5 New Year Resolutions for Aspiring Operators

The new year is upon us and with it comes with the usual grand visions, declarations, and wild delusions. This is especially true when it comes to aspiring special operators. The current news cycle, social media milieu, and the military zeitgeist have created a robust recruiting environment, so the ground is particularly fertile for these annual dreams to germinate. The future is bright for Special Operations and lots of guys want to get in on the action. This is a good thing as America truly is a great nation and the US has yet again proven why our military is indeed the most potent force on the planet.

Most of the guys that declare their intent to become the next Audie Murphy are the same ones who too quickly discount the work that it takes to get there. That usually knocks out about 50% of the pack. They assume that since they declared their intent, a recruiter just pops up and pins them. Since no recruiter appears, those guys fall by the wayside. The next 50% then begin the process of finding out exactly what the work looks like. And herein lies the problem.  Most guys don’t fail SFAS because they’re weak, they fail because they never start. So, as a guy who brokers in the Special Operations information environment, let me give you five New Year resolutions for you to follow to avoid being one of these never-starters.

1.            Stop listening to podcasts.

First, there are few podcasts that are actually helpful. To be clear, there are tons of podcasts, many entertaining and often “informative”, but few are helpful. Lots of information, plenty of discussion, ample fodder to ruminate over. But few are truly helpful with actionable, relevant, and well-researched advice. For the good, look at Terminator Training’s podcasts. Zero fluff, zero pretense, all brass tacks. He gives you a precise topic, talks into the camera, and gives you answers. There are no flying graphics and scrolling feed. Just well-researched, infinitely practical, and applicable calls to action. And I don’t even agree with everything that Kevin says, but you can’t argue with the value of his production. Compare that with one of the dozens of click-baity, high-production, rage bait hot-take shows, and you immediately see where your time is best spent. Stop listening to that crap.

And to be doubly clear, I’m not actually saying don’t listen to any fun podcasts ever. I’m really saying don’t let listening to podcasts be the substitute for actually doing stuff. I like storytelling. I’ve been on many podcasts to tell my story and the story of SFAS, and I will likely do many more. Storytelling is my medium of choice. But you might consider preparing yourself to do stuff that’s worth telling a story about, rather than listening to others you should do story worthy stuff. Stop researching and start doing it. Don’t mistake information for progress.

2.            Stop Planning. Start Executing.

You don’t need the optimal program. You don’t need perfect conditions. You don’t require flawless circumstances. You need to start working. You need a program. Any program. Get that program and start working. Right now. Stop masticating over which program is best and start doing your best. I see it all the time, “Hey VooDoo, what do you think about this other program?”, or “I don’t want to start rucking until I can get the right pack. What do you think they will be using in 2028?”, or “I want to lose some weight before I really start working out.”

Do you want to know what program I think is the best? I’ll let you take a guess…it’s the one that I spent years meticulously researching. Shut Up And Ruck. It’s the one I pored through the literature for, the one that I exhaustively tested, and the one that I meticulously crafted a custom 8-month daily performance plan for. It includes strength, endurance, mobility, flexibility, recovery, sleep, nutrition, and cognitive development. It has exactly everything. You literally just open up the book and do exactly what it tells you to do for 32 weeks. What to lift, what to run, what to ruck, when to rest, what to eat, how much to sleep, and how to sleep. It even has a reading list to help you develop your mind beyond the SFAS specific performance based cognitive prompts. That’s the one I recommend. I have already planned it; you just need to do it.

My favorite excuse is that when I tell guys to just get SUAR, they tell me that they are waiting to get into shape before they commit to the program. They don’t want to waste the chance. As if they could only do it once. You bought the book. You own it. You can read it twice…maybe even three times! And perhaps I should remind you, gentle reader, that the subtitle for SUAR is The Ultimate SOFA-TO-SELECTION Performance Guide and Journal for Aspiring Operators. Sofa-to-Selection. You don’t have to get into shape to start, you just have to start. Get off the fucking sofa and execute.

3.            Train in the Dark.

If you need someone watching you in order to do the right things, then you’re not doing the right things. If pressure changes your performance, you’re not ready. This resolution is especially poignant because it comes while many are making their Grand Declarations of Operational Intent. The GDOI is when guys announce their intentions to become the next great Green Beret. They go on social media, and they proclaim that they are beginning their journey. They get the atta-boys, and the you go king, and the inevitable comments from others that went…and failed. That’s an oddly common phenomena, they reply guy who wants everyone to know that they too once had a journey…and they failed. Why advertise that? I mean, be proud of what you’ve done, but you really haven’t done anything, right?

But these GDOIs go out, and these guys bask in the accolades. I think they’re seeking validation. I’m convinced that most of these guys only want the validation, they don’t actually want the work. The other common theme with most of these guys is that they are not following a real prep program. They’ve got some small following and they fancy themselves an influencer, so they’re almost using their prep as advertisement for their credentials. But I’ve never once seen one of these GDOIs follow a proven prep strategy…and I’ve never seen a GDOI actually result in success.

So stop making these announcements. Stop seeking the spotlight. SFAS is observed. I guarantee that you will be well watched and you will be given ample feedback. You will get all of the comments and criticism that you could ever want. We will tell you exactly, in no uncertain terms, what we think about your prep and what we think about you. After 21 days, you will either have the validation of getting Selected or you will know where you fall short. You’ll get plenty of attention. Remember, there are no Grey Men at SFAS. Stop shining the spotlight on yourself. Train in the dark.

4.            Kill Your Ego Before Selection Does.

I know that this flies in the face of my public persona, but humility is a critical attribute for effective special operators. This is especially true for Green Beret hopefuls. The entire process of volunteering for SFAS, the Q course, and then arriving as the FNG to your team is one of deep humility. You are submitting yourself, wholly and completely, to be judged. And if you understand even a little bit about SFAS you understand that it is the most demanding judgement environment that one could imagine. We are going to stack the entire deck against you and harshly judge how you respond to the myriads of ludicrous tasks and conditions that we pit you against. And we won’t ever tell you the standards. It’s almost designed to make you fail.

So, you have to be a little humble to offer yourself up for this stuff. You must enter this process with eyes wide open and know that we are going to do this to you. You need to be well-rested to perform at peak levels…so we’re going to deprive you of sleep. You need to be properly fueled to sustain the unrelenting pace…so we’re going to only give you nasty MREs. You need to understand the totality of the task to properly accomplish it to standard…so were never going to tell you. Tired, hungry, confused…and the Cadre just say, “Do your best Candidate.”

Most people associate some element of bravado with becoming a commando, and there certainly is some boldness in the process. You certainly have to have some level of audacity in the beginning, call it humble audacity. But you really take on this attribute when you get a few years under your belt (or your beret), a few miles under a ruck, and a few deployments. At that point you certainly are bold and audacious, because you’ve earned it. But in the beginning, stay humble.

I’ll share a war story that was so common that it became an urban legend, but I’ve seen it firsthand so I can confirm that it is true. When I was on active duty, one of my duties was to brief every SFAS class as part of their out-processing. I was the last briefer they heard before they were released into the wild, so spirits were high and the boys were ready to celebrate. I would always caution them to remain humble. I would of course congratulate them for the immense accomplishment of getting Selected. But I would also caution them and remind them that in the grand scheme of things, they hadn’t really done that much. They certainly weren’t Green Berets yet. But virtually every class would produce a designated knucklehead who would go out on the town, either at Fort Bragg or at their duty station, tie one on, and start bragging that he was a bad-ass black ops snake eater. Well, guess who else is in those bars and pubs? That’s right, actual bad-ass snake eaters. There is no formal process to revoke a guys SFAS certificate, but those wayward knuckleheads would not be invited back to the Q course. Phone calls were made. The bro-network was activated. Business was handled. Every single time.

Stay humble.

5.            Stop looking for motivation. Motivation is a luxury item. You will not feel ready. You will not feel confident. You will not feel motivated. You go anyway. Every jump I ever did, every dive I ever made, every door I ever kicked (I didn’t kick many doors…Team Leaders rarely lead the stack) it was not motivation that initiated the action.  I’m scared to death of heights. I have zero motivation to jump out of the aircraft. But I’ll never forget my Military FreeFall instructor, a surly SEAL called Ed. Ed was incredibly intense. He was intimidating almost, but I’ll never forget when he addressed my class. Right before we started jumping, he said (in his incredibly intense manner), “The moment that you step off of the ramp, YOU ARE DEAD! You are dead unless you save your own life. You know what to do because we trained you. So do what you know is right!”

There is no level of motivation that gets you to step off the ramp 2 miles up. You don’t ever feel excited to get into the freezing cold water, at night, to make that subsurface infil. Enthusiasm doesn’t quite capture the mood before a midnight raid. You are rapidly closing in on some extreme violence, either receiving or delivering, but extreme violence, nonetheless. Your operational life isn’t about being motivated. The same should be said for your prep. It’s not inspiration that drives you to get up early, don your trusty ol’ ruck, eat clean, and go to bed early all to just wake up and do it again the next day. Day after day after day. It’s not motivation, it’s discipline.

So stop looking for motivation. “I’m not built for running.” Good, you should go for a run. “I’m just need more time to lose some weight.” Who cares, you should go to the gym. “I need more experience so I’m competitive”. Bullshit, you need to stop looking for excuses to not go and start looking for some discipline. If you’re not built for running, then start building. If you’re fat, then start getting strong; muscle burns fat. If you need more experience, then start experiencing some misery of a proper prep. There are no finer teachers than well made mistakes. So start doing some shit.

Selection doesn’t care what you’re “built for.” It cares what you can do when tired and watched. The thing you avoid is the thing that owns you. So train it. SFAS doesn’t test potential. It tests follow-through. Preparation isn’t complicated. It’s just uncomfortable—consistently. Like Ed said, you know what to do. Very few are willing to do it long enough without applause.

Be one of the few.

Ruck Up Or Shut Up