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What NOT to Do If You Want to Pass Selection

Passing Selection is the rite of passage for every Special Operations unit in the world. And that is why we’re here right? The courses are designed to be incredibly hard for a reason and a very good one. The operating environment that Special Operations many times must perform in is often extreme. Carrying a lot of gear on your back in the heat of Iraq or in the mountains of Afghanistan isn’t a walk in the park. And all the while you’ll have a determined, hardened enemy that is trying to kill you.

In past articles, we’ve described at some of the obstacles that you’ll face in the course and the tips and best ways that we’ve come across in our experiences that will help you navigate thru the course and get selected. But this piece is the other side of the spectrum, in this one, we’ll deal with the negative, an area Special Operations people don’t dwell in. These are the things you shouldn’t do, ever if you want to get selected and move on to an active Special Operations unit.

Not Taking Everything Seriously: This will sound crazy perhaps but many of the candidates get off on the wrong foot on Day 1 and it can end up costing them down the road. Many of the young soldiers coming into Selection are focused on the physical side and only that. There is a good reason to, the courses are designed to smoke you and wear you down. But remember “Assessment Never Ends”, you’ll hear this often. Remember it and don’t ever forget it.

You’ll be asked to take a battery of psychological tests and they’re quite lengthy. Some of the questions will seem odd and make no sense. And you’ll get asked the same questions multiple times but it will be worded differently. It is designed that way to see if you’re telling the truth and taking it seriously. It is designed to identify potential psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies in some candidates.

While working at SFAS, there were a few, not a lot of soldiers who took this part of Selection as a joke. This isn’t the time to be cavalier, it matters, everything does. Not answering truthfully will raise its head in the test and it may ultimately cost you.

Being Late, Light, or Last: These three little sins will get a candidate washed out quicker than any other. You’re being assessed on your potential to be in one of the premier Special Operations units in the world. And showing up late ever isn’t the way to impress upon the cadre that you want to be there.

Unless things have changed drastically, at Selection the students are kept in the dark about what event is coming next until shortly before it happens. The cadre will update a dry erase board usually 15 minutes or so before the next event and will have the uniform that the candidates must be in. Most classes learn quickly to have a candidate from each hut placed outside near the board to keep everyone appraised of updates.

Being light is a cardinal sin and there is no excuse for it. Your rucksack has to weigh what they said it must weigh and it is always the weight specified without food and water. The instructors will always use the same scales that the candidates use so there will never be a discrepancy there. If the standard says 45 pounds, then 44 pounds,15 ounces is a fail. That doesn’t mean to go overboard either.

One winter class in SFAS, one candidate came in straggling at the rear. His rucksack weighed 75 pounds! That didn’t curry favor with the instructors, in fact, it had the opposite effect. Be safe, be in the green but don’t overdo it. A pound or two over the limit won’t hurt you physically and gives the psychological reassurance that you’re well within the standards.

Being last is, next to being light the kiss of death in selection. Do the math, the failure rate for selection is high, even those who make it to the end aren’t guaranteed to be selected, so being last in any event isn’t a good thing. That doesn’t mean that because you happened to bolo one event that you’re screwed. And we’ll get more to that below but the simple fact is that is a situation you don’t want to put yourself in.

Self-Assessing Yourself: This is a big one. So many candidates take a look around themselves and the daunting task that is selection and psyche themselves right out of the course. They become so self-critical that they’ll convince themselves that they are doing terribly.

One class in SFAS, there was senior NCO who came from an LRSU unit and he positively smoked every run and ruck march during the course. But instead of being back in his unit where he was far out in front of every such event, in SFAS he wasn’t. He took it to mean he was performing substandardly when the total opposite was true. He self-assessed himself and did a poor job of it. He voluntarily withdrew until “I can get my shit together and do the course right.”

You don’t know what or how the cadre is assessing you at any given time and that isn’t your job. To quote my man BB, Do Your Job. Let them do theirs. If you’re still giving 100 percent every day and still standing there in the formation, that is all you should be worrying about. If you’re self-assessing yourself, you’ll be looking at a sad face in the mirror.

Listening to the Rumor Mill: These used to kill me. There is something about Selection that turns good, hardened soldiers into a ladies’ sewing circle. This goes right along with self-assessment. Listening to the rumor mill is an unnecessary drain on your energy and serves no purpose. And invariably the rumors are wrong, to begin with.

Many nights, my bud Doug P. and I as well as other cadre members would move between the huts dressed as the candidates were and gauged their reactions to the training for the day. And to check to see if candidates were sleeping before lights out or eating in the barracks, (heel stomp…you’re always being assessed). By the second week of the course, they rarely if ever noticed our presence as cadre.

And by far, the rumor mill was always the most entertaining. As the course went along the rumors always got better.

Not Drinking Enough Water: This is especially true in the summer classes, but candidates can get equally dehydrated in the winter. Studies have shown that a person that is only 1-2 percent dehydrated is already in danger of making poor decisions. And invariably, one of those always ends up being not stopping long enough to drink water.

You’re going to be tested, pushed, and smoked during the course. That what it was designed to do. Your body will sweat profusely even in the winter during these events. And many times, candidates will think they don’t have to drink as much. Don’t buy that line of thinking.

Getting dehydrated is a sure-fire way to get medically washed out of the course, it can lead to poor decision making, cramping, heat exhaustion, heat stroke and even death as we saw a few years during the SAS selection event in Wales.

Not Being a Team Player: This one is self-explanatory. Selection is an individual assessment conducted in a team environment. So yes, you’re being assessed as an individual. But part of that assessment and a VERY BIG part of it is how well you work within a team.

Lone Wolves don’t cut it. You can ace every individual event but if you aren’t a team player, the cadre will notice and so will your peers. And peer evaluation goes a long way. Certain soldiers will have areas that they’re stronger in than their peers. If they don’t help their teammates, then they’ll ultimately fail.

This is an area where many of the officers not selected ultimately fail. They perform very well when in charge of an event but balk at taking orders from lower ranking candidates when it becomes their turn to lead an event.

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.20.2017

Continue to prep for the UBRR and get some speed work in on the runs

Training:

3 x Pullups 20, 15, 12 reps
3 x Dips 20, 15, 12 reps. With a 25lb weight tied around your waist
3 x Situps 50 reps each
3 x Pushups 50 reps each
3 x 25-meter Shuttle Run,
4 x 1-mile Run time each and get an average time

Stretch well after completion

Women on Special Operation Teams? No Easy Answer

Our military forces have been in combat non-stop since 9/11. They’ve shown that they’ve been equal to the task and have performed as we’ve come to expect from our armed forces. However, the on-going conflicts have seen increased leanings on our Special Operations Forces, who, despite being just a fraction of the overall force, are conducting combat operations at a rate far greater than their numbers.

The operational tempo is insanely high and we’re seeing the results of that creep into the force. PTSD, suicides, substance abuse and family issues from having to deploy so many times are taking a toll. The stress of constant combat deployments is a very real issue that the services are trying to work thru. And in addition, they’ll have other issues to deal with. Not in the future but now the very foundation of the Special Operations Forces is subject to change.

When Defense Secretary Ashton Carter opened combat occupation roles for women in the military, it also allowed women to volunteer for the various Special Operations units. Women have served in combat areas and performed well in combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan. There have been 160 that have paid the ultimate price. But there is a vast difference between women allowed to serve in combat and going on special missions and women who will be assigned to Special Forces A-teams, SEAL Teams, as well as MARSOC and AFSOC units.

Women have already performed special operations and have gone on missions. The Special Operations Command first allowed women on operations with the Cultural Support Teams (CSTs) and those have been successful at times. Women were able to gather intelligence from Afghan women, something that was rarely done before. But many of the male operators on the missions consider them a hindrance. But remember the CSTs were not operators from the units, just attached to them. The training that is open to them will change that.

These special ops units in the military are not only difficult to get into but even more so to complete the courses. Carter admitted as such when he said that the differences in the sexes will have some occupational specialties difficult for women to fill.

Now women must complete the SFAS (Assessment and Selection) course and the SFQC (Special Forces Qualification Courses), BUDS, Ranger et al which is very difficult. Can the majority of women physically handle the task of completing the courses? No, but neither can most men. Special Operations units are very demanding so their qualification courses are very tough. The standards must remain the same regardless of the failure rate to maintain the proper level of competence to complete missions. Any kind of lowering of standards will erode the effectiveness of the force.

Physically, these courses place a tremendous reliance on upper body strength and the ability to carry a heavy rucksack for long distances and then go into combat. There are serious doubts that women will attain the standards of the men. Then there is also the very real question of whether a woman could carry a wounded team member out of harms’ way if he/she were to go down. Granted there will be some women that can meet the challenge, two recently passed the US Army Ranger School and while they aren’t members of the Ranger Regiment, there is a chance of either being assigned at some point. How will the reaction be when women go from attached to being members of special operations units? According to the data, not well.

US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) polled their members and asked about allowing women into their MOS specialties and their units. And 85 percent of the operators were against women being allowed into their specialty and 71 percent against allowing women into their units.

The biggest reasons given in the survey by SOCOM for excluding women were:

Most operators were concerned that standards would be lowered.
Most operators were concerned that integrating women into SOF units would erode unit cohesion.
Most operators were concerned that integrating women into SOF units would reduce the availability of leaders to resolve a conflict between unit members.

One of the most frequent answered questions of the survey was “What is your greatest concern about opening SOF specialties to women?”

The physical standards will be lowered or there will be a double/separate standard set up for female operators. . . . [T]he men would not have confidence in her abilities and most importantly there would be a lack of trust in her ability to uphold an equal share in watching each other’s back in combat.

A common theme in operators across the Special Operations spectrum is that the teams are like a family and there has to be a tremendous amount of trust placed on each other to accomplish their mission. And many feel that once female candidates begin washing out in large percentages from the courses that pressure will be brought to bear from DOD/Congress on USSOCOM to lower the standards so that women will have a greater percentage of the force.

That lowering of the standards will have an adverse effect on mission accomplishment, lower unit cohesion and erode esprit de corps. Will the DOD and/or Congress lay off the Special Operations community and allow them to conduct their own selection courses without interference? That is doubtful.

Special Operations units when deployed operate in austere environments. Many times when working with military units of some of the poorer nations, the facilities that are given for our units to live and operate in are small and very cramped. Those tight living quarters are another issue with the operators, separate bathroom and living quarters may not be available and living in close proximity to women will have an adverse effect on the unit.

Besides the physical aspects of the job, women will have to battle cultural prejudices that exist in many hotspots around the globe where women warriors are not a common sight. In many of the countries where our Special Operations Forces now operate, women are kept separate from men and women would never be accepted. In a profession where building rapport is paramount, that is a very real concern.

This isn’t to say that women can’t continue to serve in combat roles and conduct special operations missions. About 40 percent of the operators surveyed stated that women can accomplish tasks and support missions that the avenues weren’t as open to men. The CSTs have shown that in intelligence gathering from women in Afghanistan. The CIA has had women in clandestine operations all the way back to the OSS in WWII. No one questions whether women would have the courage to do the job.

But the question on women in Special Operations comes down to basically three questions. First, with all of the combat operations going on worldwide, is this really the time for USSOCOM to begin tinkering with the force, especially in such a sensitive area for the operators involved?

Second, to quote Jeff Goldblum from Jurassic Park, “you were so preoccupied with whether or not you could that you didn’t stop to think if they should.” Is this really necessary for the force? Putting women in a traditionally male-dominated society such as Special Operations is going to be tough on them, both with the selection criteria and from their counterparts, who clearly don’t want them involved. It really isn’t fair to them.

And finally, will the force be stronger as a result? Will including women in Special Operations make the force stronger or weaker. If any of the above answers are no, then the question of women in Special Operations units should be a no.

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.18.2017

Continue to prep for the UBRR and get a long rucksack march in, before enjoying your weekend and a bit of a break on Sunday.

Training:

3 x Military Press (heavy dumbbells) 20 reps, 15, 12
3 x Shoulder lateral raises (heavy dumbbells) 20 reps, 15, 12
3 x Shoulder front raises (medium to light dumbbells) 20 reps, 15, 12
3 x Lat machine pull-downs rear 20 reps,15, 12
3 x Seated rows 20 reps, 15, 12
10-mile rucksack march as fast as you can without ruck-running

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.17.2017

Continue to prep for the UBRR and focus on some speed work today with the runs. Speed work will help with your endurance and gives your muscles a different workout.

Training:

5 x 1-mile run Go as quickly as you can with a minimum of 5-minute rest between runs. Record your average mile time.
5 x 30 seconds of Pushups.
1 x Do as many push-ups as you can do in 60 seconds.
5 x 30 seconds of Sit-ups
1 x Do as many sit-ups as possible in 60 seconds.
1 x 20 Knees-to-Elbow hanging from the pull-up bar.
25 pull-ups

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.16.2017

Back out on the rucking trails today. This week we’ll try a few different things to break it up.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

100 pushups (no time limit)

100 situps (no time limit)

100 crunches

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

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.15.2017

Back to the gym today, many of you will be dealing with the ice in the aftermath of the storm we had on the East Coast. So, we’ll deal with that accordingly.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

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

3 x 12 Lat Pull downs, front

3 x 10 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 (break up the schedule by putting a little NFL Combine work in)

Stretch well after completion

Passing SFAS – Land Navigation Tips for Finding Your Way in Hoffman

So, you’ve volunteered to be in Special Forces and you’re getting ready to go to SFAS. This is the time to prepare yourself for the grind that is to come. There are certain tips, such as the PT program which will help you attain the level of physical fitness that you’ll need to not just pass the course but to excel where the course isn’t as tough as you’ll see other people struggling.

Now, we get to the elephant in the room, the Land Navigation course and many students fail at either SFAS or the SFQC because they failed the land navigation course. The course is tough, it is the toughest individual land navigation course you’ll find in the US military.

In previous segments, we touched on Map reading, pace count, orienting the map and plotting your starting location as well as your point. Now we need to get to our points. Here are some of the tips for walking the course in the Hoffman area.

Fold Your Map – Sounds like a no-brainer but it is simple and saves a ton of time without having to unfold your map every time you want to make a map check. Fold it down to where it fits perfectly in your map case so that only the part you are traveling shows, it simplifies your task immeasurably. This way every time you make a quick check of the map, only where you are and where you are going next is visible.

A technique that many orienteers use while navigating is what they call thumbing. I’ve talked to some and what they do is to keep their thumb on the spot on the map where they are and it speeds in finding where you are while walking and doing a quick map check. The thought being as you walk along you move your thumb slightly forward to reduce the confusion of scanning for your location on the map, especially in the dark.

Navigating Techniques – So, you’ve plotted your starting location, your first point that you’re looking for. You’ve folded the map and placed it and your protractor carefully inside your map case. The next thing you must do orient the map into the direction that you are traveling. Now the terrain is laid out exactly the way it is in front of you.

Weapon tied down? Check. Compass tied down and easily accessible? Check. You should have a red lens flashlight a notebook that will allow you to write in it, even if it is wet in your pocket or map case. Ensure you have all of your gear and do a quick check of the area before you leave and don’t forget anything.

Pull out the compass and take a quick reading. If you can see far enough in the distance, do the cheek hold method where the notch is the rear sight, and the wire is the front sight. Pick out a point as far in the distance as you can and get to it as quickly as you can.

If you’re following a basic azimuth, rotate your bezel ring so that your North seeking arrow aligns with the bubble. So, say if you are traveling on an azimuth of 65 degrees, your North seeking arrow will be in the approximate 10 o’clock position, rotate the bezel ring so the bubble aligns with the North seeking arrow and it is a quick way to keep on your azimuth, especially in the dark. Also, remember that each click in the bezel ring is three degrees.

Remember, to read the red ring which is in degrees and not the black which is in mils.

Trust your map, pace count, and your azimuth as you move out on the course. During the practical exercises in the course, you’ll notice you’ll veer a bit in the dark. Everyone’s perception changes during hours of darkness and it will vary.

As you encounter ways around the draws, you’ll no doubt see where others have tread before you and those well-worn paths are a good indicator that this is the best spot to cross a draw…if you must. But the best rule of thumb for the course is to veer around them if at all possible. But if you do cross one, make sure you check your compass every 20-25 paces. It is so easy to get turned around in those, don’t let it happen to you.

In SFAS an instructor will be present at your points but you’ll no doubt come across green engineer stakes with a dog tag on them. If you do, do yourself a favor and stop and check them out. These are an eight-digit grid coordinate that is built in GPS. There’s no better way to check your location.

Don’t talk to other students. Don’t be a road runner. Nothing will get you in hot water faster than doing those things.

When crossing the roads, the rule of thumb is at a 90-degree angle….and they’ll be watching.

Take advantage of the practical exercises and learn the terrain and the area as best you can. Do try to do the minimum, it will cost you in the end. Talk with other candidates AFTER the course is complete every day and share notes and experiences about what you find on the course. It will come in handy. It is no different than doing a debrief of another unit when planning a mission.

Get used to moving at night and make night movement a breeze. It will serve you well once you get in one of the operational Groups.

Move with a purpose but never out of control. Land Nav is like Selection is to a smaller extent. It can be a lot more difficult if you’re not using your head. Think everything thru and don’t let doubt creep in. Your training will get you thru this. Thousands of students have done it before you and you can too.

You get familiar with a bunch of landmarks out there on the course. I researched thru several social media pages and made note of what different people mentioned. Many of the names remain from my time.
Five Points
Puppy Palace
Lake Baggett
Bones Fork Creek
3 Wire Road…and some new names
Jurassic Park
Scuba Road
Dagobah (I don’t know who named this area in the north, but he deserves an impact award) My personal favorite.

Photo courtesy of DOD

SOF Selection PT Preparation 3.14.2017

Today is a gym day, if you’re one of those unfortunate souls who lives in the Northeast, you may have to shovel out from two feet of wet, heavy snow. In which case that may be all the work out you’ll get today as most everything is shut down.

For the rest…hit the weights today and get some running in.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

Run 5 miles (record your time) “Do the best you can.” Get used to hearing that.

Then, head into the gym:

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

3 x Goblet Squats 10 reps (heavy dumbbell)

3 x 10 Pull-ups

3 x 10 reps Standing Arnold Press

25 x Push ups

30 x “V”ups

Stretch well after completion

Passing SFAS – Plotting and Planning Your Route in Land Navigation

In previous segments, we touched on Map reading, pace count, orienting the map and plotting your starting location. Now we’ll get into the plotting and planning of your route. A proper plan makes getting there a heck of a lot easier.

Plot Your First Point: Okay in our previous segment, we’ve checked and then double-checked our location so that you know exactly where you are starting from. Now you plot your first point the exact same way.

Read to the right and up and using the 1/50,000 map scale, carefully plot your eight-digit grid coordinate to where you are going. Remember, four-digit grids get us to within 1000 meters, six-digit grids to within 100 meters and an eight-digit grid gets us to within 10 meters. Double check your plot and ensure you’ve got it right.

Now measure the distance between the two points. Remember this is straight line distance and not walking distance. Your actual traveling distance will vary from point to point depending on your route selection and the terrain that you’ll encounter.

Planning the Route: There are two basic ways you can get to where you’re going. Either will get you to where you’re going but for your purposes in SFAS, one may prove to be a better option. Again, don’t go with what everyone else is doing, always do what is right for you.

Dead Reckoning – Is a system that is done in two steps. The first is getting an azimuth from your starting point using your map and protractor and determine the distance to where your point is located at. The next step is to use your compass and your pace count and apply what you’ve already learned and walk to your point by staying as close as you can to your azimuth.

Your position can be checked from time to time using both resection or intersection when the terrain features are available. Dead Reckoning has some advantages; it is easy to teach the neophyte navigator and in open terrain, especially in grassy areas or desert type regions, it is easier to stay on the azimuth. It works well also when the distances to be covered are short.

A distinct disadvantage of this method is when you’re facing the terrain you’ll be subjected to in the Hoffman area. Thick vegetation, intermittent streams, draws and swampy areas make Dead Reckoning a dicey proposition. However, it can and does work. I know several SF guys who plowed thru the Land Nav course using this exact method. I wouldn’t recommend this but it can be done at times and will work. But perhaps the second method is the better way to go.

Terrain Association – Is a bit more difficult to plan but is much less forgiving of mistakes and as a rule a helluva lot less time consuming than Dead Reckoning. It requires a more detailed map study of where you’re going and how you plan to get there but the time spent planning your movement is better served than trying to plow your way thru the draws.

The advantages of terrain association are obvious. If you veer off course in Dead Reckoning, you are in trouble. But using terrain association, your position is easily checked and adjustments made on the fly.

Selection and identification of terrain features are key here. Plan your route using handrails as a guide and ensure to plot checkpoints along the way. Ensure your map is oriented and use the available terrain as a guide. You won’t be following a specific azimuth per se, but more of a cardinal direction to your checkpoints using your map to guide you.

You can use the roads both the improved and the unimproved as a guide but the best advice is DON’T BREAK THE RULES! Parallel the roads but not too closely. Make sure that plot a backstop on your route that you can identify as having gone too far.

A word of caution about the roads in Hoffman. There a lot of them out there, and many are not on the map. While there are exceptions…You’ll become familiar with “Five Points” but for the most part, those are at times difficult to judge. Just be careful.

Always remember and the instructors will drill it into your head, that if you come upon a hardball road. Stop. You won’t be crossing any of those in the course but a few of the points may be near them so you can use those as a handrail at times.

But surer than the national deficit going up, someone in your class is going to cross a hardball road. It used to happen in every class and don’t be surprised to hear about it from the other students. Just don’t be “That Guy”.

Plot checkpoints along the way to ensure that you are on track and on target. Choose an attack point that will put you no farther than 200-300 meters from your point. When you arrive there, that is the time to use dead reckoning and plot an azimuth to your point.

We’re almost ready to head out and attack the course. Remember everything you learned and the best advice is to practice, practice and practice some more. The more comfortable you are using your map, compass, and skills at terrain association now, the easier the course will be for you.

In our next segment, we’re heading to Hoffman.

Photo courtesy of DOD