If I had to spend one more day with the "TS" and "TL" I had for RS, I would be in Leavenworth. Almost was anyway. Neither one of them made it. :boohoo

oh, man.

got that right.

I have one word for the young'uns in the pipeline right now: agility.

that is it.

agility.

either you have this quality, or you do not. I think that it sums up, in a word, the essence of a successful SF soldier.

a man with agility knows that the fear of the unknown is entirely in his own mind.

RS and teams
 

It is better working with people you know while on an operation.

The bad part as I see it during the "Q" course is that you form friendships with people. That can carry over into the school side of things. A person could be having a hard time and really not cut out for SF but because you are "Friends" you pull him along and help him get through. He then becomes a problem on a Real Team.that the Team Sergeant has to deal with.

If a student team, as individuals, has what it takes they'll do fine in RS.

Just my two cents.

Pete

Good point Pete, however the ability to separate professional and personal relationships has always been a strong point with folks with whom I have worked. Some of my longest and best friendships have been with soldiers with whom I have worked regardless of rank. When it came time to the nut cutting neither relationship ever impeded the task at hand. You might have felt like crap afterwards, but in the end everything seemed to work out.

Jack Moroney

LMFAO, That is priceless.

I nominate that as quote of the year.

SFMS and Arabic Oh boy...
 

I am still trying to figure out how they, J-SOMTC, is going to maintain the current pass rate for the 18D's while shortening the course by 6 weeks, keeping the same amount of material, and adding language, especially Arabic.

just a students .02

Crip

They are probably going to embed you in NYC with an arabic speaking taxi cab that monitors the police frequencies as you shuttle from one gangland shooting to another. Piece of cake.

Jack Moroney

Talked this over w/ my roommate tonight, who just started the 18D course today. The cadre told them this morning that the Medical MOS course was going to be the same 12 months it has been before, and that it is not being shortened.

Perhaps they are going to shorten the overall pipeline for the 18D's by cutting out something else, although I cannot fathom what it would be (perhaps the new "Orientation Phase" being mentioned in the Feb 2005 issue of Special Warfare?).

Anyway, just reporting what the course cadre told the class that started today.

I don't know, there is a school in middlebury, Vt. Great language school but the name escapes me right now. I believe this is where the bulk of the CIA,FBI, and DIA students go for language training. I was looking into it, to prep for SF. As far as Basic understanding of grammar being greater than Immersion I'd have to disagree to an extent. I Set foot in Iraq with no prior knowledge of the Arabic language, and after 4 months was the unofficial 'tank platoon translator' Now i did learn many, many bad habits, and mostly slang. But i still believe in a 'throw them in and they'll learn to swim' principle. Unless of course someone's life is on the line, or when prior planning is an option..

I just about busted a gut on that one Colonel! :D :D

I totally agree with NDD, not only because he is a medic and knows things, but a great deal of communication skill is not limited to grammar but body language. Body language is picked up through a knowledge of the culture of the country, which, by the way often varies from region to region. It is not enough to talk like a duck, you have to look like one and walk like one to be totally effective in the flock. Having had to be able to pass myself off at a distance for something other than a US troop, while my grammar and vocal skills were not the best I was able to look like and walk like the duck even though I might have sounded more like a duck hawk.

Jack Moroney

Middlebury College. Probably the best civilian language programs in the country. Lots of rich crunchy chewy girls, too. :D

My word came from the Asst Dean of JSOMTC. The word he gave was the SOCM portion of the course was being shortened by 6 weeks with the new pipeline with more preventive and sick-call medicine being added to.

Dunno bro. Guess we will find out when we are there...

Hows the back?

you've packed a rucksack before, yes? same principle applies...

i've been on the other end of POI changes...someone has a bright idea, sounds good, be nice to do, etc., etc., etc...the next thing you know, a seventeen week POI (IOBC in this case) grows to 26 weeks...then some personnel guy sees it and hits the fan because there are too many people in the pipeline and manning levels reach some sort of critical (for the personnel types) threshold...as an instructor and student, you wind up adapting as you go, enduring change as you instruct or go through the course and in the end, the product (the trained soldier) almost always is capable of passing muster...as a Marine buddy of mine used to say (regarding the Corps) Semper Gumbie...

one of the guys from my unit just got back from SFAS and said like 50% of his class was selected. do you gents think this had anything to do with SF needing more bodies, and going along with SFQC being shortened?