Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [54]
I wasn’t surprised to see the group commander and the battalion commander take the time to address the men who are beginning Special Forces Assessment and Selection. All phases of Special Forces training are important, but SFAS is considered a key course on the road to the Green Beret. It’s the admission slip to SF training. During my in-brief on my arrival at Fort Bragg, the commanding general of the JFK Special Warfare Center and School, Major General James W. Parker, put it this way.
“Dick, I want you to pay special attention to what goes on during SFAS. The other phases of training are demanding and technical, and we’re always tweaking them to produce a more proficient soldier or a soldier that is better equipped to function in the current operational environment. But the selection phase is where we decide who will and who will not enter Special Forces training. This is very important. If we get the right men into the pipeline, then the force will thrive, but we must have the right men. In selection, we are looking for the men who are physically tough, but more importantly, men who have the intelligence, character, and interpersonal skills to be impact players on a Special Forces detachment. Special Forces is one of the only military training programs that seeks out men who can get along with others—who can function in a cross-cultural environment. And it all begins at selection.”
I promised General Parker that I’d do my best. And during my time with this SFAS class, I saw the general on several occasions, observing training to one side and speaking quietly with First Sergeant Billy Sarno.
After the battalion commander and his command sergeant major take their leave from Class 8-04, Sergeant Hacker puts the formation at ease and gives them their Camp Mackall orientation briefing: no cell phones, no phone calls out, no post exchange (the compound has a small one-room PX), no Coke or vending machines. He covers uniforms, formation times, gear lists, chow hall protocol, bulletin board notices, barracks security, and a host of other issues that govern the lives of Phase I candidates. Everyone has white adhesive tape on their uniform blouses and trousers with black Magic Marker numbers, but in SFAS they wear the blouse tape strip over their nametags and they wear no rank insignia. For now, the selection candidates are pure numbers. When Hacker gets to the medical issues, he slows.
“If you’re hurting, drive on. If you have a medical problem or are injured, get to morning sick call and get it fixed. If you get poison ivy or poison oak, let us know, and we’ll get some ointment for you. It’s starting to cool off, but the heat’s still our number one problem. Hydrate, and hydrate often. You will be issued hydration salts; take them every day. Next to the heat, it’s the feet. Take care of your feet. Treat hot spots and blisters early. Moleskin, new skin, second skin, and bacitracin ointment are all helpful. By now you should all know what does and doesn’t work for you. Deal with it. Prescription meds are the only meds allowed, so if you’re on a prescription, we need to know about it. Out here, Motrin is to be used only as prescribed by the medics.” He pauses to consult his notes. “Hygiene. Hygiene is very important. Take care of yourself; shower when you can, and take a whore bath when you can’t. Check each other for ticks; we have a lot of ticks. Also be on the lookout for black widows and brown recluse spiders—we’ve got them, too. There’s a lot of snakes out here, so let us know if one bites you. Usually, it will be a copperhead, and most of their bites are defensive and venomless, but