Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [199]
Humvee
For HMMVW—high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle
IVW
Involuntary withdrawal
LBE
Load-bearing equipment (vest)
LMTV
Light medium tactical vehicle (an Army 4 × 4 truck)
LZ
Landing zone
MDMP
Military decision-making process
MOS
Military occupational specialty
NCO
Noncommissioned officer
NVGs
Night-vision goggles
Psyops
Psychological operations
ODA
Operational Detachment Alpha
ODB
Operational Detachment Bravo
OSUT
One Station Unit Training
Q-Course
Special Forces Qualification Course
QRF
Quick-reaction force
Radios
Radios used by Special Forces:
AN/PSC-5D
Also PSC-5; primary satellite communication/SATCOM radio
AN/PRC-137F
Also PRC-137 or 137; primary high-frequency (HF) radio
AN/PRC-148
Also MBITR, or “embitter”; multiband inter-/intra-team radio, a handheld FM radio
AN/PRC-119F
Also PRC-119; FM base-station voice radio
ALE
automatic link establishment (text message format used with PRC-137)
Rank
Enlisted Army rank structure, junior to senior:
Private first class (PFC)
Specialist
Sergeant, or buck sergeant
Staff sergeant
Sergeant first class
Master sergeant—command senior master sergeant, often designated as first sergeant
Sergeant major—command senior sergeant major, often designated as the command sergeant major, or CSM
ROEs
Rules of engagement
SARE
Situational Awareness Reaction Exercise
SAW
Squad assault weapon
SF
Special Forces (refers to Army Special Forces)
SFAS
Special Forces Assessment and Selection
SFPC
Special Forces Preparation Course
SOF
Special operations forces (refers to Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps special operations)
SR
Special reconnaissance
SWCS
Special Warfare Center and School (John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School)
TAC
Teach, advise, and counsel
UW
Unconventional warfare
VW
Voluntary withdrawal
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dick Couch is a 1967 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He graduated from BUD/S Class 45 in 1969, and was the class Honorman. He was also first in his class at the Navy Underwater Swimmers School and the Army Military Free-Fall (HALO) School. As Whiskey Platoon Commander with SEAL Team One in Vietnam, he led one of the few successful POW rescue operations of that conflict. Following his release from active duty in the Navy, he served as a maritime and paramilitary case officer in the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1997, he retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of captain. Dick and his wife, Julia, live in central Idaho.
ALSO BY DICK COUCH
Nonfiction
The Warrior Elite
The Finishing School
Down Range
The U.S. Armed Forces
Nuclear, Chemical, and
Biological Survival Manual
Fiction
SEAL Team One
Pressure Point
Silent Descent
Rising Wind
The Mercenary Option
Covert Action
Copyright © 2007 by Dick Couch
Foreword copyright © 2007 by Robert D. Kaplan
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Crown is a trademark and the Crown colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Couch, Dick, 1943–
Chosen soldier : the making of a Special Forces warrior / Dick Couch ; foreword by Robert D. Kaplan.
1. United States. Army. Special Forces. I. Title.
UA34.S64C68 2006
356'.16—dc22
2006020623
eISBN: 978-0-307-39479-8
v3.0