"You don't want too just be good at rucking, you want too be able stand out above everyone else. When you've got unimaginable amounts of weight on your back you want too be strong enough too let the weaker guy have that break first. Your team should be able too think back about you and remember how you more than pulled your weight durning team week. Be able too accept pain you didn't know you could possibly endure and continue on for miles with that pain. "

Good advice hernando. I will add that we just did a mass casualty medical exercise with 5 casualties (mascal criteria only has to overwhelm a medical units capabilities which 5 casualties does to an ODA). Guess what we had to do? Fireman's carries with dead weight! I have had 2 real world mass casualty events and guess what we had to do? CARRY HEAVY STUFF! It isn't just preparing you for selection, it is real world that we are dealing with.

Some musings....Train, train, train, until your wheels are about to fall off. When those wheels fall off you better know how to lash together a contraption to get your ass over that hump. Once you prove you are worthy to carry that ruck, your ODA will then channel your rough monkey grip abilities and turn you into a refined machine that will be able to sustain your physical abilities for a 20+ year career. We are not looking for guys who can move that 100 pound ruck to the top of the hill one time, we are looking for the guy who is smart enough to convince others to carry the weight and do it every single day for as long as it takes to complete the mission.

Are you going to be the chosen ones of your generation that do not accept mediocrity, learn from the thousands of lessons paid for in blood, maintain and even establish a new mental and physical standard, and take this Regiment to the next level?

If you are, then I am right along with you.

Tighten your laces, ruck up, get your azimuth, and step off. Shut your mouth and open your ears while doing all of that and I will find you on my ODA.

My last point, let us kill the Gray man today. Do not be the gray man. Gray men do not finish first and don't really have an issue with being last. You try to blend in on my ODA and sneak by without taking care of what needs to be done and you won't make it long. Gray men do the minimum and do not prepare for the worst. Gray men are too scared to treat you when you've been shot in the chest. Gray man will not grab the hand mic when the 18A has gone down. Today the Gray Man dies. Fall in line trying to be the gray man in selection and so will your career before it began.

SFAS in Winter Months
 

Gentlemen,

I have tried to search for some advice for attending SFAS during winter months and had no luck. If someone could point me in the right direction I would be very grateful. Thank you

-Matt

Try to stay warm, dress in layers, try to avoid getting wet, eat all you can, and pray that the ice storms and snowfall passes your class by.

You have a huge advantage in that movement through the woods will be much easier, and the land nav points are a lot easier to find.

TR

TR,

Thank you for your quick response and wisdom.

Respectfully,
Matt

Passing on Advice
 

I got selected this past SFAS class and would like to pass on a few pointers that helped me through SFAS.

Personal Readiness and Personal Responsibility starts with the preparation for SFAS and continuous throughout SFAS. Showing up to SFAS other than physically ready will make your stay very long but also shows that you cant take care of yourself. Also having your equipment/gear ready at all times shows that you are prepared for any events (remember you don't know what is coming next). So take some time and prep your things. You got to have this mindset! Remember you are being assessed at all times.

Try not to G2 the course. Show up, be prepared to execute whenever and whatever the cadre need you to do. Cadre will know when you are "gaming it" and it is not a good look to have. All you need to know is that you will be rucking and running so prepare accordingly. Not knowing what or how far I had to go each day made me push myself even harder.

Keep a positive attitude at all times. SFAS is designed to be very physically demanding at times and it is your response to "the sucking" what the cadre are looking for. So don't worry if it hurts sometimes just remember that everybody has breaking point just don't let it become your failing point.

If you are an Officer/NCO be leader within your group. There are many junior enlisted soldiers attending SFAS and your influence on them goes a long way. So pass on lessons learned from your time in the army, step up when you need to be charge and always support the leadership.

The course was a great experience and teaches you much about you. I got meet great individuals. Good luck to all and don't hesitate to ask me any questions.

I'm not sure if this is okay to ask or not, if not my appolgies. But how many attended/passed?

Why does that matter?
A big bunch attended, a small bunch got selected, same as every class.

Every class is a little different, and the student makeup is a little different. Be prepared to do 50% better than your best, and assist those on your team during team week. A good attitude, an unbreakable spirit and faith in your abilities are 3 things you bring with you that are going to be your mainstays. All of the advice in the quoted section of your post are great advice without G2.

Without a doubt agree with you. This was more of a curiosity thing, due to the Military.com "Trying to recruit 3500 new Special Operations personnel".

The response/result would have 0 effect on my performance or my preparation. As you have stated, the information provided to me was great, and I have been utilizing it.

In all the talk of rucking and running, don't neglect your grip strength.

It's kinda hard to complete an obstacle course when you can't hold onto the rope that you are trying to climb. Hard to complete a team week event if you can't hold onto what you need to carry in your hands... and even if you do, it's kinda hard to not get peered if you are "that guy" who forces everyon to stop over and over...

just food for thought...

Grip strength also assists with weapons handling.... good idea to "get some"....

IMOO the best (and cheapest) grip strength training program. Gold. No BS machines.

HIH


S

Or deadlifts...being able to yank 500+ pounds out the ground a few times does wonders for your hands. Thats how I rehabbed my hand after my accident.

Couple of things.

1) DL will absolutely develop part of your grip strength, but grip is a multi faceted skill, as discussed in the article, hence the need to expose it to multiple stimuli.

2) A lot of guys only have limited time to prep, and if you're DL aint big then you aren't gonna get a lot of grip stamina out of it.

S

Heavy farmers carries will both work the grip and prepare the rest of your body for carrying items, many of the grip isolation exercises the article highlights are good assistance exercises to this. If you look at the folks that can close the No. 4 CoC (Magnus Samuelsson), he didn't train using grip devices, but he loved farmers carries (it also helped him to have incredible genetics, but talent without hard work is nothing).

Ropes.

TR