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Part 3a: SFAS (Gate Week & Land Nav)

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Part 3b: SFAS (Team Week)

Here comes the big one.

Back when I was going through the pipeline, Team Week was enigmatic. The SOPC (SFPC) cadre said they weren’t allowed to talk about it or prepare us specifically for it. Nobody really knew much about it. There were descriptions you could find online, but they were pretty sparse and lacking in detail. To be fair, maybe descriptions did exist, floating around now-defunct special operations prep forums. But the thing with Team Week is, until you experience it, you won’t get it.

I knew there were “heavy weights,” I knew you had to move them “long distances,” and that you did them “as a team.” How bad could that be? I mean, I’ve done teamwork events before. No matter what happens, if you’re in a team, it’s all good. And regardless, just grind it out—what’s the big deal? It’s supposed to be our version of the SEALs’ ‘Hell Week,’ though theirs sounds way more intimidating. Yeah, it’ll be a grind, but you’re in a team moving stuff together; how bad can it be? Plus, people go back after being 21-Day Non-Selects. It’s doable enough where people willingly go again, right? Wrong.

Everyone says “Selection doesn’t start until Team Week,” and I understood what that meant a literal 10 minutes into Team Week.

I only have two distinct memories of my first day of Team Week. The first one was when it started: we were all carrying 5-gallon water jugs wearing our rucks, and moving more quickly for a lot longer than I thought I could. Our team got into a traffic jam at a water crossing and I heard commotion and yelling from other teams. When I looked around, it felt like some big, fucked-up school trip—when you saw the kids from the other classes in their own line with their own teacher. All part of the school, but going through their own class’s experience that day.

The other memory was at the end of the day, well into the night. Our apparatus had broken down, and me and this guy were carrying a pole with a tire on it, running, trying to keep up. Our cadre was yelling in a slow, disgusted tone: “THIS IS PATHETIC.” I don’t know why that stuck in my head. We’d been going for 18 hours straight at that point, and my pecs started cramping from the zercher carry / bicep hold of this heavy pole and tire. I’d never experienced pec cramps from a bicep-curling position before. The cadre yelled at us not to carry it above our hips before walking down the line to observe and yell at the rest of the team. The kid I was sharing the pole with lost his composure, almost crying, going “I CAN’T! I CAN’T!” Sounds dramatic and cringey to read, I know. I was surprised he had melted into theatrics, but figured as long as he didn’t actually quit, he’d be okay. My understanding of Team Week was “as long as you don’t quit, you’re good.”

WRONG AGAIN!

The NCOIC of Team Week was driving around the different teams in a pickup truck, like the Grim Reaper, picking up candidates that were performance drops. That’s when I learned that was a thing. The cadre was walking back toward me and the kid sharing the heavy pole and tire. I was nervous we were in trouble for going too slow or something. My brain just started to piece together that dudes were getting dropped for “performance,” which seemed objective, and I thought me and this kid were next on the chopping block. He evidently heard the kid going “I CAN’T! I CAN’T!” and told him he was done, and to get in the back of the pickup truck. He left me alone as I tried to carry the pole and tire by myself, and another teammate quickly slid in to help. Adrenaline and fear of getting performance-dropped carried me through the last kilometer. Camp Mackall was within a distance worth having hope for, especially with the night beacon spinning in the distance.

That was my first day of Team Week—just two memories of it—but it set the tone and standard.

But now, let’s back up. This isn’t meant to be a flashback post regaling the horrors of Team Week. In fact, that wasn't even one of the bad memories. I have way worse memories from Red Dot Log, Pole and Tire Low Carries, etc. Honestly, Mulan wasn't excruciating (if you figured out the trick). I never got the Jeep though. Those names won't mean anything to you now, but you'll experience it all yourself. If I did the math on how far we went with the weight we had and told you, you wouldn't believe it. Going in with vivid horror stories does you no good either.

This is intended to be a systematic breakdown of what Team Week is, and therefore, how to optimally prepare for it.

So right off the bat, Team Week is actually remarkably simple to explain and break down. It’s 4 days, with 3* events each (*some Team Weeks have a ‘choose your own adventure day,’ where the punishment is a 4th event).

Each day is structured the same. You have a “high carry” event, a “low carry” event, and an “apparatus” event.

High carry means you carry a weight on your back (on your rucksack). Think of having a 135-lb barbell on your ruck and walking around. Since the weight rests on the ruck, which means the frame and the straps on your shoulders bear the load, it’s essentially a session of slow super-rucking.

Low carry means you’re farmer-carrying something. It could be 5-gallon jugs, it could be metal poles (of various thicknesses), it could be ammo crates. Grip strength is the silent torturer of Team Week. It’s one of those things where you can maybe skate by and just survive, and if you get picked up, you’ll forget about it because you survived it. But I remember 10 minutes into my first low-carry event going, “Holy shit, I should’ve done more farmer carries.” After Team Week, I was flabbergasted why nobody on forums was writing about it. To be honest, I think people just mentally move on from Team Week as quick as possible. Either they convince themselves it wasn’t that hard because it was 10 years ago, or the next generation will “figure it out.” Anyway, this is essentially a session of weighted, farmer-carry runs.

Apparatus means you’ll be given an assortment of poles, tires, ammo crates, barrels, deflated wheels, or whatever, and you have to construct an apparatus that can roll and carry the hundreds of pounds of weight. You can Google Image “team week apparatus” for an idea of what that looks like. As you can already tell, this doesn’t sound as bad as high carries or low carries. And if your team builds a good apparatus, it can be somewhat of a reprieve. If your team builds a bad apparatus that keeps falling apart, it can turn into a nightmare very quickly. Unlike the low carry, you can’t move very fast. At the end of the day, the apparatus weighs hundreds of pounds, and you’re either at the back pushing the apparatus, or at the front pushing a bar the apparatus is attached to, with the bar likely pressing into your hip or chest. Therefore, this event is essentially a session of slow sled pushes—unless your apparatus breaks down or your team takes too long, and the cadre tells you to take it apart, at which point it becomes a low-carry event.

The way all 3 events work is that your team will be given a brief by your lane walker. He’ll delineate the equipment you get, the route your team will take, the rules, and give you a time limit to get the equipment and brief him on your “plan” for the “mission.” Since the load, destination, route, and rules are all dictated by the cadre’s clipboard, the only “plan” your team has control over are 2 things:

(1) Your ‘work/rest cycle’ (e.g., we’re going to carry the water jugs for 45 seconds, then take a 10-second rest, and repeat until we get to the destination).

(2) How you plan to build the high carries/apparatuses, or how to split up the low-carry load.

For all 3 of the events, your team has a time limit to get to the next event. If your team is progressing too slowly, you will experience the dreaded “cadre takeover.” Your lane walker will inform you that you’re behind schedule, and that “you are now on his time.” And he will dictate a ridiculous work/rest cycle that you didn’t think was possible, one that your team will barely be able to keep up with, if at all. You will be fueled purely by adrenaline and fear of getting dropped. It will not be a pace you could or would ever maintain on your own workout for such a long duration of time.

So keep those three movements in mind when crafting your training plan:
- Super-Heavy Ruck Walk
- Speed Farmer Carries w/ Heavy Ruck
- Slow Sled Push w/ Heavy Ruck

Looking at Team Week broken down this way, it should be obvious why rucking is the #1 predictor of success at SFAS, and why the fanciest technical Olympic lifts or powerlifting-champion-level squat and deadlift numbers don’t compare to being really fucking good at rucking when it comes to Team Week (and SFAS as a whole, seeing as Land Nav is all rucking, and Gate Week is 2/6 rucking).

Now, some more in-depth notes for each event.

High carries have a suck factor that is completely dependent on the individual. Honestly, Downed Pilot took some heavy breathing, and I remember thinking that if I made the wrong step and rolled my ankle and had to be med-dropped, at least the suffering would stop—but it actually wasn’t that bad. The second time going into Downed Pilot, I wasn’t nervous the way I was for the low-carry events, but there are people who say it was the worst part of their SFAS. Nothing much you can do to prep besides ruck really well and squat heavy to get your body used to having much heavier weight weighing on it. It’s all lower body.

Speed Farmer Carries w/ Heavy Ruck is the only METCON-esque movement with a really high heart rate that you’re doing during Team Week, and therefore, the suckiest. It’s also a great allegory for life. The work/rest ratio your team settles on for the low carries will likely feel doable and good. That means you’re going to fail, and if your team doesn’t put itself through a work/rest ratio you don’t think you can keep up without really sucking, you won’t make the time hack, and you will be punished by an insane work/rest cycle from the cadre that will cause heat cats, and that you’ll only be able to keep up with out of fear of being dropped. If I woke up in the past and had to do it all again, I’d be doing farmer carries and weighted carry runs (within safe reason) every week without fail. Again, I can’t overstate how much more I wish I had trained grip strength and endurance.

Apparatus is where it pays to be smart, but it’s still very much a physical game. I’ll keep it short and sweet with this. The 5 knots I practiced in my room to be prepared to be “The Knot Guy” for my 2nd Team Week were:

• Clove Hitch (used to secure a rope onto a metal pole, so that you can attach it to another metal pole using wrap and fraps – Google “Square Lashing”)

• Constrictor Hitch (a variant of the Clove Hitch I prefer)

• Trucker’s Hitch (for being able to cinch things down with incredible tautness)

• Water Knot (for joining two pieces of webbing)

• Square Knot (for joining two pieces of rope)

I will not go into the tips and tricks for building the apparatuses, because you’ll either learn those the hard way yourself like everybody else, or your brain will rise to the occasion in the moment and you’ll develop some new neurological connections, synapses, and grow. Appreciate the experience, because there are very few opportunities in life like it.

You’ll find posts online or in TFVooDoo’s book about the different personas of Team Week. I thought they were pretty accurate. I’ll provide my own simplified list from my more recent experiences, focusing on the positive archetypes**.**

The Map Guy.
Usually automatically peered #1–3. He instantly wins respect because he’s volunteered for the job of navigating, while also participating in the work/rest cycle with everyone else. It’s no secret that when cadre asked who wants to take the map, everybody (including myself, I will admit it) remained silent because maybe someone better at land nav would step up.

When you’re the Map Guy, you can’t just zone out and grit through the Team Week events. You have to be actively present and pace count, watch for turns, and be present in the pain. No zoning out for hours at a time just following the herd. It can be a double-edged sword, because if you send the team down the wrong direction, everyone gets annoyed at you.

Even when our map guy sent us down the wrong path, and we got set back 45 minutes, I still peered him #1, because he stepped up, and I didn’t. Anybody who doesn’t peer a Map Guy high when they themselves didn’t step up for the role is a pussy with no self-awareness.

Exceptions: If the Map Guy also tries to get out of doing the physical stuff, or takes a lot of extra rest cycles because he’s busy navigating. People will instantly see what they’re doing, and that will get him peered low.

The Knot Guy.
Also usually automatically peered #1–3. Strength and brute force are admirable, and it’s what you want your team to be filled with, because more often than not, it’s coming down to thugging it out. There is no clever workaround for high carries and low carries. You have to be strong, have endurance, and man up. And you want the most jacked savages always offering to take the heaviest weight to be on your team in Team Week.

That being said, there’s also nothing quite like having a knot wizard and apparatus wizard who builds an apparatus with nothing coming apart and nothing falling off, because he has a good grasp on balance, physics, and strategically utilizing tension to keep everything together—weaving ropes in a manner such that the force generated by the front row of apparatus pushers is used to even further keep tension on the cargo and apparatus structure. Ultimately, a good Knot Guy can save your entire team from 7 hours of hellish low carries as punishment. It feels fucking good to be strolling along and almost effortlessly pushing an apparatus speedily while you pass other teams screaming in pain, holding bits and pieces of apparatus with their cadre yelling at them, punishing them by giving them more extra sandbags to put on the back of their necks, etc., etc. A stud can help bear a load for another person. A good Knot Guy can create something that bears loads for 10 people and saves hours of pain.

Exceptions: Similar to the Map Guy, if the Knot Guy is a prick or tries to weasel out of work, it’s an automatic low peer. Stealing TFVooDoo’s story from his book here—he said there was a dude who was “the Knot Guy” on a team, and tried to avoid partaking in the lifting to keep his fingers and hands safe as if he were a globally renowned neurosurgeon. Wild.

The Cadence Guy.
Also usually automatically peered #1–3. I haven’t seen this one reported by others yet, but it really stuck with me both Team Weeks. When you and your team are shuffling along team events, everybody is counting out loud the number for each step. Say your work/rest cycle is 50 seconds on, 10 seconds off. You’re all counting to 50 out loud, then counting to 10 during your rest, then counting to 50 again when you pick the apparatus back up, rinse and repeat.

Especially during low carries, people will slowly stop counting, just making it to the next set, and zoning out. Then there will come a time when everybody gets so tired, out of breath, and zoned out that they just stop counting—except for one guy.

And that one guy will start counting louder for everybody else, and for an hour or two, it’ll just be everybody silently doing the low carries, spiritually leaning on that one guy bellowing his lungs out counting and dictating the pace. He could start to change the agreed-upon work/rest ratio, and they will just wordlessly follow what he says. It’s an incredible form of leadership in its own right.

I write about these 3 because #1 is ubiquitous, and I believe that me being #2 and #3 is what got me peered high, and helped get me Selected. And when I was on teams where other people were #1, #2, or #3, I peered them high, as did others.

Having been through two Team Weeks and four teams total, I mentally modeled a regression that demystifies it. What I observed was that there are essentially three buckets:

• The top 3 guys

• The bottom 1–2 guys

• Everybody else in “the great middle”

Due to the size of the Team Week team, there are usually 1–3 guys that are the go-to top peers. There’s not enough events and time for everybody to stand up and be the Captain America of the team.

There are also going to be the bottom 1–2 guys. Either they have horrendous attitudes, they lose their cool, or they seem to not know the game plan or what was going on.

I saw a lot of guys who didn’t stand out in my teams and just seemed to be there get Selected. So while you should strive to peer at the top and be the guy with the answers, you can still get Selected without being that. Of course, that may have been my tired, Team Week tunnel-vision POV, and there’s a lot I didn’t notice, but just to paint a rough idea for you.

I’ve been the guy who’s been the bottom peer, trying to find a job to do, feeling like I didn’t do enough, not clicking. I’ve also been the guy who got peered at the top, even when the cadre ranked me last on the team for performance (I was heat-catting). It really can be that straightforward.

Some general Insights, platitudes, and miscellaneous observations:

• Know when to step up and take charge, and know when to step back and let someone else lead. Even if you have the undisputed right answer, and you communicate it to everyone, and the rest of the team still wants to go with the wrong idea, it is what it is. You can lead the horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

• Appearances do not matter. Some people think there’s a “look test”—you have to look the part, you have to be big, etc. Performance is the only thing that matters. There was a small, skinny guy on my 2nd team with a comically Southern accent. I thought he wasn’t going to make it based on his size and stature. Turns out he grew up on a farm, so he had that farmer endurance. He turned out to be the most vocal, took charge during apparatus construction, and got Selected—while I became a non-select. Performance is the only thing that matters.

I’d see in documentaries old guys recounting their experience at SFAS a long time ago, how the people at the finish line were all shapes and sizes—tall and strong, short skinny guys too. As a civilian researching the process, I took that to mean that you could be weak and skinny, but if you didn’t quit or showed enough heart or something, you could make it. Absolutely not—it’s just that those “small and skinny” guys grew up working some kind of construction or farm and had strength and endurance out the wazoo.

• The Sergeant Major talked to us after we got Selected and said, “You’re no better than the guys who didn’t get Selected or didn’t make it. It just wasn’t their time yet.” I took that to heart and carried that attitude with me. To be honest, what really was the difference between my performance in my first and second Team Week? My first Team Week was much more of a nightmare, but I (seemed to be) just as patient, proactive, and vocal as I tried to be in my second one. Not all Team Weeks are the same. Maybe I just missed the cut, maybe there was a major flaw—regardless, it wasn’t my time. And if I pass everything in the Q Course on the first time, that doesn’t mean I’m better or worse; it just happened to be my time. Keep the humility.

Closing thought:

Throughout my entire process up to that point, I heard so many vets and cadre say regarding the Q Course, “SFAS is the easiest part,” or that “SFAS is just the beginning, it gets way harder,” or “SFAS is just your ticket in—now the work starts.”

Is this true? Yes and no. First off, SFAS (specifically Team Week) is literally designed to be the worst-case scenario, to see how you perform under extreme stress, hunger, and pressure while maintaining composure in a team environment, sometimes with lasting injuries. It would be unrealistic for you to be put through the “worst-case scenario” all the time in the Q Course.

Yet, there are times in the Q Course where me and some guys would go, “Would you rather do this or do Team Week again?” And people, myself included, seriously answered, “Team Week again.” But it’s not necessarily because of physical difficulty. I’ll get into that more once we get into the Q Course portion of the series.

Next up:

Part 4: BLC

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Intro

Part 1: OSUT

Part 2: Airborne + SFPC

Part 3a: SFAS (Gate Week + Land Nav)

Part 3b: SFAS (Team Week)

Part 4: BLC

Part 5: Small Unit Tactics (SUT)

Part 6: MOS

Part 7: SERE