You. Let’s take a quick look at the United States special Reconnaissance airmen and their command structure, people, training and missions.
U in 2019, the special Operations Weather team career Field underwent a major restructuring and was renamed Special Reconnaissance in response to strategic competition against near peer adversaries. They are a part of special tactics and assigned to the Air Force Special Operations Command, which is the Air Force component of the US Special Operations Command, or SOCOM. SR airmen conduct multidomain reconnaissance and surveillance with an eye towards gaps identified in the Department of Defense’s long range reconnaissance and force projection capabilities. Potential special recon recruits must be between the ages of 17 and 39, successfully complete the special Reconnaissance initial fitness test pass a special warfare and a combat diver medical exam have normal color vision and depth perception pass a financial and credit check and a national agency background security check. The Special Reconnaissance training pipeline is over 18 months long.
You start out at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, where candidates must complete eight weeks of basic military training, the eight week Special Warfare Preparatory course, or SW prep, the four week Special Warfare Assessment and Selection course and the four week Special Warfare pre dive course. Then special recon candidates will go to the five week Special Warfare Combat Dive course at Panama City, Florida. This is followed by three weeks of airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia the four week military freefall course at Yuma, Arizona three weeks of sear training at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington. Then you head to Mississippi for the eight week Special Reconnaissance Course at Keesler Air Force Base. Then candidates attend the eight week Sr Apprentice course at Pope Army Airfield, North Carolina.
And then Sr airmen finish with the longest segment of the pipeline, which is six more months of special tactics training at Holbert Field, Florida. Special reconnaissance missions include electronic warfare and multi domain reconnaissance and surveillance preparation of the environment. In advanced special tactics skills, SR airmen use small unmanned aircraft systems and leading edge technology in forward operating environments to characterize air threats, to provide environmental reconnaissance, and to perform target development and interdiction. While general environmental impact analysis remains a SR skill set, it no longer dominates SR’s training and mission focus. Okay, there you have it, an executive summary of the special reconnaissance airmen.
It takes a lot of education and training to become one of these highly respected members of the Air Force Special Operations Command. Thanks for watching. Don’t forget to subscribe if you want to join my life as a special operations team and to forward this video to a friend who needs to know this life is a special operation. Are you ready for it?
| The Air Force is the most powerful force ever created on planet Earth. AFSOC is the most versatile and powerful service component special operations command that there is. No one has more credible combat experience in the air force than the people from AFSOC. That’s what makes AFSOC unique in the Air Force. They can go anywhere and do anything by themselves. Literally every single mission hinges on battlefield awareness. And that’s exactly what Air Force special reconnaissance is dedicated to, providing at any place, at any time. As experts in multidomain reconnaissance, special recon operators play a pivotal role in Air Force special warfare. While they may be the newest special operations job in the Air Force, their wide range of capabilities and next level expertise bring a whole new asset to the battlefield never seen before. Collecting vital intelligence from deep behind enemy lines is an extremely challenging task that demands exceptional training, perseverance, and professionalism. It takes a high level of skill and dedication to acquire the necessary resources that can give us an advantage on the battlefield. So how exactly does Special Recon go about doing this? What makes them some of the most versatile warriors on the battlefield? And most importantly, what else do they bring to the table? We’re going to answer all those questions for you and much more. This is Air Force special reconnaissance. Special reconnaissance might just seem like a capability that other special operations forces have, but in the Air Force, it’s actually its own dedicated career field. To help explain some of the nuances of this job, we have a special guest who happens to be an active duty special recon operator. He’s from ones ready, a podcast of a few Air Force operators who are dedicated to sharing all there is to know about Air Force special warfare. Without further ado, here’s Trent. Hey, guys, I appreciate you having me on. First of all, I want to just say that I really love the voice. That’s really what got me on here. It’s a thing of beauty and appreciate everything that you guys are doing out there. My name is Trent Segmiller. I’ve been in the Air Force about 20 years. Obviously, nothing I’m saying today is representative of the dodo, the Air Force. I was a weather guy, and then I was a special operations weather guy, and now I’m a special reconnaissance guy. Kind of helped set up the latest iteration of the career field, and I think that’s what we’re here to talk about today. Had a few deployments and all the other stuff, but yeah, I’ve been around the other thing that I do. I am a co host on the ones Ready podcast and the ones ready podcast is we have a controller, peaches, a pararescueman, Aaron Love and myself, the special reconnaissance guy. And what we’re doing is we are trying to make sure that the people that are out there that don’t know about Air Force special warfare or want to know more, we’re making sure that they have the correct data, as far as we know it, to make that decision, whether they’re going to join or not, and to be as prepared as they possibly can be. So something we want to do, and I think we’re doing an okay job. We’re good tryers, and one of the things that we’re doing is trying to get out there and spread the word. So that’s why I’m here today with y’all and appreciate it. Glad to hear you. Love the voice. Trent took a lot of lessons to get it this way. In all seriousness, we’re glad to have you here with us. So let’s not waste any time and jump into what special recon is all about. 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Not only that, but with one subscription, you can protect an unlimited number of devices at the same time. And lucky for you, if you use our link piavpn.com general discharge, that subscription will be 83% off, plus you get an extra four months for free. That’s a measly $2.03 a month. For the best software to protect you online again, go to piavpn.com general discharge for 83% off in a 30 day money back guarantee. Links in the description below. Now back to the video. While special recon might be the Air Force’s newest special operations job. They didn’t just come from thin air. Back in 2019, the Air Force made the executive decision to transition all special operations Weatherman teams into what we know as special recon today. In a nutshell, sautes were like badass weathermen who deployed with navy seals, green berets, and marine raiders. Their main focus was reporting on weather data for combatant commanders. As time went on, the Air Force recognized a need for an expanded capability, and the special operations Weathermen had the perfect foundation for what they were looking for. The Air Force expanded the SAO T’s mission set to include special reconnaissance and further enabled them to perform a variety of missions by adding air and maritime capabilities to its operators. With the stroke of a pen, the special reconnaissance community was born. Trent, being there firsthand, do you mind giving us a little insight on what it was like to transition from SAO T to Special Recon, as well as anything behind the scenes you can share? All right, so as I mentioned, I was special operations weather, and now I’m special reconnaissance. And people have some ideas of how that happened, or they don’t even know what I’m talking about. So what had happened was special operations weather used to belong to the weather career field. But some of the things that we were doing and some of the directions that we were going leaned more towards the reconnaissance next fight near peer environment. And so when the opportunity came, some folks at the Pentagon, with their big brains and their seer stones into the future, decided that instead of trying to make the special operations weather folks good at weather and the thing that they needed for the future fight, they were just going to scrap the special operations weather stuff, take the same manpower, since we’re already moving that direction anyway, and then create the new career field. So I remember I got a phone call one day, and from my guy at the Pentagon, and he said, trent, we are special reconnaissance. Now, it happened real quick. From where I was sitting, I was down at the prep course or the special worker candidate course. And so from there on, we took the guidance from the Pentagon and we started to build out the new career field based on the requirements that they gave us. So that is what it is. And so we went from the environmental reconnaissance to the full spectrum reconnaissance capabilities that we’re building out for the career field to, like I said, be prepared for that future fight, to know what our peers are doing, technologically speaking, and to make sure that we have the tools and the tactics and techniques to overcome whatever they have. If required. Thanks for that, Trent. While special recon will always have the roots in weather observing capabilities, there’s much more to their story. Now, the community seeks to provide environmental reconnaissance capabilities to commanders by means of ground intelligence, surveillance, electronic and cyber warfare, and reconnaissance. In the military, they are what is called an ISR, or intelligence surveillance reconnaissance asset. But there’s a reason special recon is considered special operations. In order to gather the type of intelligence and information they need, special recon operators must be highly skilled commandos with unique training to conduct multidomain reconnaissance and surveillance across the full spectrum of conflict, all with a focus on lethal and nonlethal air to ground integration of air power. Special recon possesses exceptional abilities in rapidly and covertly deploying to various locations via land, sea, or air by themselves or with a small team. This is what makes them some of the most versatile operators in the military, because not only do they act as force multipliers for a wide range of special operations units, but they can also operate and get the job done all on their own. Special recon is different from other jobs in the air force because it’s a much smaller group. Most people are not aware of what they do unless they are a part of or involved in the community. Wait a minute. We have someone in the community right here. Trent, what do you have to say about Special Recon’s missions and capabilities? All right, so what does special reconnaissance actually do? There’s a funny question, because the answer is kind of in the career field name, it’s reconnaissance. There is a little bit more than that. When I say full spectrum, I’m talking about electromagnetic and all these other things. We need to know what’s going on. So what we do is we gather all the information required to make sure that we are keeping pace, outpacing our enemies or potential enemies in the future. And then also we are there to action if required. So, like, as a seven level requirement right now, all of our guys have to get sniper. And you might be. That doesn’t make a lot of sense, or you might think that, but if you’re in the place and you have the access, which is another thing that we do. We do the global access stuff, and something needs to be actioned right there, and it needs to be kinetic. Our guys are there for that. And there’s also a lot of non kinetic capabilities that are built within the career field to take care of those problems as well. So really, when it comes down to it is we’re trying to gain access to places, and then the first job is to make sure that if the Air force needs to work in that environment, that we know how to make that environment safe for our aircraft, whether it be manned or unmanned, so that we can get the job done, whatever needs to be done. And then on top of that, anything that comes down on the SOCOM side, when it’s the enabler mission or anything else that SOCOM needs, we’re also there for that. So first things first, we work for the Air Force. We’re there to solve Air Force centric problems just like every other branch of the service. We want to solve Air Force problems, keep our folks safe and give our folks the best chance for success. And then after that, it’s kind of all special operations forces know, do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. Thanks, Trent. Now that we’ve covered Special recoN’s capabilities, let’s shift the conversation over to what it takes to get into this badass line of work. Special recon operators must make it through a lengthy and challenging selection process to join the community. On screen now is every course that an aspiring candidate will have to complete in order to join the special reconnaissance community. There’s a lot to unpack here and what better way to do it than to have a special recon operator speak to what they’re all about. Trent, what do you have to say about the special Recon pipeline? All right, one of the things we talk about on the ones ready podcast a lot is the pipeline. And so I’m going to run through this real quick. First you’re going to have a developer pre a session. That means before you go to basic training. And so you’re going to train with them and you’re going to pass the PT test. If you want to know more about that, go over to ones ready and we’ll get you linked up with all the specific data. And then once you ship off, you’re going to go to BMT. You’re going to ship out with a bunch of other people that are going into Air Force special warfare. It’s pretty normal BMT with a little bit of extra pt. You’re welcome because PT is awesome. And then after that, you’re going to go to the special warfare candidate course. We used to call it prep where for seven weeks you are going to prepare for the selection course. Just like what it sounds like, it’s the candidate course. To get through the selection course, you have world class athletes, runners, swimmers, strength coaches, not to mention the bray wears there getting you ready for the selection course. And on top of getting you ready physically. They’re going to be telling you their stories about what they did, why everything is important, getting your mind right, getting you used to our attention to detail, our obsession with attention to detail, so that you have the best chance of success. When you hit this selection course, when you get to the selection course, it’s game on. We’re going to take away everything that you’re used to, having your sleep, your food, everything like that, not like long term. So everybody don’t freak out, but we’re going to throw you in the pool, we’re going to see what you’re made of. We’re going to peel back the layers of who you are, see how you perform, and then at the end of that, if you’re listening to this, you’re obviously going to get selected. So then you’re going to get selected. So right now it’s an open enlistment if you’re coming in off the street, and so if you get through the assessment selection course, you’re going to be a pararescue, combat control or special reconnaissance, God willing, special reconnaissance, because that’s obviously what you’re going for. After that, you’re going to go to airborne, which is you just jump out of a plane with a line attached to you, keep your feet and knees together, hit the ground. It’s pretty straightforward. You’re going to go to sear, that’s your survival school. Then you’re going to go to freefall school, where you jump out of a plane and you save your own life before you hit the ground. But before all that, you’re going to go to predive and dive. So I started with the fun stuff, but you’re going to get through selection and what you get coming out of selection is predive. I don’t know, that was rude to do what I just did, but is your introduction to being an adult. No longer is anybody telling you exactly what to do. They’re telling you when to be there. You need to be ready to go and get everything done that you need to get done in order to prepare yourself for the dive school, obviously, say after predive, you go to dive, you do everything you need to do there, and then you’re going to knock out the other fun courses after that, which are pretty simple. Before you go to the apprentice course, the apprentice course is in Pope Army Airfield, North Carolina, and that’s the first time that you’re going to see really what the job is like. So up there, you’re going be co located with the combat controllers, if you’re special reconnaissance, but that’s really where you’re going to start. Shoot, move, communicate, get your hands on some radios, get your hands on some drones, which is something that we deal with a lot. Get your hands on some long guns, and then start working with your combat control bros when it comes to the global access mission. And then what kind of happens after that? So it’s a really tough course because it’s a tough job. So one of the things that we see is sometimes people get lost in the sauce during the airborne Sear vacation time, but you’re going to have to get back together pretty quick once you get to the apprentice course, but it’s a really fun time. But then after the apprentice course, you get your beret, you’re going to be going off to Florida, and Florida is really where the magic happens. So the apprentice course is like intro to the career field. Once you go over to Florida, especially on the special reconnaissance side, I can’t speak so much to the other ones. That’s when the curtain is drawn back a little bit. Some of the classifications on some of the things that you’re going to be told are a little bit different and you’re going to see really all the different ways that we can go in there and affect to space, affecting an environment, what we can gather and what that really means and who it means something to. Yeah, the pipeline. It’s like one and a half to two and a half years depending on you and how your courses line up. But it’s going to be a really good time. It’s tough, and the attrition rate is what it is. But I will tell you right off the bat, something that I like to repeat. Most of the attrition is from people quitting. It’s not from us washing people out. So just keep that in mind if you’re looking into this. Thanks. Rent. And let’s be real here. The training never ends once the pipeline’s over. Special recon operators constantly train and refine their skills so they can be as effective as possible. For those who may be interested in joining this profession, there are a lot of hoops to jump through and requirements to meet. Plus, we’ve only just scratched the surface here. There’s still a whole lot more to learn about Air Force special warfare in general. Over at ones ready, they have over 70 years of combined special operations experience that they share on the regular. If you’re looking for a more indepth, look into what special recon is all about as well, as the other Air Force special warfare career fields, you definitely need to go check them out. The link to their channel will be in the description and pinned comment below. A huge thank you to Trent for being with us here today to help give us the breakdown of what special recon is all about. Trent, do you have any closing thoughts on special recon and for anyone who may be interested in joining? So all that being said, you’re out there, you’re looking at career fields, you’re looking at green brays, rangers, seals, all these other things. Why would I go Air Force special warfare? That’s something we get a lot over on the ones ready side. And I would say is there are a lot more of those other guys than there are of us. And so if you think about it, if you put in perspective of, hey, I need something to happen in area a and it’s super hot, the ods of an air force guy being there are 100%. The ods. You being on the SEAL team or the ODA or the Ranger team that goes there are not nearly as high. So we are the force multipliers. We’re the folks that go out there with a specialty skill set to get things done. And we’re not always enablers as well, especially on the special reconnaissance side. We work in phase zero of warfare. We’re going to get out there ahead of anything going kinetic. And this is just me hanging out with my younger guys and all this other stuff. I don’t think that there’s a better career field to be a part of in the Air Force right now. I love combat control and my PJ bros and my Tac P bros and obviously, and all that. I know the special reconnaissance guys, I know the younger guys coming up. I know all the things that they’re doing, and it’s a pretty ride. What their capabilities are, all the things that they’re involved in. And you’re still in the Air Force, so it’s pretty awesome. So I can’t recommend it enough. Obviously, I’m at the end of my career, and I’m really excited to see where the career field goes and where these guys that are much better than I ever was are able to take the career field. So, yeah, y’all, thanks for having me on. Love the channel and especially the voice. I just can’t get enough of it. So if y’all have questions about Air Force special warfare or anything like that, head on over to ones ready onesready.com. Pick our brains. It’s just the three of us. We answer most of the questions that come through as long as they’re not super ridiculous and I hope you’ll have a great day. Later, Trent, it was a pleasure having you here with us man. Much appreciated. Again, make sure to go show ones ready some love for taking some time to be with us here today. If you’re fired up to join Air Force special warfare, your first step is getting into ift shape. Make sure to go watch our in depth video on it and begin your journey today. Scan the QR code on screen or go to the link in the description below along with our social media accounts. Well, that is the down and dirty of Air Force special reconnaissance. If you learned something from this video, make sure to give us a like and subscribe to our channel. As always, thank you for watching. Do you even want to be here? A special thank you to all of our supporters in our Patreon and YouTube membership. 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