SF Officer Roles, Responsibilities, and Daily Life

I'm not an SF Officer, so I'm reluctant to post and set a poor example (i.e., posting out of my lane). I don't know if we have any SF branch O's on the board and if we do I apologize for not remembering.

One stumbling block that affects all 18A candidates (where's Viper1? he can maybe shed some light on this.) is the Year Group. I'll leave it up to the recruiting web site to explain it, or start to:
http://www.bragg.army.mil/sorb/SORB_SPECIALFORCES_APP_PROCESS.html



Good luck!


A brief note on the year group thing for officers. In a word, the ARSOF board recruits a specific year group. They just released the results for the YG 06 officers and are now recruiting YG 07. You can apply out of YG but I do not personally know anyone who has done that.

As my recruiter said "Make it count and do everything like it is your only shot."

Now back to PT and Rosetta Stone for me...
 
I'm just trying to figure out where I can go to get lots of downrange action and do a job that doesn't waste years of training. I like hands on and I like being in the dirt, and quite frankly I don't want to sit around sipping lattes staying in four star hotels on stupid TDY's that practice skill sets that I'll never use. I have nothing against pararescue but it's not where I want to be right now. Maybe in ten years.
I can appeciate that someone wants to see the culmination of their years of training put to use...who doesn't, but I've also always enjoyed the TDY trips in 4-5* hotels :p

You can gut-check a few weeks but it takes true desire to go the distance. Good luck with whatever you decide to persue.
 
Traditionally, the function of a 180A on an ODA is the same as a KGB political officer in an old Soviet unit. His purpose is to keep a sharp eye on the lower orders, ensure that they toe the party line, don't display any dangerously free-thinking tendencies or get up to any counter-revolutionary shenanigans. He also serves as a liaison between the ODA and the B-team.

"Just sit quietly at you desk, sir. Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut. Sign whatever I put in front of you and and if you should feel a sudden urge to express an opinion, close your eyes and focus on your breathing until the feeling passes. If we want to know what you think, someone will ask you. Keep this up for 18-24 months, we can check your block for you as a go at this station and you will then be free to move in a vigorous, rapid and decisive airborne fashion along the marked path to the next testing station."}:-)

A O3 is just a Sp4 with a bigger paycheck. If his job was intrinsic to the actual accomplishment of the ODA's mission, they'd have assigned an NCO to do it.
 
Thanks for everyone's replies on the subject... I got a chance to talk to enough people over the phone and through email that I'm pretty sure I DON'T want to be an SF officer but rather stay enlisted for as much hands on as possible. Then, down the line, the WO option looks very attractive.

Take care, and I'll hopefully see some of you downrange soon.

-SL
 
White SOF?

This is not so much a statement of just facts or expiereances, no this is more of my statement of what I have seen and know to be self evident. For those in this community, the community of a world that has been glorfied by books, movies, and catchy songs; for those of us who have walked the line, who continue to move forward in this world. This is for all of those who like me know what it means to be a "quiet professional". But what does that mean? To be a "quiet professional", let me expand upon this. I want to start by saying that I, and I want this to be quoted,"respect and care for ALL of my fellow brothers in arms within our community. I am not speaking of course of the general military as a whole. Please for give me but not all soldiers were created equal. That does not mean to say that I do not care for them, we are all Americans and I would and do gladly bleed for you all, but that does not make every one the media sees SF!" This has bothered me for quite some time, let me explain.
You have to understand that inorder to have earned such a title it takes a very particular person, but unfortunetly people watch a few movies, read a book or two, or hell; play a video game or air soft and they think they have it all figured out. I charge you to truely look in the mirror and ask yourself what it means if you are not a part of this community and wish to do so. What does it mean to have tried and failed, I tell you this. I respect the man who tried but did not have quite what it took to accomplish earning this special title. To me, he had the guts to try, to dream and to lay his money down. But unforenetly there are more people who say I would of, I was going to, or I know I can but...... Look brothers, all I am saying is that it pains me when I have seen, expieranced, and have been apart of the SOF community for 13 years. I have found that the more I am in the more I don't know. It take years of training to become profiant in your area of expertize. Some groups would have you believe that they are "ninja masters" after only maybe a year of training. That they are "experts". There is a term or name used for my particular group of individuals. We are concidered "white sof". White sof? Fuck you! I feel like I am in Resovour Dogs and just got called Mr. Pink! That particular character was truely the ONLY professional in the movie. He put aside the bullshit and went to go do what he was paid to do, right, wrong, or indifferant. The men I work with, train with, fight with, and live with are honestly the best as a whole I have ever seen. To take in and train/teach as much as we do. To be expected to know what we have to and to be able to do what it is we do, no one; and I do mean no one else can do it. Not at least correclty. So when I hear the term "white" it pains me, it is a true insult. I feel like the kid who can simply beat the coaches son at every aspect in the game but is benched because he is not the coache's son. We have been doing this job for over 50 years now and we are exceedenly well at it. Yet we are never given the respect our title deserves. Be that as it may... no one I have ever met in my community has ever asked for public recognation. But I will be damned that with in the SOF community that we are concidered "white". I do not care about a color, it is the priciple of the matter. There are some units that are concidered a higher tier based upon who they assist. "Assist". Now I will NOT take anything away from them, they are my brothers and I respect and love them just the same. But with that said, it takes years to produce and train just one of us, not 3-4 months. So what have been rambling on about? Simply this, my community has litteraly toppled entire governments or built them up, acted directly in place of our commander and chief, and have forever changed the face of warfare. Yet our P.R. is not the best. I will continue to move forward, but I charge any of you. If you feel that you have what it takes then do it! Come expeirance what it means to earn it. But I beg you, do not take this lightly, there is a great pride in knowing that the men to my left and right are true professionals. quiet professionals.
 
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