# Cultural Support Team



## dirtmover (Jun 7, 2011)

I was doing some research for what I want to do after the trail.  I came across the CST.  They are attached to SF 7th Group and the Rangers and support them by engaging the female and adolescent population.  I meet all the prereqs.  I just want to know if anyone on here has worked with them and the kind of people they end up selecting.  If the units don't use them for missions and all I would be doing is sitting on the FOB then I don't want it.  I am looking for a job that one gets me in to the community and two suits me and my mindset.  My teacher always said, "If you get a job that you love, then you never work a day in your life."  Thanks for you time and insight.

DM


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## DA SWO (Jun 8, 2011)

Get a real SOF Job.


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## dirtmover (Jun 8, 2011)

LOL, not many are hiring females or for dirt movers.


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## DA SWO (Jun 8, 2011)

dirtmover said:


> LOL, not many are hiring females or for dirt movers.


CA and Psyop (or whatever we are calling it) are available.
PM me if you are serious about this job, I'll try to get you in contact with a friend who did Human Terrain Team (which I believe was CST under a different name).


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## Teufel (Jun 8, 2011)

Human terrain teams are different.  Correct me if I'm wrong but CST is SOCOM's version of Female Engagement Teams or the Lioness program.


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## Marauder06 (Jun 8, 2011)

dirtmover said:


> LOL, not many are hiring females or for dirt movers.



A good part of every team that worked for me in three consecutive SOF assignments were female.

Dirtmovers?  Yeah, you're right about that one... :)


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## RetPara (Jun 8, 2011)

Since the military has gotten with the 21st Century and moved on from "Kill Them All Let God Sort Them Out" to "Sort Them Out THEN Kill The Bad Ones.... If they don't play nice", women have a definitive role to play in SOF.

Women may not be first in a stack on a target, but they can play a definitive role in exploitation of who is found on the target.  Having women on a raid team or moving with a unit through a village has proven to be an asset.  In most cultures that we will be engaging in the next generation of warfare; women publicly hold subservient social positions.  While they may or may not be the actual power in a family or clan.  By only bringing men in to do they talking the women will hold back or refuse to cooperate.  Bringing in women to talk to the local women has worked or such programs would not be continuing.

One point that I believe ARSOC and Big Army has missed is the advantage to having some of these women with a high level skill set in medical, interrogation/debrief, regional expertise.  This could actually be a ASI that women gain after completing a course of training.  I have long wondered why some of the women in civil affairs units are not sent through parts of the 18D pipeline.  Having these woman able to clinically treat at the level of a 18D (there are NEVER enough SF Medics) is a win/win for the unit they support and locals they deal with.


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## surgicalcric (Jun 8, 2011)

RetPara said:


> ...I have long wondered why some of the women in civil affairs units are not sent through parts of the 18D pipeline. Having these woman able to clinically treat at the level of a 18D (there are NEVER enough SF Medics) is a win/win for the unit they support and locals they deal with.



The 18D course (long course) is designed to train SF medics, and select SEAL corpsmen, to sustain life in critically injured casualties, in denied areas, for long periods of time as part of a cohesive team.

As for CA, they have and do send females through the SOCM - Special Operations *COMBAT* Medic- (first 1/2 of the course) but they haven't had great success overall in part to them not being physically capable of doing the job required to get through the training.

Those who support us already have people who fill the role you described above; its the staff at the FST/CSH.  ;)


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## dirtmover (Jun 8, 2011)

From what I understand it is like the Female Engagement Teams only there are there to do more then just search the females.  The down side is that you do all this training and you get one deployment and no guarantee that you will not have to go back to Big Army.
-Marauder06  I would love to be on one of those teams trying to find them is the hard part.
-SOWT check you inbox please


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## Etype (Jun 24, 2011)

Cool job for a female=pilot. That's about it. No matter what kind of 'training' she has, unless she's super tough and ultra cool ( like top 2% of females in the world), with the average ODA- she'd probably end up on TOC watch with the mechanic... unless the mission was to go out the gate to the bazaar for watermelons or something.


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## Kraut783 (Jun 29, 2011)

Here ya go, article about it on military.com today.

www.military.com/news/article/female-special-operators-now-in-combat


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## Marauder06 (Jun 29, 2011)

Assessment, selection, and training process for CSTs temporarily *attached *to support SF, nothing to ensure the competency of enablers permanently *assigned* to the groups.

Nice.


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## Viper1 (Jun 29, 2011)

And no language school.... awesome.


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