Thinking of Joining the Special Forces...

[rakkasan]

Roy, If you're serious about SF, don't concentrate on running so much. What you need to do is a lot of push ups, road marching, sit ups road marching & road marching. Train on the events you will do the most of. 12 miles a pop with a 40-60lb rucksack at least twice a week will be a decent start, and move up to 18 miles. That is no exageration.

SFAS = Special Forces Accessment And Selection, School For Advanced Suffering, Sore Feet And Solders, Stupid Fuggin Army Shit....

I know some of the events that they use to evalute you, and they try to determine two things. One, how far will you push yourself physically, and two, how well do you work with others in a team. Of course, they try to determine if you have the ability to make things happen with minimal time & equipment, but they are more interested in what kind of mental fortitude you have.

 

[CFSapper]

the US Guys r only carring 60lbs:aigo: wow jeez avrage Canadian combat load is 120lbs shit :aigo: im in the wrong Army

 

[CTsupra]

road marching, road marching & road marching.

qft...

 

[CTsupra]

the US Guys r only carring 60lbs:aigo: wow jeez avrage Canadian combat load is 120lbs shit :aigo: im in the wrong Army

lmao! that's just in the ruck sack alone. if not less.

i just did day and night land nav the other day, and i easily had more than 120lbs on me. i was also carrying a s.a.w.

 

[CFSapper]

combat load is rack weapon and ammo


edit: just when and wighed my ruck 112lbs

 

[CTsupra]

wtf is in your ruck? lol.

 

[rakkasan]

the US Guys r only carring 60lbs:aigo: wow jeez avrage Canadian combat load is 120lbs shit :aigo: im in the wrong Army

I'd like to see any man sustain carrying a 120lb ruck for more than 5 miles. When I carried my combat loaded ruck & my portion of our TOW system (three man crew) into Iraq during DSII, it weighed about 160lbs total. That's the complete load, 5.56mm, water, et al. We walked maybe 3-4 miles, at most, and it damn near killed us.

What I'm talking about, and what SFAS does, is carry a 60lb ruck, continuously, for 4 weeks. All day, every day, many miles a day. I challenge any one to do that, because if was so easy, the Green Beret wouldn't be so coveted.

 

[rakkasan]

lmao! that's just in the ruck sack alone. if not less.

i just did day and night land nav the other day, and i easily had more than 120lbs on me. i was also carrying a s.a.w.

If that's the case, your commander (be it Battalion or Company) is a fuckin moron.....

 

[CTsupra]

yeah, it sucked. i'm still in bragg, and it's just for training. i leave for theater in a week. we're not really doing any pt, so the training brigade captain is trying to come up with ways to smoke us.

soft pack with 3-day load, ach, iba, kneebo pads, camel back, s.a.w. + 200rds ammo while walking in swamps and over ditches = i'd love to see some of you try.

 

[rakkasan]

soft pack with 3-day load, ach, iba, kneebo pads, camel back, s.a.w. + 200rds ammo while walking in swamps and over ditches = i'd love to see some of you try.

I should be assigned to 3/75th by March.....

 

[CFSapper]

wtf is in your ruck? lol.

full sleeping gear (inner bag/outer bag linner bivey bag ,half shelter, air mattres,ranger blanket), all my engineer gear,(shovle,pick, wire cutters, during train mine probe,and mabey bolt cutters) climbing gear, 2 days worth of clothing including arctic gear, tolatries, xtra boots. My small pac and tac vest, helmet, are all straped to the out side as well as my engineer stuff, combat knife thats all i can think of with out tearing it all apart

 

[rakkasan]

full sleeping gear (inner bag/outer bag linner bivey bag ,half shelter, air mattres,ranger blanket), all my engineer gear,(shovle,pick, wire cutters, during train mine probe,and mabey bolt cutters) climbing gear, 2 days worth of clothing including arctic gear, tolatries, xtra boots. My small pac and tac vest, helmet, are all straped to the out side as well as my engineer stuff, combat knife thats all i can think of with out tearing it all apart

That is 120lbs? :icon_conf I have carried many rucks in the past, and what you've listed wouldn't weigh 40lbs, but if you say so.

Regardless, if you're carrying all that in you ruck & not an A or B bag, your commander is wasting the combat effectiveness of his unit. :3d_frown: Carrying a lot of shit on your back does not win battles, being somewhat fresh for the battle does....

 

[CFSapper]

:dunno: 40lbs ok you prob know more then i do im just going bye what my scale says :dunno:

 

[SupraDerk]

Derk - You are correct about the AF. Officer accessions is pretty much limited to the USAFA and AFROTC right now due to the "Force Shaping" that's going on. The Marines and Army are different. A big source of officers for the Marines is the OCS route...they get limited numbers from the USNA and NROTC units. ROTC for the Marines is far less common than AFROTC units.

Having said all that...the Marines have no problem meeting recruiting goals...officer or enlisted. In that sense, the Marines are a competitive service to enter.

Yeah, the Marine ROTC unit here has like 4 people, haha. But they try to promote that pilot trainning program they have where it's straight to OCS after graduation and then straight to pilot trainning afterwards. There used to be quite a few Navy midshipmen (I think that's what they call their cadets) around here in NROTC, but I don't really see to many of them.

 

[CTsupra]

full sleeping gear (inner bag/outer bag linner bivey bag ,half shelter, air mattres,ranger blanket), all my engineer gear,(shovle,pick, wire cutters, during train mine probe,and mabey bolt cutters) climbing gear, 2 days worth of clothing including arctic gear, tolatries, xtra boots. My small pac and tac vest, helmet, are all straped to the out side as well as my engineer stuff, combat knife thats all i can think of with out tearing it all apart

christ, i'm infantry and i don't carry half of that crap.

from your list, i'll take the sleeping system minus the puss pad, hooch (half shelter), and blanket (the sleep system is warm enough). What do you need climbing gear for being an engineer? Also, you should be wearing your vest and helmet, lol. But, all of that engineer stuff must be prety heavy, huh?

 

[rakkasan]

.....ok you prob know more then i do....

Not to sound snide, but I guess I do. I joined the Army when you were 2yo, and I've had more years in boots than you have years in school. I took my physical just today in order to return to active duty, going to the 3rd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment. I know what I'm talking about, so don't expect me to believe that you carry 120lbs rucksacks on a routine basis, because it does not happen. Maybe a mile or so in order to move the unit to another Assembly Area, but that might happen once every few years.

You can't bullshit me on this issue. That's like trying to bullshit IJ about the 7M....

 

[RHDMK3]

I dont think I carried ever more then 30 LBS in my rucksack when I was in Afghanistan.

 

[tte]

That is 120lbs? :icon_conf I have carried many rucks in the past, and what you've listed wouldn't weigh 40lbs, but if you say so.

Regardless, if you're carrying all that in you ruck & not an A or B bag, your commander is wasting the combat effectiveness of his unit. :3d_frown: Carrying a lot of shit on your back does not win battles, being somewhat fresh for the battle does....

Thats right....I had the question in my mind right now. Why would soldiers be required to carry so much heavy stuff when that will only tire them out.

And I thought in SF you would carry alot less because you would want to move in quick, strike and move out.

What about the cold water tests? The seals have to sit or lay in freezing weather with only undies on. And also dont forget being able to hold your breath under water for a good periond of time.

I used to do deep breathing to control my breath, Breathe in deep for like 20 secs, hold for 40 seconds and then let out very slowly at a controlled rate for 30 secs...something like that.

But I guess nomatter how much one prepares for the FS, you will still feel the pain...Best one can do to reduce the pain is prepare your body and mind before enlisting.

Cheers,
Roy

 

[CFSapper]

christ, i'm infantry and i don't carry half of that crap.

from your list, i'll take the sleeping system minus the puss pad, hooch (half shelter), and blanket (the sleep system is warm enough). What do you need climbing gear for being an engineer? Also, you should be wearing your vest and helmet, lol. But, all of that engineer stuff must be prety heavy, huh?

my tac and helmet r on my ruck right now so i know were they r and the engineer stuff is not to bad

hell if i know why we need the climbing gear iv only used it on course

edit: re weighed my ruck scale still says 120lbs so im guessing its broken

ah who cares heavy enoght that its not a joy to carry