Thread by @GBNT1952

DEI entered the US Army's Special Forces, or Green Berets, nearly a decade ago. Is any organization safe?

"Our Regiment has a cancer, and it is destroying the SF legacy, its capability, and its credibility."

How DEI is ruining Special Forces, a thread:

The "Night Letter," a term coined by those in the regiment at the time, is a scathing account from several Active Duty Green Berets who served as Cadre in the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) during the time troubling changes were implemented. It details how higher leadership forcibly lowered standards across multiple phases of the SFQC to increase numbers and to facilitate the entry of the first "Female Green Beret."

The letter includes dates and receipts documenting instances when standards were either completely ignored or altered to boost numbers. It also highlights the efforts to pave the way for women to join the SF ranks. Additionally, it provides evidence of students being advanced to the next phase of training despite failing or quitting. with troubling claims of nepotism and favoritism on display.

The author(s) make it clear that this letter is not specifically about the debate concerning the efficacy of women serving in Special Forces, but rather the fact that standards were reduced in order for them to do so.

The reduction of standards to fit political agendas is obviously a grave and monumental mistake, yet one that occurred and has remained since 2017 as higher USJFKSWCS command paved the way for the first female to attend Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS).

It was in 2017 when the ability to be relieved from failing any of the SFQC testable events was dismissed, making Voluntarily Withdrawing or getting injured the main mode of leaving the Q Course.

For those unaware, these tests were what we called "hard gates," meaning that you had to pass them to continue on in the Q Course. They included an Army Physical Fitness Test at 80%, a 5-mile run, a pull-ups test, a land navigation test, a weighted rope climb, and a 12-mile weighted ruck march.

After July 2017, these tests became merely "diagnostic."

Before 2017, learning and passing a language proficiency exam was required for all Green Berets before they could graduate. This standard was also removed, making the "attempt" at learning the language and being proficient all that was required of an 18 series CMF.

Yes, you read that right. You no longer need to even pass the language proficiency exam; you just must attempt it.

In 2019, 1st Special Forces Command commander, Maj. Gen. John Deedrick, told Maj. Gen. Sonntag, the commander of USAJFKSWCS, "he wanted soldiers to come out of the course with solid basic skills that can be sharpened when they get to their units," adding in, "If you try to make them an expert in everything, you're gonna give me a Swiss Army knife that can do a little bit of everything but isn't real good."

In short, this means that 1st Special Forces Command was perfectly fine with instructing its training command to "pass the buck" of training off on to the operational teams. This was, in effect, an effort to allow USAJFKSWCS to meet its "quota numbers" of generated SF soldiers, while pushing any "problem soldiers" off onto the teams for them to deal with.

I hope you can understand how detrimental this would be for any operational unit. Instead of receiving highly trained soldiers who have met or exceeded the standards so that they can be fine-tuned to operate on a team in an operational environment, operational SF units were all of the sudden required to act as both trainer and assessor as well.

It then became "unofficial policy" that cadre were no longer there to assess students, as they were "already assessed in selection." Command even went so far as to say: "If a student fails in the Q Course, it is because you are a failure as an instructor."

This is when the old mantra that so many of us Green Berets had drilled into our heads from day one, "you are always being assessed," died, and Special Forces is worse off because of it.

Weight standards for ruck marches were reduced by increasingly risk adverse commanders. The overall view of creating the best, most qualified Special Forces soldiers possible was effectively abandoned.

"Hard" became the enemy of command as the need for numbers increased.

Cheating was encouraged by a Command Sergeant Major and touted as a desirable attribute.

Command began punishing cadre who tried to create more competent SF soldiers by pushing them harder, going as far as giving them a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand (GOMAR) when they stepped out of line.

For those of you unaware, a GOMAR is a non-punitive way for Army Commanders to destroy a subordinate soldier's career administratively, without due process and with no other requirements but their signature.

Command then emboldened students to disregard cadre as nothing more than babysitters with no actual authority.

Command refused to relieve students who showed obvious integrity violations by first bribing and then attempting to blackmail cadre once they were put up for relief.

Command implemented "dark-side boards" that they excluded the cadre from to hold private boards so that they could decide to keep problem or failing students without any cadre pushback.

Students that received a "Never To Return" (NTR) relief ended up back in the Q Course at the behest of Command.

Students that chose to Voluntarily Withdraw (VW) were often convinced not to do so by Command, setting the precedence that quitters should be acquiesced and retained, rather than separated.

Multiple instances of Command overruling the cadre that knew and assessed these students were documented, showing a deeply troubling trend.

After this letter was sent Special Forces wide, the author(s) were identified and punished for decrying the lowering of standards and the detrimental changes they saw firsthand dictated upon them by command.

They all received GOMARs, gag orders, and were removed from their positions, effectively ending their careers and forcing them to retain legal counsel at their own expense to fight for them. Ultimately, they all lost and were involuntarily separated from the Army. They broke no actual rules, and Command never brought forth official charges under UCMJ because there were none to bring, and they did not want a court martial to reveal the details of the soldier's accusations.

Thus, it was all quietly swept under the rug, as so often happens when Command decides it is necessary to do so.

Our military's primary focus must be to be the most lethal and capable fighting force in the world.

Special Forces is supposed to be held to an even higher standard.

Our mission is grueling, tiresome, and hard.

Our mission is not for the weak at heart.

Our mission is incredibly, undeniably important.

Our ability to complete our mission is being threatened by DEI and the lowering of standards.

I pray that @PeteHegseth sees these detrimental changes and brings back the standards that have existed for years to ensure that Special Forces soldiers are competent and capable, lest we lose everything we have fought for.

Question everything.

DOL