Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [49]
“So do we, soldier. Stay focused, work hard, and make us proud. You’re dismissed, and good luck at selection.”
The really hard ones for the board are the men who are coming before it after their second time through Pre-SFAS Training. Most of those who aren’t cut out for Special Forces have quit or been involuntarily withdrawn, but not all. Some don’t have the physical tools, others lack the awareness or focus to do land navigation, and some just can’t find it within themselves to put forth the effort. But they didn’t quit. These are the men who are now before the board, and these are the men who, with a very few exceptions, the board has to send to selection. So the purpose of the board is to do what they can to get these men ready for the tough sledding that awaits them at Camp Mackall during SFAS. This usually involves a good talking to by First Sergeant Will Carter.
“Soldier, your performance in this course has been totally unsatisfactory. You need a hell of a lot more preparation, but we just don’t have the time for that, and there’s no room for you in the next class. We’ve no choice but to send you to selection. I personally don’t think you can do it. So why don’t you go out to Camp Mackall and prove me wrong. I don’t think you can cut it, but let’s see if you can make a liar out of me.”
With the findings and disposition of the recycle board, the 18X Pre-SFAS Training course for Class 8-04 is over. The recycle board sends half of the forty boarded men on to Phase I and designates the other twenty to be recycled in the next 18X Pre-SFAS class—Class 1-05. Those X-Rays headed for Phase I and SFAS will be joined in the selection phase by a dozen X-Rays held over from previous Pre-SFAS classes for medical or personal reasons. Next stop, Camp Mackall and Special Forces selection.
Author’s Note: Since I observed the training during 18X Pre-SFAS Class 8-04, there have been changes. Among them, the X-Ray soldiers who now arrive from Fort Benning are not hazed on arrival or at their initial formation. The shakedown I described in this chapter is no longer a part of this training. The current thinking is that these are mature, patriotic volunteers, and should be treated as such. Pre–Phase I/pre–Qualification Course training is now built around the goal of doing everything possible to help each soldier succeed at Special Forces selection. The physical, professional, and performance criteria of Pre-SFAS Training is no less strenuous, but the focus is now on giving these new soldiers the tools to succeed in Special Forces.
THE NASTY NICK. Swing through the air, crawl through the mud. The obstacle course at Camp Mackall tests the candidates during SFAS and Phase I.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE SELECTION
Sergeant First Class Byron Hacker is the assigned Special Forces Assessment and Selection duty NCO, which means he’ll be at Camp Mackall until he’s relieved at 0800 the following morning—Wednesday morning. Most of the phase cadre have the day off. When there’s a class in session, they work 24/7. When there’s no class in session, the cadre are permitted time off. Sergeant Hacker sits by the door of the cadre hooch that opens out onto the crushed-rock assembly area and waits. It’s almost 1600—four o’clock—and only about a third of the class has checked into Phase I and the Rowe Training Facility. It’s September, and this is Class 8-04—the eighth and final Special Forces Assessment and Selection class this fiscal year. Sergeant Hacker’s duty post and SFAS are at the Rowe Training Facility, a secure compound on Camp Mackall.
The Colonel James “Nick” Rowe Training Facility is named in honor of a legendary Green Beret. Nick Rowe was taken prisoner by the Vietcong and held for five years. The night before they were to execute him, he made a daring escape and eluded his captors to eventually return to friendly forces. Following the Vietnam War, Rowe was released from the Army, but he returned to active service in 1980 to train a generation of Special Forces at the facility that now bears his name. In 1989, Maoist