SFAAT

[rero360]

As the title suggests, I recently learned that I am going to head to Afghanistan sometime next year to be part of an SFAAT team as the NCOIC and Fires NCO. Keep in mind I've only been 13F qualified for about 2 years, just became JFO certified and have never been to Afghanistan.

My questions are, has anyone here been on an SFAAT team, or have any experience with Afghanistan with suggestions or pointers for me to make it back? With all recent green on blue incidents it leaves me with an uneasy feeling about it all.

All in all I feel extremely out of my element and unsure of even what skills and all that I should be focusing my attention on honing.

Heck, I don't even know if I'll be medically deployable what with the heart surgery last spring and the motorcycle crash this spring, the ankle is still weak. SRE is in two weeks or so, so there's the chance that I'm stressing out over nothing.

[rero360]

Thanks cavtrooper, I've been in contact with one of the LTs in the team that is acting as the go between between the higher ups and me and thusly the other lower enlisted. He really hasn't given much info other that a training schedule and a link to an FM regarding working as an advisor and all that but it really didn't give me any info regarding what I'm actually going to be doing.

I gave the LT a list of FO and JFO specific equipment that I'll need to do that job right, not sure what the duties of being the NCOIC is going to be, heck I was just a team leader a year ago and now I'm being tapped to be an NCOIC in a combat zone, intimidating to the Max.

I also requested to be issued a pistol and have every intention of carrying it 24/7 loaded, safety off and hammer down, I'll sleep with it.

[Matt1984]

What ever happened to OPSEC? I know its lame sometimes to think about it, but honestly we don't know who comes on these forums

[rero360]

And what sort of sensitive information can been gathered from our posts? There are no names other than mine, no units, dates locations, other than country, no TTPs, any real important info can be transmitted thru PMs so that's not a concern. Its all pretty ambiguous here.

[brando]

I agree, this is a conversation best done offline.

[Matt1984]

LoL. We got tapped with the same mission recently, fixing to deploy and we still arent sure what the heck SFAT is. Weve come up with several ideas... Special Forces Action Team... Stupid Fat And Tired... just to name a few. As our acronym suggests, theres only one "A" in our SFAT.

Our team has been talking to the team that we will be replacing and from what we have gathered, theres absolutely nothing going on since the joint ops standdown has been put in place, but once it gets going again, we figure we are all gonna die from a blue on green incident. Thewhole thing seems like a huge setup for failure.

Good luck!

ETA... Oh yeah, we are set to deploy very shortly (we have flights lined up and everything has been shipped) but still havent seen any orders. We deployed a PRT SECFOR team recently and they didnt get their orders until they were on the bus headed to the airport! Im not sure why that is but if I had to guess, Id say it has to do with it being an election year and its better to keep these quiet when you are trying to get reelected.

That right there is a prime example of an OPSEC violation, and kinda sad you guys think I am trying to bash on you guys. Just saying NCO to NCO watch what you guys say online. PM each other, and who says go do push-ups at the end of their convo?!?!? I'm not even going to get into that. Just was trying to make you guys aware

[brando]

Missing the point - this is not the kind of stuff you talk about on a public forum. It may not be breaking any rules, but it's definitely wandering into questionable territory. Forward this to your S2/J2 and see what they say?

[Matt1984]

Please put a date with "very shortly". Is it this month, next month, next year? You don't know and neither does anyone else hell you can get more info from army times then we have given here. BTW ask me about the "baseball cards" we are sending to the afghans before we deploy.

Look I am not asking anything this is childish, obviously you do get what I am trying to tell you. So I am not going to sit here and try to argue a point. Good luck with whatever it is you do.

[CavTrooper]

Go ahead and fix your posts now boys.

[Scuba Steve33]

I'm against OPSEC as much as the next guy but this is ridiculous. I guarantee if I knew their unit I could find much more detail than they are giving. Lighten up. The Army Times probably already published the rest of the scheduled deployments for this year. What could someone have gained from these posts? Americans are going to Afghanistan? No ****ing ****.

Rero, I was going to ask if you knew what province (or at least RC) you were headed to out of curiosity (you too Cav) but I don't want people to freak out. However, if you wanted items sent to you the location of the address shows it all the same.

My best friend was my platoon's FO. After we got back they switched the FOs to battalion level instead of being entirely attached with the line platoons. Now he's in a COLT team. He gets out in a few months but I can ask him if knows anything on SFAAT. I dunno if he does I'll let ya know.

[Milspec714]

I'm against OPSEC as much as the next guy but this is ridiculous. I guarantee if I knew their unit I could find much more detail than they are giving. Lighten up. The Army Times probably already published the rest of the scheduled deployments for this year. What could someone have gained from these posts? Americans are going to Afghanistan? No ****ing ****.

EXACTLY.... Perfectly said...

[laabstract]

I'm against OPSEC as much as the next guy but this is ridiculous. I guarantee if I knew their unit I could find much more detail than they are giving. Lighten up. The Army Times probably already published the rest of the scheduled deployments for this year. What could someone have gained from these posts? Americans are going to Afghanistan? No ****ing ****.

I agree, Lighten up, units go in and out of Afghanistan all the time. He didnt give any specifics.

[infantry_11x]

Has anybody heard anything about A. Co 1/184 IN? I'm headed there at the beginning of next year and can't find anything online about them.

[Scuba Steve33]

Has anybody heard anything about A. Co 1/184 IN? I'm headed there at the beginning of next year and can't find anything online about them.

Have you graduated basic yet?

My buddy doesn't know anything about SFAAT Rero, sorry.

[chris]

What ever happened to OPSEC? I know its lame sometimes to think about it, but honestly we don't know who comes on these forums

i have mentioned the same and was laughed at. really no one cares. that is the sad part.