SFAS News Article
 

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story....&Story=7138601

BMT

Sister Article
 

I went for more coffee and you posted the sister article to mine. Need to strip out all the links and repost as a Mod sticky. With a disclaimer of course. To be used for informational use only.

SFAS News Article
 

:lifter
:munchin
:boohoo
:rolleyes:

Damn Pete got whupped by an FOG!!!

Coffee time over
 

OK, coffee time is over. Lets jump in the deep end of the pool and play with the weight belts and clump for a while :p

If you need fins to play with the clump in the deep end you're a wimp in the pool.


Note to non-QPs - Notice the "in the pool". While all QPs are trained in the basics some are more comforable in some areas that others. I find no joy in going 200 feet straight up a rock face. That right knee jumps so much I can barely hold my foot steady :D

Must be from all those years kicking people in the 4th point. :eek: :D

Text of the article, for when they drop it.

TR

"Special Forces training speeds up"

By Kevin Maurer
Staff writer

Special Forces trainees are still spending a lot of their training time learning to work with locals - an emphasis of the program from its inception.

But the current crop of students is devoting more time to building combat skills, a reflection of the probability that they will land in a firefight.

Special Forces soldiers are still hunting Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan and insurgents in Iraq. They are training local fighters in both countries.

The pace of deployments has prompted modifications to the Special Forces Qualification Course, enabling the Army to turn out more Green Berets faster.

The transformation began in October 2004, and changes in the program were apparent during recent training.

Phase II is the first step in the "Q-course," as Special Forces Qualification is called. The phase teaches students to be warriors - from hand-to-hand combat techniques and marksmanship to patrolling and ambushes.

Now, whole weeks are centered on marksmanship and urban combat - from clearing rooms to moving from building to building in a city. Overall, Special Forces soldiers shoot more rounds and spend more time in the field than in the past, the instructors said.

"The learning curve for these students is pretty steep. It is pretty fast-paced," said 1st Sgt. Bob Johnson. He helped design the Phase II curriculum.

Historically, Phase II was taught for six weeks, once a quarter. Now, the training is broken down into five six-day modules which resemble a college curriculum. Each module focuses on a specific task - such as patrolling techniques or urban fighting - and is taught by the same five to seven cadre members.

The latest class, which started last month, had about 400 students. The class is broken into 15-man teams - similar to the A-teams in which Special Forces soldiers operate when they deploy.

"They have to work together as a team and bond together," said Sgt. 1st Class Frank Enriquez, a stocky 37-year-old Special Forces veteran. It is his job to teach the basic soldiering skills.

Pfc. Taylor Ward, a 20-year-old from Vermont, said having experienced teammates is a huge asset.

Ward has been in the Army for less than a year. He was recruited through the X-ray program, which takes recruits straight into Special Forces training.

"Just hanging with these guys, I learn a lot," Ward said. "They have experience I don't have."

A lot of the students are like Ward. In the past, about 80 percent of Special Forces students came from the infantry, but now only about 20 percent do, Enriquez said.

Most of the students now come from support branches - mechanics, supply clerks and the like. Many worked with Special Forces soldiers while deployed and were attracted to the mission.

Sgt. Brandon Coleman was a mechanic fixing tanks at Fort Irwin, Calif., a few weeks ago. He was still getting the hang of the infantry in Special Forces training in August.

"This is Day Four and it feels like we've been here for weeks," said Coleman, who is 30.

After almost two hours of hand-to-hand combat training, Coleman had about an hour to rest and eat an MRE.

It was only 8 a.m.

Next one.

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story....&Story=7158020

TR


Special Forces training turns to likelihood of combat

By Kevin Maurer
Staff writer

Spc. Nicholas Geris wasn't happy that he lost four men in the raid.

But better here at Camp Mackall, where the bullets aren't real and the dead can get up at the end, than in Iraq or Afghanistan. There, a Special Forces soldier's first mistake could be his last.

Special Forces hopefuls move in on their target during an exercise at Camp Mackall.

"The key is to learn as much as you can and not get wrapped up on a mistake," said Geris, a 27-year-old soldier from California. "The worst that I am going to get is a bad after-action report."

The raid Geris led was part of the training program for Special Forces soldiers. The program started in the spring, with an arduous three-week selection process just to get a chance to become a Green Beret.

In the August heat at Camp Mackall, the soldiers began the real Special Forces training. They call it Phase II - with the selection process being Phase I - and it focuses on small-unit tactics and missions and training in survival and evasion of the enemy. Later phases will teach military specialties and languages.

Instructors say the way Phase II training is run these days reflects the fact that new Green Berets are likely to be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, where chances are good they will end up in a fight with the enemy. The latest classes have spent more time on combat skills and more time on the shooting ranges than used to be the norm.

Geris and his teammates were in the fourth week of Phase II. Until this time, patrols and ambushes had been led by instructors. Now, though, the men were playing by what instructors call "big boy rules," when the planning and execution is turned over to students and the planners have to deal with limited resources and time.

"We take them out of the box. We want them thinking," said Master Sgt. James Beal, the senior instructor for the fourth week of Phase II. "You've got what you've got. Make it happen."

Plan of attack

Geris' mission was to rescue a hostage in a guerrilla compound on a tight schedule with only what his men could carry on their backs. He had to improvise a plan.

The degree of difficulty was clear from the beginning. After hours spent on strategy and a long, sweaty march through thick pine forest and marsh, the students almost walked into the guerrilla camp by accident.

Slowly sneaking back a few hundred meters, the students were forced to change the attack plan twice. Geris kept his cool the whole time, making changes on the fly.

Geris and Pfc. Mike Hubbard, a 19-year-old recruit who was selected for Special Forces training out of high school, huddled over a map of the area.

"Can you attack from the east?" Geris asked.

"I can do whatever you want," Hubbard said. He was the assault team leader.

"That is not what I am asking you. Look at me. Can you attack from the east?" Geris asked.

"I can attack from the east," Hubbard said.

The meeting broke up as the leaders went off to brief their men.

Geris found time for a small joke: "Good thing I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night."

Gathering up Hubbard and Pfc. Danny Johnson, who was in charge of the teams' heavy weapons, Geris led them closer for a look at the compound. They could make out some of the buildings but not enough to get a true lay of the land.

Returning to the rest of the soldiers, Geris made a few modifications of the plan, including limiting the opening burst of the machine gun because they could not see targets. Under the new plan, soldiers fired along the perimeter of the camp, not directly into it.

"I am sorry you are not going to be able to shoot," Geris said to Johnson.

Shortly afterward, the soldiers stormed the compound. The first burst from the guerrillas "killed" Hubbard - something the soldier learned when the instructors told him he was dead. Just two minutes into the raid, Geris' plan of attack was in shambles.

Geris knew he was tight on time and couldn't afford to get pinned down.

"Bravo team bound. Let's go! Clear that building!" he yelled as he knelt by the side of a building clutching his M-4 rifle.

The students pressed on, covering each other as they approached a small house. But another burst from the guerrillas hit two more soldiers trying to enter the building.

Geris, his voice breaking as he screamed commands, struggled to keep control over his men as they moved forward, clearing the bunkers.

Less than 20 minutes after the start of the raid, Geris and his men huddled in a thicket.

Four "dead" soldiers lay in a heap in the middle. Another had been told by instructors he was wounded. Geris, carrying three rifles - two from dead soldiers - alternated between ordering his men to set up a perimeter and calling on the radio to other members of the team.

Almost all of the soldiers were carrying extra weapons and gear. The soldiers - a little disorganized - were drenched in sweat as they set up a security perimeter.

The hostage - an instructor's son - squatted near the dead soldiers.

After a head count, Geris realized he was missing a man. He sent three men back to find him.

The others found cover or treated the wounded soldier. The instructors prowled around the makeshift camp, making comments, nudging the soldiers in the right direction.

Hubbard, dead, sat in the shade watching. He looked dejected after being killed early in the fight.

"I enjoy this stuff," Hubbard said. "It sucks when I get killed early on and I am out of it."

The missing soldier was quickly found, and the last of the team members made it to camp. Geris and his men picked up the dead and wounded and staggered to a landing zone and an imaginary medevac helicopter.

Then the role-playing was over. The soldiers were left to walk back to the training camp, where another mission awaited them.

Geris was unhappy.

Planning the mission had taken longer than he wanted. Almost walking into the camp was a mistake and having four dead and one wounded was more than he bargained for, too. But he felt good about his decisions under fire and thought he had handled the pressure of leading his troops.

"The best-laid plan only survives first contact," Geris said.

As he walked back, his teammates - those living and the ones recently resurrected - told him he had done well..

As the sun beat down and despite the pending long after-action review, in which the instructors would pick apart his every decision, Geris' spirits rose. He had learned some lessons, lessons that took him and his fellow soldiers a step closer to earning the green beret.

I agree with Pete, everybody in the deep end, that's SOME KINDA PLAYTIME!!! I also can relate to the climbing the rock face and not being able to move cause the legs are shaking so bad. The mind says GO but the appendages say NO. :confused:

Thanks for the Posts and the insight.

Where are all the hopeful SFers @? Probably intimidated by the professionalism, since most
beings are no matter what the subject is.

First off you should never end a sentence with a preposition.

Secondly, we are here living the dream. Where are you?

And thirdly was there a question or were you just curious?

Crip

Sick 'em Crip!!! (good double entendre, since you are almost an 18D, agree?)

Just asking a quick question, and I didn't look over my grammar
to check for mistakes.

How much longer until qualified, since he said he is living the dream already? I have no clue what the dream is, therefore, why share it with an unqual'd person?

Magnificent lack of SA.
Fire for effect...I am safely in my Kpot. :munchin

Which mistakes are you speaking of?

Jim

Crip
I hope hokma likes fireworks, I'm with 5-0, get deflection and elevation, fire for effect, use the 4deuce and mix it up WP,HE, Apers.

Please fill ing your incryption. I speak Greek too, you know! Literally.:confused:
And to clarify, there is only yes and no, not know! Since Im no candidate, nor pretend to be.

hokma,

The tenor of this posts leads me to believe you're looking for a pissing contest.

You will loose.

Stop posting now until you have read this board and have a better understanding of the people you are attempting to converse with.

There will be no further warnings.

Kyo-
I've been chasing his sorry ass all over the board, praising his stupidity at every turn, and he's gotten 2 or more warnings about his attitude from me.

Oh, yeah - can I watch as he gets thrown down the hallway with his ruck (or is it bookbag) following him at high speed?

Too late, we missed it.

Interesting edits
 

Heh, wish I had logged all of Hokma's original posts. First he blasts away, then he shows attitude, then he edits his posts so none could see the attitude, but fails to mention his ommissions or reasons for editing:munchin .

There's definitly a different story showing than what actually happened.

Cheers folks.

Damn, who tagged him - I bet it was TR, he's been wanting to practice his TI skills, I guess we just played unwitting spotters to his long iron.

Ah, still owe you a beer, so it's all good.

Deleted out of embarasment

Sean
 

Sean, if you think I'm FH just wait until you run into my understudies at the Q Course, if you ever make it. Each generation learns from the previous one plus adds their own twists.

They are just tons of fun.

Pete

Sean, from my experience, unsolicited displays of unbridled enthusiasm are likely to be met with skepticism, cynicism, sarcasm, and derision...facing an endeavor where the gray man approach is favored, you are emoting like the first runner up at a beauty pagent...

excuse my ignorance, but what does being 29 have to do with anything...? i was 29 when i went to Ranger School...a friend of mine in the class was 39...lah-ti-dah, do it or don't, don't think about your age (or lack thereof, at a young 29) because the cadre does not care...you can either function or not...

a kid in a candy store needs a parent to keep him out of trouble...SF is not a candy store and there is damn sure no one to curb your enthusiasm...motivation is great, but the reality is there will be many hours where you will feel like you are insane or at least, deluded...if not, then Pete's understudies are falling short of the mark...

you stopped too late...you are not preaching to the converted...we are beyond converted...

maybe i'm cranky, but it seems like the solstice has brought out some real doozies tonight...maybe it's the moon phase...

enthusiasm such as you profess tonight is often considered false motivation...give yourself a minus five, go to the gig pit and do push-ups until i get tired...:munchin

and you picked a real sh*tty thread to express your enthusiasm...Bah, Humbug...

you stay off the rock, i'll stay out of the pool, thank you very much...:D :lifter

Point taken steve

Wont happen again

(Sean shuffles back into the corner of the room)

Who? Us? :D

Laughing my ass off.

Oh, and I'm with you. Those guys who like the pool can stay there. I prefer the rock, preferably in jungle.

We have been assimilated, we cannot resist, we are Borg SF.....

Damn Dai-Ui, the moon phases are getting you - I think it's just the time of year - all the unbridled commercialism, and lack of sunlight. Or possibly that all of the dumbasses are coming back out from under the rocks, we've been varmint free for a while.....

Bumping an old thread here...

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...t=moving+bragg

Wow! I guess my workout program needs to be kicked up a notch. Thank you sir for that. That article, more than anything I've read, makes you realize the commitment needed to even think about SFAS.::eek:

I'm going to go do more PT and rucking...

ASG

link not working
 

Link not working anymore

Have you read the board rules and stickies yet?

TR

Warrior-Mentor sir, thanks for that post. You and TR are just too good to us sluggos. :D

Would you like some kneepads for that comment?

If your reviving 18 month old threads with childish one-liners is what we have to look forward to from you I would that you not post, at all.

Pull your head out of your 4th POC and gain some SA before posting again.

Crip

Understood.