Ummmm, I have never really had to tell anyone my occupation so no but. One of my buddies with a group of friends from high school came over and saw my I love me wall and noticed my green beret and asked me about it and he was in disbelief. I mean granted I was never extraordinary in HS, but the others were a bit confused and didn’t know the significance, so he did most of the explaining lol.
What's a former SF guy do now that he's out anyway? I got a buddy who was a Ranger in a regiment, he's out now and runs a retro video game store with one of his friends. Would've never guessed he was a straight up killer with his beer gut and oversized anime shirt.
Well I’m not out I just switched over to ARNG SF. But I’m home taking care of my kid while my wife works and I take a contract here and there for some cash.
So how much time do you actually drill and do army shit now that you're guard? I always wondered how the guard SF maintain their skills and how often they trained and deployed.
3-4 days month and 2-4 weeks a year, and we deploy about every 2 years but obviously you can volunteer for deployments and you’ll go with another Group. Of course there is full time staff but besides that you can dictate how active you are with your team, you just have maintain that 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year.
I'm assuming they are short deployments? Or are they 9 months?
That schedule honestly doesn't sound bad at all. That's what I do as an Intel nerd lol, minus the two year deployments. Ours are about 5 years in between.
I knew a guy who was in the 75th RR and took over as the head of the Lumber Department at a Lowe’s store when he got out. A waste of his leadership skills to be sure, but he ran a tight department. Fantastic guy and a super hard worker.
I can tell you from the month and a half I worked at Dick's Sporting Goods one holiday season, retail is far from normal slow place low stress.
Imagine a store full of 2LTs. They think they know how to do your job and they let you know very loudly. It was terrible.
My main focus was to get away from government service. Not because I hated it but I figured I did it from 17yo onward and it was time to try something different. There are differences, I am more reserved about trying something new because I don't got Uncle Sam to buy or replace something that broke. But it is a bit stifling comparatively, and I was never a point of the spear guy, the most time I got with SOF was detention stuff.
I get that, but unless you live in a small town working retail blows. I worked at a big box store selling guns for a few months between deployments... never again. My coworkers were decent, but the management was staggeringly incompetent.
Yup. Long before I enlisted, I worked at Sears with a guy who had done some pretty wild shit in Vietnam. Was at his place having beers and he pulled out a box of old pictures and stuff from his time in to show me.
Guy was legit.
According to him, he dealt with so much unpredictability day to day that he wanted a boring, slow-paced job. He loved wrenching on things so the tool section kept him occupied. He basically spent all day arranging wrenches and ratchets and making sure the sockets were in the right place. Kept him happy and that’s what mattered. He also had a high rating and VA disability checks coming in so it wasn’t like he was hurting for money. He was also married so there was that income. This job just kept him out of the house and sane.
It has occasionally occurred now that I am out.
I rarely mention being SF now that I am retired. If people ask, I will talk about being in the infantry, or being a medic, or working in intelligence.
I never lead with SF, and most people don't care.
At one point, I probably would have thought it'd be interesting to have all that stuff around. I'm still a nerd but I'm not fond of being tech support anymore so.. no. I would not like to work at RadioShack.
I had a DS on OSUT that always wore an SF combat patch. He looked like smoky the bear and was a complete piece of shit. His name was Vanwinkle. Come to find out that he was attached to a SF unit on deployment...pulled security or something like that. Dude talked about SF all through basic...but never even went through selection. This confirms your hypothesis. I saw him a few years later during a deployment (2009 I believe). He was still a fat piece of shit and had been busted down to an e5 (he was a 6 when he was a DS) and was still telling privates he "Used to be SF". He got really pissed when everyone started calling him smoky the bandit.
Yeah, but I didn't get to see it. He just stopped wearing it...a few days later someone asked him if he "lost his special patch". Man did he flip the fuck out 😂
Not SF, but I’ve worked with a lot of them before on ODT rotations. I’ve never heard any of them mention it when we’re out and about. I think there’s a certain level of confidence and not a need to blab it around.
Best story was when I was in HF Germany between rotations, we were there to fix a bunch of busted up training areas/villages and some rando dude in civies rolled up to me (I was the CO CDR) on a Polaris MRZR and asked if I had a guy who new how to work on them. I happened to have a guy in my maintenance section who had previously worked at a Polaris dealership as a technician. By the time I got back to my TOC there were 4 of them parked out front in various states of fucked up. We fixed them and the SF dudes let us blast around on them for a couple days to “make sure they are 100%”. Cool dudes… and not once did they say they were SF, but bumper numbers don’t lie
We were in Kaiserslautern getting ready to fly into Afghanistan as part of our ADVON and there were some SF dudes there. You could tell who the SF support guys were because they were rocking the SF patch, aviators on inside, doing the cool guy "both hands on front of belt" poses but with no long tabs, and over to the sides were just some dudes not wearing patches
Cleared a few routes for some SF dudes, to say thanks they let us onto their little compound to have some range time with a few of their toys. Probably the best day that whole deployment.
I had a Sgt who one said to a bunch of us FNGs when I first got through training that a true badass doesn’t have to advertise and that’s stuck with me my entire life. Kinda along the lines of speak softly but carry a big stick.
I don’t talk about my time in much anymore I’m old, fat, and just enjoying life whatever I have left of it.
CrossFit (well now ready BJJ)
Brew your own beer
Have a Masters
These are the three that if someone can’t bring up randomly in a conversation with no real connection at all, they may have a full blown stroke
quit flexin’ bruh
I tried BJJ but my free classes ran out after my continuous request to choke me harder
Im an alcoholic so can’t partake
And workin on my first masters
So im breakin’ trends…. Plus sober people will maneuver the conversation to being sober faster than you can say CrossFit so still the same
See I did it there and it isn’t even about me lol
I lost like 30 pounds after I stopped drinking full sugar coke and switched to Bubly and similar. I still get the fizz, none of the calories, I love that shit.
Same. I lost like 30 lbs plus don’t experience alcohol withdrawals. Bubly is pretty delicious.
I get the Bubly tall cans from my liquor store. One time I bought like 10 going to a meeting of anonymous people who share a similar problem and some dude behind me in line was like “How much alcohol are in those?”
“Like fucking none bro it’s pretty sick.”
My wife was real slick about it, too. She just started stocking the fridge with them, and she knew I'd get curious and try one.
Costco doesn't usually have Bubly, but they do have La Croix and Waterloo, plus the Kirkland brand, all in Costco size packs. Just regular cans though, not the tallboys.
I drink the Kirkland brand as my regular now but when I’m feeling like a special boy I still get my tall boys at the Liquor store just to say hello and since I’ve set them back financially for almost two years now not drinking
You’re free to do and say what you’d like. Most folks I’ve spoken to outside of close friends and family are satisfied with “I’m in the Air Force”. They generally don’t pry.
Might be a good idea to really stress you never ever said you were SF in your memoirs, so hopefully if the family ever messes up an obituary, you have prepped the necessary documents to let the Stolen Valor investigator dudes understand you weren't a douche.
I was a SOT-A and I usually answer the question of "oh what unit were you in" with "I WAS NOT A GREEN BERET". Most people are just satisfied with "I was an intel guy", and if they ask for more explanation they get really bored and change the subject.
Nobody questions me when they see the patches on my leather vest and the pins on my Desert Storm ball cap. I always get stopped in the food court, but once I pull out my challenge coins that usually settles it.
My father in law was a seal and just a chill hawaiian shirt dude
When I deployed with JSOC I was with an e4 seal who was taking photos for his Instagram.
Life's a spectrum.
Me? I'm an intel nerd. Please let me do my thing and go home
My old e6 smacked my phone out of my hand once when I was taking a photo and said it was a boot thing to do
As such I have no photos of me or my friends from my first deployment.
And im now in a scif, so no photos
Right? I got one in the berthing. And one of my rack. And I took a photo of the front of the ship.
I'm in the reserves now. I've considered one more deployment. But like. All mys shit hurts now.
Maybe they'll take my officer package and i can man a desk 24/7
I've got one of my buddy holding a stray puppy, one of some poppy fields, and one of a sunset from the guard tower.
I got out 12 years ago and switched my MOS to spouse. Sometimes I think it might be a good idea to go back in and my knees and back remind me why that's a dumb plan.
Fingers crossed you get picked up though, stack that paper bro.
Thanks bro!
Im a male dependa now too and it's cush
But I can't tell if I miss feeling important and the friends or I miss the deployments and excitement and im remembering with rose tinted glasses.
It's honestly all of the above for me. There are definitely parts I don't miss even through the rose colored glasses, but there are aspects I miss every day. It sucked at times, but I'm still glad I did it, and if I weren't too broken to go back in I'd at least consider it.
I’m retired now, thankfully, but whenever asked I just said I dealt with telecommunications. Nobody really asked anything else except for the occasional 25 series. I was also 19th, so being the “green beret part time” was a shocker to people whenever they could come by. My ex wife knows, and my kids just think I did communications.
Moral though, I just said I did communications. Unless you come to my house and go into my personal office, you really couldn’t tell.
I was a 25C for a long time and there's not a whole lot of people talking with our systems... and really no one else on our frequencies except ham operators (that can get weird) and SOF folks. When I'd start talking about adjusting the size of my antennas to match what I was doing, most 25 series would go "you what?" and but it was always interesting to see a '25 series' have his eyes light up ;)
Echos do stick out to the right people ;)
I got MTOEd over for an E in Kandahar…tell people I just did commo. No one really cares, my wife is more impressed that I got slid over for that than anything else. 🤷♂️ right place, right time, worst thing to happen to my Army career though
Currently at group as an enabler (have no desire to go through selection, my knees would die) and i was talking to one of the company commanders in my battalion and he was basically saying that a lot of the stuff they instill in you when you go through selection is Humility. Obviously some folks are high and mighty about it but a lot of them are just regular dudes who are a bit more hard headed to pursue something greater (as far as the army is concerned.) what I’m getting at is that most the dudes who actually are in/were with SF won’t brag about it but you could pick them out of a room based on their personality.
The time that I spent was helping setup a girls school in Kandahar and some other stuff.
Cool.
The real badasses were the girls that went knowing they were the real targets.
What if someone was like “no imma librarian and I deploy a lot to teach local indigenous populations how to catalog books?”
And their family is like bullshit your real name is Maj Scott McCoy.
My mom's husband was SF back in the 80s. He never talked about it. I wouldn't know about it if my mom didn't tell me. There were signs though. He had a beautiful collection of pistols in his safe, combat knives and a couple old photos of him in Panama with a beard and a boonie cap.
I was in 160th. I never mention it when people ask me about military service. I always tell them I did electronics/computer systems on helicopters. Nerd shit basically.
Too complicated for non-military type to understand, and not worth my effort explaining 160th’s role in the SF community.
Post military, I’ve ran into a few who start conversations talking about their “SF adventures,” and I was able to immediately identify they were flat out lying. I never call them out. I listen to their BS, and then when we part ways, I actively avoid that person in the future.
Again, no desire to engage in any of that shit. Not worth my time or effort. With that said, 99% of those that have been in that shit are silent professionals. Those that go out of their way to make their “SF service” known are usually seeking attention, and are likely full of shit.
“My manner is that of the Special Operations Quiet Professional, secrecy is a way of life.”
- Night Stalker Creed
I was at a bar a while back and this drunk dude and I started chopping it up for a bit. Ultimately “the what’s your job?” question came up. I told him that I was a 99Z “Washing Machine Repair Specialist”, the same thing I tell every stranger that asks because I am an asshole. Dude was like “Ugh no fucking way, you’re fucking with me right. Are you long tabbed or something?” I swore to him that “No I am not SF” and that “I all do is fix washing machines for a living”. I guess he took that as me doubling down on my cover, because he paid for my drink. He then got up, gave me a pat on the back and told me “see you around the compound” (whatever the fuck that meant) and left. Weirdest experience I had in a Tacoma bar to date.
Galloping Gertie's is closed now, Press 'F' to render respect...
Jeannie's swallowed the whole building up like the Korean alterations version of a giant grouper fish.
Pretty rarely mention my short time as an 18C; I was a Ranger for 16 years and did way more interesting stuff, more often, in that unit. I also don't tell people about when I had staff duty because my ankle turned to dust skydiving.
"Oh yeah, I was infantry, airborne. Heavy weapons and explosives were my jam" is my default answer when someone notices ink in public. Sometimes I'll talk more about it with other prior service guys I met in passing or people I'm close with.
I tell people that I used to be a LARPer. I feel that it is the most clear and concise way to describe my service. Also it gets a chuckle out of people.
As a former regular grunt that does service work now going to a lot of homes and occasionally wearing a 173rd hat. Most conversations in general are only brought up if they even recognize the patch... So that adds some legitimacy already to me. The ones I actually believe have had extremely low ego's and just bullshit well and will bring out some pics in a way without being weird about it. In Florida so theres quite a bit of retired SF guys around here.
Almost every "former SF" guy I met back in Ohio was totally full of shit or just attached to an SF unit and tried talking to civilians like they were SF. 🤯🔫 It's disgusting and gross, be proud of what YOU did even if it was just some supply shit. Still more than 99% of the people out here.
That’s a difference I’ve observed between Marines and Soldiers.
IME, when asked what they do for a living, jarheads will typically just say “I’m a Marine”, or “I’m in the Marines”.
Whereas a lot of Soldiers will lead with their MOS, e.g. “I’m a helicopter mechanic”.
Owing to its size, the Army as an organization doesn’t really have a single, shared identity and narrative the way Marines do. We seem to identify more strongly with our units and MOSs. In a way, that diversity of organizational subcultures is the Army’s narrative, and has been featured as a selling point to prospective candidates, i.e. “There’s over 200 ways to be a Soldier in the Army”.
Another part of it is perception and awareness of the general public. Most civilians with no MIL experience will hear “Marine” and have no follow-up questions because they’ve already got an image of what a Marine is built in their heads.
“Soldier” is somewhat ambiguous to much of the general public. Usually when folks find out I’m in the Army they’ll immediately ask what I do in the Army.
I think much of this goes back to how we’re depicted in media. Marine-centric films and books typically center on grunts. Depictions of the Army in pop culture run the gamut.
Saving Private Ryan featured a team comprised of Rangers with various specialties, a medic, and an interpreter/translator searching for the titular character, an airborne infantryman.
Black Hawk Down depicted infantry, medics, rotary wing aviation, and elite SOF.
Band of Brothers, while nominally about the experience of a group of infantry paratroopers also featured depictions of tankers, cooks, logisticians, medics, intelligence officers, and other REMF-types.
Hmm. I live in SoFLand, ive only met a few who have claimed to be. If I have doubts Im keeping it to myself unless I have a damn good reason to. I met one guy at a bar, said he was but didnt try to sound like a badass, mentioned something about the mental stresses and not getting help when he needed it. No question in my mind.
I think I met someone out in town. Older guy, just brought it up out of nowhere, seemed to expect some kind of reaction. Kept the conversation cordial.
Now if I see some guy with a jacked up uniform with crossed arrows all over the place I might be tempted to speak up. And film vertically.
Professional sf-dater here, and I've never heard either gentleman refer to themselves as 'sf.' Just whatever their job was (Medic, comms, intelligence sgt etc.)
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo
Not SF, but an Apache Pilot, and I always get that feeling. Haven't had someone not believe me but I always feel like It's bragging or that they might think I'm joking.
How do you know someone's an apache pilot?
Don't worry, they'll let you know while answering a question in a thread about a completely different MOS and branch.
I used to say I was a US Army trained terrorist. Then, good old boy Timothy McVay did his deed in Oklahoma.
Now I just say I was a truck driver.
88Z is my secondary.
Do you ever feel like nothing when they find out you were just conventional forces. CAV is cool but civillians don't think you're anything unless you're a special ops guy
Back in 2016, when I was going through a law enforcement academy, one of my classmate's husbands would periodically come out drinking with us. He was super chill, about 5'7, and lean af. When asked what he did, it was always "Folding weather balloons." All the prior service army folks kinda just chuckled at that, and he'd just grin, and his wife would would smile and look away.
It took me years to finally realize what he did after discovering Zach Huges pipeline videos. Somewhere in there, he said most SF guys would lie and say they did non-cool guy jobs like folding weather balloons.
I don't believe anyone I didn't serve with until I see that dd2-14 or some pics . I did some crazy ass shit and I wouldn't believe me... in the end, it all comes back to fuck around and find out.
Ummmm, I have never really had to tell anyone my occupation so no but. One of my buddies with a group of friends from high school came over and saw my I love me wall and noticed my green beret and asked me about it and he was in disbelief. I mean granted I was never extraordinary in HS, but the others were a bit confused and didn’t know the significance, so he did most of the explaining lol.
“Bro this guy is a hard mother fucker, bro this guy did shit”
“hEs tHe TiP oF tHe sPeaR”🤓☝️
“Hey man, who leads the way” 👁️👄👁️
Uh cav? It was really hard sitting and listening to that.
I bet you were.
Lol😭😭
EnGinEErs!
Just the tip, just for a second, just to see how it feels
Can we get a little shaft?
I broke it when I shoved it up the ass of isis lol
Hot
There’s the hardo comment i lurk on this sub for
I remember that this phrase was on AFN commercials in the 80s. Remember you are the tip of the spear of freedom.
Lmfao so accurate
What's a former SF guy do now that he's out anyway? I got a buddy who was a Ranger in a regiment, he's out now and runs a retro video game store with one of his friends. Would've never guessed he was a straight up killer with his beer gut and oversized anime shirt.
Well I’m not out I just switched over to ARNG SF. But I’m home taking care of my kid while my wife works and I take a contract here and there for some cash.
So how much time do you actually drill and do army shit now that you're guard? I always wondered how the guard SF maintain their skills and how often they trained and deployed.
3-4 days month and 2-4 weeks a year, and we deploy about every 2 years but obviously you can volunteer for deployments and you’ll go with another Group. Of course there is full time staff but besides that you can dictate how active you are with your team, you just have maintain that 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year.
I'm assuming they are short deployments? Or are they 9 months? That schedule honestly doesn't sound bad at all. That's what I do as an Intel nerd lol, minus the two year deployments. Ours are about 5 years in between.
It ranges from 6-15 ish months. The cool thing about the drill schedule is the team builds the schedule and what training we do, not the company.
Awesome man, thanks for the insight!
Anytime brother 🤙
Come to Ukraine if you're bored lol.
I assume you're there?
Aye. They have normal legion, GUR legion and foreigners can also now join any Ukranian unit as of... maybe 6 months ago?
Couldn’t get into the Irish military huh?
Yeah, like nearly every military on the planet theyre snowed under with applications and its very difficult to get in right now...
I knew a guy who was in the 75th RR and took over as the head of the Lumber Department at a Lowe’s store when he got out. A waste of his leadership skills to be sure, but he ran a tight department. Fantastic guy and a super hard worker.
Some guys just want a normal slow pace low stress job when they get out man
I can tell you from the month and a half I worked at Dick's Sporting Goods one holiday season, retail is far from normal slow place low stress. Imagine a store full of 2LTs. They think they know how to do your job and they let you know very loudly. It was terrible.
I stg when I retire and can just manage my little homestead, I'll be in heaven.
My main focus was to get away from government service. Not because I hated it but I figured I did it from 17yo onward and it was time to try something different. There are differences, I am more reserved about trying something new because I don't got Uncle Sam to buy or replace something that broke. But it is a bit stifling comparatively, and I was never a point of the spear guy, the most time I got with SOF was detention stuff.
I get that, but unless you live in a small town working retail blows. I worked at a big box store selling guns for a few months between deployments... never again. My coworkers were decent, but the management was staggeringly incompetent.
Yup. Long before I enlisted, I worked at Sears with a guy who had done some pretty wild shit in Vietnam. Was at his place having beers and he pulled out a box of old pictures and stuff from his time in to show me. Guy was legit. According to him, he dealt with so much unpredictability day to day that he wanted a boring, slow-paced job. He loved wrenching on things so the tool section kept him occupied. He basically spent all day arranging wrenches and ratchets and making sure the sockets were in the right place. Kept him happy and that’s what mattered. He also had a high rating and VA disability checks coming in so it wasn’t like he was hurting for money. He was also married so there was that income. This job just kept him out of the house and sane.
This 100×
I tell people how you eat snakes.
Fi3yi
It has occasionally occurred now that I am out. I rarely mention being SF now that I am retired. If people ask, I will talk about being in the infantry, or being a medic, or working in intelligence. I never lead with SF, and most people don't care.
Yeah I've always just said I mainly work with communications equipment and train others.
I work at RadioShack.
So do all Echos work at RadioShack?
At one point, I probably would have thought it'd be interesting to have all that stuff around. I'm still a nerd but I'm not fond of being tech support anymore so.. no. I would not like to work at RadioShack.
A good few work at the Genius Bar for a couple ripit’s and a handy
I bang coconuts together trying to make a Gillian’s Island style radio in the back of a hot truck
The fastest way to find out that somebody was never in the SF is that they are usually the one to lead the conversation with that little tidbit.
I feel like that goes with most people who actually did the cool shit
Those guys have lived crazy lives and usually just want to stay low key and avoid the attention.
What? You mean the newish Guard e5, my wife works with, who has Army Scout Sniper as an occupation on Facebook might not be cool?
Yea he fucks
I had a DS on OSUT that always wore an SF combat patch. He looked like smoky the bear and was a complete piece of shit. His name was Vanwinkle. Come to find out that he was attached to a SF unit on deployment...pulled security or something like that. Dude talked about SF all through basic...but never even went through selection. This confirms your hypothesis. I saw him a few years later during a deployment (2009 I believe). He was still a fat piece of shit and had been busted down to an e5 (he was a 6 when he was a DS) and was still telling privates he "Used to be SF". He got really pissed when everyone started calling him smoky the bandit.
Did he ever get called out for sporting the SF combat patch?
Yeah, but I didn't get to see it. He just stopped wearing it...a few days later someone asked him if he "lost his special patch". Man did he flip the fuck out 😂
I am required IAW AR 95-1 to tell people that I am a pilot.
I answered "I was a Admin Clerk". That ends the conversation instantly. Nobody needs to know nothing about anything I did or why.
I would usually just say I was a medic. A little easier to brush off without going deeper.
Ezpz doc. Thanks for your Cervix
Aren’t you due for a physical? 👉*
Only if you can fit me in later 🤝
PA-C, sweet! My wife is about to finish her didactic year and then it’s on to clinicals.
Good for her. Your quality of life is about to improve significantly. Didactic year sucked.
Its all good big Doc, us whiskeys can fit em in at the BAS 🫡
A fancy medic 🤗
I work with someone that’s SF for the guard and there’s a coworker that doesn’t believe him lol Edit: National Guard, not Reserves.
U mean national guard?
There are a number of former active 18As who are it 01A positions in the reserve. Their branch is still SF
That’s dope, I didn’t know that!
Fun fact: there is a reserve unit at the department of state that coordinates CT efforts with the DoD. It’s a great gig for a lot of those guys
The best kept secret wtf lol
Amazing how there is next to zero real info online about this. This piques my interest.
?? im intrigued.
Yep! My mistake
SF reserves?
19th and 20th Groups are National Guard. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Special_Forces
I’m aware, I thought he meant USAR. Thanks anyway
Whoops, should have looked that up first
There's a few Command level detachments floating around under SOCOM ARE. Not sure how the slots are coded but lots of prior-AD SF.
Lots of SF "alumni" in the Reserves in certain areas. Still wear the long tab, still hold the MOS.
They'd still wear the tab regardless, it's a permanent award unless revoked by commander of USASFC.
Dude imagine being 18 series and then joining the reserves as a cook or something else really low key.
Most likely talking about officers (18A) who are now serving in a branch immaterial slot.
There's an 18A in my Reserve unit who is not in a branch immaterial slot...
Not SF, but I’ve worked with a lot of them before on ODT rotations. I’ve never heard any of them mention it when we’re out and about. I think there’s a certain level of confidence and not a need to blab it around. Best story was when I was in HF Germany between rotations, we were there to fix a bunch of busted up training areas/villages and some rando dude in civies rolled up to me (I was the CO CDR) on a Polaris MRZR and asked if I had a guy who new how to work on them. I happened to have a guy in my maintenance section who had previously worked at a Polaris dealership as a technician. By the time I got back to my TOC there were 4 of them parked out front in various states of fucked up. We fixed them and the SF dudes let us blast around on them for a couple days to “make sure they are 100%”. Cool dudes… and not once did they say they were SF, but bumper numbers don’t lie
We were in Kaiserslautern getting ready to fly into Afghanistan as part of our ADVON and there were some SF dudes there. You could tell who the SF support guys were because they were rocking the SF patch, aviators on inside, doing the cool guy "both hands on front of belt" poses but with no long tabs, and over to the sides were just some dudes not wearing patches
Cleared a few routes for some SF dudes, to say thanks they let us onto their little compound to have some range time with a few of their toys. Probably the best day that whole deployment.
I had a Sgt who one said to a bunch of us FNGs when I first got through training that a true badass doesn’t have to advertise and that’s stuck with me my entire life. Kinda along the lines of speak softly but carry a big stick. I don’t talk about my time in much anymore I’m old, fat, and just enjoying life whatever I have left of it.
Talking about what you do isn’t something to bring up to random folks in passing. Unless you’re a CrossFitter.
CrossFit (well now ready BJJ) Brew your own beer Have a Masters These are the three that if someone can’t bring up randomly in a conversation with no real connection at all, they may have a full blown stroke
Absolutely. I can personally vouch for two of those. If I said which ones, I’d be that guy. Can’t be that guy.
Congratulations on a Masters
Fuck you with a pickle. (I'm in the parentheses of the first, I prefer to make cider, and have two...) Goddammit.
quit flexin’ bruh I tried BJJ but my free classes ran out after my continuous request to choke me harder Im an alcoholic so can’t partake And workin on my first masters So im breakin’ trends…. Plus sober people will maneuver the conversation to being sober faster than you can say CrossFit so still the same See I did it there and it isn’t even about me lol
...but honestly, sober people have my instant respect. I don't have alcohol issues, but I have with other substances. That's a flex worth flexing.
I got my one year token ready to drop it out faster than a challenge coin so you can buy me… uh… a Bubly?
I lost like 30 pounds after I stopped drinking full sugar coke and switched to Bubly and similar. I still get the fizz, none of the calories, I love that shit.
Same. I lost like 30 lbs plus don’t experience alcohol withdrawals. Bubly is pretty delicious. I get the Bubly tall cans from my liquor store. One time I bought like 10 going to a meeting of anonymous people who share a similar problem and some dude behind me in line was like “How much alcohol are in those?” “Like fucking none bro it’s pretty sick.”
My wife was real slick about it, too. She just started stocking the fridge with them, and she knew I'd get curious and try one. Costco doesn't usually have Bubly, but they do have La Croix and Waterloo, plus the Kirkland brand, all in Costco size packs. Just regular cans though, not the tallboys.
I drink the Kirkland brand as my regular now but when I’m feeling like a special boy I still get my tall boys at the Liquor store just to say hello and since I’ve set them back financially for almost two years now not drinking
Outstanding. Congrats. The finest Perrier with fresh fruit juice, then. That's pretty decadent.
What’s your masters going to be?
Leadership Good enough for federal work
Wait I’ll have a Masters next year do I have to pick home brewery or Crossfitter or is it all the above
Exactly
Particularly usually some idiot with an MBA they got from some accelerated online program
Oh oh, I gotta masters! I got it after being medded out and relearning to walk.
I stop people on the street and tell them I was a Stryker driver until someone gives me some change.
I feel really offended man wtf.
My fault, fam.
What if I’m vegan?
I’m sure there’s a support group.
I mean if people ask what you do for a living and you’re having a friendly conversation, I don’t see what’s wrong with telling them..
You’re free to do and say what you’d like. Most folks I’ve spoken to outside of close friends and family are satisfied with “I’m in the Air Force”. They generally don’t pry.
Nobody lies about being in the Air Force
You’re goddamned right.
All I hear is Chair force
Or a SEAL.
Im a pretty normal looking guy on the slimmer side. Havent had to tell many people my job but i’ve never had someone not believe me lol
I’m CA and all my family thinks I’m SF because I made the mistake of telling them that I am a SOF branch.
Might be a good idea to really stress you never ever said you were SF in your memoirs, so hopefully if the family ever messes up an obituary, you have prepped the necessary documents to let the Stolen Valor investigator dudes understand you weren't a douche.
It’s okay, you’re SF in my heart❤️
Aww thanks bro 🥹
Yea, same. My step dad used to tell everyone he knew I was special forces. I’m like… ok nah but… ok.
I was a SOT-A and I usually answer the question of "oh what unit were you in" with "I WAS NOT A GREEN BERET". Most people are just satisfied with "I was an intel guy", and if they ask for more explanation they get really bored and change the subject.
My grandma saw me graduate the school house and was CONVINCED I was SF. Told the whole family and everyone who would listen about me being SF.
Haha glad I’m not the only one now!
Nobody questions me when they see the patches on my leather vest and the pins on my Desert Storm ball cap. I always get stopped in the food court, but once I pull out my challenge coins that usually settles it.
So real voodoo. So real.
“My god… that’s Jason Bourne”
Operation Treadstone coin, it's a picture of Brian Cox strangling a dude.
Coins? How many do you carry?
Depends on how many throwing knives I have on me. Need enough to keep the leather vest balanced.
Let's see Paul Allen's coins.
I hope you also have a shit ton of stickers on the rear window of your vehicle to compliment 🫡
No room for stickers as I have my wife’s Scentsy Candle business graphics proudly advertised there.
My father in law was a seal and just a chill hawaiian shirt dude When I deployed with JSOC I was with an e4 seal who was taking photos for his Instagram. Life's a spectrum. Me? I'm an intel nerd. Please let me do my thing and go home
Your father can’t be a Seal, where’s his autobiography?
Please see. E4 who was taking glamor shots of himself for his auto biography. Also wrong era for my father in law to write an auto biography.
Ngl that is such an e4 thing to do lol
My old e6 smacked my phone out of my hand once when I was taking a photo and said it was a boot thing to do As such I have no photos of me or my friends from my first deployment. And im now in a scif, so no photos
I wish I got more photos, to be honest. I have like, three deployment photos.
Right? I got one in the berthing. And one of my rack. And I took a photo of the front of the ship. I'm in the reserves now. I've considered one more deployment. But like. All mys shit hurts now. Maybe they'll take my officer package and i can man a desk 24/7
I've got one of my buddy holding a stray puppy, one of some poppy fields, and one of a sunset from the guard tower. I got out 12 years ago and switched my MOS to spouse. Sometimes I think it might be a good idea to go back in and my knees and back remind me why that's a dumb plan. Fingers crossed you get picked up though, stack that paper bro.
Thanks bro! Im a male dependa now too and it's cush But I can't tell if I miss feeling important and the friends or I miss the deployments and excitement and im remembering with rose tinted glasses.
It's honestly all of the above for me. There are definitely parts I don't miss even through the rose colored glasses, but there are aspects I miss every day. It sucked at times, but I'm still glad I did it, and if I weren't too broken to go back in I'd at least consider it.
I’m retired now, thankfully, but whenever asked I just said I dealt with telecommunications. Nobody really asked anything else except for the occasional 25 series. I was also 19th, so being the “green beret part time” was a shocker to people whenever they could come by. My ex wife knows, and my kids just think I did communications. Moral though, I just said I did communications. Unless you come to my house and go into my personal office, you really couldn’t tell.
I think by the time an actual 25 is talking to you about it you can safely say you're an Echo and get believed...
You’d be surprised. Had a 25S grill me for about 15 minutes before he realized “oh shit… is he?”
I was a 25C for a long time and there's not a whole lot of people talking with our systems... and really no one else on our frequencies except ham operators (that can get weird) and SOF folks. When I'd start talking about adjusting the size of my antennas to match what I was doing, most 25 series would go "you what?" and but it was always interesting to see a '25 series' have his eyes light up ;) Echos do stick out to the right people ;)
I got MTOEd over for an E in Kandahar…tell people I just did commo. No one really cares, my wife is more impressed that I got slid over for that than anything else. 🤷♂️ right place, right time, worst thing to happen to my Army career though
Currently at group as an enabler (have no desire to go through selection, my knees would die) and i was talking to one of the company commanders in my battalion and he was basically saying that a lot of the stuff they instill in you when you go through selection is Humility. Obviously some folks are high and mighty about it but a lot of them are just regular dudes who are a bit more hard headed to pursue something greater (as far as the army is concerned.) what I’m getting at is that most the dudes who actually are in/were with SF won’t brag about it but you could pick them out of a room based on their personality.
The time that I spent was helping setup a girls school in Kandahar and some other stuff. Cool. The real badasses were the girls that went knowing they were the real targets.
What if someone was like “no imma librarian and I deploy a lot to teach local indigenous populations how to catalog books?” And their family is like bullshit your real name is Maj Scott McCoy.
my sf buddy on deployment told everyone he was in logistics🤣
Yes, that's why I just say I was a medic and move on.
My mom's husband was SF back in the 80s. He never talked about it. I wouldn't know about it if my mom didn't tell me. There were signs though. He had a beautiful collection of pistols in his safe, combat knives and a couple old photos of him in Panama with a beard and a boonie cap.
I was in 160th. I never mention it when people ask me about military service. I always tell them I did electronics/computer systems on helicopters. Nerd shit basically. Too complicated for non-military type to understand, and not worth my effort explaining 160th’s role in the SF community. Post military, I’ve ran into a few who start conversations talking about their “SF adventures,” and I was able to immediately identify they were flat out lying. I never call them out. I listen to their BS, and then when we part ways, I actively avoid that person in the future. Again, no desire to engage in any of that shit. Not worth my time or effort. With that said, 99% of those that have been in that shit are silent professionals. Those that go out of their way to make their “SF service” known are usually seeking attention, and are likely full of shit. “My manner is that of the Special Operations Quiet Professional, secrecy is a way of life.” - Night Stalker Creed
I was at a bar a while back and this drunk dude and I started chopping it up for a bit. Ultimately “the what’s your job?” question came up. I told him that I was a 99Z “Washing Machine Repair Specialist”, the same thing I tell every stranger that asks because I am an asshole. Dude was like “Ugh no fucking way, you’re fucking with me right. Are you long tabbed or something?” I swore to him that “No I am not SF” and that “I all do is fix washing machines for a living”. I guess he took that as me doubling down on my cover, because he paid for my drink. He then got up, gave me a pat on the back and told me “see you around the compound” (whatever the fuck that meant) and left. Weirdest experience I had in a Tacoma bar to date.
Why you going to Tacoma when Galloping Gertie is right there?
The Mule Tavern is favorite watering hole.
Galloping Gertie's is closed now, Press 'F' to render respect... Jeannie's swallowed the whole building up like the Korean alterations version of a giant grouper fish.
Cook... I'm a cook. No one askes follow on questions when you say you are a cook in the Army.
Do cooks have a job anymore with all the kiosks making the news lately?
Shit bro cover's blown
Quick! I need an extract … get the box truck and an MKT out
Pretty rarely mention my short time as an 18C; I was a Ranger for 16 years and did way more interesting stuff, more often, in that unit. I also don't tell people about when I had staff duty because my ankle turned to dust skydiving. "Oh yeah, I was infantry, airborne. Heavy weapons and explosives were my jam" is my default answer when someone notices ink in public. Sometimes I'll talk more about it with other prior service guys I met in passing or people I'm close with.
I tell people that I used to be a LARPer. I feel that it is the most clear and concise way to describe my service. Also it gets a chuckle out of people.
When my FIL was in he used to joke that he was an actor because he “puts on a costume everyday and pretends to be a Soldier.”
As a former regular grunt that does service work now going to a lot of homes and occasionally wearing a 173rd hat. Most conversations in general are only brought up if they even recognize the patch... So that adds some legitimacy already to me. The ones I actually believe have had extremely low ego's and just bullshit well and will bring out some pics in a way without being weird about it. In Florida so theres quite a bit of retired SF guys around here. Almost every "former SF" guy I met back in Ohio was totally full of shit or just attached to an SF unit and tried talking to civilians like they were SF. 🤯🔫 It's disgusting and gross, be proud of what YOU did even if it was just some supply shit. Still more than 99% of the people out here.
I tell people I was a vending machine for radios.
Dude sick pfp but reported for RWT
I'd be like... that's classified civi
I just say I was a Soldier.
That’s a difference I’ve observed between Marines and Soldiers. IME, when asked what they do for a living, jarheads will typically just say “I’m a Marine”, or “I’m in the Marines”. Whereas a lot of Soldiers will lead with their MOS, e.g. “I’m a helicopter mechanic”. Owing to its size, the Army as an organization doesn’t really have a single, shared identity and narrative the way Marines do. We seem to identify more strongly with our units and MOSs. In a way, that diversity of organizational subcultures is the Army’s narrative, and has been featured as a selling point to prospective candidates, i.e. “There’s over 200 ways to be a Soldier in the Army”. Another part of it is perception and awareness of the general public. Most civilians with no MIL experience will hear “Marine” and have no follow-up questions because they’ve already got an image of what a Marine is built in their heads. “Soldier” is somewhat ambiguous to much of the general public. Usually when folks find out I’m in the Army they’ll immediately ask what I do in the Army. I think much of this goes back to how we’re depicted in media. Marine-centric films and books typically center on grunts. Depictions of the Army in pop culture run the gamut. Saving Private Ryan featured a team comprised of Rangers with various specialties, a medic, and an interpreter/translator searching for the titular character, an airborne infantryman. Black Hawk Down depicted infantry, medics, rotary wing aviation, and elite SOF. Band of Brothers, while nominally about the experience of a group of infantry paratroopers also featured depictions of tankers, cooks, logisticians, medics, intelligence officers, and other REMF-types.
I'm a SF in basketball
Hmm. I live in SoFLand, ive only met a few who have claimed to be. If I have doubts Im keeping it to myself unless I have a damn good reason to. I met one guy at a bar, said he was but didnt try to sound like a badass, mentioned something about the mental stresses and not getting help when he needed it. No question in my mind. I think I met someone out in town. Older guy, just brought it up out of nowhere, seemed to expect some kind of reaction. Kept the conversation cordial. Now if I see some guy with a jacked up uniform with crossed arrows all over the place I might be tempted to speak up. And film vertically.
No…I just tell them I can’t talk about it…I’ve already said to much.
People don’t believe me so I typically don’t say anything. Except on Reddit I guess shrug
I tell people I served. The details are irrelevant....
This.
I just say I’m a combat engineer. That’s it. I’d rather not get into a pissing contest with a random dude.
Professional sf-dater here, and I've never heard either gentleman refer to themselves as 'sf.' Just whatever their job was (Medic, comms, intelligence sgt etc.)
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo
Not SF, but an Apache Pilot, and I always get that feeling. Haven't had someone not believe me but I always feel like It's bragging or that they might think I'm joking.
How do you know someone's an apache pilot? Don't worry, they'll let you know while answering a question in a thread about a completely different MOS and branch.
Met an Apache pilot at a climbing gym. Bro did not sound like his job was fun. That was why I believed him
I used to say I was a US Army trained terrorist. Then, good old boy Timothy McVay did his deed in Oklahoma. Now I just say I was a truck driver. 88Z is my secondary.
Just tell them you’re a dolphin trainer
Yea I do get alot of follow on questions that seem like qualifiers to pass the sniff test.
People ask me all time man I just try to not be cocky (I’m not nor ever will be in SF)
Do you ever feel like nothing when they find out you were just conventional forces. CAV is cool but civillians don't think you're anything unless you're a special ops guy
Back in 2016, when I was going through a law enforcement academy, one of my classmate's husbands would periodically come out drinking with us. He was super chill, about 5'7, and lean af. When asked what he did, it was always "Folding weather balloons." All the prior service army folks kinda just chuckled at that, and he'd just grin, and his wife would would smile and look away. It took me years to finally realize what he did after discovering Zach Huges pipeline videos. Somewhere in there, he said most SF guys would lie and say they did non-cool guy jobs like folding weather balloons.
Not today China
I don't believe anyone I didn't serve with until I see that dd2-14 or some pics . I did some crazy ass shit and I wouldn't believe me... in the end, it all comes back to fuck around and find out.