2 female officers to attend SF training
The Army Times reports that two female Army officers have applied for and they’ve been accepted to attend the Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) and, upon graduation they will become Green Berets. Nine women applied but only those two made the cut. the other seven will be offered slots in Civil Affairs and PSYOPS branches of endeavor.
The accepted applicants have not yet received orders, but they could attend SFAS as soon as the fall when the first of 10 SFAS courses per year begin at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. With a long process ahead, it will be 2018 before anyone in this crop of candidates could earn tabs.
Little information is available about the two women: one went to officer candidate school and the other attended a four-year ROTC program. [Maj. Melody Faulkenberry, a spokeswoman for the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center] cited security concerns for potential Special Forces soldiers. By definition, as officers invited to SFAS the women are either 1st lieutenants or captains, and this cohort of officers was generally commissioned around 2013.
They have a long row to hoe before they join their Special Forces unit;
The bulk of the path to earning a Special Forces tab remains in front of them after their application is accepted: the 3-week SFAS itself, Airborne School if not qualified, either Maneuver Captain’s Career Course or Special Operations Captain’s Career Course (12-16 weeks), and finally the 64-week Special Forces Qualification Course.
I hope they are prepared to work hard and meet the existing standard. Good luck to both.
Category: Army News
Will their references to G.I Jane documentary?
(sarc) & DD-214
btw sight unseen…I’d hit it.
IDC SARC, Mr David Hardin told me to report to you for corrective training. Something about my posts on the PH thread.
That’s funny. You have surrendered yourself for punishment.
I jumped in to Robin Sage with a 110lb ruck and then humped it 40 miles over rough terrain to link up with the Gs. Then training began…
And that was about average.
Wonder how the standards will be lowered or how much more weight the male SF students will have to carry?
Cross load, man, cross load!
That was after cross loading. Should have put more in the resupply bundle that we never got 🙂
Give them a commo mans ruck and wish them luck. This is just fucking asinine!!
The Republic Of Korea have female special operators in the 707th Special Missions Battalion but are more “direct action” than our SF. At least when I was there in the 80s the battalion had a platoon size element of females, all to my knowledge were, jump qual.(static line, HALO), trained in hostage rescue, taekwondo etc. Best of luck to our ladies.
just curious, if units are trained in DA how is it determined one is more DA than another?
I would think that the 75th Ranger Regiment would be direct action, vs SF that are more “hearts and minds”.
Hearts and minds lol…well in making your statement I hope your knowledge of SF goes far beyond that simple cliche…they are trained in and utilized in a variety of combat missions including DA
I’m imagining a cheap chop sockie move with operators squaring off spouting, “My DA is better than your DA!
lolz
SF is more behind the scenes types. As my father, a 80’s SF platoon sergeant used to tell me, SF are back home enjoying a beer and BBQ by the time you hear what we did. Rangers broad cast a month in advance, we are coming, hope ya are ready.
80’s SF platoon sgt??? WTF over.
Yep….shocking isn’t it.
I’ve already had the shock of several sergeants and staff sergeants coming through and introducing me as so and so’s son that I used to work with.
It’s just one of those things you accept with age…you train the sons and you fuck grandmas
SARC, you’re a baaaaad Mother shut your mouth lol.
75th units generally only conduct Direct Action missions. SF is trained (traditionally anyway) to conduct both DA and UW (unconventional warfare – what you are calling hearts and minds). DA is strictly a US military raid style op; UW involves indig forces led and trained by Army Special Forces teams, like the Jedburg teams of the OSS working with the French underground in WWII. But then it has been over 30 yrs since I was an SF officer; I suspect now the team medics will be getting training on field expedient sexual reassignment surgery if the current band of perfumed princes and their civilian ilk stay in control od our military.
“of” not “od.” I must be getting too senile to proof read before I hit post.
I thought that SF was more hearts and minds as well until myself and two other Staff Sergeants were attached to an ODA for four months in Iraq.
They’re pretty good at ripping out hearts and fucking with minds…
“Hearts and Minds” can also be a targeting list….
Another historic first. Applauding with one hand here.
i read somewhere their periods attract bears
Maybe the bear scene in “The Revenant” should be shown to them early in the SFAS so they can tap out before they have to experience the full three weeks of pain and strain.
I wonder if they will have to meet the standard or if the Army has already made up its mind.
Standards, who needs standards.
Wipe the server, with like a cloth?
At this point, what difference does it make.
God help this country…..
as of right now the buzz on Bragg is that the standards must and will be maintained…I keep busting their chops about it though saying…until the Army says your pass rate is unacceptable…tick tock tick tock
I heard this was coming a while ago from some buddies at the school house. I don’t hold out any hope that standards will be maintained once they enter the pipeline. Fucking horrible idea!
There is another… (Star Wars Yoda Quote)
Kathleen Wilder attended and passed the Q course in the ’80s. It was and still is very controversial, but the Army declared her to be SF qualified after a lot of debate.
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/22/us/around-the-nation-woman-is-termed-qualified-for-green-beret-unit.html
This was in the days before USASOC even existed, so TRADOC made the final determination. There was also no SF tab at the time, and she never served on an ODA
And there was no SFAS
lol…yeah, heard all sorts of stuff about that here at the schoolhouse
“They have a long row to hoe before they join their Special Forces unit”. Perhaps the Army will waive their training, cuz females, and let Hillary pin their tabs on in late October, just in time for the election?
They have to complete SFAS, get selected.
Then attend the Q-Course.
And graduate.
Then they become SF.
Merely completing SFAS does not make one SF.
And SERE and language schools.
Although that may be old school.
yep a lot of before, after and inbetweens in that long march to regimental first formation
And few months of for maternity leave now and then between courses.
Nope, still have to do those.
They will make it, command will get word to let them go through and everyone will fold and buckle like they always do, there will 100% be female SF chicks, if not these 2 then sometime in the near future.
However they will be completely useless on a team (I was an 18e). A captains main role on a team is liaison with the indigs because foreign militaries are run by officers, unlike ours, ran by NCOS. The booger eaters will NEVER let a woman talk to them or tell them they need this training and that…that kind of thinking for most the places we go to is probably 50 years in their future.
Cute publicity stunt, but total and complete waste of time, luckily officers are simply the summer help in SF and they will move to staff time after a year or two.
That’s something I hadn’t considered. Thanks for raising the point.
Good luck I guess.
There is a lot of shadiness surrounding the two women that graduated Ranger school (multiple chances to repeat failed phases, extra hands on training before, ‘pressure’ to graduate these women at all costs, etc.).
Not that I know much about these things, but I can’t imagine any female being able to endure the rigors of SFAS without intervention, if you catch my drift. I’ve seen videos of those team events where they carry huge water jugs and having to push make shift carts, I just don’t see it, sorry.
Remember, they brought in a general to act as their lane grader when they were patrol leaders or APL in Dahlonega. This was after they had already failed and been recycled because of their inability to pass the required percentage of leadership positions.
That is what I read also. I can’t imagine something similar happening in SFAS.
I think the Army Times article has the training times transposed. Officer career courses like Maneuver Captain have always taken a year or so to complete. There is just too much material to cover in a few months, so I can see them taking 64 weeks. The Special Forces Officer Course (SFOC) I took in the early 70’s was 12 weeks. In it, I learned most of what (technically) I needed to know to be an ODA commander. I can see the SF officer Q course taking 14 to 16 weeks, not over a year. IDC SARC probably can tell us what the correct time frames are, since he is at Bragg.
SF Q course is 64 weeks for an 18B, longer for other mos
Yeah, that happened a year or so after Kathleen Wilder. In 1982 the officers went through the same Q Course as the NCOs, and that was before SFAS was developed.
Of course, there is zero discussion of how a even a SF tabbed female working in a job that requires successful rapport with locals would achieve that rapport/local support in certain geographical areas of the world that would culturally never provide rappport/support to a female. The entire team working in a denied area could be placed at risk for only that reason.
But, what do I know…
Holden
OH, those facts don’t matter, don’tcha know? It’s ridiculous to think that they do.
Somewhat related– have any women graduated from Ranger School since the three who got so much publicity last year?
They are still in the year-long train up and observation course.
Must be nice….
You guys all done with pecker checks yet?
Ummmmm …. no. Lemme check mine again — I know it’s here somewhere.
Oh! There it is! (^__^)
Pecker checks? Are you talking about the proverbial “Short Arm Inspection” or a UA requiring “Meat Gazers”?