FORT LEE, Va. (July 9, 2015) -- After spending eight of his 11 years in the Army with infantry units -- three of which took him to the deserts of Southwest Asia -- health care specialist Sgt. Edgar Ripoll clearly deserves the title of combat medic. With that many miles with a ruck sack on his back, however, he would be more accurately described as a grunt with a stethoscope.
Informalities aside, the 31-year-old is currently assigned to the 23rd Quartermaster Brigade where he provides medical support for its end-of-cycle field training exercise. It's great work, he said, but it's not grunt work, not what he is used to, not where he wants to be, not enough of a challenge.
"I feel my place in joining the military is helping others, especially in those environments where most people don't want to go," he said. "Everyone wants to practice medicine where it's safe, in a hospital, but what about the guys at the point of entry? What about bringing those guys home? They need someone there as physically capable as they are who can treat them."
That ambition, cultivated over his combat tours, moved Ripoll to ponder, then act to join the U.S. Army Special Forces or what's commonly known as the Green Berets. He completed in September the first phase of the SF Qualification Course or SF Assessment and Selection, which has a near 60-percent failure rate according to Globalsecurity.org. That makes it an achievement about which only a small few can boast.
"Out of a class of 400 I was in, only 150 made it," he said of the 24-day phase. "That's way less than 50 percent."
The accomplishment doesn't surprise Ripoll's supervisor, Staff Sgt. Raul Aguilar, medical operations noncommissioned officer in charge, 23rd QM Bde. G-3. "He's a high-speed Soldier in the sense that he's motivated to try harder in being more technically and tactically proficient. Physically, the average fitness of a Soldier isn't enough for him. He's got to go get himself more. He's just always looking to be better."
SFAS, which features a one-mile obstacle course called "Nasty Nick" and up to a 32-mile road march," is a litmus test of sorts for the "Q" course. Even though the numbers say he has a better chance to make it compared to SFAS, he is by no means assuming graduation is a foregone conclusion.
"At SFAS, they let us know 'that a lot of you who were selected for the Q course will not advance through the Q course -- whether its due to injury, something you weren't your best at, etcetera,'" he recalled.
There is a near 65-percent pass rate for the Q course, according to Globalsecurity.org.
The SF Qualification Course -- which can run from one to two years depending on the required language training -- prepares Soldiers to undertake several missions not routinely performed by conventional forces to include foreign internal defense and counter-terrorism. Ripoll said there is an element of danger to what SF Soldiers do but feels it is no greater than those assigned to conventional units, and to some degree, it is less.
"With a smaller group of people who know what they want to do, who want to be there and who are highly trained, I feel that actually lessens some of the dangers involved," he said.
Operationally, SF units are organized into 12-man units called Operational Detachment -- Alphas commanded by a captain and comprised of an executive officer and 10 sergeants. Collectively, they are geographically oriented -- trained to speak native languages and complemented by a deep knowledge of local cultures. Ripoll said his combat tours have convinced him the SF approach to mission accomplishment has a greater impact on the big picture.
"SF provides the opportunity to get down to the culture and interact more with the people," he said, noting there's more to warfare than pulling a trigger. "You get a sense of why people do it. Some people out there are not evil; they literally have no choice."
Aside from the duty aspects of going SF, there are other benefits of being a member of the corps of Soldiers called America's "Quiet Professionals." Upward mobility is one, said Ripoll, noting a Special Forces medical sergeant is a title that conveys accomplishment. The Q course medical training includes a stint at a civilian hospital trauma unit and is arguably the most arduous among the four military occupational specialties that make up the SF ranks.
"It lets you know there will be a high degree of specialty placed on you," he said, "and rank comes with that. I read an article in the Army Times that said the promotion rates of 18D (to E-7) is 80-something percent. Unless you mess up or something, you're almost guaranteed a promotion."
Though there are plenty of benefits to donning the Green Beret, there is a downside. Washing out can sometimes define a career or cause a lingering psychological impact, said Ripoll, but failure is a guest he never invites.
"I don't think about failure," he said. "I just think about what has to done and just do it. It's just about putting the thought aside, looking straight ahead and be like 'That's where I got to go and this is what I've got to do.'"
As Ripoll trains for the Q course (he works out nearly two hours daily in addition to unit physical training requirements), he does so with the support of his family. His wife, he said, is wholeheartedly behind the idea of raising the bar.
"She believes you have to chase your goals," he said. "You don't want to go through life thinking 'I could've done this' and you turn back later on and say, 'Man, why didn't I do it' or at least make the effort? She feels that if she had a goal and I said, 'Nah, don't do it,' she would feel like 'this is something I really want to pursue.' She would like me to have her back like she has mine."
Ripoll said that if he makes it through the Q course, he will eventually want to submit an application to be a military physician's assistant. His journey to become an elite Soldier with a stethoscope starts in roughly three weeks.
