Special Forces Assessment & Selection, and Qualification Course
Lack of detail on QCourse information is intentional.
Information deprivation is used to induce mental stress so
it is a little harder to come by information from operators
( trust me, I've asked :-)
Special Forces is headquartered at the John F.
Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School ( JFKSWCS ),
located at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. It is here where the
training of future Special Forces soldiers takes place. Any
male enlisted soldier ranking at least E-4 ( promotable )
or on his second tour may apply to the Special Warfare
Center & School. Officers ranking at least Captain
or on their second enlistment may also apply. Candidates
must have a perfect physical profile, be
Airborne qualified, and pass Special Forces Assessment and
Selection ( SFAS ). SFAS is a 3 week TDY ( Temporary Duty )
assignment. It is a course designed to weed out candidates
before they even get to the actual QCourse itself.
Candidates must complete tasks such as a one hundred fifty
meter swim wearing Battle Dress Uniforms ( BDU's ) and
combat boots for the Combat Water Survival Test. One can
pass SFAS by completing all events and still not be
selected to attend the QCourse. In Phase 1, candidates are
divided up into twelve man ODAs, who must then work
together to complete the tasks they are assigned.
Candidates must also undergo psychological testing for
behavioral problems. After successfully completing Phase 1,
a candidate moves on to Phase 2 of the Q-Course.
Phase 2 is where candidates receive their specialty
training. A candidate can become a medic, an engineer, a
communications specialist, or a weapons specialist.
Officers and team sergeants, the highest ranked enlisted
man on a team, must also attend the Operation and
Intelligence ( O&I ) school. After candidates train in
their specialty, they crosstrain in the others to insure an
overlap of skills.
The most difficult and longest specialty training is
the medics course, which runs for thirty-one weeks of
classroom instruction before Medical Lab. Animal rights
advocates have long objected to this school, but that is
not what makes it so well known throughout SF ( Simons
73 ). Candidates are assigned a "patient" in the form of a
goat. Various injuries are inflicted on the goat, with the
goat under anesthesia, of course. The candidate must then
treat these injuries, if the goat dies the candidate fails.
The engineers course is the second most difficult.
Candidates must learn not only to destroy structures, but
build them as well. They are the only engineers in special
operations that learn construction. They also learn about
related topics like sanitation and hygiene.
Communications training requires candidates to not only
learn to use various radioes but repair them as well.
Candidates learn to use radio and satellite communications
systems. They learn Morse code and must be able to transmit
a certain number of words per minute with a minimum number
errors. The ability to transmit so many words per minute by
Morse code is required of all Special Forces candidates but
the requirement for communications specialists is higher.
Weapons specialists learn to assemble, disassemble,
fire, and to a lesser degree, repair various small arms
from around the world. Many weapons specialists have passed
through the army's highly selective Sniper school. All
weapons specialists are expected to be excellent shots.
After Phase 2 candidates return to Ft. Bragg for Phase
13. Phase 13 received its name because it is made up of
parts from the old Phase 1 and 3. The Q Course underwent a
drastic change in the mid 1980's. Candidates used to
receive extreme levels of harassment from the instructors.
Candidates were sometimes failed based on an instructor's
personal biases. In an effort to make the Q Course more
fair review boards were installed and instructors are no
longer allowed to harass the candidates. This lack of
harassment led to a lack of information for candidates
which has proved to be as effective an eliminator as the
harassment. The lack of information simulates battlefield
conditions which better enables instructors to weed out
candidates who may freeze in combat.
During Phase 13, candidates are formed into A-teams to
learn to conduct insurgency and counter-insurgency
campaigns. It is here where final opinions are made. The
students do not just learn to conduct guerrilla warfare.
Phase 13 culminates in a two week guerrilla warfare exercise
named Robin Sage. Robin Sage is large and elaborate. It
gives an A-team a guerrilla cell to train, advise, and lead
against elite brigades from the 82nd Airborne Division. The
guerrilla cells are drawn from rear echelon troops and
under the command of a Special Forces soldier, the
guerrilla chief, whose job it is to make the candidates
work for the cell's trust and cooperation. The A-team is
graded by an adviser/grader who came into the area with A-
team, and by the guerrilla chief. If the team does not
accomplish its assigned objectives, fails to organize the
cell into an effective guerrilla force, is captured, or if
the guerrilla camp is discovered the team fails. Most
candidates that make it this far are usually recycled
through the Q Course once more.
After the Q Course, and before deploying to their
assigned Group, new Special Forces soldiers undergo
extensive language training based on their new Group's area
of operations. They may learn Spanish, German, Polish,
Russian, French, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, or any other of
a number of languages. When language training is finished
they are sent to their new Groups, and assigned to a team.