JSOG Special Missions Unit / JSOGSMU

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the ‘Verse and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be an Operator, my son!

Selection and Training Process

1. Aptitude Phase –

This phase is conducted across the hellish ice tundra of Microtech. The Aptitude Phase is designed to select those individuals who are suitable for special operations training. The initial stages are devoted to intensive land navigation and survival training and assessment in an austere environment.

2. Continuation Training Phase –

Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) – Those who pass the Aptitude Phase will undertake an intensive period of instruction and assessment of Special Operations Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs), including the SMU’s chosen weapons and Standard Operating Procedures. The majority of this period is spent in the savannah biome on Hurston, an environment that is suitable for SMU training and ideal to achieve the purpose of this phase.

3. Employment Training Phase –

Employment Training consists of the surveillance and reconnaissance (S&R) course, Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape (SERE) course, SMU insertion methods training, the advanced close quarters battle course, signals and communications training, small unit tactics and Unit induction training, and an introduction to clandestine and covert operations and tradecraft. At the end of the SERE phase the surviving candidates are transferred to the operational unit, and will continue training under a serving operator, who will act as their mentor.

When accepted into the operational unit, all candidates must complete the SMU EVA and Zero G Combat Course. The course lasts for an extended period and covers long distance EVA operations, often in dangerous conditions. Demolitions, Ship-board security, and Vessel Board, Seize and Search Operations are also practiced.

As a unit, we acknowledge the SOF Truths:

Humans are more important than hardware.

Quality is better than quantity.

Special Operations Forces cannot be mass produced.

Competent Special Operations Forces cannot be created after emergencies occur.

Most special operations require non-SOF support.