Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Carmen Fleischmann | Candidates wait for instruction in the front leaning rest position at the Flooded Mask...... read more read more
TAMPA, Florida (May 28, 2023) – This past weekend, 56 U.S. Special Forces hopefuls aged 16 to 37 years old descended on MacDill Air Force Base to test their mental and physical limits at Hell Day. The 18-hour special operations career preparation course was hosted by SOCOM Athlete, and the Florida Army National Guard provided candidates with immersive training and invaluable mentorship from present and former members of the U.S. special operations community from Army Green Berets to Navy SEALs.
Tampa’s event was the largest turn-out SOCOM Athlete has seen to date, with 75 total registered, some of which were returning candidates. One of those was 17-year-old Angelo Costa, whose father came out to support him at the last two events.
Steve Costa served as a Petty Officer 2nd Class, Operations Specialist in the Navy from 1987 to 1998. He served in support of Operations Desert Storm, Desert Shield and deployed to Afghanistan. His son hopes to follow in his father’s Navy footsteps and join a SEAL team.
“I love it. I think it’s great for these young students to see what they’ve got and to see what it takes to be part of that special community,” said Steve.
To help curb the staggering drop-out rate for the Navy’s Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL school, Steve recalls a similar program from his service days called “Mini BUD/S”. Through that program, potential candidates would work on more challenging aspects of the program before attending SEAL school. SOCOM Athlete works in the same way, providing candidates with a safe and constructive place to work on physical fitness, swimming tactics, and for them to learn proper techniques prior to applying to a Special Forces program of their choice. One of the options presented to candidates during the day is a future career in 3rd Battalion, Special Forces Group (SFG) of the Florida Army National Guard.
“I think the biggest thing that SOCOM Athlete does for the Florida Army National Guard is it puts the idea of Special Forces and the Army National Guard into people’s [minds] that have never really thought about that as a career choice before,” said one of the instructors, an 18D with 3-20th SFG. “A lot of these guys, they see movies, or play video games and they see the people out there doing the work and the first thing that comes to mind is just active-duty SEALs or active-duty Green Berets. A lot of people don’t even realize that National Guard is an option.”
The most invaluable aspect of Hell Day is the direct access to mentorship from these highly experienced Special Forces Service members that have been deployed all around the globe. These mentors, many of which are still serving, volunteer their time at each of these events. While they vary in branch of service, they all share a love for their craft and a desire to pass on that dedicated service to the next group of operators.
“The guys you see here today are passionate about teaching and mentoring and bringing up that next generation and making sure that when they hang up their uniform, that there’s someone worthy to take up that responsibility and move forward with America’s next mission,” he said.
Two of those future leaders are Isabella Davila and her brother Evo, who came down from Deerfield, Illinois to attend the event. Isabella is 19 years old and hopes to one day join the Marine Corps as a pilot. She said the event helped her pinpoint her strengths, which happened to be the water events, as well has identify areas she needed to work on before coming back for the next Hell Day.
“It’s super fun. It’s a challenge and I’ve seen stuff that I’ve never seen before, but everybody around you motivates you,” said Isabella. “Everyone working hard together gets you through it.”
This SOCOM Athlete event is free for all members of the Florida Army National Guard, and candidates hoping to pursue the Army National Guard Special Forces track can use the knowledge and skills obtained through SOCOM Athlete and attend a Special Forces Readiness Exercise (SFRE) with the 3-20th SFG. The FLARNG holds SFRE once a quarter to test candidates on physical, mental, teamwork and leadership tasks. Those that meet the grade are offered a position within the organization.
| Date Taken: | 05.27.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.31.2023 13:12 |
| Story ID: | 445866 |
| Location: | TAMPA, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 954 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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