navy seal

Michael E. Thornton, SEAL, MOH Oct. 31, 1972

Michael Thornton was a Navy SEAL and was awarded the U.S. military’s highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during the war in Vietnam. He was decorated for saving the life of his senior officer, Lieutenant Thomas R. Norris, who also a recipient of the Medal of Honor in another combat action in Vietnam.

Thornton was born in Greenville, SC and graduated from high school in 1967 and immediately joined the U.S. Navy. He was trained as a gunner’s mate and served on a destroyer until he volunteered for Naval Special Warfare. Thornton graduated from Class 49 Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training in Coronado, CA in November 1968 and was assigned to SEAL Team One and served in several tours in Vietnam between 1969 and 1972.

He was a member of MACVSOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam, Studies and Observations Group), the Special Operations Forces joint command in Vietnam. During the final year of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam during 1972, only a handful of Navy SEALs remained in Vietnam. But the combat didn’t lessen for those who were there. And Thornton, now a Petty Officer would see some horrific combat where he’d be awarded the nation’s highest honor.

Quang Tri Mission:

Thornton and Lt. Thomas Norris would accompany three South Vietnamese troops on a mission on October 31, 1972, to gather intelligence and capture enemy personnel. The three Vietnamese were members of their Special Forces and they had worked extensively with the two SEALs in the past.

They boarded Vietnamese junks and then after dark took rubber boats ashore near the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). The five men slipped around several North Vietnamese encampments and began their reconnoiter.

Realizing too late they had actually landed in North Vietnam, they scouted several bunkers and large amounts of NVA troops. Moving back toward the shore, they scouted two NVA troops which they would attempt to capture.

When one of the NVA troops broke towards the jungle, Thornton chased him to prevent him from alerting the others. That is when all hell broke loose. All of a sudden, 50 NVA troops were turning the tables on Thornton and firing at him. He moved from position to position trying to link back up with his small team as he was taking fire.

Thornton was constantly moving about, giving the NVA troops the impression there were many more Americans on the ground than they thought. He called for Naval gunfire from two destroyers nearby but they had been driven off by shore fire from several North Vietnamese artillery batteries.

The tiny band of five men held off a force of about 150 NVA for the next four hours. One of the South Vietnamese junks had a mortar on board and Thornton called for them to come in and lend some indirect fire support but the destroyers wouldn’t allow them to get close enough.

Near dawn, Norris had the men withdraw towards the beach, but bounding while he covered them from the rear. He called in a fire for effect mission from the cruiser USS Newport News (CA-148) to cover their withdrawal. As he was attempting to fire a LAW rocket to suppress the enemy. He was shot thru the head. The South Vietnamese assumed he was dead.

When they told Thornton, he raced to Norris’ position to recover his body. To his shock, Norris was alive but “the whole side of his head was completely gone.” He took down several NVA who tried to overrun their position. He then hoisted Norris over his shoulders despite having suffered a wound in his back from grenade shrapnel, he ran to the beach.

Just then the first shells from Newport News hit the beach. The concussion threw both Thornton and Norris 20 feet into the air. He then dragged the barely alive Lieutenant into the surf and began swimming out to sea. One of the South Vietnamese was shot thru his hip and into his butt and couldn’t swim. Thornton pushed, pulled both he and Norris out to sea as bullets rained around them. The Newport News left believing the team was dead.

One of the other South Vietnamese reached a junk and reported the rest of the team had been killed. Despite this, Thornton bandaged Norris’ head as best he could and then fired his AK-47 to draw the attention of the junks. They were finally picked up and transported to the Newport News. Thornton carried his SEAL Lt to the operating room. The doctor there told him that there was no way that Norris would survive.

But he did and Norris was the guest of President Gerald Ford on March 6, 1976, at the White House as he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his rescue of Air Force LTC Iceal Hambleton in the famous “BAT 21” story.

Thornton would receive the Medal of Honor from President Richard Nixon at the White House on October 15, 1973, nearly one year from the action that took place. In doing so, he became the first man ever to receive the Medal of Honor for rescuing another man who was a fellow MOH awardee. Thornton also was awarded a Silver Star, Bronze Star with “V” device with two oak leaf clusters, and the Purple Heart. He later served in Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

After the war in Vietnam, Thornton would continue to serve in the SEALs and from 1974 -1977, Thornton served as a BUD/S instructor at NAB Coronado. In 1978 he was selected to serve two years with the British Royal Marines’ Special Boat Squadron (SBS) in an exchange program. In 1980, the Navy was putting together SEAL Team Six, which was the Navy’s first Counter-Terrorism Force. Thornton was personally chosen by the first Commander, Richard Marcinko to be a founding member of the team.

Thornton later became a commissioned officer in June 1982 and retired as a Lieutenant in 1992.

Under heavy gunfire from dozens of North Vietnamese soldiers, Navy SEAL Mike Thornton lifted critically injured fellow SEAL Tom Norris onto his shoulders and carried him in the darkness down the beach into the South China Sea surf. (Navy SEAL Museum)

Medal of Honor citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while participating in a daring operation against enemy forces. PO Thornton, as Assistant U.S. Navy Advisor, along with a U.S. Navy lieutenant serving as Senior Advisor, accompanied a 3-man Vietnamese Navy SEAL patrol on an intelligence gathering and prisoner capture operation against an enemy-occupied naval river base.

Launched from a Vietnamese Navy junk in a rubber boat, the patrol reached land and was continuing on foot toward its objective when it suddenly came under heavy fire from a numerically superior force. The patrol called in naval gunfire support and then engaged the enemy in a fierce firefight, accounting for many enemy casualties before moving back to the waterline to prevent encirclement.

Upon learning that the Senior Advisor had been hit by enemy fire and was believed to be dead, PO Thornton returned through a hail of fire to the lieutenant’s last position; quickly disposed of 2 enemy soldiers about to overrun the position, and succeeded in removing the seriously wounded and unconscious Senior Naval Advisor to the water’s edge. He then inflated the lieutenant’s lifejacket and towed him seaward for approximately 2 hours until picked up by support craft.

By his extraordinary courage and perseverance, PO Thornton was directly responsible for saving the life of his superior officer and enabling the safe extraction of all patrol members, thereby upholding the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service

Photos: Michael Thornton (right) and LT Tom Norris, US Navy

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 15, Day 4

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

Almost all Special Operations training is based on one of these events. If you can do all three well, you will be in good shape to pass the Selection course.

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 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Arnold Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

3 x 10 Seated Rows

3-mile Run (24 minutes maximum)

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

100-meter swim in fatigues and boots (no time limit)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 15, Day 3

Tuesday is one of our Leg Days at the gym followed by a 4-mile run. Begin with pull-ups then Deadlifts before moving on to squats, lunges and the sled followed by a four-mile run

UBRR Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR

3 x Pullups 10 reps

3 x 10 Deadlifts

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

3 x 10 reps One Leg Body Weight Squats with a stability ball balanced on the wall

4 x Sled Push heavier weight or substitute Fireman’s Carry

3 x 10 reps Dumbbell Lunges

3 x 20 Plank Step Ups

4-Mile Run (32 Minutes Maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 15, Day 2

Monday morning means our weekly mini-UBRR test to judge where our fitness level is at. Start off with pushups, sit-ups, and crunches, then to the bar for V-ups, Pull-ups, and dips before a 5-mile run.

Remember to stay hydrated and 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 (No time limit)

1 x Pullups as many as possible or to muscle failure (No time limit)

5-mile run (40-minute maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 15, Day 1

Sunday morning rucksack march. Do a quick warmup of pushups and sit-ups before heading out. Head out over varied terrain and try to go as fast as you can without running.

Stretch well both before and after the event. Remember to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated out there. With a bunch of 90 degree days upon us, you don’t want to become a heat casualty, even before the sun comes up. And if you do it will really set you back in your preparation.

UBRR Training:

Warm up

1 x 20 Pushups

1 x 20 Sit-ups

8-mile Rucksack march over varied terrain with a 45-pound minimum. Go as fast as you can without jogging. And mark your times in your workout log book.

Stretch well after completion

Operation Urgent Fury, The U.S. Invades Grenada

On this day in 1983, members of the 1st and 2nd Ranger Battalions, 82nd Airborne Division, Marine Corps 8th Marine Regiment, US Army Delta Force and Navy SEAL commandos invaded the island nation of Grenada. The small island, located about 100 miles north of Venezuela was under strife after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was placed under arrest and executed. The military operation, conducted with members of the Jamaican forces as well as troops from the Regional Security System overwhelmed the Grenadian and Cuban forces in the country in a matter of days.

However, despite the battle being basically a cakewalk for the U.S. forces, the operation brought to the forefront, several flaws in the US warfighting machine. The inability to communicate between the services, the lack of joint interoperability and coordination would bring sweeping change to the way Americans go to war. This would lead to the Goldwater-Nichols Act and soon the creation of the Special Operations Command.

Background to Invasion:

Grenada had been a colony of the United Kingdom but it was granted its independence in 1974. Maurice Bishop led the New Jewel Movement which was a Marxist-Leninist organization and he seized power in 1979. However, Bishop was a relatively moderate in terms of foreign policy and it upset the more hard-line members of the military. On October 19, 1983, military junta members arrested Bishop and executed him, his partner Jacqueline Creft, along with three cabinet ministers and two union leaders. The new head of the government was Hudson Austin.

President Reagan justified U.S. intervention by stating that the American government was worried about the fate of the 600 U.S. medical students going to school at St. George. The Iran hostage fiasco had been resolved less than two years before.

Interestingly enough, the Grenadian people supported the U.S. invasion, the government of Austin was ousted and replaced with a democratic regime. The date of the invasion, October 25 is now a National Holiday in Grenada.

Cuban Dilemma:

At the time of the invasion, there were nearly 800 Cubans on the island. Fidel Castro at different times, identified most as construction workers while at others calling them soldiers. The Cuban commander, Colonel Pedro Comas, later said that he issued most of the construction workers with weapons for self-defense. The Cuban soldiers and “construction workers” were forbidden to surrender to the American forces. There were some stories floated around afterward that the construction workers were actually Cuban Special Forces or Combat Engineers.

SEAL Recon Mission Ends in Disaster:

Two days before the planned invasion, the SEALs were tasked with doing a reconnaissance of the island. Members of DEVGRU or SEAL Team 6 with Air Force combat controllers were parachuted at sea to conduct a reconnaissance mission on Point Salinas. Something went horribly wrong and as a result, four SEALs drowned. The bodies of Machinist Mate 1st Class Kenneth J. Butcher, Quartermaster 1st Class Kevin E. Lundberg, Hull Technician 1st Class Stephen L. Morris and Senior Chief Engineman Robert R. Schamberger were never recovered.

The survivors continued on with the mission but their boats flooded and the mission had to be aborted. A second mission on October 24, likewise was beset by bad weather, so very little of the needed intelligence was gathered.

25 October – Invasion:

After departing Hunter Army Airfield at midnight and refueling in Barbados, A&B Companies of the 1st Ranger Bn conducting a classic airfield seizure by parachuting at Pointe Salinas airport. The original plan called for an air-land seizure. They learned while in-flight that there were obstacles in the middle of the runway. The 2nd Bn of the Rangers would be closely behind the 1st and jump in.

The Rangers began their assault at 0530 and received antiaircraft fire from Russian made ZSU 23-2 as well as BTR-60 Armored Personnel Carriers. Accurate fire from the Rangers’ 90mm Recoilless Rifles and AC-130s suppressed the antiaircraft fire and knocked out the APCs. After securing the airfield, the Rangers moved on and took the heights surrounding the airfield.

By 1000 the obstacles were removed and reinforcements (Carribean Peace Force troops) began unloading and other aircraft began to airland on the strip. Beginning at 1400, elements of the 82nd Airborne Division (325th Abn Inf) began to arrive and land on the ground and began spreading out. Landing in the aircraft was a bitter pill to swallow for the 82nd. They pride themselves on being airborne and when the US next seized a major airfield, in Panama in 1989, the 82nd would get their jump. Even though the Rangers seized the airfield again, they would not be denied. And although some of their heavy drops ended up in the ocean, they would get their combat jump.

The Grenadians attacked with a Motorized Rifle Company with three more BTR-60s but the Rangers 90mm and the Air Force AC-130s drove them back. Four Rangers, looking for the medical students at the True Blue campus, got disoriented and were killed in an ambush. The students were later found but only 140 were located, the rest were at the campus at Grand Anse.

Meanwhile, the Pearls Airport was captured by SEALs from SEAL Team 4 who came ashore just after midnight and Marines from the 2 Bn., 8th Marine Regiment who flew in on CH-46s and CH-53s. They encountered light resistance and swept it aside easily.

Elements of SEAL Team 6 captured Radio Free Grenada unopposed, however, soon after capture, they were attacked by Grenadians in armored personnel carriers. The frogmen were forced to evade by cutting a hole in the chain link fence and swimming out to US ships. Two SEALs were seriously wounded in the action and were medevaced by helicopter to the USS Independence.

Due to the lack of good intelligence, the raid by Delta Force on Fort Rupert and Richmond Hill Prison nearly turned into a disaster. Delta commandos and C Co. of the1st Ranger Bn were tasked with the taking of these two targets with helicopters from Task Force 160, now known as the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The Night Stalkers were flying UH-60s and MH-6 “Little Birds”.

The raid of Fort Rupert was very successful, several members of the People’s Revolutionary Council were captured. The raid on the prison at Richmond Hill, where political prisoners were held was another story. The ground was very steep, too much so to land helicopters. There were also several anti-aircraft guns on site. One helicopter was shot down and the pilot killed. Several of the commandos were wounded. The Rangers sent reinforcements to assist in the Delta commandos in safely exfilling the area.

SEALs conducted a rescue operation for Governor General Paul Scoon from his mansion in Saint George. They entered the area unopposed but a counterattack by Grenadian forces supported by BTR-60 APCs had the SEALs trapped inside. The US forces called in air strikes with AC-130 gunships, A-7 Corsair strike planes, and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters. The SEALs were forced to hold inside the mansion for 24 hours.

The next morning 250 Marine reinforcements with M-60 tanks relieved the SEALs and were able to bring Paul Scoon safely out. The Marines then overwhelmed the enemy opposition.

The fighting continued the next day as the 82nd Airborne pushed out the perimeter around the Salinas airfield. They got into a huge firefight with the Cubans and lost two dead and six wounded. The Cubans were pounded with airstrikes and artillery, and their resistance quickly faded after that.

By Day Three, the major fighting was over and the island secure.

UN, US Reaction:

President Reagan stated the purpose for the invasion was to protect American citizens, including medical students, living on the island. The reaction in the US was that the operation was justified.

In the UN, however, the situation was much different. From Wikipedia,On 2 November 1983 by a vote of 108 in favour to 9 voting against (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, El Salvador, Israel, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the United States), with 27 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted General Assembly Resolution 38/7, which “deeply deplores the armed intervention in Grenada, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of that State.”

Free elections were held less than 14 months later and the vast majority of the people in Grenada voted for the Grenada National Party and a government was formed led by Prime Minister Herbert Blaize.

The majority of US troops would be pulled from Grenada by December. The lack of usable intelligence and the issues with communication were things that pointed to massive changes that needed to be made.

From Wiki also, The Goldwater-Nichols Act reworked the command structure of the United States military, thereby making the most sweeping changes to the United States Department of Defense since the department was established in the National Security Act of 1947. It increased the powers of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and created the concept of truly unified joint U.S. forces (i.e., Army, Air Force, Marines, and Naval forces organized under one command). One of the first reorganizations resulting from both the Department of Defense analysis and the legislation was the formation of the U.S. Special Operations Command in 1987.

Photos: DOD

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 14, Day 6

Friday is Leg Day at the gym. Start off with our favorite, Squats – (Front, Dumbbell Goblet, and Barbell), then Lunges and the Weighted Sled Push. Follow it all up with a five-mile run.

Mark your progress down in your workout log book and stretch well after the session. Remember….keep hydrating, even in the rain.

UBRR 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 Deadlifts

3 x 10 Dumbbell Lunges

3 x 10 Romanian Lunges

3 x Weighted Sled Push or Fireman’s Carry

5-mile run (40 mins. Max)

Stretch well after completion

New Push-up Technique Makes Things Easier, Not Harder to Grade

New Pushup Technique Makes Things Easier, Not Harder to Grade

A story that was posted on Military.com yesterday was intriguing as it will no doubt, affect many soldiers in the Army, but especially those attempting to go thru Selection in the Army’s Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) or Ranger Selection and Assessment (RASP). Beginning in 2020, the Army is going to change the Army PT Test from the 3-Event (Pushups, situps, 2-mile run) to the Combat Fitness Test where there will be six events (Strength deadlift, Standing Power Throw, Hand-release pushup, Sprint-drag carry, Leg Tuck, 2-mile run).

Strength deadlift: Soldiers will perform three repetitions of deadlift at the heaviest weight they are capable of between 120 and 420 pounds. The deadlift replicates picking up heavy equipment or a wounded comrade in combat.
Standing power throw: Soldiers will throw a 10-pound medicine ball backward as far as they can. The exercise tests muscular explosive power, replicating aiding a fellow soldier over an obstacle or moving rapidly across uneven terrain.
Hand-release push-up: Soldiers will perform as many hand-release push-ups as possible in two minutes. In a hand-release push-up, soldiers lift their hands and arms from the ground at the bottom of the push-up.
Sprint, drag, carry: Soldiers will twice sprint up and down a 25-meter lane, drag a 90-pound sled up and down the lane, and carry two 40-pound kettlebell weights up and down the lane. The exercises are meant to simulate pulling a soldier to safety, moving quickly to cover or carrying gear.
Leg tuck: Hanging from a pull-up bar, soldiers will lift their legs up and down touching their knees or thighs to their elbows as many times as possible during two minutes. The exercise strengthens core muscles, requiring more strength than traditional sit-ups
Two-mile run: Soldiers will complete the test with a two-mile run, as they must in the APFT. However, soldiers will have only five minutes of rest between the leg tuck and the run.

The piece yesterday stated that a cadre of mobile training teams is visiting 60 battalions of the National Guard and Reserve forces to ensure that the correct techniques for grading the new Combat Fitness Test are being taught. It also mentioned that one of the changes that are being tweaked on the test is the hand placement for the push-up event.

According to Whitfield East, the research physiologist for Center for Initial Military Training, the new method of conducting and grading pushups will be easier to grade.

“During the field test, we are refining the hand-release pushup,” East said, explaining that event will either have soldiers raise their hands straight up off the ground before coming back up or extend their hands out to the sides and bring them back in again before coming up again.

The arm-extension version may be easier to grade, East said.

“More or less, the point of it is to ensure that they are totally resting on the ground. We don’t want them in a low hover over the ground,” East said.

The arm-extension also “engages a little bit of the … muscles in the back,” East said, adding that “it is good to link movements together, so a pull-type movement and a push-type movement.”

While the Army is saying that the new hand release pushups will increase the force on the body to lift the soldier by around 25 percent, it should be a welcome bit of news for Special Operations Forces candidates. Why? Because it now takes all of the worry and guesswork out of grading pushups.

How many troops have been to Basic Training, SFAS, SFQC, RASP, RIP or Ranger School et al, and have lamented about the grader who wasn’t counting their pushups? We’ve all fallen into that realm at one time or another. And as we have frequently written here, “pay strict attention to form in doing pushups.” The cadre of any Special Operations course will grade these very hard. Well thanks to the new way that the Army is grading these, it will quickly become the way that sit-ups (which will be dropped from the new Combat Fitness Test), are graded now. Either you’re doing them right or not at all. There will no longer be a gray area in what constitutes, or doesn’t… a pushup.

While the new pushups will be a bit harder to do, it is simply a need for all the soldiers to learn the new technique. Like anything else, it will require practice and plenty of it since it will be working different muscles in the shoulder and back region and the new exercise will work those muscles harder than the traditional pushup.

However, in the near future, there will no longer be the worry for the SOF candidate that the grader is being unfair, this new technique removes all of that. Whether the Army goes with the technique that only requires the soldier to raise his hands off the ground or extend them out, it will ultimately be strictly an exercise that a candidate can do or not. Just like the pull-ups that most SOF units are conducting now. In RASP, the Ranger cadre test for the candidates to perform a minimum of six pull-ups from a dead hang. Either you do them or not.

My personal trainer has long been a believer in the hand release pushup and we frequently use it in our workouts. Truth be told it is a bit more difficult as once your chest hits the ground you lose the momentum that we’re so used to having when conducting pushups. And by being flat on the ground or floor on your chest, the movement of your arms out to your sides and the force of pushing up from the floor is slightly more difficult.

Is it 25 percent more as the Army has stated? I don’t really buy that. In fact, I find doing the pushups that we more frequently use, the pushups using either a set of dumbbells or the handles of a machine that forces you to go deeper than a normal pushup, some people use boxes, as much more difficult.

Regardless, this new development, like anything else will require some more practice, but in the end will be a less worrisome exercise for SOF candidates, since the “human element” (read that as a cadre member that is looking to fail someone), will be removed from the equation.

That is good news, carry on… now go “elevate your feet and do pushups!”

Photos: Army.mil

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 14, Day 5

Back to the gym this morning for a Chest and Triceps workout before heading out for a 4-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 20 Plank Step Ups

3 x 20 Shoulder Touch Planks

3 x 20 Cable Push Downs (rope)

3 x 20 Dips or until muscle failure

4-mile run (32-minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Train For the Long Haul in Special Operations

We have mentioned this not too long ago but it probably bears repeating, especially now that the Selection courses are running and the next batch of candidates are gearing up to attend. You don’t have to be a marathon runner, a professional weight lifter or a bodybuilder to pass Selection. Not every Special Operations trooper is built like an NFL linebacker. That’s not what you’re training for, train for the mission at hand, not the beach.

We frequently get a lot of emails, Twitter DMs and the like asking questions about Selection and how is the best way to prepare. And a lot of guys, too many in fact begin with the fact that they are freaking themselves out by going on social media and seeing pics of stud Special Operations guys, working out in the gym and all tatted up. We get the messages, “I don’t look like that!” or “Do we have to look like this to pass?” etc. Newsflash folks, 99 percent of the guys I went thru the SFQC didn’t look like that and of the small percentage of ones who did, their failure rate was rather high. And the short answer is no, you don’t need to look like a bodybuilder, in fact, you shouldn’t.

We preach the old but tried and true method of training to do the job here. If you are fit to do your job, not only will you succeed in passing Selection but you will be primed for a long, successful career in Special Operations. We publish a daily workout program on SpecialOperations.com that will help our prospective candidates get ready for the rigors and physicality of Selection. And we start with the basics.

But first, I want to clear up some misconceptions about the current Selection Course for several candidates. We received several questions about the Log PT/Rifle PT smoke session that is on video from the Discovery Channel documentary. Many were asking for tips about surviving that little exercise.

Well, first, I’ve heard that the Log PT part of SFAS has been removed or at least curtailed. I heard that the number of injuries that were occurring was too high to justify in the training and assessment. But like anything else, if it is indeed still there, there’s no secret formula, you just have to gut it out.

Functional Fitness is the Goal:

Once again, we need to train as we will fight and have to prepare ourselves accordingly. I recently had an email from a non-combat arms officer who had some questions about getting into the pipeline and of course the course itself. But for his questions on the paperwork required, I reached out to an old friend who I went thru the SF Detachment Officers Course with when he was a Captain, later he commanded a Battalion in combat and later was the SF Training Group Commander. He helped steer the way for this officer to get his paperwork straight and for his preparation, his advice was very simple and clear. “He needs to be a rope climbing, pull-up doing MFer in Selection.” He added that the upper body, shoulder strength, and body core exercises are what get guys thru.

Too many candidates spend too much time on one aspect of preparation and neglect others. As I wrote not long ago, “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 physical standards are.”

That’s why we are always testing ourselves with a practice UBRR test in our daily PT prep pieces. You can identify where you’re weak and adjust your training accordingly.

Long Range Durability:

Look, if you work out and become functionally fit for Special Operations, you are going to naturally become overall bigger and stronger..it is the nature of the beast. But will it make you a cover model for Muscle and Fitness? Doubtful. And that isn’t your goal.

Some guys are naturally big and most of the bigger dudes that you’re seeing on those social media pages are guys who are longer termed members of the units and they are still maintaining the core functional fitness but have dedicated the extra time to buff up. But it is in no means a prerequisite.

Longterm durability for SOF is built from building up lower body and core strength, endurance, and pliability. Your lower body is the catalyst 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 8000-9000 feet.

Pliability is the lengthening of the muscle so it works more effectively and is much less prone to injuries. From a noted sports clinic here up north they preach that “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.”

So remember, you are training and have to use all of your focus on the training that you are doing with one specific goal in mind. To accomplish your unit’s mission. Knowing that mission, what it will entail physically is what you’ll need to know on how to tailor that prep work. Your training for Selection will be a bit different, but not radically so from what you’ll do in the units. Train for those and your success will be a much surer thing. Don’t worry about things that don’t have anything to do with mission success or failure.

Keep your eyes on the prize guys, not the mirror. Don’t Quit and Embrace the Suck.

Photos: DOD