The Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) or, informally, the Q Course is the initial formal training program for entry into the United States Army Special Forces. Phase I of the Q Course is Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS). Getting "Selected" at SFAS will enable a candidate to continue on to the next of the four phases. If a candidate successfully completes all phases he will graduate as a Special Forces qualified soldier and then, generally, be assigned to a 12-man Operational Detachment "A" (ODA), commonly known as an "A team." The length of the Q Course changes depending on the applicant's primary job field within Special Forces and their asSpecial Forces Qualification Course.



Special Forces Assessment and Selection (Phase I)

A version of SFAS was first introduced as a selection mechanism in the mid-1980s by the Commanding General of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at the time, Brigadier General James Guest.

Candidates in SFAS class 04-10 participate in logs drills in January 2010.

There are now two ways for soldiers to volunteer to attend SFAS:

As an existing soldier in the US Army with the Enlisted rank of E-3 (Private First Class) or higher, and for Officers the rank of O-2 (1st Lieutenant) promotable to O-3 (Captain), or existing O-3s.
The other path is that of direct entry, referred to as Initial Accession or IA. Here an individual who has no prior military service or who has previously separated from military service is given the opportunity to attend SFAS. Both the Active Duty and National Guard components offer Special Forces Initial Accession programs. The Active Duty program is referred to as the "18X Program" because of the Initial Entry Code that appears on the assignment orders. These soldiers will attend Infantry One Station Unit Training (OSUT, the combination of Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training), Airborne School, and a preparation course to help prepare them for SFAS. This program is commonly referred to as the "X-Ray Program", derived from "18X". The candidates in this program are known as "X-Rays"

Training at SFAS

A Canadian soldier participates in a timed march alongside US Army soldiers during the Special Forces Qualification Course. In 2009 the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center began to once again accept some students from allied nations wishing to attend the school.
The first phase of the Special Forces Qualification Course is Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS), consisting of 24 days of training held at Camp Mackall.

Events in SFAS include numerous long distance land navigation courses. All land navigation courses are conducted day and night under heavy loads of equipment, in varied weather conditions, and in rough, hilly terrain. Land navigation work is done individually with no assistance from instructors or fellow students and is always done on a time limit. Each land navigation course has its maximum time limit reduced as course moves along and are upwards of 12 miles (19 km) each. Instructors evaluate candidates by using obstacle course runs, team events including moving heavy loads such as telephone poles and old jeep trucks through sand as a 12-man team, the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), a swim assessment, and numerous psychological exams such as IQ tests and the Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) test. The final event, which was discontinued in early 2009, was a road march of up to 32 miles (51 km) known as "the Trek" or Long Range Individual Movement (LRIM).

Selection outcomes:

Those who quit are Voluntarily Withdrawn (VW) by the course cadre are generally designated NTR or Not-to-Return. This generally ends any opportunity a candidate may have to become a Special Forces soldier. Active Duty military candidates will be returned to their previous units, and IA 18X candidates will be transferred to infantry units as 11B Infantrymen.
Candidates who are "medically dropped," and who are not then medically discharged from the military due to serious injury, are often permitted to "recycle," and to attempt the course again as soon as they are physically able to do so.

Candidates who successfully complete the course but who are "Boarded" and not selected

("Non-Select") are generally given the opportunity to attend selection again in 12 or 24 months.

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Upon selection at SFAS, all Active Duty enlisted and IA 18X candidates will be briefed on: The five Special Forces Active Duty Groups The four Special Forces Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) initially open to them The languages utilized in each Special Forces Group Candidates will then complete what is often referred to as a '"wish list." Enlisted candidates will rank in order of preference the MOS that he prefers (18B, 18C, 18D, 18E). Officer candidates will attend the 18A course. Both enlisted and officer candidates will list in order of preference the SF Groups in which they prefer to serve (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th) and the languages in which they prefer to be trained. Language selection is dependent on the Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) test scores of the candidate, as well as the SF Group to which they are assigned. Different SF Groups focus on different areas of responsibility (AOR), which require different languages. A board assigns each enlisted and officer candidate his MOS, Group placement, and language. The MOS, Group, and language that a selected candidate is assigned is not guaranteed, and is contingent upon the needs of the Special Forces community. Generally 80% of selected candidates are awarded their primary choices.

Successful Active Duty candidates usually return to their previous units to await a slot in the Special Forces Qualification Course. Because an Initial Accession (IA) 18X candidate lacks a previous unit, he will normally enter the Q Course immediately.
All SF trainees must have completed the United States Army Airborne School before beginning Phase 2 of the Q-Course.

Language Training (Phase II)

When a candidate enters the remainder of the Q Course, he is assigned to the 1st Special Warfare Training Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg. This training is phases 2–6 of the Q-Course.
Phase II currently consists of 18 or 24 weeks of intense language training. Upon completion of this training, candidates are required to attain a minimum rating score (1/1) in their assigned language, scored on the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI).

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Small Unit Tactics & SERE (Phase III)

After Phase II, candidates begin Phase III, which is a 13-week block including Small Unit Tactics (4 weeks) [5], Special Forces Tactics (2 weeks), Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) course (level C) (3 weeks) Special Forces Common Skills Training (2 weeks) and lastly a week long land navigation course. The 4 week Small Unit Tactics course includes raids, ambushes, patrols, recons, and other strikes against enemy forces. Students learn how to properly plan these operations using Warning Orders, Operations Order, and Frag Orders, as well as other mission planning techniques. The students will plan, present, lead and execute these operations. This part of phase III focuses on small unit tactics and patrolling.

MOS training (Phase IV)

Following the completion of Phase III, candidates then begin Phase IV, for specific training within one of the five initial Special Forces specialties:



18A – Detachment Commander for commissioned officers

18B – Weapons Sergeant

18C – Engineering Sergeant

18D – Medical Sergeant

18E – Communications Sergeant for non-commissioned officers

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The 18A, 18B, 18C, and 18E training courses are 16 weeks long while the 18D training course is 48 weeks long.

Robin Sage (Phase V)

A Special Forces candidate conducts a pre-mission rehearsal with Army ROTC cadets role playing guerilla fighters during ROBIN SAGE.

The candidates culminate their Special Forces training by participating in Operation ROBIN SAGE, a 4 week long large-scale unconventional warfare exercise conducted by the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and over 50,000 square miles (130,000 km2) of North Carolina. For more than half a century, around a third of North Carolina has served as the fictional "People's Republic of Pineland" for the 28-day exercise which culminates in the 19-day Robin Sage. Pineland consists of Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Guilford, Hoke, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly and Union Counties of North Carolina. During this unconventional warfare training exercise, the Special Forces students are required to apply and exercise the skills taught in the Special Forces Qualification Course.

The students are put into 12-man ODAs, organized the same way they are in a real mission.Students are isolated for 5 days and issued an operations order. They begin their planning process and study material required to execute their detachment's mission during the exercise.

On the last day of isolation the detachment presents its plan to the battalion command and staff. This plan will explain how the commander intends to execute the mission. The next day, the students make an airborne infiltration into the country of Pineland. They then make contact with the guerrilla forces and begin Robin Sage. Students will then begin their task of training, advising, and assisting the guerrillas. The training will educate the guerrillas in various specialties, including weapons, communications, medical, and demolitions. The training is designed to enable the guerrillas to begin liberating their country from oppression. It is the last portion of the Special Forces Qualification Course before they receive their "Green Berets".
ROBIN SAGE involves approximately 100 Special Forces students, 100 counter-insurgent personnel (OPFOR), 200 guerrilla personnel, 40 auxiliary personnel, and 50 cadre. The local communities of North Carolina also participate in the exercise by role playing as citizens of Pineland.[16] The exercise is conducted in approximately 50,000 square miles (130,000 km2) of North Carolina. Many of the OPFOR and guerrilla personnel are made up of North Carolina residents who are financially compensated for their participation. The role of the guerrilla chief, "G-chief," is sometimes played by a retired Green Beret. In previous years, during the summer Robin Sage exercises, Army ROTC cadets acted as the OPFOR or guerrilla fighters.

Participation of AROTC cadets in Robin Sage has not taken place since summer of 2009.

Further training



After successfully completing the Special Forces Qualification Course, Special Forces soldiers are then eligible for many advanced skills courses. These include, but are not limited to, the Military Free Fall Parachutist Course (MFF), the Combat Diver Qualification Course and the Special Forces Sniper Course (formerly known as the Special Operations Target Interdiction Course). All Special Forces soldiers conduct real world, non-combat operations in order to maintain their skills. Special Forces Medical Sergeants (18D) often work in both military and civilian Emergency Rooms in between deployments.

Additionally, because one of the Special Forces soldier's primary mission is the instruction of other forces, they participate extensively in special operations training courses offered by other services and allied nations throughout their careers.signed foreign language capability but will usually last between 56 to 95 weeks.