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Marshall Few going to Air Force special ops program.

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MotoSniper said:
you guys crack me up...BUDS is just another assessment and selection process, which every Spec Ops / SF unit has. To be an STO, that's a 2 year pipeline! I had a good friend of mine that went STO. I had 2 pumps under my belt overseas as a MARSOC CSO before dude made it out of his pipeline, and we started our own initial training around the same time. They are stellar dudes and super well trained. Our A&S was 3 weeks long, and total initial basic skills qualification training called Individual Training Course or ITC was 9 months long to include a language school component... very similar to the Q course for the Army. SEALS go through a similar training pipeline. Up to half of dudes who make it past BUDS and/or A&S wash out of later phases of the training pipeline due to injuries or inability to make the standards, and never earn their uniform device.
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Correct, Marshall just passed Phase II along with another kid out of Det 155. I know PJs have to go to Panama City for dive school and they have a month long pre-dive assessment course. Not sure if STOs have to attend dive school. I'll ask my son to ask Marshall.
 
MotoSniper said:
you guys crack me up...BUDS is just another assessment and selection process, which every Spec Ops / SF unit has. To be an STO, that's a 2 year pipeline! I had a good friend of mine that went STO. I had 2 pumps under my belt overseas as a MARSOC CSO before dude made it out of his pipeline, and we started our own initial training around the same time. They are stellar dudes and super well trained. Our A&S was 3 weeks long, and total initial basic skills qualification training called Individual Training Course or ITC was 9 months long to include a language school component... very similar to the Q course for the Army. SEALS go through a similar training pipeline. Up to half of dudes who make it past BUDS and/or A&S wash out of later phases of the training pipeline due to injuries or inability to make the standards, and never earn their uniform device.
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Literally about to call you into this convo. Never heard anyone say not impressed by PJ or CCT guys. I thought I wasn’t going to be accepted into PA school and was gonna go PJ.
I was 27 at the time and the VA counselor at FIU was former Force Recon. The first thing he said was “those are some ridiculous PTing mfers. Even Their fin swim quals are insanely long. You better be ready”.
 
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Zbrod95 said:
Really? I thought the 2 hardest schools was BUDs and Delta selection.
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Those aren't Schools bro, they are assessment and selection. The school and phases/blocks of training for Spec Ops / SF qualification come after assessment and selection. You don't know **** after A&S, you just proved that you are not a quitter and trainable. The real challenge comes after where you actually are trained to be an operator.
 
Kjdcanefan said:
Ranger and SF have two different mission sets. Rangers are the "grunts" of the SOF world, but they are still a hard group of dudes. Above SF and Seals when it comes to a Raid. All three of those units are tier 2 anyways, I would classify Regiment above the other tier 2 units although I get why some on here would disagree. I have a few buddies in TFO(as another poster mentioned here the ISA), and their selection is mind boggling, as is CAG. Rangers specialize in direct action and for me, that is what puts them above SF and Seals in my eyes.
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Well, different if you are talking about Task Force Blue. Not sure what CAG is because I've been out of it for 14 years. I'm assuming CAG is Task Force Green?
 
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TheMatador said:
I'm not sure he's going to be a pilot. I'm guessing the Special Operations Command could include those special operators who often go into dangerous territory to identify targets and communicate the location to the planes attacking them. They might use lasers, maybe some other form of communication. I think it could mean going fairly deep into enemy territory to find and identify targets. It could be a very dangerous mission and demands only the best people. These are often the guys who go in first. This is not based on any personal knowledge but from what I've read.

Other parts of the Special Operations Command could be rescue of pilots, and I've read that many forward air controllers embed with ground troops in closer combat to identify targets for the attacking aircraft and to make sure there are no attacks on friendly troops who might not be that far from the enemy.

One part might be Special Tactics, which is supposed to be the equivalent of the Army Special Forces, the Seals, and the Marine Special Operations Command.
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He is not on a pilot track--totally different career field.
 
Baba Yaga said:
Did your balls tingle when they fired the howitzer in the back?
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We were too busy trying to keep the aircraft within shooting perimeters in a left hand bank. LoL, Spooky and Ghostrider mission computers make it a piece of cake. Way after my time. Back to your question. Yes, when we were done my balls tingled like a MFer.
 
Pentagon Cane said:
Let's put it this way. I flew AC-130 Gunships. When I walked in with an AFSOC squadron patch on, I never had to buy a beer at Fort Campbell or Ft Bragg or Coronado.
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Spectre is a badass battle wagon.

Warheads on foreheads to fûckers who have it coming to them.

AFSOC talking about laser retrofit on the platform too.
 
Pentagon Cane said:
Well, different if you are talking about Task Force Blue. Not sure what CAG is because I've been out of it for 14 years. I'm assuming CAG is Task Force Green?
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CAG is Delta. I will be honest, out of all the units, Rangers get the most trigger time & DA missions from my experience and knowledge. Those dudes are the premier DA / Raid Force. A lot of people don't realize that. Of course the Task Force gets hire priority mission-sets, but Rangers get some serious work...and yes, it pains me to admit this as a former USMC CSO :)
 
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Zbrod95 said:
Really? I thought the 2 hardest schools was BUDs and Delta selection.
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Buds is a screening tool and a kick in the nuts.
It takes almost 2 years to earn the Trident and the same goes for combat rescue and CCT.

As far as delta goes nobody really knows what that selection process is. Delta even grabs dudes from other services sometimes.
 
MotoSniper said:
CAG is Delta. I will be honest, out of all the units, Rangers get the most trigger time & DA missions from my experience and knowledge. Those dudes are the premier DA / Raid Force. A lot of people don't realize that. Of course the Task Force gets hire priority mission-sets, but Rangers get some serious work...and yes, it pains me to admit this as a former USMC CSO :)
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Hadn't really been around 75th guys in 20 years. I'm sure it is all different these days and even squad-size Ranger elements are much, much better. Back in my day if you needed a platoon up to a company, we always brought in the Rangers. They were just younger. Highly motivated kids. All this is pre-911. You have to remember SOF mission exploded thereafter.

By the way, the whole MEU SOC stuff was all new during my time.
 
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Kjdcanefan said:
Yeah, delta, cag, task force green lol. I'm currently training with a few RRC buddies for their selection. Ranger recon company.
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I still get a little cheeky about what everybody is called and what is currently known. It was real secret squirrel stuff back in my day. I stay with the color schemes. Brown, blue, red, green...lol.
 
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Pentagon Cane said:
We were too busy trying to keep the aircraft within shooting perimeters in a left hand bank. LoL, Spooky and Ghostrider mission computers make it a piece of cake. Way after my time. Back to your question. Yes, when we were done my balls tingled like a MFer.
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Never made it to Hurlburt, but I met up with some buddies who did in Bagram and we'd drive down to the gunship ramp and barter for parts quite often. Good times, great plane and great mission.

Screenshot_20210423-201459_Facebook.jpg
 
Pentagon Cane said:
I still get a little cheeky about what everybody is called and what is currently known. It was real secret squirrel stuff back in my day. I stay with the color schemes. Brown, blue, red, green...lol.
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Task force orange is the only one I know of that still goes by color. Every other one switches their name now every other day it seems like.
 
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Pentagon Cane said:
Hadn't really been around 75th guys in 20 years. I'm sure it is all different these days and even squad-size Ranger elements are much, much better. Back in my day if you needed a platoon up to a company, we always brought in the Rangers. They were just younger. Highly motivated kids. All this is pre-911. You have to remember SOF mission exploded thereafter.

By the way, the whole MEU SOC stuff was all knew during my time.
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Definitely. I retired in 2015 and from what I hear from buddies still in, everything has morphed and changed from when I served, and that was just 6 years ago. One thing that I love is the interoperability factor both overseas, but now even more in training. The Seal Training Detachment, at least on the West Coast, helps to coordinate training for both their guys and our MARSOC guys for certain blocks of pre-deployment training. That was not happening when I was in. Luckily, most of our cadre of shooters back in 2006 when we stood up came from Force Recon Companies & Recon Bn's so, we were all seasoned combat veterans with schools like airborne, SERE, Scout Sniper, & Dive under our belts before we had even checked in. That enabled our pipeline to get compressed to 9 months. I am sure it is all different present day.
 
Pentagon Cane said:
Looks like a Guard J-model. Is that you representing?
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Yep, those belonged to the 175th WG in Maryland until BRAC was executed in 2011 and they were sent to Little Rock. After that we got the C-27's for about a year until the AF decided to mothball the program. We were about 3 months into deployment at KAF and they told us to bring them home, after that I decided to pursue other opportunities but I enjoyed that part of my career.
 
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MotoSniper said:
Definitely. I retired in 2015 and from what I hear from buddies still in, everything has morphed and changed from when I served, and that was just 6 years ago. One thing that I love is the interoperability factor both overseas, but now even more in training. The Seal Training Detachment, at least on the West Coast, helps to coordinate training for both their guys and our MARSOC guys for certain blocks of pre-deployment training. That was not happening when I was in. Luckily, most of our cadre of shooters back in 2006 when we stood up came from Force Recon Companies & Recon Bn's so, we were all seasoned combat veterans with schools like airborne, SERE, Scout Sniper, & Dive under our belts before we had even checked in. That enabled our pipeline to get compressed to 9 months. I am sure it is all different present day.
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I participated in a wargaming exercise around 2003. Focus around the whole MARSOC concept. They needed a senior-level bubba off the Air Staff who could spell SOF. LoL, the food was good. Week long event.
 

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