U.S. Special Operations: Personal Opinions

[RTK]

As far as rolling the sleeves, we were shown to tuck them up and in, not out. Running around Camp Mackall in Cat 5 in full battle rattle was bad enough with cuffed sleeves and unboused boots, I cannot imagine what 140 degree heat is going to be like.

I don't let my guys do that. Neither does army regulation. Here's why:

When you see a guy burn the Sierra out of his arm from a hot .50 cal cartridge or a second degree sunburn, both of which take him out of the fight for days, cuffing defeats the purpose of the function of the uniform.

This is a microcosm example of how we've excused our way into bad practices and shortcuts over the past few years. We used to monitor hydration. Now we allow our guys to sidestep uniform functionality for comfort.

I've worked under the command of an AOB in combat as a TACON conventional troop commander. I've worked with NG and AC SF teams. All do their jobs well. We had no problems between the two "worlds." We knew our role and how we fit into their scheme of maneuver. We were able to express that to our Soldiers, and we were very clear to our guys that we would stick to the standards and regulations that we had trained and followed up until that point, regardless of what those around us would do. There were things that we bent on, due to form and function (like grooming standards during mission due to water conservations), but uniforms function was not one of them.

As for fake nametapes, don't bother. You'll only confuse the identity process for your family. If you don't want someone to know your name, take the velcro nametape off.