Do SOF feel more of a brotherhood with each other than the conventional units...... - Page 2

taskforceiron · 09-13-2010, 10:02

I'm going to apologize to all of you and move on.

1stindoor · 09-13-2010, 10:05

Okay, I'm willing to start over again. This is strictly my opinion only, I believe the "brotherhood" is a direct reflection of the type of unit. That is, combat arms. There is a shared experience, a shared hardship, a shared grief, that is generally not always felt by the non-combat arms. This is not to say their mission or role is unimportant, merely my opinion is that those in the combat arms have learned to rely on each other from day one of their training. Their very lives are dependant on each other....of course YMMV.

taskforceiron · 09-16-2010, 04:57

Gentlemen I realize that I was rude and arrogant the other day and I just want to apologize. I'm starting to understand things better and just wanted to apologize for the other day.

Bennett · 09-16-2010, 10:16

Camaraderie/Brotherhood/Band of Brothers are all personality driven. I was on teams for 16 of my 22 years in SF and for the most part it’s true your team bonds and you make a Brother for life. On the other hand I’ve had team mates that I wouldn’t give the time of day to. An old Team Sergeant, Corky Shelton had a rule to fix that, “if you want to fight among the team let me know and we’ll get the gloves, if you do it while we are deployed, I’ll buy your ticket home and have your shit out of my team room before we get back.” That worked. I’ve also had the honor to work with other SOF elements both US and foreign who I consider a Brother and I am still in contact with. For the most part, not always, conventional forces, again both US and foreign felt a little intimidated and I’m sure for good reason of SF. We are all type A and cock sure of ourselves, we have to be. Bottom line, it’s in my humble opinion that it is personality driven, you either are or you’re not. Think about it.

1stindoor · 09-16-2010, 11:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bennett

We are all type A and cock sure of ourselves, we have to be.

I think that about sums it up.

Liammac · 10-18-2010, 06:32

Gents,
I'm very new to the forum and have been reading several threads and posts to get a feel for it. I'd like to chime in on this from a non-tabber point of view.

I spent a few years on SOT-A 501 at Campbell in the late 90's and had the pleasure and good furtune to work very closely with 535, 534 and 523, plus the other SOT-A's from 2/5.

I got to the point where these teams would request me by name on missions where my particular skill set would benefit, or when they needed an extra commo guy. I feel that it's just like Bennett said, personallity driven, either you have it or you don't. But I also want to say that for those of us who worked along side and in direct support it is also takes professionalism, knowledge and work ethic and a little old fashioned gut check. The best compliment I've ever received was from Randy Rhodes from 535 (CSM Mario Vegil's old team) who told me "Mitch, you can come work with us any time"...

Since I've moved on in my career I've also ran into several former members/team mates, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I am still welcomed with open arms. It's a grea feeling and I'm very proud to have served with the best there is and to still be considered a brother to some after all these years.

**PRB** · 10-18-2010, 12:01

It's the heat that steels the iron.
Any combat unit will form strong bonds...the heavier the combat the stronger the bonds. In combat you can't help but be who you really are, no facade can withstand that cruciable. You get to know people down deep, happy,sad,glad,scared etc....
SF is that and more because of the time spent with the same guys. I was on the same ODA for 7 years from a junior guy to finally being the Team Sgt. So you get both. Had one guy in B/2/5 that was in the same Company for 16 years.
Another SOF/SF factor is everyone goes thru some selection process so you get guys with many similar attributes.
Conv Army assigns and moves folks regularly, or t least they did.
Having said that I can see the Infantry guys I served with in RVN like it was yesterday and a strong bond exists there too.