Air Force Special Operations

Biggest Hurdle to Passing Selection? Learning to “Embrace the Suck”

Remember the old commercials (if you’re 35+), where the narrator said that “the mind was a terrible thing to waste” in a push for a college fund? That was absolutely true.Your mind is the best weapon you’ll have in Special Operations but it can cut both ways too. It can also be a buddy f***er as well.

When you attempt Selection, we here, try to help get you as prepared as we can. We post workout programs that will get you ready for the long haul of Selection and the qualification courses and beyond. And rest assured, it IS a marathon and not a sprint. If you’re going to attempt SFAS and then the SFQC (Special Force Qualification Course), you’ll be in training mode for about a year or more of constantly being tested and evaluated.

Some of the other things we post here will deal with specific events, the Land Navigation Course, which out at Hoffman, NC is probably the most challenging navigation course in the U.S. military and other events. But this one deals with your head. You know, “that lump three feet above your ass”, to quote Tom Hanks.

Your mind requires training just as much as you’d give to an M-4 or a pistol. You have to have a mindset that is going to carry you thru. Having the proper mindset in officer speak is called a positive mental attitude. But as we all know, the NCOs are the backbone of the Special Operations community and are the true trainers and evaluators. They have a more apt description of a positive mental attitude. It is called “Embracing the Suck.”

Everyone has heard that saying but to those new to these pages or if you’re a civilian who likes to read about different things associated with military training, you might be confused as to what exactly it means. Embracing the Suck is the conscious act of taking the best shot from whatever is in front of you. And continuing to drive on. It doesn’t mean that you won’t get knocked down, you will. Especially in Selection, that is what the course is designed to do.

Everyone gets to that point where their bodies are beaten down, they are tired, hungry, as well as probably cold and wet. That’s when their mind begins to play tricks on them. Don’t listen to those little voices telling you it is okay not to get up again. It isn’t. Get up and keep getting up. Nothing they will throw at you hasn’t been successfully completed by thousands of candidates before you. Remember that.

The Selection course in reality has no training in it. There are a bunch of training events that are designed to simply see if the candidates have the physical and mental toughness to carry on and be worthy of the training that is to come. The course is designed to separate the weak (both physically and mentally) from the strong. The cadre will watch and evaluate the candidates almost like sharks circling in the water to detect any weakness. It doesn’t mean that they don’t expect candidates to get tired and worn down. They’ve all been there and done that. But they’re looking for the successful ones. The candidate that will continue to drive on and not accept failure.

That is Embracing the Suck. The actual training will come after that and there will still those days when the candidates will get tired and worn down from months of constant testing and evaluating. That’s why only the best need apply.

And Embracing the Suck isn’t just for the military crowd. It can carry over to any walk of life that you’ll find. Someone who was a lot smarter than me and I consider one of my mentors once asked me (and others) did I know what the difference between a warrior and an average person was. He said the average person looks at events in his life as either a blessing or a curse. The warrior looks at those same events as merely a challenge that needs to be surmounted.

My wife, who’s heard the same conversations time and again between me and my military friends saw a shirt with “Embrace the Suck” online and bought it for me. I happened to be wearing it recently while in the waiting room of her doctor’s office.

A guy came in and had one of those casts with the pins through his lower leg, but insisted on walking with crutches while his wife quietly berated him for not riding in a wheelchair. He made it clear, that was unacceptable.

Although I tried to hide it, a barely perceptible smile crossed my face which his wife noticed and nudged him and shrugging in my direction as if to say, “WTH is he smiling at?” The man asked me what the shirt meant. I told him that his refusing to ride in the chair was exactly what it meant. He and I chatted for a few moments and he got a big smile on his face while his wife rolled her eyes as if to say, “Don’t encourage him.”

He got called for his appointment and he used his crutches to go in the door, he called back, “Hey,” he asked toward me. “Where can I get one of those shirts?”

So for you young folks out there getting ready for Selection. You’ll take the worst the course has to throw at you. You may get beat down, but don’t let it win. You’re still there, and it isn’t just the matter of surviving the event. But reveling in it, embracing it. Welcome the worst they have to offer and don’t let it beat you. That is Embracing the Suck. Once you do that, the cadre will know, they’ll see it and let the chips fall where they may.

You don’t have to be the biggest, the strongest or the fastest. It is the mindset that you won’t be beaten. Don’t quit. Embrace the Suck and keep grinding. DOL

Photo: US Army

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.

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.

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

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 Towel Pull-ups

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, dumbbell goblet, 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 January thaw after we’ve been in the deep freeze for two weeks.

Remember to stretch well after the workout and to hydrate.

Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR.

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

3 x Goblet Dumbbell Squats 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

3 x 10 Barbell Squats

3 x 10 Dumbbell Lunges

3 x 10 Romanian Lunges

3 x Weighted sled push or Fireman’s Carry

4-mile run (32 minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Turkey Summons Top US Envoy Over Syrian Kurds

Turkey is not happy that the US has continued to support and arm Syrian Kurdish fighters, and their foreign ministry has summoned the top US diplomat in the country to voice its “discomfort” over the situation.

Turkey’s state-run media, the Anadolu news agency quoting government sources, said that US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Phillip Kosnett was summoned to the ministry. Kosnett is the most senior US Embassy official in Turkey since Ambassador John Bass departed in 2017. No replacement has been named yet.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, is seen by the US as the most effective ground partner for the US-led coalition fighting ISIL in Syria.
The YPG has received arms shipments and training from the US, in a move that angered Turkey which considers the Kurdish forces to be a “terrorist group” that threatens its security.
Ankara says YPG fighters are linked to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) separatists inside Turkey, who have waged an armed campaign since 1984 that has killed more than 40,000 people.
Wednesday’s move was not the first time Turkey has announced its displeasure with the US about the issue. In May 2017, Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli called the supply of weapons to the Kurdish forces “unacceptable”.

Ankara’s ire isn’t just centered on the United States. The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also called out Russia and Iran to stick to the joint accord they signed with Turkey last year agreeing on a “de-escalation zone” in Idlib which were set up to scale back the conflict.

However, Syrian regime forces, with Russian backing have stepped up attacks trying to regain control of the area controlled by the rebels. “Iran and Russia need to carry out their responsibilities. If you are guarantors, which you are, stop the regime,” Cavusoglu said.

To read the entire article from Al Jazeera, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

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.

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

We Need to do a Better Job With the Invisible Injuries of War

Op-Ed: This weekend I had two very interesting conversations with two brothers who served with me in the Special Forces Regiment and specifically in the 7th Special Forces Group. Both suffered catastrophic injuries and now confined to wheelchairs.

And after speaking with both of them, it became clear, that although we in the Regiment and generally in Special Operations overall, we do a pretty good job of keeping up and reaching out to our brothers who are injured with the visible injuries but we’re all lacking at helping the brothers out there dealing with depression and PTSD.

Just this past year, two men I knew very well from 7th SFG, men from my era, committed suicide and it drove home the realization that while these men were some of the best soldiers and men that we had served with, it shows, no one is immune. More recently I read about a 5th SFG trooper who took his own life. Reading about his bio and speaking with some of the guys who knew him pretty well here at SOFREP, it is obvious the demons and guilt he carried with him, not only didn’t go away but got worse as time passed.

Everyone knows that the military community is struggling with veteran suicides, as many as 22 a day and that is 22 too many. The vast majority of those are within the first three years of a soldier separating from the service. That’s an awkward time even for those who aren’t suffering from the invisible injuries of combat. I’ve read that the suicide rate among women veterans is nearly 250 percent higher than with civilian women.

Losing the built-in support system of the unit, having a sounding board amongst the brothers and sisters of the services, and having a sense of normalcy of knowing that you have to get up and go to work with your unit every day is a difficult transition, especially the longer a soldier has served.

The number of the first three years being the definitive spike in veteran suicides struck home on Saturday evening. I had the fireplace roaring as the East Coast has been in the deep freeze since Christmas and was watching the Chiefs-Titans NFL playoff game when the phone rang right at halftime. It was my old team leader from A-712 Danny C.

He got injured in Central America a long time and has been a quadriplegic ever since. But a more upbeat guy, there has never been. Danny is uber-active, more so than myself which made me think about my own level of activity. Although confined to a wheelchair, he goes skiing in Aspen, plays in basketball and bocci ball tournaments and even went skydiving again when a former SF brother came up with a harness that allowed Danny to be strapped to him safely. He wants to continue to skydive, but his doctor is adamantly against it, stating that if he were to break a hip, he wouldn’t survive.

“Thirty-one years, I’ve been in the chair,” he said. “It doesn’t seem that long ago…I always think back to that last deployment with the team, those were the best days of my life.” That’s when he dropped the bombshell.

“You know, after 31 years, I’ve been heavily involved with the disabled veterans and the Wounded Warriors and I’ve met so many young kids who are coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan and I tell them, ‘your life isn’t over, it is just going to be different’, but the sad fact of the matter is, so many of them give up and are gone in just 3-4 years.”

He told me that he reaches out to many of the young guys to spend time with them, especially in that darkest time for them soon after their injuries. But many of them shut down and shut everyone out. It is a sad thing, Danny said. I’d concur.

On Sunday night, I got an email from what I thought was a ghost. Another SF (7th SFG), Timmy H. was injured in El Salvador and was confined to a wheelchair even before Danny had. I had heard thru the commo grapevine that he passed away at the Cleveland VA hospital years ago. So, needless to say, getting an email from a ghost was surprising. Obviously, Tim had heard the same rumors. “The reports of my demise, have been greatly exaggerated,” is how he started it off. He had read one of my NFL columns, from another media organization and reached out after too many years.

His message was similar, but the one thing that both of them had in common was a tremendously positive attitude and the fact that many of the brothers from the Regiment had been there for them. There’s no doubt that both probably went thru (and still do) some dark times. But that’s where us other veterans come in. Danny admitted as much when he said, “You and Luis Colon kept me alive when I wasn’t sure I’d be around, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”

But it is the guys who have those invisible injuries, the PTSD sufferers who are afflicted and (at least in their own minds) alone. And it isn’t just to fellow veterans but to all our citizens I ask that we, as a country need to do more. We need to reach out and help the men and women who suffer the invisible scars of war. You are not alone and just as our credo says, we will leave no man behind.

If one of our veterans is still stuck somewhere in his own mind, we need to reach out. If you haven’t heard from a close friend in a while, don’t wait for him to call you, reach out and call them. And if a veteran is having suicidal thoughts, you aren’t alone. Call your friends, they’ll be there for you just as they were in the service.

We’ve been standing shoulder to shoulder since Lexington and Concord. And nothing will change that. Our veterans deserve that and all of us can do better. DOL

Photo: DOD

Pakistan Seeing “Increasing Footprint” of Islamic State

Pakistan is facing new challenges in the decades-long battle against terrorism and religious extremism within its borders as a new reports document what is characterized as an “alarming increase” of the Islamic State footprint.

This report cannot come at a worse time for the Pakistani government. They are already smarting from statements by President Donald Trump that they aren’t doing enough in the fight against terrorism within their borders and now this news has to be another headache for the Islamabad government.

The annual report, published by the independent Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, or PIPS, registered 370 terrorist attacks across Pakistan in 2017, including “suicide and gun-and-suicide coordinated” raids that killed 815 people and injured more than 1,700. The report, however, noted a 10 percent reduction in fatalities and a 16 percent decline in overall terrorist attacks.
The report said that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, and its splinter factions were “still the most potent threat” and were behind 58 percent of the attacks. Nationalist insurgents active in southwestern Baluchistan province and sectarian groups are blamed for the rest of the attacks.
“What has been quite alarming is the increasing footprint of Daesh, especially in Baluchistan and Sindh [provinces],” according to the report, which used the Arabic acronym for IS. The terrorist group claimed six major attacks that last year killed 153 people, mostly civilians, it said. Two Chinese were also among the victims.

As US coalition forces supporting the Afghans are pushing IS forces out, they’re moving closer to the border region with Pakistan and the government is seeing an increase of IS or Daesh influence especially on educational campuses. There have been increases in self-radicalization and religious extremism along the border area as well.

To read the entire article from The Voice of America, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 7, Day 4

Shoulders and back day in the gym before heading off to do the SOF (Special Operations Forces) Triathlon. A 3-mile run, a 3-mile rucksack march, and a 300-meter swim with fatigues and boots.

Aim to go as fast as you can in each event. Get used to swimming with fatigues and boots. It is much harder than normal swimming and is an often-overlooked part of the Selection preparation.

If you can do all three of these things well, you will have the physical aspect of most of the selection courses checked.

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 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Arnold Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

3-mile Run (24 minutes maximum)

3-mile Rucksack march (45-lb minimum, 45 minutes maximum)

300-meter swim in fatigues and boots

Stretch well after completion