Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) is the program used by the U.S. Army to identify soldiers who may be suitable for further Special Forces training and eventually, wearing the Green Beret and deploying on some of America's most sensitive missions. Due to recruitment woes, SFAS is now getting an additional training portion tacked on which exists as a pilot program for now.
SFAS consists of constant physical events like road marches, runs, PT sessions, and team week which assesses how well candidates function in a team environment under stress. However, what causes the highest attrition rates in SFAS is land navigation. During landnav, soldiers navigate through the forests and swamps of North Carolina with a map and compass during the day and night.
Some soldiers may struggle with the landnav portion of SFAS because this is not a skill they normally train on at their units. To help get them up to speed prior to starting selection, a pilot program has been instituted.
"The pilot encompasses three of the eight SFAS classes [in the last year] in which active duty enlisted and officers report five days prior to the start of SFAS. They receive classroom and field practical exercises conducting Land Navigation with a map and compass," explained Elvia Kelly who is a spokesperson for the JFK Special Warfare Center and School.
The pilot program endeavors to raise the Special Forces candidate's skill level prior to starting selection, but SFAS remains the same. "In the past two years, the only changes to SFAS have been transitioning from traditional push-ups to hand-release push-ups and transitioning from sit-ups to the plank to align with the Army’s new ACFT," Kelly told Connecting Vets.
"The SFAS program and standards remain the same," Kelly said.
