(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.
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J WHEN THE
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