What does it take to become a Green Beret? : Civilian to SF Pipeline Explained

hey guys it's Kevin from Spirit of systems and today I have a special guest MJ from 20th Special Forces Group and today we're going to find out what it takes to become a Green [Music] Beret come on what are you doing all right MJ can you just go ahead and uh introduce yourself and give us a brief introduction what's up guys I'm MJ I'm a Third Battalion 20 Special Forces Group we're down in Florida uh I'm an ATO on the team I'm also a jtac and a sniper qualified personnel as well whenever you hear someone talk about Special Forces I know Hollywood likes to change it up a little bit but Special Forces is very specifically green Brays you have many other soft elements within Special Operations such as Mar Sox seals and PJs but special forces are in particular Green Berets and the mission of a Green Beret usually is unconventional warfare if we can really break it down and simplify it uh and unconventional warfare is is the means of coercing disrupting and eventually overthrowing tyrannical governments or occupying forces working by with and through a partner force or Guerilla force uh using Gorilla tactics we also have nine other core missions such as direct action uh counter insury foreign internal defense and special reconnaissance those all kind of fall under the umbrella of Special Forces so first we want to start with what are some of the basic requirements to become a Green Beret what are the age requirements what are the physical requirements uh education requirements what what's the Baseline that people need to know with that yeah so Baseline requirements as far as you know trying out um need to be at least 20 years of age cuz by the time time you graduate the Q course you have to be over 21 um as far as you know uh how old you can be up to 35 is waiverable usually over that we're going to have to have to work our magic um but depending on your you know your physical standout as long as you have a high school diploma or a GED that's usually as far as education purposes of course it's always good if you got College as well but that's that's the minimum requirements for getting an 18 x-ray contract to become a special forces operator we're talking about enlisted right here enlisted right here yeah officer uh for officer you have to be uh an O2 promotable for so first lieutenant promotable uh in order to try out all right so what are some of the physical requirements uh we all know it's a very physical job but what are some of the basic requirements you need to meet to try out for Special Forces yeah so what we look for uh with our process uh usually is a% minimum minimum in all your PT standards so 80% in your push-ups in your run and in your uh sit-ups as far as the 80% numbers uh with your run we're looking like anything below a 13 flat 13 flat is scoring 100% you have your minimums but remember when you're trying out for Special Forces you're trying to Max everything out okay we're not looking for this for the minimum we're looking for the maximum um so that's the the basic physical standards muscle endurance man that's that's the big the big key one right there uh don't try to PR at the gym anymore uh you want to really do explosive workouts where you're you're um fatiguing your muscles and you're also taking care of your joints uh you don't want to get to the Q course or get to selection and be a physical stud but then have a blowout you know you know tear tear muscle or anything like that I've seen it happen multiple times and that's kind of what screws dudes over so make sure you're taking care of your body make sure that you're doing a lot of physical therapy people always joke about it but Yoga Yoga is a is an awesome key an awesome tool to help uh make sure that you're in there for the long run it's a marathon you know it's a it's a marathon it's not it's not a Sprint so take care of your body accordingly so a lot of stuff like rucking uh is a big component of it as far as rucking goes uh you know you're going to be having that Ruck on your back the entire process of selection and majority of the Q course as well so getting used to it being on your back doing regular movements with that wait on is super important as far as times you know for your 12mile rucket we all follow the standard Army timeline as far as hey 12 miles under 3 hours if you're doing an a mile it's got to be under two hours Six Mile under an hour um those are the Baseline numbers there of course once again it's a selection process and it's a job interview so you want to be well under those times uh with running you know you want to be able to do your femer in under 40 minutes um and also be aware that when you're training for this you want to be doing it all on soft sand Trails you know dirt everything like that because you're not going to be doing any of this testing on pavement it's all going to be in the Backwoods of you know North Carolina so nice so 20th group has its own is it like a pre-selection process for your group can you talk a little bit about that yeah absolutely so 20th group uh and specifically Third Battalion uh what we do is we hold an event called an SF re a special forces uh recruitment evaluation uh it's open to anyone that wants to come out as long as you're over 18 years of age civilians can come other branches can come um as long as you get approved from your uh chain of command but basically it's a weekend long so it's just Friday Saturday Sunday and it is a compacted selection process that we run we have you go through classes so we we you know you have to do a PT test make sure you pass that physical gate you'll do an unknown distance run and an unknown distance Ruck uh what you'll also do is an obstacle course and you will do team events team events being the real uh Gauntlet for that event we try to take a lot of elements from selection and put it in there in a small period of time because it kind of gives people a better idea of what to expect uh when they go it also gives us a better idea of who you are as a person and as an individual coming into this process and if we want to send you to selection if you're a viable candidate we do classes we cover land we cover knots and lashings uh for those who have been to selection you'll understand how important knowing that is um and then we also board you at the end of it so we go through your physical stats and we kind of break down who you are and why you want to be here if they are you know sule enough to pass that sfre that initial uh introduction they will then go to the sfcp which is a candidate prep that it would be the next month and we cover mostly all Land Navigation land navig ation being a real big uh selector during selection a lot of dudes just when they get out in the woods they get scared and they uh they get lost so the more you're able to do it at longer distances the better so we kind of put you out in the woods put a rock on your back and have you Traverse a long long distances you'll do the physical Gates Again uh unknown distance Ruck unknown distance run and as long as we understand that you're ready to go we will send you to selection right now selection has about an H 5% fail rate but the guys that we send uh have about an 80% pass rate so a lot higher potential passing because you have an idea going into selection of what to expect uh whereas most guys that go off the streets from active duty they kind of go in and it's kind of a a slap to the face as far as oh my gosh what did I get myself into so that's how we run it so how often do you do these sfes and how can people find more information about it yeah so we run an sfre every other month month uh we usually kind of have a break in the summer months cuz it's super hot in Florida but every other month we run one and every other month we run an sfcp as well you can find out the information on our Instagram page uh third Bon 20 Special Forces Group and we have a link in there you can also find it on guard SF website you'll fill out an application and you'll send it to us and we'll send you all the viable information you need and get you started on the process so that's pretty interesting you say a person who's a civilian can just come and try out for the selection process yeah absolutely uh we we usually have a high number of civilians that come out and how we set it up is depending on your performance if you show out and you crush it and we like who you are as an individual and as a person uh and you exemplify the attributes that we're looking for in a in a soft operator we will have a recruiter right there ready to sign you an 18x contract as soon as you finish boarding at the sfre and from there we kind of work you through through the process getting you through basic training AIT uh and then Airborne school from there you will then go over to Fort Brag or Fort Liberty now uh and you will then be part of the X-ray pipeline there getting ready for the prep course uh sopc and then going to selection so that's how we run our program okay so you you mentioned some attributes that you're looking for what are some of those attributes that you're looking for in a candidate yeah so as far as you know attributes go uh once you get to an f team you have a lot of personal responsibility on your shoulders you know it's 12 guys Max uh and a lot of times you don't even deploy with a full team um so you as the junior guy coming off to a team they don't care if you're you know the new guy on the team you're going to have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders so we're looking for guys that are uh adaptable 100% can take any situation and make it work in their favor mental fortitude that's a big one and then of course professionalism personal responsibility being huge and integrity green Bray teams we look we we work in the gray a lot and you're having to do things and and and operate in certain environments that having a person with with good integrity and a good moral compass very important so and of course you know the the cliche be a team player you know that's that's huge the physical requirement is not the only thing that you're looking for for this type of job exactly physical requirements expected right um being able to check the block on all the physical requirements as far as PT and rucks we look at that and it's like cool like we expect you to show up and and be able to crush that um but as far as who you are and how you operate in stressful environments that's what we look at more as far as being a Green Beret you mentioned some cross Branch stuff what does a person have to know who's maybe they're in a different branch of the military and they they're looking to come into SF at some point yeah so for us we actually get a lot of uh Navy personnel that come in we get Marines We Get Air Force as long as you are within a year of your ETS date we will work with your command to get you sent to selection either your command can pay for it and send you out or we'll just work with getting you an early release and get you put under our books and we'll send you ourselves understanding though if you're well outside that year timeline it's going to be harder to work with that but you're more what can come out to as many training opportunities as you want uh and we will continue to build keep that relationship with you until you get closer to that ETS date uh for Marines if you swap over you do not have to go through basic training again uh unfortunately for Navy and Air Force uh you will have to go through Army basic training uh it's just the way it is man for any guys that are coming from other soft units uh we've had Air Force TPS Air Force ccts come out we've had marot guys they also can can skip through that process and just go straight to selection so right yeah so I think that's that's really cool that you guys will take uh some civilians or whoever can pass this pre-selection assessment and then take them to the next level can you describe some of the things that happen at that next level yeah so next would be uh selection itself uh Special Forces assessment and selection sfas it is a 3-week long process and it is a it is a gauntlet in a lot of different ways you know you'll show up day one um you'll have your your your bags all in the the truck they'll dump them and you'll have the ncoic or the you know the NCO in charge will then present himself to the class and basically give you the the rules of what's going to happen the lack of instruction is a big thing with selection it's you know problem solving figure it out on your own you take all directives from the Whiteboard uh everyone that's that's seen any documentaries on selection they understand what the Whiteboard is and it is a real thing so you don't really have a whole lot of interaction with the cadr itself uh they give you the brief instruction and then everything else is taken from the Whiteboard so it's all figuring out on your own to me that was actually the worst part of selection was uh constantly wondering and figuring out what is going on and how am I doing how's my performance because you might do something and in your mind you might mess it up and the only thing that K will do is look at you and say continue to train candidate so you know you got to figure it out on your own uh don't self- select that's the biggest PE uh you know problem people have is they'll go through something think that completely botch it they're not getting affirm you know affirmation from the from the C from the Cadre so they immediately are like oh great I'm screwed it's over and then they self select to get out go through the process you know I remember night one you know they said ad here to the Whiteboard we look at it gave us the time hack of like you know 6:00 in the morning be ready inform formation you know with X Y and Z needed and uh all of a sudden we get woken up at 3:00 a.m. by the guy who was you know on firew watch saying holy crap the Whiteboard changed we walk out out there and it's show up you know 5 minutes to formation ready to go and then we went and did a run uh so you know stuff like that happens all the time in selection make sure you're constantly moving constantly uh you know on your on your on your toes because it changes real fast as far as selection goes you got your three weeks first week is gate week that is where it's more on the individual you know you go through your physical Gates unknown distance runs unknown distance rucks you do the offal course the nasty Nick and then you do a bunch of different physical Gates uh I believe they got rid of the loggan rifle PT they filled it in with other stuff you'll just have to find out when you get there and then the next week after that is land nav week uh you do a lot of classes if if you're not super brushed up on LV they do kind of do classes and break it down for you a little bit that's that's easy to understand but like I said earlier you know some guys just get in the woods in the dark and they just kind of lose their bearings yeah so full week L na that drops a lot of people and then uh the last week is team week which is to me team week is the real you know selection process that's where a lot of the instructors kind of get their idea of who the candidates are um drops a lot of people but it's uh you know it's it's a process for sure but yeah that's that's kind of the breakdown of how selection Works um and that's just a selection before you go to the Q course correct correct so selection is what basically signifies who's good enough and who's capable to then start the Q course process Q course is always changing it's always fluctuating as far as timelines go um when I went through it was 2 years long I think right now it's about a year and a half and of course it's subject to change again but uh if you pass selection that does not mean that you are ready to get your green beret by any means I when I went through I remember I had that IDE ideology in my brain was like oh hell yeah I got selected and I'm I'm good you know it's just school you know ke is just you know School basically uh and I had a rude awakening when I got there Q course it was a selector in itself as well you have a lot of guys that you went through selection with at past that uh did not make it through the Q course but it's a good time you know you learn gorilla Warfare tactics uh you do su small unit tactics which is basically our form of Ranger school um we follow the ranger handbook uh but we run it a little differently and then you have your MOS training so each MOS on a team is different and you have to then you know go through the school process of that which we can break that down you know later yeah we should um and then once you're you know mosq and you're ready to go there then you go into Robin sage uh a lot of rumors of course around Robin sage uh and I will say with Robin sage the less you know the better um it is a great process it is one of the best training environments I've ever done uh or ever been in and it was awesome but you learn a lot and it's just it's it's an entire crazy scenario built around unconventional warfare M four weeks long and it is it is intense but it's a fun time uh and you also have sear School of course as well that's earlier in the process which is a an interesting experience so so now that you made it through Q course what is the next step in the process next step in the process uh so specifically for 20th group and 19th group as well the uh the two guard units you're in contact with your group uh leadership pretty much throughout the entire process of the Q course I locked out and I had you know I got in contact with my team Sergeant while I was still in language uh that's not always the case but usually you you have an idea of who you're going to be working with and where you're going to be going with guard SF now with the active duty units um from what I've heard and from buddies of mine that are that are within the different groups you know it's kind of just like you go through and then you know what group you're going to uh you find out about halfway through the Q course and then you just get there and figure it out from there now for us we try to take care of our guys throughout their entire process through the Q course so you finished you graduate you get green beret you finish language school as well which is about 6 months um you will then go to your group and your company and you'll get on your team how the team works is it's it's pretty much needs of uh who needs what MOS so depending on what MOS you are uh you'll fill into whatever team needs that uh the different teams that we have in each group you have your Halo teams you've got your Mountain teams you've got your uh dive teams and then you have like your your ruck teams and your da teams your Mobility teams it kind of fluctuates depending on uh on the company um so so you get on a dive team does that mean you're never going to Halo no not exactly uh they used to have free fall for all uh which was a you know as soon as you finish the Q course in language you'd go to Halo school which was great uh Unfortunately they cut that because you know uh there were dudes that were waiting on Halo teams that hadn't gone to Halo school yet and the back you know the schools were just so backlogged uh but now it's mandatory that you're on a Halo team you're going to Halo school and then there are slots available for guys uh that are not on Halo teams to go just be aware that you're not going to have priority right yeah right so just because you're on a different team doesn't necessarily mean you will never do like a what a mountain team does or some of the training that they have exactly so when when we you know how they split the teams as far as like Halo team Mountain team uh and uh dive team those are means of infiltration M so those are that team specific infiltration methods so they will be more specified to those schools and stuff like that but just because you're on a Halo team doesn't mean you can't go to Mountain School right um those are available to you but just be aware that the mountain team will have first priority of that yes same thing with dive school they open up dive school for anyone that wants to go um but you know that's kind of how they set it up uh depending on what each team's prior uh means of infiltration is that they get prioritization but those schools are still open up to anyone you know it doesn't matter what team you're on very cool uh so let's get into some of the specific job uh titles there are on the team so what are specific job descriptions yeah so on your team you have about 12 guys uh maximum you have your 18 Alpha which is your captain he's your team leader uh and his time on the team is usually the shortest a captain will be on a team for about two years good thing with guard SF though is usually a captain's time can be a little bit longer so Captain can stay on there for closer to three years if they want to uh Team life is the best life so you know as a captain you probably want to stay on team as long as possibly can then you have your 18 braavos you have two of each ml besides the captain uh and what is the 18 Bravo 18 Bravo is the weapon Sergeant so anything all-encompassing weapons the 18 Bravo is the expert on granted every person on the team is expected to be a shooter basically an 18 Bravo can be an armorer um they should be able to fix and maintain all the team's weapons and also understand all the foreign weapons that you're going to be using you know depending on what environment you're going to when you're in the Bravo course you're going to touch pretty much every weapon you can possibly think of that has ever been created uh you will get your hands on it and you'll get to shoot it as an 18 Bravo next you have your 18 Charlie which is your engineer Sergeant demolitions expert um blowing things up uh but also building things uh very important to you know understand structures and how to set things up so the 18 Charlie usually when you get to an outpost they're the ones that are going to go through and see what needs to be fixed what needs to be maintained and what can you know what they can build in order to better the uh the team's environment how to improve your living situation exactly you know always improving your foxal right next you have your 18 Deltas which your 18 Delta is the medic on the team the 18 Delta's pipeline throughout the Q course is longer than most uh most MOS is it's about 2 years the 18 Delta is about three uh you go through sakom which is Special Operations combat medic course and then you also have the 18 Delta course as well I like to always reference them as the voodoo witch doctors uh because their level of understanding is huge and they know a lot of things when it comes to Medicine you have your 18 Delta on the teams and then next you have your 18 Echo uh which is what I am which is a communication Sergeant so anything dealing with comms it's not just radios it's you know they're at the echo course there's a portion where you you know you build a computer from from nothing you understand networking you understand how you know the ionosphere satellites all sorts of stuff but you get to do a lot of cool things I remember in the Echo course we ended up you know making comms with you know on the other side of the of the states using nothing but a knife in a tree and some wire so understanding how building antennas work and and how to you know how they function that's your job as an Atco it's a it's a great gig and then also you have your specialty schools outside of that yeah and and one of those Specialties that you have is being a jtech correct yes describe some of that to us yeah anyone on the team can go uh to soac they prioritize Echo just because you know you're using a radio more than anyone else but but any MOS can go 18 braavos is a great other MOS to to be a jtac Charlie's the only MOS that they kind of dissuade from being jtacs are the Deltas mostly because Delta needs prioritize rendering Aid rather than calling Cass so yeah so anyone can go and and become a jtac if they want to on the team and that is being an expert in all things close air support So calling in air strikes utilizing ISR um and you know having basically controlling the air assets that are in your area so nice and we did do a kit Shakedown with MJ on his jtac and 18 Echo kit uh in another video and you can find that in the description box below so that's one specialty on the team what are some other Specialties that guide could uh could do for example the mountain teams you have expert Mountain schools you can go to uh snipers so we've got different uh sniper course levels that you can go to so if you qualify in that you can become you know one of the the the snipers on the team you got Master breacher courses so you know usually that's the 18 Charlies that go to that but once again anyone on the team can really go uh and become a master breacher your team always will go through our spaic courses which is Special Forces Advance Urban combat um and that's just CQB man that's kicking down doors and understanding how to make breach charges and how to do all that with your team right so now that we talked about some of the team job descriptions and some of the Specialties that you can do can you break down what day-to-day life is like for a a Green Beret yeah so within you know 20th group in National Guard units uh it's it's definitely the the tempo changes you know constantly um there's a lot of opportunities within GSF to be on full-time orders if you want to unless you know you really want to prioritize your cilling career most guys on a team have jobs within the realm that kind of work with the team day-to-day life uh usually you know you have your your drill schedule uh with the team uh usually our drills last about a week and they're uh annually uh and what we do is you set up and you kind of discuss what training uh we have on the schedule the team can build their own training schedule so just because the company's doing one thing doesn't mean the team is going to be doing the same thing as all the other teams are doing so it's always depending on funding but you know the team will build their schedule for the year and you know a mountain team might go spend their drill in Veil you know out there doing skiing and doing you know cross country you know Mountain tactics the dive team might set up their training to where they're going to the Bahamas and doing a bunch of dive operations same with the Halo team Halo team might go out to Arizona and just be doing jumps so it's kind of you know dependent on that but you know you have your team rooms and each individual team is like a family you know you kind of just hunger down with them and you don't really deal with a lot of the other teams as much so that's kind of how it works on that end all right cool so that's some stat side uh daily life stuff what about when you're deployed or like what how often do you deploy um so for uh SF you know your company has a deployment schedule um usually it's about two years in between each deployment that's kind of how we try to do you know time back at home but the good thing about guard SF is it's kind of like a uh Choose Your Own Adventure uh my example for one thing I was able to go on one deployment and come back and immediately hop on another deployment with a different team right so you have that ability with 20th group and 19th group but on deployment you know uh Team life like I said it's the best life you know you're there on whatever Outpost you're at with your team usually you meet up in the mornings do your team meeting figure out what needs to be done what operations we're going to go do and then you know what preparations need to be done so you'll do your job as whatever you know MOS you are on the team whether it's you know setting radios up you know as the echo you know getting everything set up for that operation coming up Charlie is getting all the breaches set up you know making sure everyone's got the supply that they need um bravoos Mak sure weapons are good so it's you know you go through your daily functions like that of course you know you you have your team gym time so you know you got the gym everyone goes out busts out a workout we might go watch a movie later that night together as a team you know just hang out but you become a family on deployment because everything you're doing is within a very confined space and you're working together it's why it's good to have you know personalities that kind of match with a team uh because you're going to be living and and you know pissing in the same hole pretty much so it's a it's a good time though deployments are awesome all right thanks MJ for coming on here and telling us a little bit about what it takes to become a Green Beret and some of the daily life uh of a Green Beret uh can you tell the audience a little bit about how they can find uh information on 20th group yeah so you can come follow our uh Instagram page is 3or 20th sfg all on word we also have a Reddit page and we have a Twitter page or X whatever it's called now um and on there we do have a link that can get you to the application process as well you can find us on guard SF and all those other websites but no thanks for having us out here man we appreciate it pleasure and also please remember to like this video And subscribe to the channel and we'll see you on the next one

Channel: SpiritusSystems

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Length: 29min 18sec (1758 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 06 2024