When we were teens, my brother and I "invited" a very quiet, ex-Delta Force gentleman over to our woods to play paintball against us. We weren't entirely smart, but figured he'd join the other loud mouth, overconfident, just out of airborne school soldiers we'd had over, and he would end up with a big splat of yellow paint in the middle of his facemask a few times. We were bit cocky.
"Sure", he said.
"One two conditions." Pause. "There's no time limit, and no boundaries." Pause for a beat. "I'm going to run off and lie dog for three days. Then I'll get up. Hunt you down. Kill you."
In that moment I achieved enlightenment. Maybe the reason that some people or groups could do far more than others was not some special gifted super-power, but the willingness to put in unthinkable amounts off work for the slightest edge in advantage. Stack this up across all possible advantages, and the results would look impossible.
If you want to read about the Delta Force, I highly recommend the slim book "Leadership and Training for the Fight" by Paul Rowe[0]. It's not technically a history of anything, but it lets you live inside the head of someone with a very different way of viewing the world - almost an alien mindset, and see how they solve problems and function.
Back in the day when I was in the (Dutch) Navy, at one point we had a special forces team on board. They quite literally spent 8 hours per day in the gym, 8 hours per day doing gunnery and/or tactical exercises and divided the remaining 8 hours between sleeping, eating and showering. Every day was the same, except that possibly the individual exercises differed. All of the soldiers on that team were focused on their job to a completely unhealthy degree, except of course that in their line of work not being focused like that can be way more unhealthy (ie, it directly leads to getting shot).
It is a fascinating lifestyle and I'm glad that some people are willing to do it, but I'm also glad that my own life is not like that. Apparently the suicide rate of retired special forces soldiers is several times higher than the baseline because if you leave (and sooner or later everyone gets too old and slow to keep up the lifestyle), almost everything you lived for is now gone.
Reminds me of the Teller (from Penn & Teller) quote: "Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect."
> A fellow got backstage after the violin maestro's performance. "That was amazing", he gushed! I would give half my life to be able to play as well as you do! The violinist looked at him and nodded. "Yes, that is about what it took!"
I am stealing that quote now, though. It's so true - think of the effortlessness with which a musician does what they do. It's more or less magic. Same thing with most things.
In the military I met one Delta guy who was back in regiment. I had the opportunity to observe 3 or 4 for a few weeks. As a civilian I did training with ex-delta. My company XO who later went to ARSOF ran missions with them (or rather they were a component of his missions).
Anyone with personal experience will tell you they are not cowboys as they are often depicted. They are incredibly focused, quiet, hard working, and almost autistically detail oriented with their craft.
The level of “professionalism” required to operate at that level is simply impossible for most people to sustain.
Don’t let the cargo shorts and flip flops fool you.
Interesting perspective / story; from a work-life perspective, it does seem that those that win, take a lot more low risk, low probability, high pay-off shots. It's all about how you can setup the odds to be in your favor if you are willing to work that extra x%.
Here it's the same thing - spending extra effort waiting for the right moment to happen. He would not be just waiting for 3 days to just wait. He is waiting to get that lucky chance when the odds are in his favor.
contrary to popular opinion and Hollywood most of these elite special forces teams don't succeed because they are aim-bot super soldiers. It mostly comes down to intel, preparation, and better gear
I can offer a bit of insight on this, having seen a fair amount of training of a free different groups (helped run a heavily used MOUT town, basically a fake town where they could run around shooting without hurting anyone).
You'd actually be surprised about how good their accuracy is, and even more so their reaction time. Their weapons are almost always pointed in the right direction, and they just move faster than the normal Marines and Army infantry.
Their gear is better, but not all that much better than an average recon team. Their Intel is better, in that they are fully briefed on it, rather than the chopped down versions the regulars get.
The biggest difference is their training and lifestyle. They don't have to deal with the bullshit that regulars do, don't have to play stupid games. Their job is to be good at their job, so that is all they do. And because of all that training time, because they can focus without being pulled into a working party or parade duty.
Reminds me of Carlos Hathcock, generally considered to be the first example of a "modern" sniper. He would spends days crawling through fields in Vietnam deep in enemy territory just for a chance at one single shot on a high value target.
I only know one story of "delta force" from my friend in the military. My friend got a crappy shift stationed at a small exit gate on a base in Iraq. It was around 2am and 4 atvs were trying to leave the base with duffel bags. These people on atvs had no badges in a black unmarked uniform with balaclavas on. My friend kept the gate closed. They spoke down to him yelling at him to open the gate in some kind of hurry. They refused to show any orders. My friend took his machine gun and pointed it at the first guys forehead. These guys were not leaving and were about to get shot. He had shot people before at the gate and he moved his index finger onto the trigger. My friend demanded to know what was in the duffel bags, see orders and ignored his radio. The men on atvs demanded him to answer his radio. My friend was getting ready to open fire. The first guy on the atv saw this wasn't going well - tried to calm things down - and opened a duffel bag. It was cash. 4 atvs carrying 20+ duffel bags of cash. Luckily for my friend, he finally answered his radio, and it was the base commander ordering him to let the atvs out of the gate. He let them go. The 4 atvs drove off into the night with duffels of cash. He referred to them as "spookes" - and this scenario was quite common after that.
I was aircrew in the USAF and I saw Pararescue and SERE instructor training. That stuff is absolutely insane and sadistic. Even then, at the top of my physical fitness/ability, I wouldn’t have been able to cut it. The endurance and stamina required is just unreal. The majority of those classes wash out too. It’s high pain and high risk from the beginning.
I can’t imagine going a step beyond and training for the special forces of the special forces, haha
I didn’t read the book (probably should), but I worked with a few of them personally in my second OEF tour. Well, as well as you can if you weren’t in it with them. The thing is, they don’t talk. They call themselves “quiet professionals”. (We had some seals on the team too. They tend to be a bit more open.) When the deltas from Gothic Serpent told the story, it was extremely detailed and factual and emotionless, pretty much like all of our debriefs. (There is no book authorized from the deltas.) I remember at the end for lessons learned, the NCO focused on water management / preventing dehydration in disconnected combat operations, presumably because that was the one simple thing that could have increased effectiveness.
Do you have a summary of the culture? I hear mixed things, but I wonder how much of that is just a requirement of the jobs that they do needing to be performed by certain personalities
I've been curious about the Delta Force for a while, and I am wondering if there's some sort of training available for civilians that could give you at least a glimpse of the preparation they go through. I'm sure there are many, but I've never heard anything particularly good about one in particular.
Any suggestions based on personal experience?
To be clear: main reason I'm interested in this is simply because it's the kind of preparation that could help you in case you find yourself in a very rare, but potentially lethal, situation (e.g. someone attacking you with a knife in a dead alley, or stuff like this - not the best example but you get the idea).
> (e.g. someone attacking you with a knife in a dead alley, or stuff like this - not the best example but you get the idea).
Run away. Seriously, it’s the best most reliable defence against a knife.
They don’t show this in the movies but a successful defense against a knife attack still leaves you very cut up. Just not dead, maybe.
I’ve been doing a martial art for 10 years and the main thing I learned is never to be a badass IRL. Doesn’t matter how good you are or how much better than the other person, you will get hit and it’s not worth it. Especially when there’s no rules – one good punch to the back of your neck/head and you’re a vegetable.
Unless the situation you want to prepare is in/exfiltration of 30+miles of unfriendly territory, stuff like judo/jujitsu/... will be more immediately useful in real life situations. Less badass though, granted.
Yes it is good advice for big picture decision making. However, cutting your losses due to small bumps in the road will certainly keep success out of reach. Large orgs like the US military need some people who clearly understand that quitting is not an option until they are ordered to do so.
Eric Haney’s book is great, another one along the same lines is “Quiet soldier” by Adam Ballinger, about a guy who did selection and trained with the part-time (Territorial Army) SAS battalion.
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"Sure", he said.
"One two conditions." Pause. "There's no time limit, and no boundaries." Pause for a beat. "I'm going to run off and lie dog for three days. Then I'll get up. Hunt you down. Kill you."
In that moment I achieved enlightenment. Maybe the reason that some people or groups could do far more than others was not some special gifted super-power, but the willingness to put in unthinkable amounts off work for the slightest edge in advantage. Stack this up across all possible advantages, and the results would look impossible.
If you want to read about the Delta Force, I highly recommend the slim book "Leadership and Training for the Fight" by Paul Rowe[0]. It's not technically a history of anything, but it lets you live inside the head of someone with a very different way of viewing the world - almost an alien mindset, and see how they solve problems and function.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Training-Fight-Operations-...
It is a fascinating lifestyle and I'm glad that some people are willing to do it, but I'm also glad that my own life is not like that. Apparently the suicide rate of retired special forces soldiers is several times higher than the baseline because if you leave (and sooner or later everyone gets too old and slow to keep up the lifestyle), almost everything you lived for is now gone.
> A fellow got backstage after the violin maestro's performance. "That was amazing", he gushed! I would give half my life to be able to play as well as you do! The violinist looked at him and nodded. "Yes, that is about what it took!"
That part made me laugh too hard.
I am stealing that quote now, though. It's so true - think of the effortlessness with which a musician does what they do. It's more or less magic. Same thing with most things.
Anyone with personal experience will tell you they are not cowboys as they are often depicted. They are incredibly focused, quiet, hard working, and almost autistically detail oriented with their craft.
The level of “professionalism” required to operate at that level is simply impossible for most people to sustain.
Don’t let the cargo shorts and flip flops fool you.
The amount of focus, attention to details, mental acuity, instant decisiveness you require would and does wash most people out.
It’s not like the Navy Seals movie with Charlie Sheen folks.
Here it's the same thing - spending extra effort waiting for the right moment to happen. He would not be just waiting for 3 days to just wait. He is waiting to get that lucky chance when the odds are in his favor.
Interesting short story.
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You'd actually be surprised about how good their accuracy is, and even more so their reaction time. Their weapons are almost always pointed in the right direction, and they just move faster than the normal Marines and Army infantry.
Their gear is better, but not all that much better than an average recon team. Their Intel is better, in that they are fully briefed on it, rather than the chopped down versions the regulars get.
The biggest difference is their training and lifestyle. They don't have to deal with the bullshit that regulars do, don't have to play stupid games. Their job is to be good at their job, so that is all they do. And because of all that training time, because they can focus without being pulled into a working party or parade duty.
But it still takes someone with certain mental capabilities to do it well, aka the super soldier.
I can’t imagine going a step beyond and training for the special forces of the special forces, haha
Less team, more solo capable war fighters who can plan, then adapt and overcome.
Any suggestions based on personal experience?
To be clear: main reason I'm interested in this is simply because it's the kind of preparation that could help you in case you find yourself in a very rare, but potentially lethal, situation (e.g. someone attacking you with a knife in a dead alley, or stuff like this - not the best example but you get the idea).
Run away. Seriously, it’s the best most reliable defence against a knife.
They don’t show this in the movies but a successful defense against a knife attack still leaves you very cut up. Just not dead, maybe.
I’ve been doing a martial art for 10 years and the main thing I learned is never to be a badass IRL. Doesn’t matter how good you are or how much better than the other person, you will get hit and it’s not worth it. Especially when there’s no rules – one good punch to the back of your neck/head and you’re a vegetable.
"dead alley" means that you're not able to run away, and you are forced to face your opponent.
I am curious about Krav Maga [0], and heard it's very effective against this type of threats. Anyone wants to chime in?
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_Maga
https://www.goruckevents.com/