Dr. David Walton served as an officer in 7th Special Forces Group, then with Joint Special Operation Command, and then took command at the Special Warfare Center that saw him charged with supervising the Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) course. He then went on to get a Ph.D. in Education and studied SFAS as an academic.
SFAS is a three-week long assessment and selection course required for entry into the Special Forces training pipeline. Candidates complete individual physical endurance events, land navigation, and a "team week" which challenges their creativity under stress and assesses how they function while exhausted in a team environment.
In recent years there has been no shortage of clamor within the Special Forces community regarding allegations that standards are slipping, that SFAS is being watered down because the Army has gone "woke" or because there is a political desire to push female candidates through the course.
"Everyone sees their past through rose-colored glasses," Walton said when asked why older generations of soldiers feel the need to degenerate younger troops. "I couldn't tell you what the psychological phenomena is. Back in the day, I was the last hard class. They are just giving it away now, that that is a common [theme]."
But based on Walton's personal experiences as a soldier, an academic, and having been granted permission to look at SFAS historical data going back to 1989, "the thing that my 20 plus years of observation of selection that I could conclude would be that selection today is as hard or in my assessment harder than it's ever been," he said.
According to the data, SFAS has had a historical graduation rate of 36% on average. While this rate skews a bit from class to class, he says the average has remained consistent over the years. Some outliers would actually be the last few SFAS classes which had selection rates of 15%.
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However, one thing that has certainly changed in SFAS is the inclusion of female candidates. This was an impossibility until 2013 when the Department of Defense lifted the combat exclusion rule barring women from combat arms positions. Dr. Walton looked examined the performance data of female candidates closely and interviewed as many of them as possible.
"So in total 31 females have attempted selection a total of 36 times, so some of them multiple times, and only three have been selected," Walton told Connecting Vets. "So again, let's look at the evidence that we have the data way below average. Yeah, way below average, a third. So on average, 36% gets selected year after year, females, only 10%, less than 10%. So if we are making it easier for females to get through, we are doing a horrible job of it."
Walton explained that his research showed that the SFAS cadre were not biased against female candidates and the other soldiers going through the course with them also did not show bias during peer evaluations. Rather the reason why women have a lower selection rate on the course is because of biology. Women on average are smaller than men, and a very physical course with standardized rucksack loads favors those with a larger physical frame to carry it, be they male or female.
"If you want to be a critic, if you want to comment on this, on this particular phenomena, I would say, you know, get off social media and start looking at the studies," Walton said. "Look at the research. Read the facts, don't just listen to narrative, read the facts, talk to guys on the ground."
As far as the kvetching on social media about lowered standards, Walton says that if you go looking for factual evidence, "you simply will not find it. I certainly didn't."
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Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.
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