Doing The "Impossible" - Challenging 6 Special Forces' Detachments
BLUF (bottom line up front)
I've seen it countless times... the coaches who blame their athletes, executives who blame their employees, Sergeants who blame their Soldiers. This article is a true story of the time I took 30 "problem" Soldiers to the field that ended with all of us being awarded and setting records within our Special Operations unit. The lesson of this story is that most of the time, a Soldier underperforms due to a lack of purpose, direction, and motivation. When given those three key ingredients and paired with a leader who leads by example, it creates an unstoppable force capable of doing the "impossible."
Award Granted: Army Achievement Medal (AAM)
Justification: Sergeant Inman served as the Opposing Force NCOIC (non-commissioned officer in charge) for the Red Training Cell at Camp *** ***** during Bravo Company's Validation Exercise and the certification of six Special Forces Detachments. In his role, SGT Inman was responsible for organizing and directing a thirty member opposing force element. This opposing force cell supported twelve Full Mission Profiles over a five day training period in a mountainous region spanning one hundred fifty miles. His tireless efforts were crucial in the validation of eighty four Green Berets and eight Special Forces Enablers to deploy in support of TASK GROUP - ***** *** and assist ***** Objectives. (sensitive info redacted)
Backstory
A week before going on this training exercise I was briefed that we had 30 Soldiers going to the field to validate six Special Forces Detachments which essentially meant ensuring they are ready for deployment. Our job was to play "bad guys" while running around with enemy style AK-47s, Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), flashbangs, booby traps, and more. The goal was to catch them off guard, sleeping, disrupt their operations, and ultimately seek & destroy them. We do this because it's better to find their weaknesses in training than live combat.
There was a problem though. The Soldiers assigned were mostly "voluntold" and were not the top Soldiers in the unit. They were computer repair, legal specialists, network admins, problem Soldiers, overweight, pending separation, etc. My job was to organize, train, and lead this "team" against the world's most elite fighting force, the Green Berets. As you can imagine, initially there was a lack of excitement and motivation from my rebel force. When told about this mission they were briefed they would go out, get slapped around, and come home with their tail between their legs. There wasn't an ounce of hope or any likely chance of victory. Because of these terrible odds, no leader wanted to put their name on this event and lead this team. One at a time, they laughed and said "not it" which is when I decided to lead them. I hate, rather.. abhor weakness... It had been about 6 months in my Army career since taking on a big challenge or competition and this had my name all over it. Little did I know, it would become one of my favorite memories throughout my decade of service.
The Mission
Day 0, the morning our operation began was bright and early. We reported at 3am to draw weapons, perform last minute equipment checks, break off into teams, and do our final mission briefs before stepping off. This was the first time meeting most of these Soldiers. You could tell morale was low and no one had the slightest belief we could win. This was my first objective to tackle. I needed to bring this team together, make them believe they were worthy and capable of beating the Green Berets. I had to clearly establish the standards of being on my team. These Soldiers had a chip on their shoulder and needed someone to activate them. Most of them hated their leadership and had given up because they had no purpose. Not all of them were bad Soldiers though, we had about 5% of our team that were high performers and very capable in the field. These would be my squad leaders that I heavily relied on.
Before stepping off, I made a short speech. I told them their leaders don't believe in them which is why they're here. I said, I'm not going to sugar coat it. For one reason or another, you were chosen because this is supposed to be a punishment BUT, we have another option for those who want it. We will have the time of our lives, work harder than we ever have, and we WILL beat these Green Berets. Then you can go back to your section with your head held high knowing you achieved what few have ever done. For the rest of you who are here to sit around, complain, or take the easy path; you will sit here for the next 5 days, not go on a single mission, and will go home as miserable as you came here. Either way, you will be out here but it's up to you if you will go home as a winner or loser. You have 10 minutes to make your decision before we load up and move out. Winners, get on my truck. Losers, get on the rear truck (the dustiest, most uncomfortable vehicle in a convoy). There were inevitably a couple of losers. You can't save everyone but to my surprise, the majority of the team loaded up on my truck and accepted this "impossible mission" knowing it may be their last chance to do something this big in the Army.
Day 1 the fun begins. I could see the motivation, smiles, and slight belief that they thought I was crazy enough to win this. My conviction and belief as the leader was strong enough for ALL of them to get behind. Now, in order for us to pull this off, we needed help. Belief and action is one thing but now we need the proper training, guidance, and experienced warriors to give us a competitive edge. I went and found 3 Green Beret leaders and asked them how we won this. They laughed at me until they saw how serious I was then the conversation shifted. Personally, I think this fired them up and sparked an internal bet. Before each operation, we would get short, fast paced training on how to hunt this elite fighting force. For obvious reasons I will not go into detail on this, however the moral of it is to be resourceful and willing to ask for help. If this mission failed, I would at least give them one hell of a show. The green berets we were fighting caught wind of this and they laughed at us until the end of day 1 when we spotted, closed in on, and annihilated our first team under the cover of darkness.
Day 2 was full of the same outcomes. One by one, we would pick them off and take them out. We had the rush of seeing A-10s flying overhead and doing close air support gun run missions, working with nearby infantry units, I called in for ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) assets to assist in recon, and so much more. One of my most memorable moments on this day was when one of my rebel Soldiers who was slightly overweight had to overcome a massive hurdle. We approached the backside of a mountain and something insane happened. It’s early in the morning. The sun was just starting to rise and we had to quickly take the hill before it fully rose. This Soldier said “Sarge, black people don’t climb. Let alone with no gear and I’m too big to get up this mountain.” Without hesitation, I turned around, looked him in the eyes and said “You will climb this mountain and we will take this team out. There is no time to go around.” Needless to say, he started the ascent. We had a couple of guys in front of him and I was behind him with one hand on his thighs pushing him up this mountain. Halfway up, he started to gain confidence and belief in himself. The rest of the climb, I was there to spot him but he conquered it on his own. We took the hill, snuck around the backside of the green beret team and sent them a photo of their team in our rifle scope crosshairs to their phone. They all jumped up and started looking around. Because of this Soldier's belief in himself and our mission, we continued winning. If he would have quit or accepted defeat, giving in to fear, we would never have beaten this team and we likely would have been taken out by them.
Day 3 was one that to this day still sticks with me. One of the Green Berets had pizza delivered to us for our hard work and taking this seriously. Our team thought we were pissing them off by beating them, when we were actually activating them and giving them a reason to be out there. No other opposing force took it seriously, so neither did they. Each year, they would do this training to check the block but they would always obliterate the rebel force without effort. Then here came our terror squad going crazy out there which fired them up and had them loving us for it. Enough so that they even order us pizza and have it delivered literally in the middle of nowhere. We were in a restricted zone requiring military vehicles to get to us. This pizza was not only symbolic but also a gesture of good faith. They were telling us “thanks for the fight, we’re awake and now coming for you.” The best part was a note was left on these pizzas. "Thanks for the hard work. Keep it up." The fight had just begun.
Day 4 was the most intense fighting of the whole operation. Ambush after ambush, mountain peak after mountain peak. At this point we had averaged around 15-30 minutes of sleep per day and covered around 80 miles of terrain. They made us work for every single opportunity. We would see them, work on closing the distance, and then lose them to the wilderness. Our team was shrinking and hope of complete victory was fading. At this point we had probably validated around 65 of the 84 Green Berets. It was going to be a photo finish as to who won. During the night of day 4, we came DANGER CLOSE to their fighting force. I led an 8 man squad into the night equipped with night vision goggles (NVGs), flashbangs, and all sorts of fun devices. If we were going out, we were going out with a bang. As the Green Berets and their fighting forces advanced towards our location, we laid in a field of tall grass. I am not exaggerating when I say they walked within 30 yards of us. To this day, I don’t know if they were messing with us or if it was by pure luck but they approached our location, stopped, and turned at the last minute to instead attack a nearby position on the road just over the hill from us. Had they walked just a little further, they would have taken us out. Meanwhile, while this is happening, I am throwing rocks at one of my Soldiers who fell asleep in this field. While the Green Beret team was moving towards the road, we were trying to set up an ambush but couldn’t because one of our rebel fighters was knocked out from the long week of training. It was truly comical and we were all holding our breath hoping he didn’t wake up, sneeze, or move while the Green Berets were on top of us. Rather, the stars aligned this night and we were able to flank their position and go attack them down the road.
Day 5 At this point my Garmin showed we had an average of 27 minutes of sleep per night, moved an average of 21.4 miles per day through this heavily mountainous region for a total of 107 miles and had now destroyed 80 of the 84 Green Berets. We were told it was the first time an opposing force had ever had this much success. Here’s the thing though, we didn’t do any of this for the awards or recognition. We were all laser focused on the immediate task at hand while working together seamlessly as an organized and effective unit. It was the most present I have ever been in my life. Nothing else mattered for that whole week. We barely had cell service which made it even better. Our focus wasn’t on winning, awards, or recognition. We needed each member of our team to bring forth their best efforts every single day despite being tired, hungry, exhausted, and filthy from not showering all week. Every person on the team had found their purpose, direction, and motivation again. Some went back and went on to have incredible military careers while others still got kicked out for numerous reasons but in the end we all were champions who held our heads high and did what no one else thought was possible. I couldn’t be more proud of my team, our leadership, and being a part of such an elite and prestigious community. In the end, they hunted us down and took us out but we put up one hell of a fight. They are undeniably the most elite fighting force in the world and deserve more recognition and praise than they get. While other Special Operation organizations are writing books and getting public attention, the Green Berets are working in the dark as silent professionals. They are the best of the best.
Closing Remarks
Thanks to the Green Berets who acted as our advisors who helped us accomplish this. Without you, we would have been dreamers and most likely gotten obliterated from the beginning. It’s one thing to have belief and dreams but it’s another to bring them to life. With your guidance and superior leadership, we were equipped with the knowledge and skills to put up one hell of a fight. Also appreciate you for the pizza and note. I still have a photo of it and use it in my training to this day. So many lessons were learned from this experience.
I want to give another special shoutout to our rebel force who conquered this operation and didn’t quit. You guys are legends and made this experience one I will never forget. This will always go down as my favorite Army memory and one of the most fun moments of my life.
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