Think about a Green Beret. Most people imagine a guy in a high-cut helmet, somewhere in the mountains of Afghanistan or the jungles of the Philippines, active-duty Army through and through. They don’t usually picture a guy who works as a high school physics teacher or a corporate lawyer from Monday to Friday. But that’s the reality for the 19th and 20th Special Forces Groups. These are the National Guard Special Forces units, and frankly, they are one of the most misunderstood assets in the entire U.S. military.
It sounds like a contradiction. Part-time commandos?
Actually, the "part-time" label is a bit of a joke within the community. You can't just "part-time" your way through the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC). The standards are identical to the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 10th Special Forces Groups on the active side. If you fail a land navigation course or a rucksack march in the North Carolina woods, the Army doesn't care if you're National Guard or active duty. You’re just out.
The Maturity Gap and Why It Matters
Here is what most people get wrong about these units. They think the Guard is a "lite" version of the regular Army. In the world of Special Forces, it’s often the opposite. The average age in a National Guard Special Forces ODA (Operational Detachment Alpha, or "A-Team") is usually higher than in active duty teams.
Experience is the real currency here.
While an active-duty Green Beret might be 24 years old and incredibly fit, a National Guard Green Beret might be 35, with three combat deployments already under his belt and a decade of experience as a civil engineer or a police officer in his civilian life. This creates a massive advantage in Unconventional Warfare. If your mission is to go into a foreign country and help rebuild a local power grid while training a resistance force, do you want the 22-year-old who knows how to shoot, or the 35-year-old who knows how to shoot and understands how a municipal power grid actually works?
It’s about the "warrior-statesman" archetype. National Guard SF operators bring a level of professional diversity that is basically impossible to replicate in a purely military environment.
How the 19th and 20th Groups Are Built
The 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is headquartered in Draper, Utah. Its battalions are spread across places like Washington, West Virginia, Ohio, and Colorado. Then you have the 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne), headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, with units in Florida, Mississippi, and North Carolina.
These guys aren't just doing "one weekend a month." That’s a recruiter’s myth for the general Guard. Special Forces teams in the Guard are constantly training. They have to maintain the same jump currency, the same shooting proficiency, and the same language skills as their active-duty counterparts. Honestly, it’s a logistical nightmare for their families. They are often away for weeks at a time for schools or specialized training rotations at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC).
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The Brutal Reality of the Pipeline
Let’s talk about the Q-Course. This is the Special Forces Qualification Course. To even get there, a National Guard candidate has to pass Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS).
There is no "Guard-only" selection.
You go to Fort Moore (formerly Benning) or Fort Liberty (formerly Bragg) and you suffer alongside the active-duty guys. You carry the same 60-pound ruck. You sleep in the same dirt. You deal with the same sleep deprivation. According to data from the U.S. Army Special Operations Recruiting Command (USAREC), the attrition rate for SFAS consistently hovers around 60% to 70%.
National Guard candidates often have a higher success rate than active-duty soldiers. Why? Because most Guard guys are "Rep 63" candidates (non-prior service) or prior-service guys who have been training specifically for this for years. They aren't just some 18-year-old who saw a cool poster; they are often professionals who have spent months or years prepping their bodies and minds for the specific rigors of the SF pipeline.
The Conflict of Two Worlds
Living as a National Guard Special Forces operator is a constant balancing act. Imagine you’re at your desk on a Tuesday, arguing with a client about a contract. On Thursday, you get a call. You’re being activated for a deployment to Northern Africa.
You have to tell your boss, "I’m leaving for six months."
Legally, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) protects their jobs, but the social and professional strain is real. It’s hard to stay on the partner track at a law firm when you’re spending three months in a desert training foreign paratroopers. This creates a specific kind of soldier—someone who is exceptionally good at time management and transition. They can flip the switch from "civilian professional" to "elite operator" faster than almost anyone else in the military.
Missions You Never Hear About
When people think of Special Forces, they think of direct action—kicking in doors. While Green Berets do that, their primary mission is Foreign Internal Defense (FID) and Unconventional Warfare (UW).
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National Guard SF units are heavily utilized for these missions because of their regional alignments. The 20th Group, for example, often focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean. Many of its members are fluent in Spanish or Portuguese. They build long-term relationships with foreign militaries. Because these Guard guys stay in the same unit for decades—unlike active-duty soldiers who move every three years—they often work with the same foreign partners over and over again.
A 19th Group Sergeant First Class might have been training the same group of Thai soldiers for fifteen years on and off. That kind of institutional memory is priceless for U.S. foreign policy.
The Cost of the Green Beret
We shouldn't romanticize this too much. The "Quiet Professional" lifestyle takes a heavy toll. Divorce rates in the Special Forces community are notoriously high, and the National Guard isn't immune. In fact, some argue it's harder for the Guard. They don’t live on a base like Fort Campbell or Fort Lewis. They are often isolated in civilian communities where nobody understands what they do. Their neighbors just think they go away for "drill" once a month. They don't realize their neighbor is actually a highly trained sniper or a medical specialist capable of performing field surgery.
There is also the physical breakdown. Special Forces training destroys knees, backs, and shoulders. While an active-duty soldier can go to the base clinic every morning, a Guard member has to manage their injuries while working a 9-to-5. It requires a level of self-discipline that is frankly exhausting just to think about.
Why Does the Guard Even Have Special Forces?
It’s a fair question. Why not just make them all active duty?
The answer lies in the "Total Force" concept. After the Vietnam War, the U.S. military realized it couldn't sustain long-term conflicts without the support of the American public. By putting high-demand units like Special Forces in the National Guard, the military ensures that if the country goes to war, the "citizen-soldier" goes too. It keeps the military connected to the civilian population.
Also, it’s a massive cost-saving measure. The Army gets to keep a highly trained Green Beret on the books for a fraction of the cost of an active-duty soldier. They only pay for full-time service when the soldier is deployed or in training. It’s essentially a "break glass in case of war" elite force that is actually being used every single day for missions around the globe.
Getting Into the 19th or 20th Group
If you’re looking to join, you don't just walk into a recruiter's office and sign a paper. Well, you can, but it’s a bad idea.
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Most successful candidates go through a "SFRE"—a Special Forces Readiness Evaluation. This is a 2-to-3-day "mini-selection" hosted by the Guard units themselves. They beat you down, test your fitness, and see if you have the mental grit to not quit when things get miserable. If you pass the SFRE, the unit will sponsor you to go to the actual SFAS.
It’s a way for the units to filter out the "dreamers" before wasting the government’s money. If you can’t handle a weekend in Utah or Alabama with the SFRE instructors, you aren't going to survive three weeks at Hoffman.
The Future of the National Guard Special Forces
As the U.S. shifts its focus toward "Great Power Competition" with countries like China and Russia, the role of the National Guard Special Forces is actually expanding. Unconventional Warfare—the bread and butter of the Green Berets—is more relevant now than it was during the height of the War on Terror.
The ability to operate in the "gray zone"—the space between peace and open conflict—is something the Guard is uniquely suited for. Their civilian skills in cyber security, engineering, and law enforcement are exactly what’s needed to counter non-traditional threats.
The 19th and 20th Groups aren't just backups. They are frontline players.
Actionable Steps for Potential Candidates
If you are actually considering this path, stop reading Reddit threads and do these three things:
- Find your nearest SFRE: Don't wait until you're "perfectly fit." You’ll never be. Contact a Special Forces recruiter for the 19th or 20th Group and ask when their next readiness evaluation is. It’s the only way to know if you have the baseline.
- Ruck, don't just run: Most people fail selection because their feet or backs give out. Start carrying weight. Slowly. Don't blow out your knees in your driveway, but get used to moving 45+ pounds over long distances.
- Audit your life: Special Forces in the National Guard is a lifestyle choice. Talk to your spouse. Talk to your boss. If they aren't on board with you disappearing for months at a time, you will fail, even if you’re a physical specimen. The mental strain of a failing home life is the number one reason guys "VW" (Voluntarily Withdraw) from the course.
The National Guard Special Forces offer a unique, brutal, and incredibly rewarding path. It’s the only place in the world where you can be a pillar of your local community and a member of the world’s most elite unconventional warfare force at the same time. Just don't expect it to be easy. It isn't.