Thanks everyone!
Next stop Language school on Monday. Still no word on Group!

I'd say the language is a dead giveaway.

TR

Sounds to me like he's on his way to Ft Campbell (5th SFG)...with a chance of Bragg (3rd SFG)...

10th SFG has priority on Arabic speakers right now, with another 50 slots just diverted to them.

I was a 2+/2 french speaker, but I volunteered for Arabic so I would get 3rd or 5th, and got sent to 10th anyways. :boohoo

I have been sitting at SWC for 6 months trying to get my assignment switched to 3rd or 5th.

Congrats! And tell him "hath-an sae-dan" (my best transliteration). He got a fun language :D

Ref the title of this thread...

How about 12 out of 14 landing in the trees after a "Special Operations Wing" C-130 put us out?

That is why we don't do CARP.

The Air Force Motto: "The World is a Drop Zone". If you hit the ground they consider it a successful drop.

TR

The Air Forces doen't like the "Big Sky, Little Bullet" method of fire control,

yet they subscribe to the "Big Ground, Big DZ" Theory...go figure.

JM

Bragging Pilots
 

I was in the Pope O'club with my late father-in-law, retired USAF and C46 driver on D-Day and later. Some conventional C130 guys were laughing about putting some airborne guys in the trees that morning. My father-in-law excused himself, with both his hips having just been replaced, and walked over to them. They followed him out to somewhere. He returned they didn't. I asked him what went on and he said "They now know the error of their ways." He was in his 70s.

Great story sir!

Trees
 

ST,

Good story, thanks!

Trees are neither fun nor funny!:mad:

Not trying to hijack this thread, but I just finished reading Beyond Band of Brothers by Dick Winters. After reading this book and the above quote, I am left with a profound sadness that this magnificent generation represented by these two gentlemen is almost gone. I hope we can live up to the standards they set.

Respect to WWII vets, and some thoughts on SFAS/SFQC
 

Overlord, Market Garden, et. al;… Incredible by any comparison. (PC theater as well!) A world truly at war, on a scale that I personally can only imagine, and humbly respect. 4 years (if you lived), sporatic letters, incremental progress and every mile hard fought. IMHO war on that scale and duration, given the historical context, may (hopefully) never occur again. (Bearing in mind all possibilities) I respect my place in the shadow of that era, with no presumption that 120days or less of combat (by official, or any standard) here and there, gives me any insight to the experience of WWII vets. It is “apples and oranges”, and all things being equal, Ken Miller (an 82nd D-Day Vet) expressed his bewilderment with the 21st century battlefield. Still, I always felt humbled to have WWII vets salute (my rank) as an officer, given my respect for what I can only imagine of their experience. Much like the first salute from any SGM or CSM. I did keep you awake at night, the determination to live up to the rank, and those salutes from men you could then only hope to aspire to.

Q course:
Robin Sage had only been “Robin Sage” a year or two when I went through what was then phase III for graduation. I was NG (19 SFG) and 2LT were allowed to attend SFAS/SFQC after IOBC. Then spend the next 2-3 years attached to one ODA or ODB, until what was then SFOC and an eventual slot with one of the ODAs. During Phase I, I was eager let anyone think I was enlisted rather than a 2LT. I’m not sure how it is now, but from 88-89 at least, you were lucky to have anyone from phase I & II with you during Phase III. I know I only passed from one Phase to the other because I worked on Peer support, and what I had “help” with in one skill, I gave it back in spades in another. Be assertive, decisive, but don’t argue or show un-warranted disrespect. Learn to convey your ideas convincingly, and compromise when possible. Your graded leadership role during Robin Sage could very well depend or rely on the one guy you’ve not liked and let him know it. A wise man “MIKE_MIKE” said, SFQC isn’t a position on a team. It’s a school, an evaluation, pass or fail. If you forget that you are a student in a class, your dumb ass will be right back here, and without sympathy.
He was right (of course), each Phase, from my observation, had one or more guys who were already tabbed in there mind, and failed the “technicality” of completing the course.
From what I hear, SFAS is much more of a psychological evaluation than it was in ’88. Then it was more AFPT 275 range and you would make it if you had solid basic skills. ARNG did send a lot of 20-22yo guys to SFSA/SFQC. At 23, I felt like a dumb kid who was just trying to follow the lead so to speak, but it worked. Don’t even go to SFAS without SOLID Land Nav skills. You won’t be lucky enough to follow someone every time. And stay off the roads.

18A2B19SFG:

Thanks for your comments.

Please fill in your profile and introduce yourself in the proper place.

TR

[

He was right (of course), each Phase, from my observation, had one or more guys who were already tabbed in there mind, and failed the “technicality” of completing the course.
And stay off the roads.[/QUOTE]

You bring up a good point. When I was running the Special Forces Department we had folks who felt that because they had "been tested" and gotten through SFAS and other little hurdles in the course that they did not have to "follow the rules". One officer in particular was picked up on the roads during "Officer Stakes" and was recycled because of it. Now I knew this young Captain when he was an solid special forces NCO and it really bothered me that the standards to which he performed when we served together sort of went by the wayside. I don't know if he thought that because he was now an officer that he could sort of operate at a tempo that he saw fit and to which he had become accustomed in his previous assignments as an officer rather than meet course standards or what it was. When I told him he had two choices which included quiting or being recycled he was shocked. He brought in a couple of his contemporaries to support his case who all felt that they had been tested, and retested, and had measured up and that this was just one more test and "just when would the testing be finished"! You see as far as they were concerned they had already earned their "tab". To make a long story very short, the converstation was very one sided professional attitude adjustement session. At the conclusion of this "discussion" 7 very uncomfortable young Captains almost simultaneously had an epiphany. You see they realized the fact that this was in deed a school and that this testing was very forgiving in the fact that the only casualties for failure to adhere to mission type orders and exercise the level of integrity expected of officers that were going to operate without supervision would only be them-this time. They also realized that "testing" never really ends and that it was a whole lot easier to sew on that "tab" than to wear it. They also grasped that in the real world where they were going to be expected to operate without someone checking on whether or not they "followed the rules" their integrity, leadership, and professional lapses would cost the lives of their men and mission failure with all the consequences from their individual discomfort to the impact it might have on national security. The Q is not the goal it is the tool we all use to assess whether or not you have what it takes to truly function as a Special Forces soldier when the results of the tests are evaluated in terms of lives and mission success or failure and where recycling is terminal.