Why go SF?

[odoylerules]

A lot of guys my age come through this site and SOCNET, interested in going SF. And I always think to myself "well, why do these guys want to be on an ODA?" Almost invariably, their reasoning seems to be very poor (movie inspired, cool sounding title, beret, tab, want to be Rambo, etc). As a result of this, I started to ask myself "why does SF interest you?"

I thought back as far as possible, and realized it was because of a math teacher I had, who'd been a 5th Grouper. Mind you, I was locked on to going to the 82d at this point in time. I spoke with him a lot about the Deuce, but he always seemed to have something "neato" to say about Group. So if not for him, I'd never have even looked into it. Which isn't to say if he'd been a Marine/SEAL/whatever that I'd be looking there, but he was the beginning of my research into SF.

I read a lot, studied a lot and liked what I saw a lot. Not wearing a beret & long tab, having unshined boots and long hair. Not even kicking down doors and doing HSLD Direct Action missions. What I really liked was empitomized by a couple of lines from the History Channel's "Complete History of the Green Berets."
1) "An SF soldier was not recruited for physical prowess. It's not about how many pushups you can do (although that's important), the SF community is comprised of some of the most intelligent individuals I know...that's what influences the cultures where we work."
2) "SF isn't about commando crap (though we can do it), it's about helping people...building schools, churches, teaching how to cultivate the land."

Then I came to SOCNET, and found a lot of guys my age were interested in the same road as I. However, by and large they seemed to want to be "hard" or "HSLD" or whatever you call it. I'm not saying they all were, I can think of a bunch who are great guys with the best of intentions, but in proportion, there seemed to be a lot more assclowns.

And that's where I got this question: why should an individual want to be SF? Why did you? What's a good reason.

As for research I put into this question, I PMed NDD first. He advised me to post here, so I guess you could say this question is approved by the People's Medic.

Thanks,
Doyle

[QRQ 30]

IIRC the desire to be a "heeero" was a prime motive for me. It was only in Training Group that more realistic reasons were drummed into me. "If you want to be a hero, you don't belong here." "We're teachers and diplomats not fighters" etc.

There is nothing wrong with hero worship. It is a prime source of recruits. Once we bag them we can refine and define them. If we were to rely upon the "real", lofty philosophical motives for recruiting we would quickly become extinct.

[NousDefionsDoc]

For me, I kind of always wanted to do it since I was a kid and saw the movie, then read the book. But I really knew while I was in the 82nd. While there, I traveled to a few places and always saw the same exact thing, the rucksack of the guy in front of me. I never knew where we were or what we were supposed to be doing.

The other thing was the confidence I saw from the guys that were SF troops. You never saw anything flashy, they were never in a hurry, they always seemed to be ahead of the game. Always quiet and confident. Like it is their world and everybody else doesn't understand the rules, much less how to win.

After I was there a while, I couldn't imagine serving anywhere else. The Brotherhood was truly incredible. I didn't think about it much at the time, but the things your teammates will do for you or you will do for them without being asked or without even thinking about it you don't see everyday.

Originally Posted by QRQ 30

There is nothing wrong with hero worship.

Was really glad to see someone say that in this topic. It seems like people feel it's better to minimize this aspect as a motivator. Maybe because any good thing taken to an extreme easily becomes a bad thing.

But most people need heroes and really excellent role models to look up to and pattern behavior after. I certainly do. If you don't have that and need it, then you are just adrift. And who doesn't need it or at least can be better off for it?

Since precious few have the mental + physical ability, all in 1 package, to become heroes in the combat or military sense that we are discussing here, I think there should be no shame in that as a motivator to those who have it. Especially when the result is the security and freedoms of our country.

FrontSight

I'd read the book, seen the movie...

But in the end, it all came down to three words for me, the motto:

De Oppresso Liber - To Free the Oppressed.

I believed in that. Still do. It's worth doing.

[Desert Fox]

I want to be SF because regular units are boring.

Originally Posted by Desert Fox

I want to be SF because regular units are boring.

Then you need to take a handle in making duty in your regular unit not boring.

[Doc]

Why go SF?

An interesting and very basic question.

My answer would be that it allowed me to be around the best people on the face of the earth. Guys that I still love and respect.

I loved the mental and physical part. I especially liked the humor. Nothing like hearing a classic quote after a memorable event.

You don't leave SF when you retire. You simply apply what you learned and use it wherever you go. I still try to keep up the standard. I PT early in the morning and I give a full days work. On top of that I constantly look for new ways to improve.

If I was 17 years old, I would get parental consent and go 18X Monday morning.

Young people are looking for a way to set them apart from the crowd and do something tough. You'll get both with these people.

Hope that answers your question.

Doc

[QRQ 30]

I think I can make my first even more simple. It was a desire to be the best and among the best. The rest came with increased maturity. In the beginning my chest wasn't big enough for my jump wings and my head wasn't big enough for my beret. But they grew with time.

This thread has been alive for some time, but not touched since 5/09.

I was born in 64, just a kid to some of the older fellas here. In the spring of 1972, at the tender age of 8, my father greeted a young soldier at our door. Dressed in class A's, jump boots, wearing a Green Beret. My father immediately welcomed and embraced him with a warm and tender hug. I've never seen my father show such intimacy with someone outside our family, and never again to this day. This young man had just returned home from Vietnam, when he learned that his own father had recently died, someone whom my father had served with in Korea.

My father was his 'second' dad, and while I have learned only later in life what it meant to be part of a team, to know the fellowship, love and brotherhood what this community stands for, I will never forget that day.

I enlisted in SF because of a visual image of what commitment stood for, and what TEAM really meant. At 18, I entered college, ROTC was on the list of classes available. There I met another SF soldier, a MSG, my second in 10 years. I thought, these guys are rare indeed. After a semester and 1/2, I was not moving along with what I thought post adolescence should be, most professors were static, no lecture moved me, I longed for thought, not canned expressions of fellow students. I was, for the first time, lost and homesick.

Walking back to my dorm room one afternoon, the MSG pulled over his car and asked if I wanted to join him and a few of his buddies for a BBQ and home time with kids, and few girls and a couple of "moms".

Before the evening was over, I had a chance to view some old photos albums of younger vets now in the living room drinking beer, heard a couple cool stories about a curtain medic who delivered a baby in a small obscure village somewhere, and once in the middle of said story, the room got quiet, a tear fell and a toast was raised to said medic who was no longer with the TEAM. It was not difficult to see that this was a tight group that loved each other as much if not more than thier own families, who understood the ties between them as well as themselves.

I simply wanted that, more than anything else.

When I finally made it to the recruiter, and was given REP63 orders, the Recruiting SGT at MEPS asked me, "Why SF?" I could'nt answer him, how could I, the journey was already to long for a simple answer. Drill Sergeants in Basic asked, my answer was always given in push-ups. It was only when I arrived at Ft. Bragg, NC, a curtain MSG, now SGM found me and said, welcome.

WD

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Originally Posted by odoylerules

.

And that's where I got this question: why should an individual want to be SF? Why did you? What's a good reason.


Doyle

For me it was a matter of disenchantment with conventional units. When I came in to the military (1965) there was a definite separation between officers and enlisted men and officers where judged more by their ability to look good than to do good. I entered the army to be a soldier but soon found out that my expectations of soldiering were incompatible with what those above me expected a young officer to do. I was counselled often because I chose to lead from the front not push from the rear, because I spent too much time making sure that we actually could perform the tasks expected of us, and had the audacity to have the troops teach me those soldier skills I was severly lacking because they were not "officer tasks". I was foolish enough to actually think that I should never ask a soldier to do something that I could not do our would not do myself if the need arose. I was equally foolish to think that if the troops had to freeze their butts off I had no business sitting in some tent around a stove drinking coffee and God forbid I should take some of that coffee out to the guys on site. While I knew that I was locked into being an officer I just thought the priorities in conventional units were ass backwards. I just had to be a soldier first and an officer second and that outlook was not compatible with the conventional units in the 60s. SF provided that for me and for me it was not only the right choice but the only choice. Had I not been able to enter SF after my first assignment I would have certainly left the military.

Jack Moroney

[Desert Fox]

Originally Posted by Jack Moroney

I just had to be a soldier first and an officer second...

That was a nice one!

[Tubbs]

Hi, I'm new to forums in general but I thought that I'd post a reply becuase I liked what I read.
I am a former Marine. I am interested in becoming a Green Beret. I'm not the fastest and I'm not the strongest (you could probobly tell by my handle). However I don't believe in quitting. I want to be a part of an organization of that will challenge me and make use of my creativity and intellegence. I want to be a professional and work with others of a like mindset. I want to excell at what I do. I don' think that I can find this as a civilian. Is that a good enough reason to consider special forces?

[NousDefionsDoc]

Why would you want to become a hat?

[QRQ 30]

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

Why would you want to become a hat?

Tubbs: That is a hint. We aren't hats but we earned the right to wear the Green Beret.

Maybe we are twins. My name was "Whale" short for The Great White Whale. "Q**T" is a word that doesn't exist in my vocabulary -- sometimes to a fault. Look at it this way. Sometimes we have to work harder than the skinny little pencil necks and sometimes even have to pull some of their load. It's all in the attitude.