Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [122]
“On to Phase IV.”
“On to Phase IV.”
Of the three soldiers in my student ODA from Phase II who chose 18 Delta, Sergeant Byron O’Kane proved to be the superstar. He was the honors graduate in his 18 Delta class. Sergeant First Class Stan Hall graduated in the middle of the class, but without any recycle time. Only about half of those who start the 18 Delta training are able to go straight through without having to retake one or more portions of the course. One in five finds this MOS is not for them or is too difficult for them, and they are usually assigned to another Special Forces MOS training venue. Specialist (now Sergeant) Frank Dolemont, the combat veteran and tactically the most proficient of my guys in Phase II, had trouble with the academics and was recycled to a following class. He’s still working to become a Special Forces medic.
It is interesting to note that the 18 Delta Phase III MOS training is nearly three times as long as Phases I, II, and IV combined.
“We’ve trained you to save lives on and off the battlefield,” First Sergeant Gavin Haines tells them when they leave the Medical Training Center as Special Forces qualified medics. Haines is a twenty-two-year veteran who grew up in central Oregon. He is a Thai speaker who has spent most of his career with the 1st Special Forces Group. “You are a healer. Your job is to take care of your teammates and to cross-train them in combat casualty care. But never forget that you are a Special Forces soldier. When you put that Green Beret on, you are a warrior first and a medic second.”
THE 18 ECHOS—THE SPECIAL FORCES COMMUNICATIONS SERGEANTS
Perhaps next to the 18 Deltas, the 18 Echo communications sergeant MOS training is the most difficult. Technically, it might be the most challenging. Prior to 18 Echo Class 1-05, the communications sergeants, like the medical sergeants, had a longer Phase III than the other MOS curriculums. Through January 2005, the 18 Echo course was a month longer than the 18 Bravos, Charlies, and Alphas. The extra time was needed for the Echos to learn and drill in international Morse code. Morse code is no longer a requirement for Special Forces communications sergeants.
“Even without the code requirement,” First Sergeant Larry Blowers tells me, “we have a lot of information to get across in a very short period of time. Weapons, engineering, and even the medical requirements of MOS training change slowly. In the communications world, the technology changes every year, every class. Even if the radios don’t change, there may be a modification to an existing radio or antenna system or a software application that changes. Since we’re a part of an evolving military communications system, there are changes within that system as well. On the positive side, the systems keep getting smaller, more reliable, and more user-friendly. Still, the 18 Echo communications sergeant has to learn each new system, incorporate this into his communications planning, and teach it to the other members of his detachment. So while the newer radios are easier to use, they do change, so the learning never stops. And this means we have to give our Echo candidates a thorough grounding in communication basics and computer technology. More and more, if you can’t use a computer or maintain a computer in the field, you can’t communicate.”
First Sergeant Blowers is a solidly built master sergeant who grew up on the Gulf Coast. He has just over twenty years in the Army and will return to the 3rd Group when he finishes training new 18 Echos. His current job description is first sergeant, Charlie Company, 1st Special Warfare Training Group. Blowers knows communications and has something of a facility for languages; he speaks French, Spanish, Haitian-Creole, and Korean, and can make himself understood in Serbo-Croatian.
“Our training here is a three-pronged approach,” the first sergeant continues. “Our