Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [1]
In this context, a book about SF training serves two purposes. First, it educates a public that, while closer to its military than are the citizenry of Canada and Europe, is still too distant given the need for healthy civil-military relations. Second, it provides a basis for discussion as military leaders seek to answer thorny questions about how SF must change in the coming years. Ultimately, change and adaptation rest on a knowledge of training.
There isn’t one military future confronting the United States, but several contradictory ones. Just as Afghanistan saw a merger of nineteenth-century warfare and twenty-first-century close air support, the next few decades will see a blending of the most basic, rudimentary techniques of counterinsurgency and unconventional warfare (in which language skills could trump technology) with the use of heavy bombers and other conventional assets. Amid this use of varied tactics one thing is clear—business will be booming for SF. And to rise to the challenge, the Green Beret training will have to constantly evolve and be tweaked. Here’s a book that can help start the process.
Robert D. Kaplan is a national correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and the author of eleven books, including Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground. He is currently the holder of the Class of 1960 National Security Chair at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis. The views expressed above are his own, and not those of the Academy.
COMBAT TEAMWORK. Sergeant Aaron Dunn and Specialist Antonio Costa enter a bunker during a room-clearing tactical drill.
INTRODUCTION
I am an American Special Forces soldier!
I will do all that my nation requires of me.
I am a volunteer, knowing well the hazards of my profession.
I serve with the memory of those who have gone before me.
I pledge to uphold the honor and integrity of their legacy in all I am—in all I do.
I am a warrior.
I will teach and fight whenever and wherever my nation requires.
I will strive always to excel in every art and artifice of war.
I know that I will be called upon to perform tasks in isolation, far from familiar faces and voices.
With the help and guidance of my faith, I will conquer my fears and succeed.
I will keep my mind and body clean, alert, and strong.
I will maintain my arms and equipment in an immaculate state befitting a Special Forces soldier, for this is my debt to those who depend on me.
I will not fail those with whom I serve.
I will not bring shame upon myself or the Special Forces.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I will never surrender though I am the last.
If I am taken, I pray that I have the strength to defy my enemy.
I am a member of my Nation’s Chosen Soldiery.
I serve quietly, not seeking recognition or accolades.
My goal is to succeed in my mission—and live to succeed again.
De Oppresso Liber
This is the creed of the Special Forces soldier—the Green Beret. There’s a lot in these few lines that defines this special breed of warrior, but one stands out that defines these chosen soldiers: “I will teach and fight…” Special Forces are teachers. Like all good teachers, they have to know their trade, and their trade is the art of war. And like all good teachers, to be effective they have to gain the respect and trust of those they teach. This is not an easy task, since those they teach come from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. Quite often they don’t speak English. Many can neither read nor write. Yet gaining respect and trust of foreign fighters, on their home ground and within