Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [40]
After the push-ups and sit-ups, the class runs the two-mile course, which is two and a half times around Pike Field. The best two-mile time of the finishers is 11 minutes flat, which is back-to-back 5:30 miles. Standing at the finish line, I follow one of the better runners, noting that he had scored well in push-ups and sit-ups. He is one of the six who max the APFT.
“Mind if I walk with you while you cool down?”
“Oh no, sir. Glad for the company.” He doesn’t seem too winded, yet he had finished under twelve minutes. He is shorter than myself, about five-seven, and wears the Army-issue field glasses, which are a combination of glasses and goggles—a banded rubber frame that holds the lenses straight across the bridge of the nose. “I’m David Altman,” he says, holding out his hand. There is another group being timed, so we have a moment to talk.
Specialist David Altman is a twenty-seven-year-old Korean-American who grew up in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Before joining the Army, he worked as a legislative assistant for a congressman in Washington. Altman has a quick, easy smile, yet I find him very serious about Special Forces training.
“I know I won’t quit,” he tells me, “but I hope I can make it through selection. I’m a little worried about the ruck marches.” Then he adds with a self-conscious shrug, “I’m not the biggest guy in the world.”
Altman has a degree in Bible studies and is a licensed, if not a practicing, minister. To my why-are-you-here question, he answers, “Like most of the guys, 9/11 was a big factor in my decision. I read a great deal about Special Forces and decided that if I could handle the physical part, it would be a good fit for me. I want to be with a military unit that works closely with other government agencies and the CIA.”
“Do you speak a foreign language?”
“I understand Korean, because of my mother, and I speak it a little. It probably won’t take much for me to get up to speed. But I think I’d like to try for 7th Group and learn Spanish.” I ask about his personal goals as he begins his training. “My personal relationship with Jesus Christ is very important. My goal is to do well here and become a qualified Special Forces soldier. I was the honor graduate of my basic training class at Fort Benning; I’m very proud of that. A lot of my friends thought I was crazy for joining the Army, and even crazier for choosing Special Forces, but I think I can make it.”
For the balance of the first week and into the second, the Pre-SFAS course is a steady diet of physical training and classroom work for Class 8-04. Days formally begin at 0600 with a run or a rucksack march, but the students are up much earlier to prepare for the day’s training. The runs are led by the TACs in platoon formation, and slow runners are segregated for additional work. The road marches are done with full pack and six quarts of water for a total load of close to sixty-five pounds. These marches range from four to six miles, and students are expected to keep a fifteen-minute-per-mile pace. The class breaks for lunch, usually field rations called meals ready-to-eat, or MREs, and ends their day with a physical training session before evening meal. The time between evening meal—the Pre-SFAS students have their own chow hall in the training area—and lights out at 2200, or 10:00 p.m., is for study and gear preparation.
There are classes—lots of classes. There are classes on Special Forces history, organization, and operations. There are classes on nutrition, which go deeply into hydration, diet, and the use—or, more correctly,