[magician]

this is actually a hard question.

in my case, I wanted to go SF out of the gate, but my recruiter lied to me and told me that SF was not available as an option to recruits off the street. At this time, it WAS an option. He told me that I needed to go to a Ranger Battalion first, and this I did, and I am glad that my life turned out this way.

after four years in Battalion, I extended to go to the Q-Course, and for assignment to 1SFGA. It was a real relief. I loved it so much that I reenlisted, after six years of duty, and three years of extensions to my original three year enlistment. Do not get me wrong: I loved the Ranger Battalion. But I was slowing down....and I was ready to take the next step in my professional development as a professional soldier. On an ODA, I had time and opportunity to take better care of myself physically, I was never in better physical condition than when I was on an ODA, and I had time and access to resources that enabled me to hone myself as a soldier.

the people....yes, the people are special. But for me, the opportunity to make real investments in my own precision as a soldier was the real attraction. In those days, SF were specialists in the arts of interdiction. I was all over that. I was also attracted to the regional orientation, and the opportunity to get into the meat and potatoes of foreign cultures, as I had always been a relatively cerebral individual. SF in those days was a place for some seriously smart motherfuckers, and I met guys who were true polyglots (George Bell, for example), who could have been "successful" anywhere, doing anything that they chose.

it is a brotherhood, a tribe, and in those days, there was no other place to learn at the feet of survivors of MACVSOG. For a professional soldier, there was no other place to be than in SF, at that time, in my opinion. SF was also a gateway to bigger and better things. Your reputation in SF is everything. If you are not known personally to someone, they know someone who knows you, and if you are a shitbird, word gets around. Likewise, if you are a professional, word gets around, and opportunities come your way.

bottom-line: for whatever reason, I found myself on the path of professional soldiering. If you choose this path, and elect to prepare yourself for combat as a soldier in the service of a country, there is no better place to do so. I would rather fight with a handful of sneaky petes in my hip pocket than as a member of a conventional unit, anyday. It reminds me of the old adage about firepower. Firepower is not carpet-bombing a target. Firepower is placing one single bullet in the brainpan of your nemesis. "One shot, one kill," refers to much more than sniping. It refers to an entire way of warfare, one that is much kinder and gentler on contested societies, far cheaper, far more efficient than the destruction and waste sowed by conventional military formations.

people with an "individual" bent can flourish in SF, where they would feel thwarted and confined by the strictures of the regular Army. For me, growing up in the Ranger Battalion provided me with a foundation of experience that I could not have received anywhere else. And it taught me respect for authority, which was something that I really needed to learn. SF for me was a "finishing school," and while I am now old, fat, and much slower than I used to be, I am still a conniving, dastardly son of a bitch, treacherous to my enemies, extremely deceptive, appearing to be just another old, fat guy walking the streets of a foreign capital. My primary weapon is my brain, and I can pick up the phone or jump on the internet and put into motion plots that would boggle your mind.

it is one thing to be able to pull a trigger. But when you find a guy who can do a clandestine block face survey, then do a target analysis and isolate the single missing screw that will bring an entire system down, and then "arrange" for that screw to mysteriously fall...then you have the ultimate force multiplier. When you take this same guy and teach him how to craft campaign plans incorporating the gamut of force options...then you have a lone guy who can go someplace very quietly, and leave havoc in his wake.

I love my SF brothers. While loyalty, reliability and trustworthiness are our watchwords, we have the mentality of bank robbers. Do we ever misuse our skills? I do not. Nor do I associate with others who do. We have had our "ten percenters." I get the feeling that there are fewer of them than ever before, and this is a good thing. But my brothers are worldwide, they are many of them embedded in careers doing "good works," in accord with our values and code of honor, and it is a delight to work with them, others might say "conspire" with them, in furthering our mutual goals.

SF is not for everybody. The pipeline is long and hard. It culls out those who do not belong.

But it also forms you, and you learn dexterity as you learn to survive.

The first question you have to ask yourself is, do you have the balls to try?