# Clip 038 | Delta Force Operator Training Course

An episode of [Former Action Guys Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1475060182), 30 Jul 2024, 10 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/60865715/robert_keller_delta_force_operator.mp3

Robert Keller is a former Army Ranger, Green Beret, and Delta Force Operator. Robert now owns Range Werx Florida and provides tactics instruction across the country. Support the show https://www.jcramergraphics.com https://www.ANGLICOshop.com https://www.patreon.com/formeractionguys Robert's site https://www.rangewerx.com/

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Once you finished selection and now you're going through OTC.
[0:02] Speaker 1: How much different was OTC than you thought it was?
[0:05] Speaker 1: Or was it exactly you know what you expected?
[0:08] Speaker 2: No, that that I didn't. I didn't have much information
[0:11] Speaker 2: on on that. So that was that was all day
[0:16] Speaker 2: to day learn how it was. I think that was
[0:20] Speaker 2: one of those things like I talked about in my classes.
[0:24] Speaker 2: OTC was so it's all it's it's basically all shooting
[0:28] Speaker 2: and CPV, but it's all it's all the basic stuff.
[0:33] Speaker 2: Especially starting out I was. I was actually very disappointed,
[0:39] Speaker 2: which which ended up being the best thing ever, like
[0:41] Speaker 2: to actually be able to experience this and be forced
[0:44] Speaker 2: to do the basic boring stuff. Yeah, you get there.
[0:49] Speaker 2: You kind of hear stories of what happens, you know,
[0:51] Speaker 2: behind the fence. You know, it's it's a big, big mystery.
[0:55] Speaker 2: These are the best, the best, like ghosts, right, no
[0:58] Speaker 2: one knows, no one knows about them. So when you
[1:01] Speaker 2: make it and you get selected, you're like, oh, yeah,
[1:04] Speaker 2: like I'm going to learn some ninja stuff, like you know,
[1:07] Speaker 2: like I'm going to be doing stuff that no one
[1:09] Speaker 2: knows about, you know. And then and then you start
[1:11] Speaker 2: the shooting program and you're doing dry fire, you know,
[1:15] Speaker 2: like you're doing day one basic stuff. So and I
[1:20] Speaker 2: like me coming from Range RETI SF and having a deployment,
[1:24] Speaker 2: like I'm like, I already know how to do this stuff.
[1:26] Speaker 2: I want to learn how to do. I want to
[1:27] Speaker 2: do CQV I want to I want to shoot from helicopters,
[1:29] Speaker 2: I want to shoot from vehicles, Like I'm here to
[1:32] Speaker 2: do the crazy stuff.
[1:33] Speaker 1: Yeah for sure.
[1:35] Speaker 2: So so it is. It's it's actually the almost the
[1:39] Speaker 2: whole time, not not that it's not badass, but you're
[1:44] Speaker 2: actually disappointed because you're especially the first three months, you're
[1:49] Speaker 2: doing all basic, basic stuff. They're starting you back at
[1:52] Speaker 2: back at scratch day one stuff, you know, drive fire drills,
[1:56] Speaker 2: ready up drills before you even go into a shootouts,
[1:59] Speaker 2: and then shootouts you're doing cub book answer. I mean slow,
[2:03] Speaker 2: slow stuff like you're not you're not cruising through like
[2:06] Speaker 2: you see in the videos. So like like almost every
[2:10] Speaker 2: day you're kind of disappointing, like when are we gonna
[2:12] Speaker 2: do the cool stuff? But what it all comes down
[2:16] Speaker 2: and play, like like learning the basics stuff and like
[2:21] Speaker 2: the basic boring stuff over and over. You're forced to
[2:25] Speaker 2: do that, and I mean you're you're in the fear
[2:27] Speaker 2: of your job every day, like you can get cut
[2:29] Speaker 2: any day. So I mean, you're doing that basic boring
[2:33] Speaker 2: stuff the best you can do, you know, so you're
[2:36] Speaker 2: actually paying attention, you're actually trying to do that. Like
[2:39] Speaker 2: whatever they're telling you to do, you're doing it the
[2:40] Speaker 2: best that you can do it. So you're learning, even
[2:42] Speaker 2: though you're pissed, you're still you're still learning the basics,
[2:45] Speaker 2: but you're doing it so many reps that it's it's
[2:47] Speaker 2: just getting ingrained in your body, it's getting grained in
[2:50] Speaker 2: your head. So ultimately, when it comes down to you
[2:53] Speaker 2: actually starting to do CUB like me for that that
[2:56] Speaker 2: light bulb moment when I finally realized on training what
[3:00] Speaker 2: she works like, you start doing CP, start going overseas
[3:04] Speaker 2: and doing it for real again. To getting gunfights. All
[3:07] Speaker 2: that basic boring stuff that you did for hours and
[3:10] Speaker 2: hours and hours and tens of thousands of rounds that
[3:13] Speaker 2: is now muscle memory, train response, or it's it's on autopilot.
[3:19] Speaker 2: So when it comes down to like being in a gunfight,
[3:21] Speaker 2: one hundred percent of my my focus can be on
[3:24] Speaker 2: the gunfight. I don't have to worry about where my
[3:26] Speaker 2: finger goes on the trigger. I don't have to worry
[3:28] Speaker 2: about going on fire. I don't have to worry about
[3:30] Speaker 2: going back on safe. I don't have to worry worry
[3:32] Speaker 2: about where my left hand goes on the rifle. That
[3:35] Speaker 2: is all happening on autopilot, So I don't have to
[3:38] Speaker 2: think about that. I don't have to think about the shooting.
[3:40] Speaker 2: I don't have to think about getting cract side picture.
[3:42] Speaker 2: I can be looking at looking at hands, I can
[3:44] Speaker 2: be looking at the situation in front of me. So
[3:48] Speaker 2: it was so going back to what you asked, OTC
[3:51] Speaker 2: was kind of disappointing as you're going through it for
[3:54] Speaker 2: me because it was it was it was day one stuff.
[3:57] Speaker 2: It was just you're doing it so many reps, and
[4:00] Speaker 2: you're doing it more accurate, and you're doing it more
[4:03] Speaker 2: efficient and faster than everyone else. Even though it's basic,
[4:06] Speaker 2: boring stuff. It's it's ultimately getting you two gunfights. And
[4:10] Speaker 2: that's what a lot of people don't understand. Civilians that shoot.
[4:13] Speaker 2: They all want to do the cool guy stuff, and
[4:15] Speaker 2: me included, like I wanted to do the cool stuff,
[4:19] Speaker 2: but by being forced to do that because it was
[4:22] Speaker 2: an OTC, unbelievable experience like to now I'm not even
[4:30] Speaker 2: close to where I was when I was operational, but
[4:33] Speaker 2: when I was operational. But it finally it made sense.
[4:36] Speaker 2: The basic boring stuff matters, and that's basically what OTC is.
[4:40] Speaker 2: Even though you're getting to do cool stuff, you're still
[4:42] Speaker 2: doing it kind of book answer.
[4:44] Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, that brilliance is in the basics is like
[4:47] Speaker 1: it's awesome, and it's a common common theme. You know,
[4:50] Speaker 1: nobody cares if you know how to do the most
[4:53] Speaker 1: one off thing that may happen one time in your
[4:56] Speaker 1: entire career when you can do it, maybe in.
[4:59] Speaker 2: A gun fight, that one off you know, you train,
[5:02] Speaker 2: you train for your constant, you know, and that's bringing
[5:04] Speaker 2: the gun up, getting side picture, pulling trigger, which is
[5:07] Speaker 2: which that's where it is. So yeah, it was. It
[5:10] Speaker 2: was a good experience and and just just to be
[5:13] Speaker 2: able to do that because if if I would have
[5:16] Speaker 2: been training on my own, like pre nine to eleven,
[5:18] Speaker 2: I was one of those guys that went to the
[5:20] Speaker 2: range and did the running gun and stuff, you know,
[5:22] Speaker 2: doing the burpies and then shooting, running over hills and
[5:25] Speaker 2: then shooting doing all the like the cool cool guys
[5:28] Speaker 2: stuff and setting up targets to where I are setting
[5:31] Speaker 2: up situations where I thought would be a gun fight
[5:34] Speaker 2: because I'd never been a gunfight. That's that's how I
[5:36] Speaker 2: was training. I thought I needed to train all the
[5:39] Speaker 2: all the wazoo stuff, which which ultimately what you need
[5:42] Speaker 2: to be training on is your constant bring the gun up,
[5:44] Speaker 2: getting side pitched, pull the trigger. But like how many
[5:46] Speaker 2: how many civilians have the discipline to go the range
[5:50] Speaker 2: and do ready up drills for five hours. No one's
[5:54] Speaker 2: gonna do that because they wanted they want to do reloads.
[5:56] Speaker 2: They wanted they want to move and shoot. They want
[5:58] Speaker 2: to do the running gun and stuff, you know, to
[6:01] Speaker 2: get on the clock and do the fucking the fast,
[6:04] Speaker 2: fancy stuff. That's not what That's not what matters is
[6:07] Speaker 2: in a good fight, No matters. I mean, you needed
[6:09] Speaker 2: to be fast sometimes, but it's it's always comes on
[6:13] Speaker 2: to accuracy, knowing what you're shooting at.
[6:16] Speaker 1: Tom Satterley was saying kind of the same thing. He's like,
[6:19] Speaker 1: you know, we trained so much in the basics. He's like,
[6:22] Speaker 1: I can shoot you and the next guy next to
[6:24] Speaker 1: you while thinking about something that's going on over here,
[6:26] Speaker 1: because it's it's just so you know, it's just part
[6:29] Speaker 1: of it now, like I've done it so many times
[6:31] Speaker 1: exactly right like that, it's I don't even think about it.
[6:34] Speaker 3: And I'm like, that's that's what I was saying, Like,
[6:36] Speaker 3: if if everything's on autopilot shooting wise, I can actually
[6:39] Speaker 3: be thinking of other things, I can be seeing other
[6:42] Speaker 3: things while I'm shooting, just like you said, Tom said,
[6:45] Speaker 3: that's that's exactly the Like, as I'm engaging someone on target,
[6:49] Speaker 3: I can still see or know what's.
[6:51] Speaker 2: Going on to my right, and that's how it needs
[6:53] Speaker 2: to be. But I don't I don't need to. I
[6:55] Speaker 2: don't need to be thinking about what's happening with my
[6:57] Speaker 2: gun in my hands. That's not all pilot because I
[7:00] Speaker 2: have done I had done the right thing enough times
[7:03] Speaker 2: over and over to where it's just straight up muscle
[7:06] Speaker 2: memory or rotopilot. Yeah. Yeah.
[7:08] Speaker 1: Did you ever get to a point where you kind
[7:10] Speaker 1: of look back and you're like, holy shit, I'm becoming
[7:12] Speaker 1: a really good shooter, Like I'm getting really.
[7:13] Speaker 2: Good at this.
[7:16] Speaker 1: Or are you just always striving to, you know, be
[7:18] Speaker 1: a fraction better, a little bit better every.
[7:21] Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think. No, I don't think I ever.
[7:23] Speaker 2: I don't think I ever got to the FOREMO. I
[7:24] Speaker 2: was like, oh yeah, like I'm I'm at the top
[7:26] Speaker 2: now because I was always wanting to be better. So
[7:31] Speaker 2: it's like I'll never I'll never settle for like, all right,
[7:34] Speaker 2: I'm there, Like I can always be faster, I can
[7:37] Speaker 2: always be more accurate, no matter what I mean.
[7:39] Speaker 1: That's that's gotta be the mentality of all the guys.
[7:42] Speaker 2: That's why that place is so freaking cool to be
[7:46] Speaker 2: a Most people have that same mentality. So it's like.
[7:51] Speaker 1: So it's it's like you can answer that if you
[7:54] Speaker 1: need to.
[7:55] Speaker 2: No, I don't know who that is. Yeah. No one's
[8:00] Speaker 2: striving to do the best. So it's like if if
[8:02] Speaker 2: one person is doing something this fast, everyone's gonna be
[8:05] Speaker 2: trying to do that same thing faster. You know. Like
[8:08] Speaker 2: look at the unit. There's the no one tells you
[8:10] Speaker 2: go shoot, no one tells you to go do pt
[8:13] Speaker 2: no one, no one tells you to go drive dirt
[8:16] Speaker 2: bikes like every like everyone's gonna be out there training
[8:20] Speaker 2: anyhow because no one wants to be that guy that's
[8:23] Speaker 2: the less Yeah, you know, so it's it's pretty cool
[8:28] Speaker 2: compared to like the regular army or even at range
[8:30] Speaker 2: with t and you kind of have to force people
[8:32] Speaker 2: to do pet. You have to force people to train.
[8:35] Speaker 2: You don't have to do the unit. I mean, you
[8:38] Speaker 2: could literally go in there and not shoot for a
[8:40] Speaker 2: week if you want two weeks. No one's gonna tell
[8:42] Speaker 2: you have to go shoot because no one's gonna not
[8:45] Speaker 2: do that. Yeah, it's like everyone's gonna be at the
[8:47] Speaker 2: range trying to be the best.
[8:49] Speaker 1: Because a professional is going to be in there doing
[8:51] Speaker 1: his job. Yeah, it's crazy. It's it's funny when I like,
[8:56] Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what level you're at, there's always a
[8:59] Speaker 1: spectrum best to worst within a unit. Even I like Delta,
[9:04] Speaker 1: there's still a worst shooter on the team, even though
[9:07] Speaker 1: he's probably leaps and bounds beyond anyone else in the army,
[9:10] Speaker 1: but he's still the worst guy there. That's got to
[9:13] Speaker 1: be a tough pill to swallow when you're at the top,
[9:14] Speaker 1: but you're still like, ugh, I gotta get better, you know.
[9:18] Speaker 2: But the cool thing, and that's what I think. No
[9:20] Speaker 2: one knows. No one knows how they select or what
[9:22] Speaker 2: they select for, But I think that's that's one of
[9:25] Speaker 2: the things, like, even though you might not be the
[9:27] Speaker 2: best shooter. You might be the best intel. You know,
[9:30] Speaker 2: you might not be the best intel, but you might
[9:32] Speaker 2: know how to speak a language. You know, Like everyone
[9:36] Speaker 2: has their niche. Yeah, I mean every everyone is better
[9:41] Speaker 2: than everyone else in the military shooting wise, trust me.
[9:43] Speaker 2: But yeah, if you're the low guy on the totem
[9:46] Speaker 2: pole shooting wise, you might be you might be better
[9:48] Speaker 2: than anyone else p t wise, or or you might
[9:51] Speaker 2: be able to do that intel piece better. So it's like,
[9:54] Speaker 2: even though you might you're not the best at one thing,
[9:56] Speaker 2: you might be the best at the other. But that's
[9:58] Speaker 2: that's the cool dynamic because depending on the troop and
[10:03] Speaker 2: the team, Like that's kind of what you're looking for
[10:05] Speaker 2: when you're when you're picking people and it's like, how
[10:07] Speaker 2: is he going to fit in the team, What can
[10:08] Speaker 2: he what can he add value to the team wise?
[10:11] Speaker 2: So m

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