Editor’s Note: Welcome back to our weekly column with former Green Beret Curtis Fox, where we explore the evolving role of Special Forces. This week, Fox continues to discuss how the Regiment can better develop and retain elite NCOs, improve training and standards for 18X recruits, and ensure only the most capable Green Berets serve on SFOD-As.

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Enlisted Leadership and Development

No one has ever sufficiently explained to me why Special Forces Team Sergeants (18Zs) only get two years of team time before they have to move up and out. Why isn’t the Regiment keeping its most gifted Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) in a position where they can have the maximum impact on the mission?

At the two-year marker, Team Sergeants should receive a performance assessment and be given a decision. If you are a top performer, then you can choose to transition into the Warrant Officer (180A) program and continue forward in the same company in a new capacity. Alternatively, you can choose to remain an 18Z and commit to a second 2-year rotation on the same SFOD-A. Following your second round of team time, a top Team Sergeant can assess for Sergeant Major. Marginal performers can be moved out to staff jobs after their first two years.

The point of this approach is to give the Regiment’s most gifted senior NCOs the ability to stay where they will have the most impact—on a line team. SFOD-As not only require qualified leadership, but mentorship for young Green Berets fresh out of the Q-Course.

Giving the Special Forces Regiment’s best and brightest NCOs the staying power to have an impact will improve moral, resolve retention issues, enhance training, and ultimately build higher-quality SFOD-As.

Special Forces Tactical Challenge
UFC Hall of Famer and former Army Sgt. Randy Couture fires at targets during the Special Forces Tactical Challenge, December 10, 2020. (DVIDS)

What About the 18Xs?

18Xs are a paradox. The Special Forces Regiment has generally focused on recruiting NCOs with at least 5 years in the Army and troop-leading experience. Such individuals are naturally the best choice to lead indigenous partners on patrol. MARSOC has embodied this practice and refuses to allow Marines to apply unless they are between the ranks of Corporal (E-4) and Staff Sergeant (E-6). However, many SOF units, including the SEALs and Rangers, recruit directly from the civilian world. The War on Terror necessitated the Special Forces Regiment to adopt similar practices in order to maintain sufficient staffing.