It is Special Ops, not Average Ops
People often ask about my saying I use with the Heroes of Tomorrow organization — Train to Compete — Not Just Survive. I have been using this one for years — even when I went through training. I found that there is a big difference in going through life merely surviving and trying to compete at everything you do.
My first experience was when I was about to run a marathon — My goal was to just finish and finish under 4 hours (I was in survival mode). I noticed some gentlemen loosening up probably 50lbs lighter than I was, likely from Kenyan descent and their goal was not like mine. They were getting ready to beat a personal best — compete with each other and try to drop a minute off of their best time. They were in Competition Mode!
I realized my chances for finishing the race were much less than these marathon runners and my pace would likely put me at the half way point when they finished! I realized that day I cannot strive for minimum standards to get by and that competing was ONE way to never think about quitting. And it works!
That is what I came up with: Train to Compete — Not Just Survive and I use it today when I work with or speak to young athletes seeking Special Ops careers.
The minimum standards will never produce the type of Special Operator that are now operating all over the world doing amazing things. Only strive for the maximums and if you are not in the top of the class in something — try harder. We all have our strengths and weaknesses so you are not going to win everything, but you can strive to be in the above average 10% pack on your team / training programs.
Going into any Spec Ops or ANY regular military / police / fire fighting training program barely able to pass the minimum standards and you are going to hate life for many weeks, IF you last that long without failing or getting injured.
Do yourself a favor — train hard NOW and do not think that bootcamp will get you in shape for Special Ops training. Use bootcamp as a taper and push yourself no matter what you do because our Special Operations Community is Special — not average. That is why they call it Special Ops.
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Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and fitness author certified as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. If you are interested in starting a workout program to create a healthy lifestyle - check out the Stew Smith article archive at Military.com. To contact Stew with your comments and questions, e-mail him at stew@stewsmith.com.
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Spec Ops are overrated, how often are they used? Most of it is Inf. skills anyway, take a good trained up Plt outta the 25 ID, 101st, 82nd, 75th Inf could handle most of it.
Yep. They are well trained cause they are expected to spend alot of time behind enemy lines in smaller groups. But i’m a sniper in the Air Cav. 25 id. and i can tell you from personal experience we are all trained for that.
The 75th Ranger Regiment is Special Ops. They are under the US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). They are also tasked under JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command). Special Ops are used in peace time and during war. Many of their operations are clandestine, which is why you don’t hear about them so often.
It’s not that regular units aren’t competent enough to complete the same missions. It’s the fact that they lack the funding, training, and resources to complete what Special Operations have.
I think you erred there Shotbag and meant maybe the 10th Mountain Division? 75th Infantry is now the 75th Mission Training Command Division. Has been the 75th Military Assistance Command Since the end of World War II. Total combat power in the 75th is 6 9mm Pistols and 6 Pack 75 Howitzers (Ceremonial). Yes, they are the Bulge Busters of world war II but they have been in the business of training ever since. And before you jump like later in the postings here retired after 21 years and spent 8 yrs as a retiree working for the 75th out of Houston.
Regular Inf. is linear. Go from point A to point B. Smash everything. Spec Ops isn’t. We smash n grab, run back, wait n grab, stack up and breach, sit and listen, love ‘em and leave ‘em. Don’t get me wrong Inf. is good to go, but if you want some excitement Spec Ops is the way to go.
Shotbad– were you ever in the military? From your response, your experience stops at playing video games thru the night. “just Inf skills..” ? Stick to what you know.
Come on guys — this is not meant to be a ******* contest between spec ops and conventional forces. No need to bad mouth people on military.com forums either.
Every body thinks one group is better than another — I get that — but who cares. Don’t waste your time arguing that one — no one wins and it just ****** people off.
Breathe deep — relax — there is NO threat here. We are all on the same side…
stew smith
Well said.
Semper Fi
You are completely corrrect! If you strive for Excellence and drive anddedicate yourself for it, then you are going to be SPECIAL in everything you do, wether it is serving in Spec Ops, Submarines, Infantry, Fire, Police, driving truck, construction, or CEO!
The example of the runners not only competing with each other, but trying to beat their personal best and competing against themselves regardless of what others are doing is what probably speaks the most to me.
Here, in the non-special operations world, the wide variety of fitness levels within a unit makes setting fitness goals for our programs a challenge. What may be a reasonable goal for one individual may be unrealistic for another. That risks leaving them struggling and frustrated and has prompted a few individuals I’ve spoken with to mentally discard fitness as an unpleasant thing forced upon them rather than embrace it as a source of positive development and growth in their life. Changing the goal to focusing on being better than they were before enables us as a unit to push everyone equally and treat fitness as personal growth, not just an assigned task.
I’ve also known it to alter and enhance motivation while mitigating frustration on personal levels.
A while back, I was diagnosed with cancer. Surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy sapped my body to the point just slowly walking a few hundred yards left me winded with a racing heartbeat and I literally had trouble getting out of bed. In my case, I wanted to get back into shape and return to duty, but none of my doctors really knew what goals to set because their patients were usually much older civilians. “When can I get back into PT” wasn’t a question they often faced. So I set goals that, while arbitrary, seemed reasonable. It turned out I was weaker than I thought and the goals were farther from my reach. With that discovery came frustration and, at times, a reluctance to go to the gym because I was tired of being reminded how badly my body was torn up. But I’m stubborn and forced myself to keep going, begrudgingly telling myself “If I’m going to fail, I’m going to fail by less each time.” Over time, it morphed into the more positive “I will do better today than I did yesterday” and fitness became less of a burden. This week, I ran a 1.5 mile practice run. I’ve still got a ways to go before I cover it in my goal time, so I’ve got work to do. But, this time last month, I couldn’t even run that far, period, never mind in my goal time. I will reach my immediate goal, even if it’s tiny steps at a time, and the overall goal is to keep taking those tiny steps beyond until I can’t take any more.
Like Tank Sherman said, perpetual improvement isn’t just a physical discipline, but a discipline you can apply to all aspects of life. Militaries never did well when they settled, only when they pushed forward.
FXCO fire I was only in from 1966 till 2006= 37yrs, had a break in service both AD & RC, served in RVN & OIF, how bout you hero?
37 years, congradulations. I only spent 27. I was infantry, SF, then aviation. The fighting part and the PT part you might have some semblence of an idea. The qualifications at each MOS is far beyond any normal unit. If I get shot, I pray an SF medic is the one that shows up. If I need to communicate, an sf radio operator is trained beyond replacing batteries. This is just one aspect. I think the main differennce is the ability to operate independently without supervision and still do the right thing in order to accomplish the mission. It is a shame that in your 37 years you never were given the opportunity to operate in the field with an ODA. Every time I interact with one I come away humbled by the capabilities of several outstanding men working for something bigger than they are. If you gotta ask there is nothing I can tell you to make you understand.
My statement was to broad, I don’t mean tnat there is not a for Spec Ops, because there is, it is just some what limited, just like the use of parachutists I was speakin from historical prespective, thru the yrs , mostly RC, I worked with, went to school with & trained, many SF, Seals, Rangers & Recon folks some were real sq away, some were big mouths, mostly support people, The only spec ops, if that counts, I served with in was LRSD & PFDR UNITS. MOST OF THE STUFF CAME OUTTA ENGINEERS , PARACHUTIST, & USMC.anyway, in Post WW2 the really good SF NCOs came outta the 82nd.
The example of the runners not only competing with each other, but trying to beat their personal best and competing against themselves is what probably speaks the most to me.
Here, in the non-special operations world, the wide variety of fitness levels within a unit makes setting fitness goals for our programs a challenge because what may be a reasonable goal for one individual may be unrealistic for another. That risks leaving them struggling and frustrated and prompted a few individuals I’ve spoken with to mentally discard fitness as an unpleasant thing forced upon them rather than embrace it as positive development and growth in their life. Changing the goal to focusing on being better than they were before enables us as a unit to push everyone equally and treat fitness as personal growth, not just an assigned task.
I’ve also known it to alter and enhance motivation while mitigating frustration on personal levels.
A while back, I was diagnosed with cancer. Surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy sapped my body to the point just slowly walking a few hundred yards left me winded with a racing heartbeat and I literally had trouble getting out of bed. In my case, I wanted to get back into shape and return to duty, but none of my doctors really knew what goals to set because their patients were usually much older. “When can I get back into PT” wasn’t a question they often faced. So I set goals that, while arbitrary, seemed reasonable. It turned out I was weaker than I thought and the goals were farther from my reach. With that discovery came frustration and, at times, a reluctance to go to the gym because I was tired of being reminded how badly my body was torn up. But I’m stubborn and forced myself to keep going, begrudgingly telling myself “If I’m going to fail, I’m going to fail by less each time.” Over time, it morphed into the more positive “I will do better today than I did yesterday” and fitness became less of a burden. This week, I ran a 1.5 mile practice run. I’ve still got a ways to go before I cover it in my goal time, so I’ve got work to do. But, this time last month, I couldn’t even run that far, period, never mind in my goal time. I will reach my immediate goal, even if it’s tiny steps at a time, and my overall goal is to keep taking those tiny steps beyond until I can’t take any more.
But, in a similar vein to Tank Sherman’s comment, being better today than you were yesterday doesn’t just apply to fitness, but to anything we do. The best part about that is that it means our goal is always in reach.
I was in a unit that tried this, and those for whom the goal was probably too aggressive began to get frustrated, give up, and discard fitness as an unpleasant thing forced upon them rather than embrace it as positive development in their life.
Most of the SOF missions that make the world media are DA (direct action) hits. These are the flashy, wiz-bang shoot-um-up displays civilians can relate to but does it really take, in the case of OBL, SEAL team Six to pop one or two poorly armed/trained bad guys? Of course not but we had to send in our best teams (NSWDG or the D-Boys) to make this history making raid just in case there were unexpected issues at the site.
In reality any competent infantry squad could have done this job. The real test was finding OBL in the first place then flying into Pak’s airspace without getting shot down and making a safe return.
The SOF missions like FID, UW, Civil Affairs etc., are not flashy, and they take a long time to accomplish so no media personality is very much interested in this so called boring side of SOF yet it produces long term results.
I worked with ODA for a few missions in baghdad and can agree with stew smith. They make the regular army look amateur and that said my scout platoon was really good team. We in the RA can handle a simple DA or CA mission but they have the attention to detail needed for the important missions. The regular army has great people two but the SOF has a higher average of great people. You will drag out the trollers and glory seekers with this article. Its clear by the posts why they never made the cut. The operators all said the same thing smith did…
It seems that there are a couple of people on here that don’t quite understand what it is that Spec Op’s is and does. After training with Snipers, SEALs, GB’s, SAS, and Recon and comparing their training to how the Fleet Marines train, I can see a slight difference. Yes, they get more money and better equipment. But they need and deserve it. I compare these two sides sort of like looking at the Mercedes line up. On one side of the show room you have the AMG Black line, every bit a cut above the regular Merc line up, muscular, fast and handles well. And on the other side of the show room you have the the even more elite Maybach, which there is no comparison, each detail is hand made, and it takes a lot longer to manufacture each vehicle in comparison.
After reading this article and puting it in perspective to my own personal training I understand even more as to what it is that I need to do in order to continue my military career, especially since I am in the process of re-enlisting in the Spec Op arena. Thank you Stew Smith.
And that is not to say that one piece of the puzzle is better than the other. It takes an entire TEAM to make it work. Semper Fi, not Semper I.
TWILKINSON: it is a US Army custom when referring to a regiment to say 75th Inf, 24Inf, 32Inf, etc etc If I had been talking about the 75th Inf Div, I would have said 75th ID or 75th Infantry Div. I had a CSM once who served with’em in WW2 as a Pvt, as I understand they have been some kinda USAR trng unit forever, the few times I had workin with USAR trng units,they were all Duds.
Well — the conversation is getting better but still more waste of time than educational or inspirational. Seems like the group of people I admire most (veterans / retired vets) would rather squawk at each other vs try to inspire a new generation to WORK HARD. After all that is what this article was really all about.
I know we get lot of people who think “mine is bigger than yours” on these type of forums but as a moderator and veteran myself — let me remind you we are ALL on the same team!! Save your energy for the bad guys…
ss
I’ve been considering switching my MOS to pursue a SF career. I’ve got a little over a year in right now as a 94E Radio Comsec Repairer stationed here at Ft. Wainwright, AK and I can tell you I’ve been fairly disappointed with my military experience so far. Mainly just being in a useless MOS is the biggest downer along with not being able to get into the 160th. I’ve pretty much decided by the time I reach the end of my contract, I’ll know if I want to get out, or switch gears and go for SF. I don’t want anything in between.
The best recommendation I can make is to start physically training hard now for any upcoming schools you will have to accomplish should you go the route of Spec Ops in your future. The SO world is different — not perfect — but a different challenge each day along side people who share your dream so you will see a different community when you change.
ss
hey stew what would you recommend i do for pt, push ups, sit ups, pull ups, and running or the conventional weight lifting and eating healthy and right?
Depends on your fitness goals and current fitness level to be honest. If you are shooting for special ops one day this transition maybe take up to 1–2 years to get ready depending on your fitness foundation / history…etc..
and this is for SF, So SF pt