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- Feb 2, 2008
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I thought that future soldiers might find this piece in the "Small Wars Journal" last month both interesting and informative. It's by BG Sacolick, the DCG of the USArmy Special Warfare Center and a former SFODD (Delta) Commander. I've excerpted a portion and link to the full article.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2008/11/character-and-the-special-forc/
"Appreciate the fact that 75 percent of the Soldiers, mostly airborne Soldiers and many with combat experience who began the course, are no longer here today. This is the Army’s most physically demanding course. Scholastically, each Soldier must master more than 1,000 critical tasks, specific to his assigned specialty and hundreds of advanced war-fighting tasks, plus demonstrate a proficiency in a foreign language before they graduate. There is simply not a more demanding school in the entire U.S. Army.
There are also several more intangible qualities that the Special Warfare Center is tasked to evaluate before we can allow a Soldier to wear a Green Beret. Qualities such as maturity, commitment, judgment, courage, initiative, decisiveness, empathy, self-confidence and adaptability. These qualities can be summarized in one word: character. There are men who have mastered their occupational skills, hone their tactical skills, become absolutely fluent in a foreign language and be the most prolific warrior since Rambo but without character they will not be a member of this regiment. Character is what defines Special Forces.
Character is a fundamental demand that our operational environment places upon our force. The men who don the Green Beret will be sent to the ends of the earth and in most cases they alone will represent and make decisions on behalf of the United States of America. Our Special Forces Soldiers routinely work in small isolated detachments, alone and far removed from the support and protection or daily guidance of the U.S. Government. They will only have each other to depend upon so we must insure that every single one of them has the character and integrity to function, maneuver and operate in these very complex environments. When our young men are thousands of miles away from their leadership, can we depend upon each and every one of them to do what is right? Can their fellow teammates count on them, without regard to the dangers involved? Of course they can and I am very, very confident that our graduates will always achieve their assigned mission. This is the expectation that our country, and all those who have gone before them, places upon our Regiment.+
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2008/11/character-and-the-special-forc/
"Appreciate the fact that 75 percent of the Soldiers, mostly airborne Soldiers and many with combat experience who began the course, are no longer here today. This is the Army’s most physically demanding course. Scholastically, each Soldier must master more than 1,000 critical tasks, specific to his assigned specialty and hundreds of advanced war-fighting tasks, plus demonstrate a proficiency in a foreign language before they graduate. There is simply not a more demanding school in the entire U.S. Army.
There are also several more intangible qualities that the Special Warfare Center is tasked to evaluate before we can allow a Soldier to wear a Green Beret. Qualities such as maturity, commitment, judgment, courage, initiative, decisiveness, empathy, self-confidence and adaptability. These qualities can be summarized in one word: character. There are men who have mastered their occupational skills, hone their tactical skills, become absolutely fluent in a foreign language and be the most prolific warrior since Rambo but without character they will not be a member of this regiment. Character is what defines Special Forces.
Character is a fundamental demand that our operational environment places upon our force. The men who don the Green Beret will be sent to the ends of the earth and in most cases they alone will represent and make decisions on behalf of the United States of America. Our Special Forces Soldiers routinely work in small isolated detachments, alone and far removed from the support and protection or daily guidance of the U.S. Government. They will only have each other to depend upon so we must insure that every single one of them has the character and integrity to function, maneuver and operate in these very complex environments. When our young men are thousands of miles away from their leadership, can we depend upon each and every one of them to do what is right? Can their fellow teammates count on them, without regard to the dangers involved? Of course they can and I am very, very confident that our graduates will always achieve their assigned mission. This is the expectation that our country, and all those who have gone before them, places upon our Regiment.+
