Prioritize working on the body and mind

      Combat Control School PART 2 The struggle to obtain the scarlet beret My second time through Combat Control School ( CCS) started in September of 2006.  The heat wasn't as bad as the middle of the summer, which was a major help for the course.  I also knew what to expect; this made me dread going through the entire course all over again.  Somehow, I got the motivation to make a second attempt of that brutal course. In order to understand what I'd already committed to in this course, be sure to check out this  article on the first brutal selection week of Combat Control school and this  article about how far I made it on my first attempt. I managed to get through the second attempt of CCS, and make it to the point I was dropped the first time. Although it was my second time through, and it wasn't as hot, I still had a couple of issues that nearly caused me to quit. Expectations The instructors expected a little more from me the second time ...

Combat Control School ( CCS) Combat Control School is an experience I'll never forget.  The memories of one of the toughest schools in the military is still burned into my mind.   There isn't a lot of information available about this course, so hopefully I can inform a little of what it's really like.  In the following blog article I'm going to share about my first attempt at CCS.  It was a June class held at Pope AFB, just outside of Fayetteville, N.C.  The thick summer heat made this course extra difficult.  My second time through in September seemed a little easier.  Although I didn't make it all the way through on my first attempt, I'm gonna share that experience. Combat Control Selection Back in 2006, Combat Control School, ( CCS),  was the first major test, the first real cut on the journey to obtain the scarlet beret.  The school was deep into the pipeline, about a year, so the time leading up to it is really just preparation for ...

  Can a Combat Controller Swim? *Update* In this article, I discuss how the PJ and CCT pipelines were different.  They have recently changed how the pipeline is arranged for CCT, and for the PJs, the old style 10 week indoctrination is going away. They are moving to a more standardized training pipeline, which I'm glad to see, and Combat Controllers, Pararescue, and S/R ( Combat Weather) are all going to train together for four weeks in an event called the Assessment and Selection ,or A & R  course. Gone are the days of a vague idea of what to expect in the CCT pipeline. Now candidates will have to pass this selection course to move on to training in their respective pipelines.   From what I've gathered so far, the course doesn't give the physical graduate standards for the course.  They want to move away from a good operator being disqualified for missing the standard by one pull up, or 20 seconds on a fin swim.   This doesn't mean the select...

*Update* In this article, I discuss how the PJ and CCT pipelines  were  different.  They have recently changed how the pipeline is arranged for CCT, and for the PJs, the old style 10 week indoctrination is going away. They are moving to a more standardized training pipeline, which I'm glad to see, and Combat Controllers, Pararescue, and S/R ( Special Recon) are all going to train together for four weeks in an event called the Assessment and Selection ,or A & R , course. Gone are the days of a vague idea of what to expect in the CCT pipeline, and now candidates will have to pass this selection course to move on to training in their respective pipelines.   From what I've gathered so far, the course doesn't give the physical graduate standards for the course.  They want to move away from a good operator being disqualified for missing the standard by one pull up, or 20 seconds on a fin swim.   This doesn't mean the selection will be any easier; it...