The Official 2020 Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) Physical Training Handbook

[Hardboiled]

For all those currently serving (Army,USMC, Navy,etc) or 18X/rep63 individuals that are preparing for SFAS and those whom seek a training program that will help guide them to physically prepare for the selection process. Give this handbook a gander and it is free of charge from the official source itself. This is the only SFAS physical training plan approved by the USAJFKSWCS Special Forces Branch Proponent.

https://www.soc.mil/SWCS/SFAS/SFAS-PT-handbook.pdf

If the link does not work, you can find it on the home page of the JFK Special Warfare Center and School The US Army Special Operations Center of Excellence.

I looked back to see if anyone has posted the handbook yet, and did not find any search results based on multiple variants of keywords and acronyms, so sorry if this is a repost as well..

Take away's from this version of the handbook, a lot has changed significant amount from the version I remember (from early to mid 2000s).

Apparently this is now a requirement for individuals going to SFAS to have completed and signed as well.

 

[SavingRyansPrivates]

Actually been running this program for a couple weeks now. My thoughts so far is that in the beginning it seems like it is almost too easy on some days. Looking further into the program it definitely seems like the weeks do get harsher and harsher. Especially once the rucks begin to ramp up to the heavier weight and longer mileage.

However to me atleast and the fitness level I began at, it seems it takes awhile to ramp up the training which isn’t bad but it leads me to adding more work in so I continually make progress instead of waiting for the program to catch up to me if that makes sense.

Also when I received this I wasn’t told anything about having to turn it in or complete it before I leave for SFAS. Only that my recruiter told me it would prepare me for it.

 

[x SF med]

Damn, I feel old... back in the 80's you were either ready or not, Pre-Phase and Phase 1 weeded out the deadwood. C'est la vie.

 

[Steve1839]

Damn, I feel old... back in the 80's you were either ready or not, Pre-Phase and Phase 1 weeded out the deadwood. C'est la vie.

Cherry...back in the 70s, there was no pre-phase...

 

[LimaPanther]

Now back in the 60s you had a lot of paper tabs because of the need.

 

[Ooh-Rah]

paper tabs

?

 

[Steve1839]

?

There have been a lot of ways to qualify people during shortages....I know/knew several men who were in the 10th shortly after activation...they were not considered qualified until they had completed three years in the unit and demonstrated proficiency to suit the commander...there was no Q course at the time...one acquaintance was qualified by 10th Group and then subjected to proving his worth in 7th Group when he returned to the states, spending another year or two getting qualified.
During the Vietnam era, some men volunteered to serve in SF and were assigned to A teams without benefit of the course...and then you get to the officers...if you check out the biographies of several of the prominent SF officers of the early days, you'll see where some of them went from the 82nd to SF, never attended any SF related training...COL Beckwith comes to mind immediately...officers were needed and there was an opinion that a good officer could make the necessary adjustments to the environment...
Even in my day, several of the officers I served with and served under were not formally SF qualified...before the tab, we called them paper flashes, but there were quite a few who never completed any formal SF training, or took the SF Operations correspondence course...and a good number of these men went on to command battalions, groups and the JFKCMA (before SF Command and ASOC existed)...

ETA: I believe 1st and 8th Groups ran their own qualification program...and for several years after the Vietnam era, these units ran their own HALO and SCUBA schools, as well...

 

[LimaPanther]

I brought that up because I was one of those. In 1967, while still in Vietnam, I had volunteered for SF. At the time all I did was talk to a SF recruiter and took a weird test. I sat at the recruiter's desk and he gave me a test whereby questions were given by a tape recorder. I had a paper that gave 4 answers to each question. The recorder would give a question and I had 60 seconds to give the best answer, the worst answer, the next to the best and the next to the worst. Made you think. I passed the test and returned to the states awaiting orders to Bragg. I kept waiting and waiting and with my leave ending I checked with the nearest Recruiting headquarters. Got orders for Drill Sgt at Ft. Dix. Did a cycle and a half, promoted to E-6 and came down on orders for Germany. When I got to Germany was assigned to 2/54th Inf at Bamberg with the Recon Plt. Shortly after getting there a SGT from the 10th came around looking for volunteers. After looking at my 201 file he wanted to know what I was doing there as I had been with the Marine's Force Recon, jump qualified, Ranger qualified, MOS of 11C4P, and combat recon. Also had passed the DLAT test and the SF test in NAM. They had to cut orders fast before my wife got over there. Went to Tolz as Heavy Weapons SGT. Was there for 2 years and given my S just before going back to Nam. Got to Nam and expected to go to SF but instead was told that the 101st had just lost a bunch of troops so they had priority. Went to L Co, 75th (Rangers) as a LRRP.

 

[AWP]

For a long while the "paper tab" was the only way a Guard SF soldier could earn a tab. I think it was correspondence courses for a year, a 2 week AT at Bragg with SF cadre, another year of correspondence courses, and then a 2 week Robin Sage...or something along those lines.

Most of the 20th Group guys who did this were Nam vets. One was my 1SG who did this thing called Hamburger Hill with the 101st. I was told by that 1SG that most of the paper tabs didn't last anyway and by the 90's they were gone; only a handful remained. The Teams sorted them out pretty quickly.

 

[Steve1839]

For a long while the "paper tab" was the only way a Guard SF soldier could earn a tab. I think it was correspondence courses for a year, a 2 week AT at Bragg with SF cadre, another year of correspondence courses, and then a 2 week Robin Sage...or something along those lines.

SFQC-RC was three correspondence phases...Ia was patrolling, IIa was MOS specific, IIIa was operational...Phase Ib was an AT patrolling course, IIb was an AT MOS phase and IIIb was an AT SF exercise with a team, usually...commanders had a wide berth in terms of qualifying people...when I was in 19th, a non-qual had to be enrolled in the correspondence courses to stay in the unit...I finished Ia and IIa in a few months...because I had attended the 82nd Recondo course, I was granted constructive credit for Ib...I attended IIb at Bragg right before rolling into the resident Q course...units were reluctant to send folks to the resident Q course because the pass rate was so low...most of the ones who went from 5th Battalion were on the verge of completing the RC course, so there would be no readiness hit if a guy got hurt or didn't make it...

 

[SOSTCRNA]

SFQC-RC was three correspondence phases...Ia was patrolling, IIa was MOS specific, IIIa was operational...Phase Ib was an AT patrolling course, IIb was an AT MOS phase and IIIb was an AT SF exercise with a team, usually...commanders had a wide berth in terms of qualifying people...when I was in 19th, a non-qual had to be enrolled in the correspondence courses to stay in the unit...I finished Ia and IIa in a few months...because I had attended the 82nd Recondo course, I was granted constructive credit for Ib...I attended IIb at Bragg right before rolling into the resident Q course...units were reluctant to send folks to the resident Q course because the pass rate was so low...most of the ones who went from 5th Battalion were on the verge of completing the RC course, so there would be no readiness hit if a guy got hurt or didn't make it...

I did that course in 85 or 86. Was surprisingly tough.

 

[Cookie_]

@e8f8d9 I'm going to reply to you here, as @LimaPanther directed you here for the SFAS prep handbook.

Obviously I'm not green tagged, so I do not have firsthand knowledge; I have asked this question of our SWTD cadre and personnel who've made it through SFRE, so i can tell you some of the answers I've gotten.

A bunch of guys have sworn by the MTI Ruck based-selection program. I think two or three of the guys I spoke to after our recent SFRE did the 52-week version(I currently do that).

The handbook is generally deemed great, if you are already used to rucking and the work capacity. We tried to test it as a PT program for the support guys, and it broke off most of them within the first week if they weren't already doing crossfit/HIIT training.

Can't speak to softlete too much, but I've heard good things.