Farmboy

[DMZ-LT]

In your bio here you say you served in the Army from 66 to 70 and your a combat vet that served in the SF. Friend of mine that did 4 tours in Vietnam , with SF , says that in order to serve with SF in Vietnam from 66 to 70 you had to be an E-5 and on your second enlistment. I believe him. How did you get in SF on one enlistment ?

[hardeodcafe]

DMZ_LT,

I guess the Green Beret with Badge as Farmboys Avatar is actually the Green Beret, Beret?

I have worked extensively with American EOD Techs, one in particular became a great friend of mine, he was a Naval Clearance Diver, I believe seconded to the SEALS, not entirely sure of that but he mentioned something along those lines. He did 2 Tours of Vietnam as a very young Naval Rating, I think his second tour may well have been an EOD tour but he would certainly know the ins and outs of who was able to do what and when back then... but then I expect there are many Vietnam Vets right here in the Patriot Files?!

Our SF is a bit different to your own, we only really have two groups we class as Special Forces, the SAS & the SBS (SAS recruits from the Army and SBS the Navy, although primarily Royal Marines) who carry out the same initial selection before going their separate ways for onward training. Both are filled with members who have first volunteered or been recommended to go for Selection, usually the pass rate of selection leading to a recruit being 'Badged' SAS or SBS is only around 4% of the volunteers, considering all volunteers consider themselves way above average fitness and military level than their counterparts then the mind boggles as to the tiny pass rate...

We now also have what is called the Special Forces Support Group, comprising elements of shock troops suc as the Paras and other specialist units but they are NOT SF...

[WateringHole]

I recall when I was at Benning in the early 60s, you had to be on your second enlistment to apply for Special Forces Training. Reason why I know that is because many recruits after finishing jump school attempted to apply for SF and was all told the same answer....and that's "you have to be on your second hitch to apply."
Spoke to many jump school recruits at the beer hall while sucking-up on that 3.2.
I was a grease monkey assigned to the 95th evac hosp

[farmboy]

Your friend is mistaken. Or full of crap.
Seals are Navy guys.
"US Army Special Forces" is the only group with the that actual name.
All the new high speed guys come under the SOCOM umbrella. People call them SF, but that is incorrect.
I graduated SFTG in 1967 as a PFC. I was one of the early "SF Babies."
I was selected for SF training while in Airborne Infantry AIT at Ft Gordon.
They picked 3 of us out of 2 companies.
I was also fortunate to be selected Distinguished Honor Graduate 45th Company at jump school.
All pretty routine after that.
My SFA # is D5216.
You guys are jumping to some serious conclusions with zero points of personal reference.
I'll expect some updates.

Now go out and play sweetheart. Maybe your buddy will show you the secret handshake.

[hardeodcafe]

Sounds very similar to our SF Farmboy, we usually have to be recommended by our Seniors or noticed by serving SF members on Ops etc. but of course there is the numbers of volunteers who decide themselves they are fit and ready enough, nowadays there is even a Pre-Selection course for volunteers not in Infantry Units to get up to speed on their soldiering skills prior to going on a 3 day pre-pre selection and then onto main selection itself. It isn't uncommon for people to try again 1 or 2 times if they fail the first time.

[catman]

I have looked over your profile and it states that you held an MOS of 11B4S, is that correct? By your post above you went thru SFQ and graduated as a PFC. So you were promoted from E-3 to E-7 in just 3 years?

Do you by chance happen to live in the Houston area?

Trav

[farmboy]

I made E6 in just over three years. Where do you get 7?
At that time I think an E5 used the 4 designator.
There was a shake and bake school in the regular army where you could make E6 in 6 months.
You could extend an enlistment up to 11 months back then without taking a burst. A lot of us did that to extend tours in RVN.
I think E7 required several more years.

I am North of the Mason Dixon line.

I am on a number of related forums-never ran into so many semi educated sharpshooters.

In the early days of SF there was the E5 and prior requirements-with exceptions.
That all got dropped during the VN era.
Most of the older guys were serious career combat soldiers with WW2 and Korea service.
There were a lot of Eastern Europeans who hated commies. They were recruited under the "Lodge act." There were some luftwaffe and whermacht vets.
There was a lot of resentment of us "babies."

Many of us "babies" went on to do pretty good.
Several MOHs were awarded and we bled as red as any of them.
Majority or half of SOG guys were from us "babies."
I take a lot of pride in my service I was blessed to walk among such people.

I want to hear more about the 4-tour expert and his bona fides.

[David]

Don't mistake vetting your claims for being semi-educated farmboy. As you know from the other sites you are on plenty of wanna-bes browse the internet, most with stories very similar to yours.

I can assure you no one is attacking you but questions have to be asked. This site is made up of veterans for the most part, and combat veterans at that so the drill should come as no surprise to you.

[WateringHole]

This character "farmboy" tries to twist things around by claiming anyone who questions his "allege" Special Forces background is stupid and uneducated.
His attitude is "hey, look everybody..... I was a Green Beret, and if you don't believe me, than "up yours"

[SEATJERKER]

...

...I can vouch for the 4 tour guy as many here can having met him up close, and personal on more the several occasions,...

... being the fast track you are, cool, I'm sure you both would have a lot to talk about,...

...But, don't come here lip slapping friends as we've been together a lot longer, and if you've been around "other forums" you'll understand,...

...So it's either 'welcome aboard', or 'get bent', your choice,...

...