preston
10-20-2005, 23:44
Thinking of my own expierences in SFAS has brought back some funny memories.
1. The Shame Shack. That's the place where the med drops and the VW's (voluntary withdrawls) go. The name itself brings back memories of soldiers from the shame shack standing in the chow line with their heads hung low with defeat, avoiding direct eye contact with those still in the selection process. At the time the Love Shack was a popular song on the radio and it wasn''t long before it was adapted.
Those familiar with the tune can fit the few phrases I remember in.
"Boom, Boom, Boom
Open up Cadre,
Little louder loser"
...
"I've got a blister as big as a whale and it's about to make me fail"
2. SFAS The Army says it stands for Special Forces Assesment and Selection. We knew it really stood for School For Advanced Suffering.
Final thought... SFAS taught me a good lesson. You can't judge a person by how he looks. SFAS was a gut check, pure and simple. Those who I had written off in the begining because they looked weak or had some other visibly detracting flaw were selected while those who looked like the Hulk and who I thought for sure would make it, did not. It came down the the character of the person and his ability to "soldier on". That's something that's only on the inside and can't been seen from the outside. It takes an event like SFAS to bring it out visiblly for the rest of us to see. After SFAS was over I told myself that ANYONE who completed and was selected had earned my respect, hands down.
So to all of you who have... congrats.. you have the hearts of lions.
1. The Shame Shack. That's the place where the med drops and the VW's (voluntary withdrawls) go. The name itself brings back memories of soldiers from the shame shack standing in the chow line with their heads hung low with defeat, avoiding direct eye contact with those still in the selection process. At the time the Love Shack was a popular song on the radio and it wasn''t long before it was adapted.
Those familiar with the tune can fit the few phrases I remember in.
"Boom, Boom, Boom
Open up Cadre,
Little louder loser"
...
"I've got a blister as big as a whale and it's about to make me fail"
2. SFAS The Army says it stands for Special Forces Assesment and Selection. We knew it really stood for School For Advanced Suffering.
Final thought... SFAS taught me a good lesson. You can't judge a person by how he looks. SFAS was a gut check, pure and simple. Those who I had written off in the begining because they looked weak or had some other visibly detracting flaw were selected while those who looked like the Hulk and who I thought for sure would make it, did not. It came down the the character of the person and his ability to "soldier on". That's something that's only on the inside and can't been seen from the outside. It takes an event like SFAS to bring it out visiblly for the rest of us to see. After SFAS was over I told myself that ANYONE who completed and was selected had earned my respect, hands down.
So to all of you who have... congrats.. you have the hearts of lions.