Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [120]
SARE EVENT. An SFAS officer candidate is confronted with a war-crime scenario that involves partisan-force role players.
TEAMWORK. Moving a dead jeep through soft sand is a team effort. Everyone has to carry his load or the team fails.
MAKEUP! A Special Forces student gets cammied up for a field problem. Throughout the Q-Course, students apply and reapply face and hand camouflage.
OUTDOOR CLASS ROOM. Sergeant First Class Sid Warner, ODA 812 cadre sergeant, holds class in the rain for student ODAs 811 and 812.
CLAYMORE CLASS. Sergeant First Class Paul Janss, student ODA 811’s cadre sergeant, demonstrates the proper use of a claymore mine.
VERY CAREFULLY! Two Phase II cadre sergeants demonstrate the proper technique for searching an EPW—an enemy prisoner of war.
THE GUN. An M240 medium machine gun set up for an ambush. The two camouflaged lumps in the foreground are Private First Class Tim Baker and Specialist Tom Kendall.
LIKE THIS. Sergeant First Class Paul Janss demonstrates the right angle for covering fire to Captain Miguel Santos.
FIELD INSTRUCTION. Sergeant First Class Paul Janss, upper right, briefs five members of student ODA 811 before they continue with their tactical field problem.
TAKE FIVE. Private First Class Tim Baker takes a break during Phase III, 18 Bravo training at Camp Mackall.
TRANSITION. Private First Class Roberto Pantella holsters his M9 pistol, getting ready to go to his M4 rifle. In time, he’ll do this without taking his eyes from his target.
LONG GUN. Specialist Tom Kendall settles in behind the scope of an M24 sniper rifle.
GUNFIGHT FORM. Private First Class Tim Baker engages a target under the watchful eye of 18 Bravo cadre sergeant Don Adams.
CONSTRUCTION AT CAMP MACKALL. Sergeants Aaron Dunn and Daniel Barstow and their 18 Charlie classmates on the roof of a student project during Phase III.
CARE UNDER FIRE. A student combat medic applies a tourniquet during the trauma portion of the 18 Delta course. He then readies the patient for casualty evacuation.
18 ECHO FIELD OFFICE. Tools of the Special Forces communicator—rucksack, rifle, radio, and a toughbook computer.
AERIAL RESUPPLY. Student ODA 915 prepares a bundle for airborne delivery in Phase IV. Clockwise from top, standing: Specialist David Altman, cadre sergeant, Sergeant Andrew Kohl, Sergeant Brian Short, and Sergeant Aaron Dunn.
DEMO INSTRUCTION. Sergeant Aaron Dunn, one of ODA 915’s engineers, gives his team a class on demolitions during the pre–Robin Sage mission-readiness exercise.
IT’S A GIRL. Captain Santos and his daughter Anna—two hours old—with the author. Santos was granted a six-hour pass from Phase IV to see his firstborn, then returned to his team to parachute into Pineland and the Robin Sage scenario.
CHECK EQUIPMENT! ODA 915’s cadre team sergeant, Troy Blackman, checks Staff Sergeant Tom Olin’s reserve parachute. Note: This is a practice, nonequipment jump.
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS. Student ODA 915 under full combat load waddles to waiting Casa transports that will drop them into Pineland.
AIRBORNE! ODA 915, six of them in two Casa aircraft, insert into Pineland and the Robin Sage exercise. Each man jumps with a hundred pounds or more of equipment.
WE DO IT THIS WAY. Captain Miguel Santos briefs a contingent of Pineland guerrillas on the Rules of Land Warfare and the humane handling of enemy combatants.
DRESSING OUT THE PIG. Sergeant Andrew Kohl, back to camera, and Staff Sergeant Tom Olin do the honors. The pig provided a non-MRE dinner for thirty men.
ALLEGIANCE TO PINELAND. Captain Miguel Santos and members of student ODA 915 administer the oath of allegiance to two new guerrilla recruits during Robin Sage.
CONVOY BRIEFING. Iraqi Army scouts are briefed by a Special Forces sergeant prior to a Humvee convoy run from Al Asad to Hit. Author in center of photo. Photograph courtesy