The Typical Special Ops “Operator”

What do you think of when you hear Spec Ops Operator? Beards, Heckler & Koch MK 23s and HK416s? Well maybe a guy with a black Under Armour T-shirt with an OD brown operator hat instead.
On the serious side, US SOCOM (Special Operation Command) have just released their 2018 Fact Book,
Inside the new Fact Book are a run down of SOCOM Medal of Honor recipients, Bull Simons Award winners and Commando Hall of Honor inductees as well as breakdowns of SOCOM’s many, many sub-commands including JSOC, MARSOC, USASOC, AFSOC and NSWC functions and capabilities.

The insightful part of the Fact Book that piqued my interest was ‘The Typical Operator’ section.
This short section highlights bullet points describing the demographic of the average ‘operator’:

• – Is married and has at least two kids
• – Average age is 29 years-old enlisted; 34 years-old officer
• – Has eight years experience in the general purpose forces
• – Receives cultural and language training
• – Has attended multiple advanced tactical schools
• – Enjoys games which require problem solving like chess
• – Is well educated and likely to have a college degree
• – Is a thinking athlete – water polo, track, wrestling or football

Here’s a lighter humorous view of what an Operator looks like from Youtuber Matt of MBest11X:

• Bearded, sporting a body armour, operator hat with shades
• Possess an advanced weapon system
  
• Check out the video, there’s more to it than customizing the M4 weapon system

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO1M7VNrmu8&t=29s

Sources: DailyNews, TFB, MBest11X Youtube