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USSOCOM Warrior Care Program – Taking Care of Wounded SOF Warriors

USSOCOM’s Warrior Care Program (Care Coalition) may have changed their name but what remains the same is that it still provides service to special operations forces wounded, ill or injured Service members and their families.

The program was implemented to assist the wounded members of the command in the recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration as quickly as possible, thus improving USSOCOM readiness. In the event of a more serious injury, the program will assist the wounded warrior with the medical and career transition to civilian life.

Founded in 2005 with the charter to advocate for SOF and their families after life changing events, the organizations primary focus has always been on retention rather than transition. In fact, according to U.S. Army C ol. Cary Harbaugh, Warrior Care Program (Care Coalition) director, SOCOM’s retention rate after illness or injury is 73 percent, the services are at about 10 percent.
“We are the gold standard in Warrior Care. Unfortunately, we have a steady flow of ill and wounded. Today, SOF are in dangerous and hazardous environments and our training is high risk. So as we have a steady influx of ill and wounded and our focus is on returning them back to the force and we take all measures to do so,” said Harbaugh. “We view the medical evaluation board as the last step and we do everything we can to appropriately delay the board to ensure all treatments are tried. I think that is why we have such a high retention rate.”
“They made a promise to us when they joined, whatever service they joined, and then they made another promise to us when they came in as special operations and we’re making a promise to them, that we’re going to be with them for the rest of their lives if anything happens to them and we’re going to help take care of their families as well.” Former USSOCOM Commander U.S. Army Gen. Doug Brown at the founding of USSOCOM’s Care Coalition.

The Warrior Care Program works on a comprehensive recovery plan to include goals for the wounded members, services that will be required, such as education, employment, and housing. The program also provides adaptive sports programs and transitional assistance.

The USSOCOM Warrior Care Program is located in Tampa, Florida, but the recovery care coordinators and liaisons operate in multiple locations around the globe. These include major military treatment facilities and Department of Veterans Affairs Polytrauma Rehabilitation centers.

Any questions about the USSOCOM Warrior Care Program can be asked on their hotline number (877) 672-3039 or from the website: https://www.socom.mil/care-coalition/. With the many questions surrounding the waiting time for VA services in some locations, the knowledge that the command is looking to take care of their own has to be a big benefit and peace of mind for the families and the troops in the command

To read the entire article from Special Operations Command, click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

Importance of Language, Cross-Cultural Communication In SF Operations

Special Forces troops and all Special Operations Forces for that matter are masters at relationship building with host nation forces that they live with, train, and fight alongside in the world today.

From the beginning of the OSS, the special operations forces had to earn the trust of their counterparts in occupied France before they could get the French Resistance to do operations that eventually tied up divisions of German troops behind the lines of Normandy. It carried over to the war in Vietnam where Special Forces A-Teams built camps all along the border of North Vietnam and recruited indigenous mountain tribesmen to create irregular defense groups.

Today the mission is no different although the area of the world has changed. And one of the best ways to earn the trust of the locals is to learn the language and customs. Sharing communal meals and hardships goes a long way with building rapport with host nation forces that Special Op’s troops will be embedded with.

Learning the language is paramount even if you’re not fluent, the act of trying to speak in host nation’s tongue is very important. Showing an effort that you want to learn the language, learning cultural nuances and customs shows respect for the local troops and people. And without the rapport with the locals, the mission is bound to fail.

In order to engage and earn the trust of a local population, you, the SF operator—must be able to speak their language, both literally and figuratively. You must be able to recognize and use to your and their advantage the local needs and desires.

In 2009, the Commander of USSOCOM wrote about the ability of Special Operations troops to build a relationship with the local troops was of paramount importance.

The complexity of today’s and tomorrow’s strategic environments requires that our SOF operators maintain not only the highest levels of warfighting expertise but also cultural knowledge and diplomacy skills. We are developing “3-D operators”—members of a multidimensional force prepared to lay the groundwork in the myriad diplomatic, development, and defense activities that contribute to our Government’s pursuit of our vital national interests.

Every prospective Special Operations candidate should strive to learn a new language. While the training in the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) will include language training, don’t wait for that, take the initiative and do it on your own. Just about every college and junior college have language programs that candidates can sign up for. Programs like “Rosetta Stone” offer, learn at home software that are fantastic learning tools.

And sometimes the learning of an additional language will come in handy in the strangest of places. Who would think that having a Chinese linguist in Panama would be invaluable? Anyone? Bueller? Well, it just so happens that it did just that.

After the conflict with Panama in 1989 and the ouster of Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) were disbanded. They were drawn down at much smaller levels and retrained as the Panamanian National Police (PNP). SF troops from 3^rd Bn 7^th SFG(A) conducted the early portions of the training until police instructors from the US could be brought in.

The country was split into six areas A-F and two SF OPATTs were assigned to each area to advise, train and monitor the local police forces. From Panama City, we received word in Area F that former military members loyal to Noriega were stockpiling weapons and that several crimes had occurred against the recent Chinese immigrants that settled in Panama.

The Chinese had immersed themselves in the culture of Panama and despite learning the language fluently in less than 18 months, were shunned by the locals. The Chinese were very distrustful of outsiders and wouldn’t talk to the local police. We were fortunate enough to have two Reserve SF soldiers who were cops at home in the US to augment us. One of them, a Vietnam vet was fluent in Mandarin Chinese which at the time of his arrival didn’t seem relevant, as well as Spanish.

Within five minutes of him speaking to the owners of a restaurant in the center of the area of operations, we were invited to dinner. Our linguist kept up a dialogue and knowing their culture, was a trusted ally immediately. Others were brought in and the information flowed quickly. The information that the community provided was extremely accurate, a number of weapons caches were found and confiscated. Also, a few assault cases and a double murder were solved because of their involvement.

Without the benefit of the language and customs, those avenues would have remained closed. And the Chinese community which had distrusted the Panamanian police now looked upon us as friends and nearly family. It was a rapport that sadly, was not maintained by the police after we were pulled out, we later learned.

When preparing for Selection and Special Operations training, we tend to focus on the physical aspects of the training in our preparation, which is understandable. But don’t neglect nor forget the very important part of being prepared. And that is being able to build rapport with the host nation forces that you’ll hopefully someday be embedded with.

You will be as reliant on them as they will be to you. A big part of mission success will depend on the team building rapport with the local military forces and the populace. And the first step of that is being able to communicate in their language and learn the cultural nuances of the country or region. The opportunities are out there and easily available to you…You’ll be glad you did.

Photo courtesy of DOD

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.30.2017

Today is a swim day, so head back to the pool.

The swim test is a big part of the initial testing phase and many candidates fail to properly prepare for it by practicing it in uniform. Get used to being comfortable in the water.

Warm up first –

3 x 30 seconds Mountain climbers

3 x 30 seconds Spider-Man planks

Swim 300 meters with fatigues and boots; swimming with them on it feels like little gremlins are pulling you down in the water from the corners of your uniform.

Stretch well after completion

Selection Isn’t the End of the Journey, Only the Beginning Of It

Since the television show, “The Selection, The Special Operations Experiment” came out on the History Channel many of my non-military friends and family have come forward asking how realistic the training was being depicted and if that was the actually the way it was. The show was based on a British television show “SAS: Who Dares Wins” which placed civilians in the world of the British military’s toughest training.

And of course, the answer is yes and no. The training depicted on the show looked completely authentic and none of it was canned like the typical reality television show BS that we all subjected to on a daily basis. But it was exactly what it was, a blend of the different courses that one may volunteer for in today’s Special Operations Forces. In that aspect, it was a great, albeit glimpse into what makes the Selection courses so tough.

But the biggest takeaway I get from people who have watched the show is, that once you pass the Selection course, you’re blessed and part of the unit. Let’s pump the brakes a bit right there.

Passing Selection isn’t the end or even the beginning of the end, but if anything, the end of the very beginning. Passing the Selection course only opens the door for a candidate a very slight crack. Once a candidate has passed Selection, now that candidate is worthy only to see whether or not he can take to the training.

And the training courses are just the beginning. Selection, as we’ve said in earlier articles never stops. And becoming part of a Special Operations unit doesn’t finish with your graduation of the specific course. It is the start of an entirely new lifestyle and the training is constant and ongoing. I think the biggest misconception about the show, which was very good by the way is that people watching it come away with the perception that the Selection course makes you a SEAL, Green Beret, Ranger…etc.

The instructors, taken from the different services and different career fields brought their own dose of realism to the civilians who attempted to try the selection course. There weren’t any Hollywood actors barking out harassment. These were real combat vets who acted just like they will in the real McCoy.

That was an interesting dynamic where they had Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and Rangers as instructors and they seemed like they’d been working together for quite a long time. Each of the different schools is unlike each other in their own way, but they all share common core qualities.

The civilians were a confident, cocky lot at the beginning, and that is the first thing that would disappear in an actual selection course. Showing up confident and cocky is an exercise in pain as the instructors will show that the candidates have no reason to be.

The training was interesting in that they weaved different facets of every course in there. Every person who’s ever been in the armed services has experienced the gas chamber where that is a basic training type of event but they also had to deal with interrogation, the physical training on the beach and in the surf, hand-to-hand combat, drown-proofing, and physical wearing down of their bodies that they had never experienced before.

The eye-opening experience for the candidates who were only referred to by their number, much like SFAS is that it isn’t the physical side of things that wears them down but the mental side of it. The perception that everyone in Special Operations is 10 feet tall and built like a linebacker gets shot down pretty quickly. The services can train operators physically to do most anything within reason.

But the mental aspect can’t be trained. Either a candidate has it or doesn’t and that mental fortitude is what the instructors are searching for. Everyone is going to get worn down physically, they know that. But it is the candidates that keep driving on with little to no sleep and keep their wits about them when they’re physically beat down, will be the successful ones.

The one part of the show that is the most realistic? At the end, there are no prizes for the “winners”, no follow-on television special, or a studio waiting with a big contract. There is just the satisfaction of knowing you were “selected”. And true to form, the numbers whittled down to just a few.

Unlike the civilians who finished the show and got to go home, the real candidates that navigate Selection, get to catch their breath and prepare for the next phase of their training. And combat tours await in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and now possibly Yemen among a hundred other hot spots around the globe where Special Operations Forces operate in the shadows.

So, just remember, the television show ended with final candidates being selected. For their military counterparts, that is just the beginning.

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.29.2017

Back to the gym today, working on your shoulders and traps, which all he when either toting the rucksack or climbing the ropes.

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 Shoulder Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

4 x 25-meter Shuttle Run

3 x 3 Cone Drill

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.28.2017

Continue to prep for the UBRR and get some leg work in with a trip to the gym today.

Training:

3 x Pullups 10 reps

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

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

3 x 10 Leg Extensions

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

3 x 20 Push-ups

30 x “V” ups

2-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Army PAO SGT Faces QMP Over Flap for Trying to Secure Information

In a SNAFU of epic proportions, an Army PAO SGT is facing being forcibly removed from the service for trying to safeguard classified information. SGT Ricardo Branch was serving in the PAO office of the 160^th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers).

Members of the Night Stalkers were to visit the Boeing aircraft company site in Mesa Arizona back in 2014. Boeing scripted a press release stating the 160^th Special Operations Aviation Regiment was the unit that carried the Navy commandos from SEAL Team 6 in to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. He sent his commander a private email on the Army .mil server that basically alerted his boss that the company should remove that line as the Department of Defense (DOD) had never acknowledged that.

A higher up in the chain of command saw the email thread and alerted Army intelligence that a breach had occurred. He was ordered home and was facing a court-martial for the crime of actually trying to safeguard information.

The irony of the entire episode is that President Obama visited Ft. Campbell after the bin Laden raid and publicly thanked the 160^th Night Stalkers for their role in the raid.

Offered the choice of a court-martial or nonjudicial punishment (Article 15), Branch opted for an Article 15 and was reprimanded. He was then transferred to Korea where he took up editing a newspaper for the troops.

But with the Army downsizing right now, Branch’s Article 15 showed up for the Army’s Quantitative Management Program (QMP), which immediately put him up for separation after 13 years of service. The QMP looks for any black marks on a soldier’s record.

“I love the Army,” he said. “I like my job. The reason I’m so in love with the Army is I’m a career soldier. I’ve done three tours in Iraq. I’ve survived cancer twice. The Army is my career. It’s what I know. It is my life. My dad was a soldier. My brother’s a soldier. My grandfather was a soldier. I like telling the Army story because I’m a writer. That’s what I do.”
In recent months, Sgt. Branch’s cause has been taken up by a former Army judge advocate, Jeffery Addicott, who directs the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s Law School in San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Addicott represents, pro bono, military personnel he believes are unjustly prosecuted.
“At a time when President Trump is calling for the buildup of our military, and rightfully so, it is ironic that the Army is seeking to jettison a dedicated, three-time Iraqi War veteran,” Mr. Addicott told The Times.
“In my professional opinion as a JAG officer with 20 years in service and having tried over 150 cases, they would have not brought this to a court-martial if he had turned down the Article 15,” Mr. Addicott said. “There is no way the government would get a conviction, particularly based on the fact that President Obama had already released the information to the public. If they did bring it to a trial, Sgt. Branch would exercise his right to demand a jury, and they would never get a conviction.”

Branch is appealing the decision and attempting to remain in the Army. Based on the public airing of the raid by President Obama, it is crazy to think that Branch’s situation has ever reached this level.

To read the entire article from The Washington Times, click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

Passing BUDS, Interview with Thomas Rosehaley Pt. 3

Thomas Rosehaley is a busy man these days. When he’s not flying across the globe working as a personal security professional, he’s back at home keeping on top of his medical training, which is his bailiwick. He had just arrived back in the states but was not getting much free time. “I’m diving tomorrow in Monterrey Bay and then have a Med class at Folsom Prison, I’ll call you on my way home from there,” he said.

In the first two parts of the interview, we talked about his background, growing up in LA and how he entered the Navy. Then we moved on to the beginning of his Navy training and on to Hell Week.

Once the candidates passed Pool Comp, they moved on to the LAR V rebreather, which is a different kind of diving altogether. “The amazing thing today is, how far technology has progressed when you can go to Long Beach today and buy a LAR V for about $8-10 grand,” Rosehaley said. Back then that was a classified piece of equipment.”

“Dive Phase was two months and is the bread and butter of the Naval Special Warfare guys,” he said. That is where they’re trained on dive searches, underwater recon, navigation, he recalled diving at Coronado and crossing over to 32^nd St. and trying to identify ships and compartments from under the water. Planting fake explosives on drive shafts of ships. This training evolved from the first underwater demo teams from WWII.

After Dive Phase the candidates move to San Clemente Island where they’re trained on the finer aspects of demolitions. Shaped Charges, C-4, even the old haversack charges that the old frogmen used. They’re also trained on weapons, small unit tactics and patrolling.

His class 202, finished with 26 sailors some of whom were picked up from other classes due to a minor injury or issue. Most of those who failed did so because they couldn’t handle the mental aspect of the training.

“Look there’s no way you can adequately prepare yourself so that the course is a breeze, it is a total lifestyle change,” he said. Due to his Sea Cadet training with the briefest of glimpses on what he’d face in Coronado, he tried to prepare himself physically as best he could.

He ran the streets barefoot, trying to toughen his feet up. Rosehaley was an accomplished competitive swimmer and played the tough sport of Water Polo. “My water skills were definitely as good as I could be prepared for. I grew up surfing on the Los Angeles coast.”

Some candidates were just not comfortable in the water which for a sailor wanting to become a Navy SEAL is unconscionable. “The water is our bread and butter,” he said. “That is what we see as home. The water is our safe place and if you aren’t comfortable in the water, you need to try something else.”

Rosehaley said the guys who weren’t comfortable in the water before arriving didn’t last long. And told the story about “the Beehive” which reflects his point perfectly. At this point, there were still over 100 students in the course. Everyone is in the pool so it is crowded and ready to get more so.

The author and Rosehaley while escorting a client family on a trip thru the Middle East and Africa.

“The instructors just start pushing everyone into the center of the pool,” he recalls. “Everyone is trying their best to stay calm but the students being pushed inward into ‘the Beehive’ begins to take its toll,” he said.

Students are shoulder to shoulder trying to stay afloat and it takes just one guy to panic and grab the guy next to him and try to use him for support and it sets off a chain reaction. In just a matter of seconds, it turns into what Rosehaley remembers as “a fight for your life.”

Rosehaley who was among the most comfortable in his class in the water remembers that the panic that ensued was contagious. Rosehaley just decided to hold his breath and stay calm. He recalls that he was being kicked in the face and being held down and as he says, “your body’s willingness to stay alive wins out.”

He remembered it akin to being trapped under moving ice, and it was a dog-eat-dog situation and the instructors kept at it until students began to quit. “Too many guys were in no way prepared for this and it is mostly mental.”

Rosehaley then surprising finished his Navy career abruptly in 1997 and moved on to further his medical career until the second Gulf war when he came back as a contractor working in Iraq. He had his share of hair-raising experiences there but none close to what he experienced in Haiti.

Sent in as security and medical support for a CBS film crew, aftershocks still racked the country. The guests at the hotel had to sleep on the pool patio because it wasn’t safe to remain inside. He and another medic began a triage, treating the numerous injured locals at the back of the hotel.

He’s still a security professional and has traveled the world with many high-profile clients. I used to chuckle when I’d see his picture of People, US etc, working with a certain female singer who has been plastered all over the magazines you find in the aisles of supermarkets and Wal-Mart.

We had the pleasure of working together for a security company Thomas Dale & Associates based out of Los Angeles, in the Middle East watching over a family of clients who traveled, frequently taking many of their friends. Later, we worked on a film crew down in Mexico, where there was never a dull moment. But that’s a story for another time.

He’s a devoted follower of the Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, (word to the wise, don’t wrestle with him) and after a recent trip to the Middle East, he had a stopover in Jerusalem, Israel. That night he found a gym and was wrestling Orthodox Jews that were half his age. “It was wild,” he said.

“Visually seeing the guys with their traditional long curls and dressed up in a gi was off the wall. I loved it,” he added. That fits him to a tee.

Passing BUDS, Interview with Thomas Rosehaley Pt. 2

In Part 1 of our interview, we spoke about how he ended up in BUDS right after high school, and the initial training he went thru right up until he made it to his training at Coronado. His initial class of about 160 was sliced down to 46 before the class even made it to Hell Well and was further reduced to 26 after that 5 ½ day experience.

But if you think that was the hardest part, think again, he said the next portion of the training, during the Dive Phase actually had some of the more difficult moments.

“The course is designed to demoralize you at first,” Rosehaley said. “Their thought process is we’re going to break you down, test your mettle and then…slowly build you back up.”

“You really have to suck it up, and the instructors are constantly in the background encouraging the guys to quit, looking for any weakness. At that point, you just narrow your focus,” he said. “There were times my only focus was to survive until dinner.”

We both laughed because everyone has been there at one point or another. Rosehaley added, “then at night, as you are hunched over your creamed corn, you find the resolved to go one more meal, one more day. It gets reduced to that at times.”

After Hell Week, he said the sailors got a week where there was a bit of recovery where the candidates got a chance to regain some strength and grow back the toenails that were lost during Hell Week.

But then it was right into the Second Phase, the Dive Phase. That consisted of one week with an introduction to SCUBA which many of the candidates had never dove before. And then they’d roll into LARV Rebreathers which Army SF guys will remember as the Draeger system.

“Pool Comp is to the second phase what Hell Week was to the first phase,” he remembers. “It is a brutal, and yes brutal assessment of your underwater, open circuit and SCUBA abilities, he said.

The candidates once again are beaten down by the instructors in very tough conditions. Rosehaley stated that most of the training is conducted in just 9-12 feet of freshwater in the CTT (Combat Training Tank). So what was the purpose of the beating underwater I asked? “Well, more than anything the instructors want to see that you won’t panic underwater when things go wrong and frequently can. And the beatings were equated to coming ashore in very rough surf.”

So what happens underwater during the toughest parts of this? “Well, your mask will be ripped off, you may get a shot to the face with your regulator in your mouth, you’ll lose one if not both of your fins and they may try to untie your weights, all fun stuff,” he said.

Rosehaley recalled one instructor stretching his dual line gas line and tying an overhand knot in it which effectively blocked his air supply. He said that candidates have to keep their wits about them, remove the tanks and restore the air supply while maintaining their depth. “Pool Comp is a tough challenge and many of the guys who made it thru Hell Week didn’t have what it took there,” he said. “It was a life-changing experience.”

In should be remembered from the first part of the interview that the training he was going thru, some of the toughest in the military or anyone’s military for that matter was done when he was just months removed from high school. It isn’t often that men pass that course after having a few years of military experience. To do it right out of high school is quite an accomplishment these days.

In our final segment of the interview, we’ll talk about finishing out BUDS training, one terrifying sequence that he remembers and what life has been like post-Navy for Rosehaley. Including working for some high-profile celebrity clients and working as a professional security detail for a Hollywood film in Mexico.

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.25.2017

Today we’ll hit the legs hard again and then rest on Sunday. More reps on the legs today, as we’ll get ready for the Rifle PT squats, that everyone loves so well.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

First, head into the gym:

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

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

3 x Hungarian Lunges 20-15-12 reps light weight

3 x 10 Pull-ups

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

3 x 25 Push-ups

30 x “V” ups

6-mile rucksack march with 45-pound minimum

Stretch well after completion