to help the pilots to relax. He lists them in the book:

“First, we want you to fantasize that it is a warm spring day and you are lying in the bottom of a canoe on a very serene lake. You are looking up at a blue sky with lazy, floating clouds. Do not allow any other thought to creep in. Just concentrate on this picture and keep foreign thoughts out, particularly thoughts with any movement or motion involved. Hold this picture and enjoy it for ten seconds.

In the second sleep-producing fantasy, imagine that you are in a big, black, velvet hammock and everywhere you look is black. You must also hold this picture for ten seconds.

The third trick is to say the words ‘don’t think . . . don’t think . . . don’t think,’ etc. Hold this, blanking out other thoughts for at least ten seconds.”

And before you pooh-pooh this practice as a bunch of hooey, during the war, Winter broke up two groups of cadets in the Navy’s aviation school in California. One group went thru the relaxation techniques. The other did not. The first group outperformed the second group in every mental or physical task given to them. After a six-week course, 96 percent of the class could fall asleep in under two minutes, anywhere, at any time even after drinking coffee.

After the war, Winter brought his relaxation technique to the track and field college ranks and he became the guru of sprinters coaches in the United States. He trained over 100 All-Americans, 27 Olympians and at the time of his retirement, his runners owned 10 world records.

If any of our readers are attending a Selection class in the next few months, I’d be very interested in hearing if they’re interested in learning and trying this technique and if they find it useful. Not only in falling asleep but in performing better mentally as well. Because as we all know, after carrying the Sandman and ammo boxes for 12 miles, falling asleep won’t be too hard that night.

Photo: DOD

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 8, Day 4

Shoulders and back day in the gym before heading off to do a 5-mile rucksack march. Conduct the ruck over varied terrain and remember to hydrate throughout. Safe travels for our friends in the Carolinas with thunderstorms and the hurricane in the area. But still be careful out there if you venture out.

It is a good habit to get used to hydrating while rucking and a needed one for the time when you’re in the course. Mark your time down in your workout logbook.

UBRR Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

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

3 x 12 Lat Pulldowns, front

3 x 10 Seated Rows

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Arnold Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

5-mile Rucksack march (45-lb minimum) over varied terrain, 75-minutes maximum

Stretch well after completion

Where Were You on 9/11? A Dark Day for the US

Like many of us, we can remember exactly where we were on 9/11, like the generation before us could recall where they were when JFK was shot in Dallas. The memories of that awful day and the days that followed will forever be burned into our memories and it shaped our national policy for years to come.

And many of our young people flocked to the military after the attacks in New York City, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania after we learned that America had been under a coordinated attack. And now the post 9/11 era veterans are the second largest veterans group in the country after the Vietnam Era.

But like any significant event, there are always the ones who look to change the narrative. There are many in the world that foolishly now claim that the Holocaust is a myth and didn’t actually happen, despite the fact that the Nazi Germany regime of Hitler was nothing if not meticulous record keepers, who documented everything.

Some would have you believe today that 9/11 was brought upon the US by the US itself, by our own actions. Some real tin-foil wearers go as far to say that it was radical Muslim terrorists but Israeli Mossad agents, while others say that a plane never hit the Pentagon that it was some kind of missile. All of this despite mountains of evidence to show that the bin Laden followers indeed caught the US sleeping. Something that must never be allowed to happen again.

Hate carried the day on 9/11 sixteen years ago. The terrorists who flew those planes were manifested by hate for the West, our beliefs, and more than anything else our freedoms. They also hated that their twisted version of Islam was not in a position of being globally supreme over all of the world. And their mission was to murder their way to success.

The terrorists, through their own propaganda machines, would have you believe that their terror tactics are the weapon for the weak masses to rise up against Western, read that Non-Islamic interests. When in fact it is quite the opposite. It is a weapon against the weak, the civilians who only want to go about their daily lives in peace.

So on the 16th anniversary of the events of 9/11, let us remember what we set out to do in the very aftermath of those horrible days. Stamp out the terror and hate wherever they may reside.

The timeline of that day is listed below as the events unfolded.

8:46 the first plane hits the World Trade Center: This is the moment when Mohammed Atta and the hijackers and passengers on Flight 11 smashed into the 93-99th floors of the WTC North. Everyone on the plane and several hundred people were killed instantly. Firefighters from the NYFD on the ground right below the scene witness this and move quickly into action. This was captured by a film crew doing a documentary on the Firemen. Little did they know they would be capturing history.

9:03 the second plane hits the World Trade Center: Now, hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 75-85 of the World Trade Center’s South Tower, killing everyone on board and hundreds more inside the building. Now there is no longer the fallacy of the first plane being an accident. That plane was caught on film by hundreds of photographers and news video camera who were covering the initial crash, thinking it was an accident. The fireball of thousands of gallons of aviation fuel and the explosion burst thru the opposite side of the World Trade Center and create a fireball which will weaken the structure beyond its saving.

9:37 the Pentagon is Hit: Hijackers aboard Flight 77 crash the plane into the western façade of the Pentagon in Washington, killing all 59 on board the plane and 125 military and civilian personnel inside the building. It created a hole that went deep inside the building and by a miracle didn’t kill many more.

9:59 am the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses: Shock is the only way to describe watching that unfold. It looked surreal, like a bad disaster film, and the only thing one could think about was the hundreds if not thousands of people trapped inside.

Later as we’ve seen in the documentaries done on 9-11, the NYC Fire Department was inside the building and making their way up to the worst hit floors. As filmmakers recorded the firemen, what sounded like artillery shells hitting outside was the sound of bodies impacting on the concrete as people hurtled out the windows rather than be burned alive. There were no illusions now as to what they were facing.

10:07 am Flight 93 crashes into a field in Pennsylvania: After passengers and crew members aboard the hijacked Flight 93 contact friends and family and learn about the attacks in New York and Washington, they mount an attempt to retake the plane. In the ensuing fight, the hijackers deliberately crash the plane into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing all 40 passengers and crew aboard.

One passenger was on the phone with his family when they learned of the other hijacked planes and their fates. The passengers decide to mount an attempt to retake the plane. In the middle of this group of passengers is a pilot who they hoped would be able to refly the plane to safety. The last thing his family heard was “Let’s Roll! As they crashed into the cockpit and were retaking it from the terrorists, the terrorist pilot put the plane into a steep dive that it was impossible to recover from.

10:28 am the World Trade Center’s North Tower collapses: 102 minutes after being struck by Flight 11, the first tower that was hit collapses. It was a stunning sequence of events, Manhattan was covered by a pall of smoke and dust. It was a shocking spectacle that no one could believe was happening. Manhattan was invisible from across the river on Interstate 95. The entire world was watching on television and much like the moon landings of 1969 but for an entirely different reason, we were glued to it for much of the next few days.

The aftermath triggered the U.S. government response. Massive investigations followed as we tried to figure out where everything had gone so wrong. The Patriot Act came into being over this, something social activists would point to as a government overreaction.

But a few weeks later the United States would begin to strike back. A handful of Green Berets from the 5th Special Forces Group would be airdropped into Afghanistan to make contact with the Northern Alliance fighters that were in combat against the Taliban, who gave the Al-Qaeda terrorists their safe-haven from the West.

In short order, these men would begin to direct the efforts of ousting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda from Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden would leave and flee into the mountains and be forced into hiding. It took a long time but he eventually paid for 9/11 in a small town in Pakistan when Navy SEALs took him out. The mastermind of 9/11 was dead. But the struggle against terror moves on. The terrorists now aren’t being as bold as in 2001. But while their tactics have changed, their aims have not.

Photos: Wikipedia

Passing Selection Means Being Well-Rounded and Durable

A lot of times we tend to overthink things as Americans when facing an obstacle or a problem. Many of us, when facing an issue, do as much research as possible…which is a good thing. But then we’ll take it to the nth degree and overthink things too much. And for those trying to pass Selection to get into Special Operations, this can be a prime example.

We hear this and see it all the time. We publish a daily workout program on SpecialOperations.com that should help prospective candidates get ready for the rigors and physicality of Selection. And we start with the basics. Carrying a 45-lb pound rucksack (without food and water) and tell everyone that is where you should be starting from. Will you carry more in Selection? Yes. Will carry a LOT more in the SOF units? Absolutely. But starting there and trying to carry the weight of a pack mule on Day 1 is just asking for trouble.

We’ve gotten a lot of messages from guys who, in their prep to go to Selection are having knee woes when they first begin rucking in earnest. The first questions we always ask is “how far are you rucking?” and “how much weight are you carrying?” And the answers are always in the range of, “Well I started doing 8-10 milers with 75-80 pounds of weight.” Wrong…

There is a reason we start slowly and work up from there. Unless you’ve been doing this for a while, you’ll hurt yourself if you try to do much too fast. The old “crawl, walk, run” method, may seem really cliche but it works for a reason.

Another area is in terms of strength and upper body strength. I use that term all the time in our workouts. I also state, quite frequently, that you don’t have to look like an NFL linebacker to pass the course, but that part seems to get lost in translation. Remember, we’re looking for functional fitness here. If you get stronger, you’ll naturally get a bit bigger as well. But we’re not selecting guys for the posedown in the Arnold Classic.

So, looking back up at the header…what does well-rounded mean?

Being a Well-Rounded Tactical Athlete:

This should be the goal of everyone and all it means is doing everything well, better than the standards but not going overboard. Being strong doesn’t mean you have to be able to bench press a Toyota, run a sub-five minute mile or ruck 12 miles in less than two hours. By all means, set your goals that high, but remember don’t spend too much time in one area or you will lose ground in another.

Recognize areas that you are weak in and strive to make them better until they become strengths. If rucking is a particular weak spot, work more rucking time into your workout schedule. The same for running, lifting etc.

Remember to keep your eye on the prize. What is your goal here? It isn’t looking like an Adonis strutting on the beach. It is to be a member of the Special Operations Forces. So what does a member of SOF have to accomplish? Learn what the mission entails, which for now all you have to do is know what the standards are physically.

You know you’ll have to run 5 miles in 40 minutes or less. The pushups and situps are pretty standard across the board. You know that as a minimum, you must ruck at least 12 miles in under three hours with a 45-lb minimum rucksack. Accomplish all of these within the standards and then aim to better them all. What is your weakest area of these? Then you know where to work on getting better.

Durability…You Can’t Make the Club From the Tub:

This should really read durability and pliability as the two I believe go hand-in-hand. Durability is simply the ability to answer the call every day and be there when your teammates need you. In the NFL, a commonly repeated term is “you can’t make the club from the tub.”

By its very nature, service in a Special Operations unit is taxing on your body both physically and mentally. Your body has to withstand the rigors of jumping out of aircraft with 100 pounds of”lightweight” gear strapped to it, Rucking with that said 100 pounds of gear on and the sustained operations that the special operators endure. The different units conduct different operations, and the duration of each can vary quite a bit. The same with deployments and their duration. But SOF have a crushing operational tempo that is always a source of conversation with the command elements.

So how to stay as durable as possible? Build up a strong lower body and core. Your lower body is the driver’s seat where everything you do springs from. That is why we always push Squats, Deadlifts, and the Weighted Sled Push. This builds up the strength and explosion your body needs to carry that rucksack, and constantly hump the mountains of Afghanistan in operations, frequently over 8000 feet.

And now the old standard flexibility is out and the latest is called “Muscular Pliability” which is and isn’t the same thing. Flexibility is the actual range of motion for a particular joint. But how far that joint is able to move depends on the pliability of the muscles that operate it.

Pliability means lengthening the muscle so it works more effectively and is much less prone to injuries. From the TB12 Clinic here in Massachusetts where they preach pliability above all else, they say, “Pliability work turns short, dense muscles into long, soft, and resilient muscles. It gets your body to 100 percent muscle pump function, and keeps it there over time — which is a huge part of achieving sustained peak performance.”

Unlike the old adage about being “hard”, today most experts believe that longer, softer muscles are better suited to long-term support and longevity…(no dirty minds here).

So stick with your training plan, and keep your long-term goals in mind. Train harder, smarter and be around when the fat lady sings.

Photo: DOD

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 8, Day 2

A good workout is the best way to start Monday and the week off right. We’ll start with the basics of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches, then to the bar for V-ups, pull-ups, and dips before a 5-mile run in 40 minutes or less in a mini UBRR test.

Remember to mark your progress in your workout log book.

UBRR Training:

More preparation for the UBRR

1 x 1-minute Pushups

1 x 1-minute Sit-ups

1 x 1-minute, Crunches

1 x 1-minute, V-ups

1 x Dips as many as possible to muscle failure

1 x Pullups as many as possible or to muscle failure

5-mile run (40 minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 8, Day 1

Time for our Sunday morning ruck march. Do a quick warmup of pushups and sit-ups before heading out. Stretch well both before and after the event. Remember to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated out there.

Today would a great time to wear your second pair of boots for the Selection Course. Don’t wait until then to get another pair broken in. Check for hot spots and blisters, by the time the Selection course rolls around, you’ll be an expert at this and shouldn’t have as many issues in that area.

UBRR Training:

Warm up

2 x 20 Pushups

2 x 20 Sit-ups

6-mile Rucksack march over varied terrain with a 45-pound minimum. And mark your times in your workout log book. The standard is 90 minutes, you should be looking to better that.

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Force Selection PT Preparation Week 7, Day 7

We’ll start the weekend and Saturday off right. It is time to go back to the gym for some shoulders and back work. Followed by a four-mile run. Log your numbers down in the workout notebook

UBRR Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 10 Lat Pulldowns, rear

3 x 10 Barbell Dead Lift

3 x 10 Wide Grip Pull-ups

3 x 10 Seated Rows

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Seated Bent-Over Delt Raise

3 x 10 Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 x 10 Arnold Dumbbell Press

4-mile run (32-minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 7, Day 6

It is Friday, so yes, you know it also means Leg Day at the gym. Begin with some Squats – front, and barbell. This builds up the strength in your legs that will help propel the rucksack.

Then some lunges and after the weighted sled push or an alternative if your gym doesn’t have one. Then finish the workout off with a 4-mile run. Get out and enjoy the beautiful weather

Remember to stretch well after the workout and to hydrate.

UBRR Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR.

3 x Front Squat 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

3 x 10 Deadlifts

3 x 10 Barbell Squats

3 x 10 Dumbbell Lunges

3 x 10 Romanian Lunges

3 x 10 Leg Extensions

3 x Weighted sled push or Fireman’s Carry

4-mile run (32 minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Mail Call… Rucking Problems With Shoulder Pain, How to Fix it

Getting prepared to pass Selection into Special Operations is a long, and difficult process. As the summer months begin to slowly morph into fall, many of the prospective candidates will begin their preparation in earnest to tackle the course.

For many of the candidates, the two biggest elephants in the room revolve around carrying a rucksack. What we term “rucking” on long distance speed marches and land navigation. The rucking that Special Operations units do is longer, faster and with much more weight than their conventional brethren are accustomed to.

Many of the candidates have a hard time with rucking and a lot of the comments and questions we get here at SpecialOperations.com center around that. For those preparing for Selection and especially those new to the military and running or rucking for distance for the first time in their lives, physical issues crop up.

We recently received a message about issues one prospective candidate was having. Among the comments this candidate forwarded was one that centered around his shoulders. He said he was having pain in both of them and after a few miles, his hands were getting tingly, almost numb.

Let’s take a look at what may be causing this particular candidate’s issues and figure out what the best course of action may be to alleviate the pain he’s having.

The Newness of It All:

Many times, your body is not used to carry large heavy items around on your shoulders. And your body is going to rebel a little bit by making those shoulders ache after a long rucksack march. Even very experienced ruckers and special operators can get achy shoulders after a really long ruck, like a 20+ miler.

More often than not, this is the issue and it goes away after a short while. It just takes your shoulders some getting used to the weight digging into your shoulders where there was never any weight there before.

If this is the case, then as you gradually get used to rucking, the issue will slowly improve until it nearly totally disappears. But as you get into the units and begin carrying much heavier loads, you may still have a little bit of aches and pains there. However, if that isn’t the case, then we’ll move on to the next one…

Loosen Those Straps A Bit:

Many times, candidates will tighten their shoulder straps on their ruck until they are nearly cutting off your circulation. Your shoulder straps should be snug but not too tight. If they are, the tightness will send alarm signals to the nerves in the back of your neck, shoulders, and arms. The result is, the nerves will tighten up and spasm which can cause the tingling and numb sensation.

As we said, you may want to loosen those shoulder straps a bit. And two other suggestions are to buckle the sternum strap as well as your hip belt. Those two straps will definitely take the strain off of just your shoulders. The hip belt especially will ease the burden off of your shoulders and place the weight across your hips.

Something else to consider is how your rucksack is packed. Are you packing it with the heavy weight on top, across your shoulder blades? And more importantly, is the weight evenly divided in the middle of the ruck. If there is too much weight on one side, things begin to shift in the rucksack. That will definitely put a strain on a shoulder during the ruck. And finally, the final tip is…

Work on Your Shoulder Muscles:

We put out a daily physical training workout that should help our readers who are aspiring Special Operations candidates get properly prepared to attend the course. Yesterday’s PT column had a 3-mile run, a 300-meter swim, and a short 3-mile rucksack march. What we call the Special Operations Triathlon.

But we’re always putting out exercises and workouts that increase your upper body strength and included in there are plenty of shoulder exercises because that is where the ruck straps sit.

If your shoulder muscles are a weak spot of your body, you can incorporate more of those into your workouts. Some very good exercises to build them up are in our workouts. They include shrugs, overhead presses, both barbell and dumbbell, upright rows and heavy Farmer’s carries.

Sometimes your issues may not be just one of these but a combination of all three is needed to help you out and take away those throbbing shoulders. Try each of these and they should help you out immeasurably.

However, if these problems persist or get worse, then you should check with your primary care doctor and/or chiropractor. It may be a medical issue that needs to be looked after. Remember, you are here to prepare for Selection, not get hurt before you go. If there is a medical issue, get it looked after right away.

But these tips should help you right away. It is a long journey to get into Special Operations. Learn to do things the right way before you get to Selection and your chances of being selected increase dramatically.

Contact Us:

And if anyone else has any questions or comments feel free to send them along to me at @SteveB7SFG on Twitter or via email at [email protected]. We’ll get to them and answer them all. And as always, your name or contact info will not be shared. We may, like today, write a post for issues or questions that we get frequently that will be helpful to all.

So, have you checked the whiteboard….”15 minutes, rucksack with 45 pounds minimum, not including food or water. On the street in uniform with broken in boots. Let’s roll.”

Photo: US Army

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 7, Day 5

We are heading back to the gym today as we prep for the UBRR with a Chest and Triceps workout. This workout will build your upper body strength

Then a 4-mile ruck march with 45-pounds minimum. Remember to stretch well before and after and to stay hydrated. Mark your progress down in your workout log book.

UBRR 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 Kip Ups

3 x 20 Sit-ups

3 x 20 Cable Push Downs (rope)

3 x 20 Dips or until muscle failure

4-mile rucksack march (45-pound minimum, 60 minutes maximum) over varied terrain, note your time

Stretch well after completion