Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [161]
The briefbacks, or mission briefings, are taken seriously in Special Forces—certainly so in Phase IV training and Robin Sage. The officer acting as 915’s battalion commander to take the briefback is Lieutenant Colonel Matt Stark, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group. The team rises as he enters the team room, and Captain Santos introduces himself and the members of his team. Lieutenant Colonel Stark takes his seat, and Santos begins with a concise statement of his mission, then plunges into the Pineland situation and threat evaluation. As in the rehearsals, other members of 915 follow him with their portions of the briefback. The briefing is very detailed and very technical, with a great deal of acronyms and military jargon. Fortunately, I had been through Phase III, so I could follow most of it. Ninety minutes and 115 PowerPoint slides later, Captain Santos concludes his briefback.
“The men have worked hard,” he tells Lieutenant Colonel Stark, “and they’re prepared to carry out this mission. We’re good to go, sir.”
The team is sitting in two rows to the side of the table where the colonel took the briefing. “That was a good job,” Stark begins, “especially given the time you’ve had to devote to it. I’d like to say that you’ll have more time for planning down range, but that may not be the case. I like your approach to training your G force, but don’t try to jump right into it with the guerrillas. Settle in with your Gs and build some rapport first. And you, Captain, are going to have to sell this plan to the G chief before he allows you to train his men. Again, try to get a read on him before you begin training. He may be strong politically, but is he strong tactically? Is he strong organizationally? You have to make a quick assessment of him—help him where he is weak, yet stay in the background and not make him look bad to his men.” He pauses to consult his notes. “Your infil plan is a good one, but more detail is needed. You have to plan for every imaginable contingency, from a man getting injured on the drop zone to being compromised on the drop zone. Until you make a safe linkup and are in the security of the guerrilla base, you’re in Indian country, and you have to take all security precautions. And when you are in the G base, you’ll still have to tend to your own security. In Robin Sage, and later on when you deploy for real, always be thinking about security. In Special Forces, you’ll never really be free of that responsibility.”
Lieutenant Colonel Stark again consults his legal pad, checking off notes as he makes each point to 915.
“Past training your guerrillas and taking them on operations, make a careful risk assessment on each and every mission—take the time to game it out from a risk perspective.
“Do what you can to stay away from air resupply, it puts you and the aircraft at risk. Work with your Gs and the auxiliary to get what you need, if you can.
“A word about the equipment you are going to jump in. The tendency is to go in heavy. Assume some risk on food and water. You can find water on the ground, and you can do without food for a while. Try to cut down on your weight so you can move better. This is a good time of year temperature-wise, so you can cut down on your snivel gear.
“Medical. Be ready