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"No matter what I do, I am looking to be the best," said Specialist Lukasz Herbst, 3rd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group. "Being Special Forces presents the greatest test, something that is physically, mentally and academically challenging."
Herbst, a native of Poland and now a United States citizen, enlisted in the Army as part of the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest, or MAVNI. Along with 27 other U.S. Soldiers with native ties to Africa and Europe, he is part of the 10th SF Group MAVNI Program, which is designed to train and prepare the Soldiers for duty in Special Forces, Civil Affairs, Military Information Support Operations or other roles with special-operations forces, or SOF.
Since July, members of the 3rd Battalion, 10th SF Group, have established the program that will prepare those individuals for a SOF- related job. The program is designed to prepare them both physically and mentally as well as placing them on SF teams to gain knowledge for the road ahead.
"There is a lot of value added to having them with the SF teams as we tap into other areas of the world," said an SF captain. "When that Soldier can talk to guys in this community and tap into that resource, they're telling him what's important to prepare for. On the flip side, that Soldier is serving as a translator and an asset for the team while they conduct training exercises in other countries."
As assets, two of the Soldiers have deployed with SF ?-detachments in African countries to conduct joint training exercises. Five other Soldiers will have the same opportunity in the coming months, and five others are currently serving in Iraq.
The candidates come from various cultures and backgrounds; however, most of them hold bachelor's degrees from wellknown colleges, speak multiple languages and dialects and were top athletes at some point in their lives. Also of note, 19...