Passing IUW
 

I'm about tell you what you already know; even after reading this 40% of you won't do what you know is right, and consequently you will fail IUW.

There is no magic answer or hidden secert to uncover. Go train your ass off, eat right, stay out of the night life and hydrate. If you do this you will pass IUW with flying colors. I saw a lot of bright and physically fit guys who didn't do what they knew they should of and they washed out.

It's no secret here is what you will be tested on:

-APFT
(17-21 age bracket) Must score an over all 270 with a minimum of 90% in each event.
-Five mile run
forty minutes or less
-Rope climb
30 foot rope climb
-Pull up test
must complete seven pull ups (dead hang)
-Swim test
full uniform 50 meters
-12 mile ruck
Ruck weight 45 LBS dry, must complete in 3 hours or less
-Land Navigation
Must find 5/5 first day to receive a go or 7/10 between day one and day two. You will be give ten hours to complete the course.

Some of you are already saying whatever no big deal I'm the man, blah blah blah...
When I started IUW we had 13 guys in our squad at the end of all our gates we had five left. All the guys who failed where the man too. Here are some examples of guys failing out.


Didn't eat before the 12 mile, failed because legs cramped up.
Didn't hydrate before 5 mile run, almost passed out due to dehydration.
Didn't train hard enough, ran out of gas on hour eight of the land navigation course.
Didn't test themselves prior to AFPT, just assumed they where good, failed push ups.
Didn't work on pull ups' assumed they where a bad ass, faild because of dead hang.

Bottom line, train your ass off and stay dedicated to the course and you'll be fine. Anything short of that and you'll be out of the course.

Well said.

And dedicate yourself totally to succeeding.

No half-measures.

TR

Everything above is good stuff. I'll add a note about the 12-miler. I highly recommend doing a full dress rehearsal prior to the event and make certain you are under 2:45. I did a diagnostic 12-miler on my own (on a hilly, albeit paved, course) in 2:41 about four weeks before the record event and I was confident. However, for whatever reason, I seriously sucked ass and I barely passed with at 2:57. Others' experiences were similar; in fact, there were quite a few folks behind me (not counting those who failed) and I think the majority of the class had times greater than 2:50. There is nothing particularly hard about the course they use but just make sure you make room for that margin of error/performance or you'll be out of the game.

Regarding land navigation, apparently this has to be stated explicitly: BRING A FREAKING MAP CASE AND TIE IT DOWN. Stuffing a map into a ziploc bag is the wrong answer. That is a recipe for losing your map while hacking through heavy vegetation. I have no idea how people manage to screw up this simple stuff, but it happens.

edit: When you do the 12-miler you will step off with six quarts of water, your FLC, and a dummy weapon. Add that all up and it's around 70 lbs. Plan and train accordingly.

I haven't had a new guy on my team for a while so what the heck is IUW?

I'm retired and have the same question. Appears to be the first week of selection?

It's phase 1 of the Q (Introduction to Unconventional Warfare).

What is IUW?
 

Introduction to Unconventional Warfare (IUW) is the first phase of SFQC. The title of the course is deceiving; you don't really end up learning much about UW in IUW.

The course is six weeks long, you start by completing a packet on yourself (mostly admin data). Once complete you'll go into your gates (see orginal post), then your tasked out to Robin Sage acting as a guerrilla for the SF students going through Robin Sage. After that you'll receive briefings on everything from SF attributes, nutrition, different types of UW, chaplain's briefing, FRG......... Then you go onto your next phase of training.

I'm not sure how long ago IUW was introduced into the pipe line, somewhere around two to maybe three years ago.

IUW is foreign to me as well.

It is, I am assuming, a gut check designed to ensure that Soldiers already selected at SFAS are ready to begin the Q-Course. Am I tracking?

Your right on track.

Sounds like a good way to weed out the losers.

I agree. For some Soldiers, a lot of time passes between SFAS and beginning the SFQC. This additional gate keeps them focused.

IUW sounds like a good annual event for the teams, IMO.

Great idea.....not! Those who have been in SF more than a few years will remember the annual "certification" or "validation" mandated by SF Command back in the late 80s / early 90s.

Real fun that was. :rolleyes:

I didn't say anything about mandating from higher. You could even tailor standards for those who are old / broke.

It sounds fun to me.

Back when
 

Back when Robin Sage was a post support detail it was one of the more fun gigs to get if you were SF.

Half our A Team ended up in the same G Band one time. Kinda' hard on the Student Team and exposed the weak map and compass work of more than one of them.

Everything is good training and woods time is never lost but I think ......