June 21, 2024

#140: You Better Be More Than A Good Dude - Medal of Honor Recipient CSM Matt Williams & LTC Dave Lucas, Special Forces Qualification Course MOS Phase

50 minutes

Stress is the great equalizer in leadership. When you're cold, you're wet, you're tired, your company’s losing money, you have no revenue, you’re pinned down by enemy fire, or you're down by five with two minutes left, great organizations need leaders who stand up, take charge, make decisions and act. America’s Green Berets are the best in the world at leading under stress.

To unpack just how we’re selecting the next generation of Special Forces Operators, Fran Racioppi sat down with the team responsible for training them; LTC Dave Lucas and Medal of Honor Recipient Command Sergeant Major Matt Williams; the command team for 4th battalion, 1st Special Warfare Training Group, otherwise known as the MOS phase of the Qualification Course.

From the JFK Special Warfare Museum at Fort Liberty’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School they cover the Q-course; what it takes to be a successful Alpha, Bravo, Charlie or Echo; how they’re upholding the standard and preparing the force for the peer-to-peer battlefield and the difference between motivation and leadership.

Plus CSM Williams shares his account of the Battle of Shok Valley and why sometimes the greatest displays of leadership have nothing to do with rank, position, or tenure.

Take a listen, watch, or read our conversation then head over to our YouTube channel to watch this episode and watch CSM Williams & LTC Lucas share the lineage of America’s first Special Forces in the Jedburgh Media Channel’s first documentary, Unknown Heroes, Behind Enemy Lines at D-Day, the story of Operation Jedburgh.

Highlights:

0:00 Introduction
5:35 Succeeding in the Special Forces Qualification Course
10:10 Scenario-based training to a standard
15:30 Preparing Special Forces for the next battlefield
22:15 Motivation isn't leadership
28:57 CSM Williams Medal of Honor battle in Afghanistan
413:40 Daily Keys to Success

Quotes:

“Our job is to teach them the fundamental skills that they will utilize, that they will bring to their operational detachments.” (6:43)
“When it’s cold, it’s wet and it sucks, we want guys that understand why they're here.” (7:56)
“What we really try to do is eek out your capabilities under stress.” (11:48)
“The standard is the standard, is the standard, is the standard.” (13:46)
“We’re sending guys out to the force to do some of the hardest things in the world, and they can’t just be because you're a good dude.” (15:13)
“Motivation and leadership are not the same thing.” (23:42)
“It’s two junior bravos on the side of a cliff figuring out what we’re going to do.” (36:55)

Special thanks to Roxanne Merritt and the entire team at the Special Warfare Museum for graciously hosting this series.

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By Fran Racioppi

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