#477: The History and Future of America's Special Forces

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2019

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

When people talk about military special forces, the Navy SEALs are often the first to come to mind. But there are several special forces in the military that have a storied history and play a fundamental role in America’s military defense. My guest today is the only person to have been allowed to audit and write about the training programs of the respective special forces units of every branch of the military. His name is Dick Couch. He’s a retired US Navy SEAL and the author of several books on America's special operations forces. Today on the show, we particularly discuss his book Sua Sponte: The Forging of a Modern American Ranger. We begin our conversation discussing the history and varied purposes of the military's different special operations forces. Dick then explains how a soldier becomes an Army Ranger and why going to Ranger School isn’t the thing that makes you a Ranger. He walks us through the process of becoming a Ranger, including Ranger Assessment and Selection. We end our conversation discussing the role special operations forces will play in the future of America’s military. Get the show notes at aom.is/armyranger.

Transcript

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0:00.0	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:15.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:18.6	When people talk about military special forces, the Navy seals are often the first to come
0:22.4	to mind, but there are several special forces in the military that have a storied history
0:26.3	and play a fundamental role in America's military defense.
0:29.0	My guest today is the only person to have been allowed to audit and write about the training
0:32.9	programs of the respective special forces units of every branch of the military.
0:36.4	His name is Dick Kouch, he's a retired US Navy SEAL and he author several books on
0:39.9	America's special operation forces.
0:41.8	Today on the show we particularly discuss his book Suasante, the forging of a modern American
0:46.0	Ranger.
0:47.0	We begin our conversation discussing the history and varied purposes of the military's
0:49.5	different special operations forces, Dick then explains how his soldier becomes an army
0:53.2	ranger and why going to ranger school isn't the thing that makes you a ranger.
0:57.0	He walks us through the process of becoming a ranger, including ranger assessment and
1:00.1	selection, and we know a conversation discussing the role special operation forces will play
1:03.6	in the future of America's military.
1:05.5	Have the shows over, check out our show notes at a-o-m dot i-s slash army ranger.
1:09.5	Dick joins me now via clearcast dot i-o.
1:13.0	All right, Dick Kouch, welcome to the show.
1:24.9	Thank you.
1:25.9	So you've written several books about America's special operating forces.
	...

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