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SFQC > Robin Sage
The Army Special Forces Qualification Course
(SFQC) culminates in an unconventional warfare exercise known as
Robin Sage. Robin Sage has been the concluding event of the
Special Forces course for over 40 years - beginning in 1974. It is held in central North
Carolina in the fictional country called "Pineland". [1]

Student in Robin Sage UW Exercise - a culminating event in the Special
Forces
Qualification Course (SFQC) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
(Photo credit: SGT Derek Kuhn, 40th Public Affairs Detachment, 22 Sep
2010).
The Robin Sage exercise is preceded with
instruction on unconventional warfare. The Special Forces students
learn the components and nuances of
unconventional warfare to include guerrila warfare, insurgency,
sabotage and subversion. As a result of their knowledge of how to conduct
unconventional warfare, operate in the "Gray Zone", and provide support to insurgents Special Forces
Soldiers are ideally suited to be deployed to conflicts involving
counterinsurgency.
The students begin the exercise with a mission
planning phase that will last several days. The students are organized
into 12-man operational detachments and assigned planning and living areas
where they do their mission analysis, preparation, planning and
coordination. This mission analysis is commonly referred to as
"isolation". They review their operations order and formulate their
plans for infiltration into "Pineland", establishing contact with a
resistance force, training the resistance force (or guerrillas,
underground, and auxialiary), and the conduct of follow-on combat
operations.
The exercise takes part over a large area of North
Carolina and has the support of many of the local communities. In
fact, many civilians in the exercise area play the part of guerrillas,
supporters, and leaders of the resistance. The exercise area sometimes
includes as many as fifteen different counties in central North Carolina.
Websites, Publications and Documents about Robin
Sage
"World's Foremost Unconventional Warfare Exercise Turns 35",
Special Warfare Magazine, March - April 2009, Volume 22, Issue 2
(Adobe Acrobat pdf file). Accessed October 2011 on DVIDS publication
website.
Robin Sage. by GlobalSecurity.org
www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/robin-sage.htm
Robin Sage. by Jed Babbin of National Review Online.
November 20, 2003.
"The Relevancy of Robin Sage", Special Warfare Magazine, Volume
29, Issue 2, July - December 2016, pages 30-37.
www.soc.mil/swcs/SWmag/archive/SW2902/JUL-Dec_2016.pdf
News Articles about Robin Sage
May 9, 2017.
"Pineland Role Players Show Importance of Popular in UW", by Steve
Balestrieri, Special Operations.com.
May 8, 2017.
"Robin Sage, Prospective SF Students Should Study Up on Pineland", by
Steve Balestrieri, Special Operations.com.
December 2016.
"The Relevancy of Robin Sage", by Major Adam Woytowich, Special
Warfare Magazine, pages 30 -37.
July 6, 2016.
"Robin Sage
- Unconventional Warfare Exercise", by John Friberg, SOFREP.com.
October 22, 2011.
"Embedded in Robin Sage". Richmond County Daily Journal.
October 12, 2011.
"Robin Sage returns". The Laurinburg Exchange.
September 22, 2011.
"Soldiers weather Robin Sage for green berets". Paraglide.
August 22, 2011.
"Pineland". Real Combat Life.
July 22, 2011.
"Robin Sage Training Exercise Starts Sunday". The Pilot.
April 18, 2011.
"Robin Sage: Special Forces' Final Exam". Fayetteville, NC
Observer - posted on Military.com.
April 17, 2011.
"Robin Sage contractors may lose their jobs". Fayetteville
Observer.
December 2010.
"Robin Sage Liberates Pineland". Military Training Technology.
October 14, 2010.
"U.S. forces to liberate Pineland during Robin Sage exercise".
The Dispatch.
July 30, 2010.
"Candidates strive to earn Green Beret during 'Robin Sage' exercise".
Army.mil.
July 4, 2009.
"Fake nation tests tomorrow's Special Forces". USA Today.
2009.
"Local 'Pinelanders' featured in magazine". Richmond County
Daily Journal.
2009.
"Civilians can cash in on troop training". Richmond County Daily
Journal.
June 10, 2007.
"A few More Good Men". U.S. News & World Report.
September 20, 2004.
"Summer Training 2004: Airborne School and Robin Sage". The John
Hopkins University Gazette.
March 3, 2002.
"Special Forces take training efforts in 'Pineland' seriously".
Salisbury Post.
February 27, 2002.
"Army's Reality Game Takes a Deadly Turn". Los Angeles Times.
Videos about Robin Sage
November 8, 2015. "Becoming a Green Beret", 13
minute long video about Robin Sage by Alex Quade.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSBGXY6GkZM
September 5, 2010.
"Special Warfare Traiing Group Conducts Robin Sage". Defense Talk.
September 1, 2010.
"Special Warfare Training Group Conducts Robin Sage". YouTube
(Military News Network).
November 12, 2009.
"Robin Sage". You Tube (Army SF PAO).
December 2006.
"Special Forces Training: Robin Sage". Military Times.
Endnotes
[1] Prior to Robin Sage there were other UW
exercises as the culminating event for the Special Forces Qualification
Course. These were named Gobbler Woods and Cherokee Trail.
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