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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 1962)
(Continued from page 5) communications equipment) ; two are weapons specialists (they have to know all about our own weapons and also all types of foreign weapons that may be encountered); two are demolition and construction men (who, for example, can blow up a bridge or build one); and two are medics (who can amputate a shattered leg, dress wounds, take out an appendix if no doctor is handy, or deliver a baby if that has to be done). Each man is cross-trained in at least two other specialties besides his own. We turn the old adage around: our men are Jacks-of -all-trades and real masters of one besides! When a team is first formed, its members are with one another 24 hours a day. They get to know one another extremely well. They develop faith in one another. If even one man loses confi dence in a teammate, a change is made. That re sults in a very special kind of outfit. Men come to the Army Special Forces for a good many reasons. But if they stay, they stay for just one reason they have faith in their Willi some strong support from the ground, a guerrilla slides down wall after scaling it mountain-style. units, in their teammates, and in their mission. At the start, they are all double volunteers. First they've volunteered to take paratrooper training; that's a must for ASF. Then after they're qualified paratroopers, they volunteer for ASF and go through our training course. Some of them fall by the wayside, but of those that come through well, it's a matter of pride with all of us that we never lose a real ASF soldier. ' The Army Service. Forces takes care of its own. Tomorrow morning I might be ordered to, let's say, the 1st Special Forces Group on Oki nawa on 24 hours' notice. I'd tell my wife, she'd start packing and getting the children ready, and when we got to Okinawa we'd find a set of quar ters all clean and waiting, with food in the icebox and ASF folks asking what else they could do for us. An ASF man needs a special kind of family, that's for sure but in a way the ASF is a sort of family itself. What kind of training do we give ffTem? It's rugged ; it has to be. The specialty training comes first, then branch training, which includes such tactics as parachuting into a pine forest at night or landing (also at night) on a rocky, surf-swept coast from a small boat or spending a few days in a snake-infested swamp. Scuba diving; survival in mountains, deserts, jungles; evasion and escape; silent killing; judo; keeping in top physical condition ASF men train in all these ways and many more. If we didn't we couldn't live up to our motto: Any Thing, Any Time, Any Place, Any How. iHiiiiiiiiuummiimiiiHinnnininnHnimiHuiK J WHEN THE When the choice is yours... choose an Alks hattery 20 below or 100 in the shade you get off to a fast start with an Atlas Battery in your car. Special Perma-Ful protection guards it against damage from heat and low Water level. And its extra rugged construction means you can depend on your Atlas Battery no matter how tough the driving conditions. Drive with confidence insist on Atlas! You're never far from Atlas Service. Over 50,000 Service Stations in all 50 States and Canada sell Atlas Tires, Batteries and Accessories. CHOICE IS YOURS. ..CHOOSE
