Fayetteville, North Carolina. (September 29, 2024): It is the most famous symbol of military excellence that was glamorized in movies and song in the seventies… the Army’s green beret. In this photo by K. Kassens, Soldiers don their berets for the first time during a graduation ceremony after completion of the Special Forces Qualification Course
The road to earning this honor is long and incredibly difficult and only a very special few make it. The Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) or Q Course is the initial training program for entry into Army Special Forces. The length of the Q Course differs depending on the applicant's primary job field and their assigned foreign language. The program can take between 56 and 95 weeks.
The first phase consists of twenty-four days of training that includes numerous long-distance land navigation courses. Candidates must negotiate these courses during day and night while carrying heavy loads of equipment in varied weather and terrain conditions. For extreme conditioning, students run obstacle courses and participate in team events such as moving telephone poles or pushing heavy vehicles through mud or sand. The final event is a brutal thirty-two-mile road march nicknamed “The Trek” by weary troopers.
The second phase focuses on language and culture. Green Berets are renowned for their ability to collaborate with Indigenous populations for reconnaissance or training programs. During this phase, Soldiers receive an eighteen-week language program in their assigned tongue and they study native social systems, economics, culture, and politics.
The final phase involves a thirteen-week program in small unit tactics including escape and evasion. Students study tactical skills, advanced marksmanship, and how to operate in urban settings. During escape training, Soldiers must successfully avoid capture by procuring food and water, constructing fires and shelters, and evading tracker dogs unleashed by “aggressor” forces. They are also evaluated on their individual and collective ability to resist interrogation and exploitation by the enemy.
If they survive this gauntlet, these Soldiers become one of the “fighting soldiers from the sky” who wear the coveted Green Beret.