Goodfellow AFB, ASU partner for Special Warfare ROTC weekend

 Goodfellow Air Force Base and Angelo State University partnered together to host a Special Warfare Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Weekend, or SWAW, Oct. 19-20.

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GAFB and ASU organized events on and off base to help cadets achieve certain qualifications for the SWAW. Mornings were spent at Goodfellow, where the cadets stayed at Forward Operating Base Sentinel. They engaged in physical training, briefings on Ruck Academics and completed a 3-mile ruck march. In the afternoons, they transitioned to ASU for career briefings in the Special Warfare career field, pool academics followed by physical challenges and practical interviews of becoming a SW officer candidate.

SWAW is important for introducing interested cadets to the training pipeline process for commissioning as a Special Warfare Officer, which is further pipelined into Special Tactics, Combat Rescue or Tactical Air Control. Special Warfare is the only officer Air Force specialty code that requires a pre-commissioning screening evaluation.

Thirty-eight AFROTC cadets from Detachment 847, and 10 other schools from across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana and California attended the event.

The SWAW was organized by AFROTC Detachment 847, representatives of Goodfellow and T3i instructors. While AFROTC Detachment 847 frequently sends its cadets to participate in Special Warfare training events, this marks the first time ASU has hosted an SW event of this scale.

“While intense physical fitness events are the medium of training for events like this,” said Maj. Evan Walters, Angelo State AFROTC Det 847 host cadre, local SWAW point of contact. “Cadets will also learn the importance of time and resource management, self and team awareness while under pressure, tactical team leadership and team movement. Ideally, this event will help cadets be more confident when seeking out opportunities and learning more about the SW pipeline, and their future Air Force careers.”

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The event exposed cadets to many facets of Special Warfare, including Air Force Special Warfare history and application process, troop leading procedures and tactical decision making, patrolling and reacting to contact, tactical combat casualty care, water confident events, land fitness and ruck marching, leadership reaction events, decision making, and interviews. 

After the weekend, the cadre conducted interviews with the cadets. They received feedback on their performance over the weekend; should they aspire to join AFSPECWAR, they will be chosen according to the eight SW attributes.“The training we are doing here is teaching them what right looks like,” said Maj. Eric Atchison, Air Force Recruiting Service. “This is what they need to do so that they get used to paying attention to detail and following the steps as they're told.”

“Many of these participating cadets have not been selected for an AFSC yet,” said Walters. “The main hope I have is that these cadets are informed and inspired on where they want to take their Air Force or Space Force careers. My additional hope is that this instills the discipline needed to maintain a good physical fitness routine, as their Physical Fitness Assessment scores are a key determinant to selection as a commissioned officer.”

Additionally, AFROTC cadets can participate in AFRS-led Special Warfare AFROTC Weekend events, conducted 8-10 times throughout the academic year at various detachments nationwide.

“We want to provide interested cadets as many opportunities as possible to prepare,” said Atchinson. “Between these SWAW events, the 2-week SWOC opportunities in the summer, and an increased number of Special Warfare Clubs at Detachments, we can prepare as many cadets as possible to succeed as leaders in the Special Warfare community. It’s an extremely challenging and rewarding career like no other, and we are looking for the right young men and women who have what it takes to succeed, no matter the odds.”

 The SWOC event hosted by the Air Force Academy spans 14 days, and the mission is to prepare and recruit AFROTC and USAFA candidates to understand the physical and mental demands of Special Warfare Operations. This SWAW lasted a weekend and offered just a glimpse of the different Special Warfare requirements.

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