Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [75]
That input often comes from a cadre sergeant. “This is a kid who tries hard and who was an asset to his team; he peered very well. Physically, he needs work, but there’s no quit in him. If we’re going to bend a little, let’s bend for him.”
Usually, it is a board consensus that keeps a boarded candidate in training. “Congratulations,” Zorn tells one candidate, “we’re going to select you for Special Forces training.”
“Roger, Sergeant Major. Thank you, Sergeant Major.”
“Don’t thank me yet, soldier. You’ve some work to do before you’re ready for the next phase of training. You need to work every day on your upper-body strength and your overall conditioning. We all have weaknesses; we’ve talked about yours—it’s up to you to fix them before you come back here for Phase II. Can you do that?”
“Yes, Sergeant Major.”
“The board’s accepting some risk in sending you forward. Don’t let us down, you hear me?”
“Roger that, Sergeant Major.”
One soldier the board sends through to Phase II is an excellent performer but has an incident with spousal abuse in his record. He has also spent two years on deployment, a year in Afghanistan and a year in Iraq. The man is apologetic and forthcoming when he speaks about the incident, and talks about the counseling he and his wife received. Yet there is a special passion in the command sergeant major’s voice when he spoke to this candidate.
“There is something you better understand before you leave here. There’s no place for abuse or dysfunction at home—here or anywhere else in this man’s Army. I mean, absolutely none, understand? We take care of our teammates, and we take care of our families. This comes up again while you’re here at the training command and you are history. You hear me, soldier?”
“Yes, Sergeant Major.”
“I’ve got your name on my blotter, and I’m going to be looking for you,” First Sergeant Stew Donnally from Phase II tells him. “Your team sergeant and I are going to be closely monitoring your performance, and we’re going to be asking you how things are at home. You’re definitely on my radar, understood?”
“Understood, First Sergeant.”
As this candidate takes his leave from the board, First Sergeant Billy Sarno follows him out, wanting a further word with him before he left his phase.
The board addresses the officers in their final session. It’s my sense that they are far more critical and exacting with officer candidates than enlisted candidates. Most of the issues concerning the officers appearing before the board have to do with leadership and their performance on the SAREs, but not all. One officer is a very strong leader but has a two-year-old notation in his record for getting into a bar-room brawl. He is also a bit cocky.
“You’d better get straight on something, Captain,” Lieutenant Colonel Jackson tells him. “We don’t need guys who can fight in bars. In fact, we need guys who can walk away from a bar fight. You’re paid to use your smarts and your judgment to lead your detachment. We’re at war, and you need to channel any aggression you may have into leading your men and setting a good example, understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’d better, or you are going to find yourself in another line of work. We hold our officers to a high standard. Understand this and take it to heart. Captain, you have all the tools to be a good detachment leader, but you have to be in control of yourself at all times. Are we clear on this?”
“Yes, sir, very clear.”
Of the six officers boarded in Class 8-04, four are selected to continue in Phase II. One is nonselected for his poor performance on the SAREs and another for his leadership deficiencies. Officer attrition can often be more dramatic. In a more recent class, twenty-nine officers began the selection process in a Phase I class. Twenty-four made it through to the end of the team events. Only sixteen were selected for Phase II.
After twenty-five days at Camp