Robin Sage: The Army Special Forces' Culminating Exercise
The 14 soldiers of ODA 9114 are two weeks away from joining the elite ranks of Special Forces and earning their Green Berets. But between them and the finish line is a two-week field test known as Robin Sage - a full-scale, all-in unconventional warfare exercise inside the notional nation of Pineland. They’ve trained to join Special Forces for over a year, but with Coffee or Die Magazine along for the mission, they’ll have 14 days to plan and infiltrate Pineland, link up with local resistance, equip and train their fighters, and attack a series of targets.
And Robin Sage is more than just an Army exercise. It sprawls across dozens of counties and hundreds of miles across rural North and South Carolina. The citizens of Pineland - and the enemy forces - are made up of hundreds of volunteers from the small towns and farms of the region. Many families have been “Pinelanders” for generations. Meet them all in the latest episode of Coffee or Die.
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After fighting the US Army Special Forces for going on 50 years, the People’s Republic of Pineland must have one of the battle hardened militaries in the world.
Militia *
Back in the 70's I was with the 82nd Airborne. Back then they used us for the opfor in Robin Sage. That was not only great training for Special Forces, it was great training for us, and probably far more realistic, as we were allowed to somewhat operate outside the script.
Right you are sir. My Father was in 2/508th PIR from 1973-76 before commanding the Pathfinders. He talked about this.
That’s awesome
They still did as of 2007 when I got out. 🤘🏼
@@The508ranger I was in Aco 2/508 1972-75 this makes me feel young again. We were an agressor force. Sure do miss it. AATW
@@airbornegrandpaw6366 ATW and Respect. My Father was a PL in 2/508th late 1973. He was there with you. You guys were commanded by LTC “Perfect Pat” Leighton. Father started pulling JM duties as a 2LT in 1974. I was born there in summer of 1974. I went to Afghanistan 🇦🇫 with 1/508th PIR in 2005-2006. RedDevils!
I love the fact of the landownwers playing resistance and letting their land be used to make our guys better. Just so awesome.
Me too. It's so badass, bet the locals either love or hate it.
Nothing badass about being such a government cuck you let the military on your property. Real patriots aren't government cucks and they're not Rothschild pawns
If it happened in China yous say this was insane.
@Zachary Robinson 3rd ammendment prevents property owners from being forced. It's all voluntary
@@Peter_Kropotkin If those chinese are too volunteered, then no problem.
Robin Sage was an amazing experience. I went through 1 1/2 times; I was injured on the infil and unable to complete training so months later I went through it. December, 1989, it was cold, wet and miserable, but the part that I remember the most is that our Gs, even though they weren’t combat arms guys, never once bitched about the weather or the living conditions.
Thank you for your service
@@Krevin1775 No, thank you. It’s the people of this country that gave me the best job in the world, paid for my ammo, explosives, deployments and everything needed to jump out of an airplane at high altitudes. I can’t imagine my life having been any better.
I must be a Kid then. What are you if you love the AR-15 platform and build, repair, tune,customize, and Cerakote them on the side as a passion and hobby? Oh, i train with them as well.
@@tangomantactical Someone that loves a great gun, and can’t stop with just one. 😎
Thank you for your service to our country 💥🇺🇸🤟
My Sociology teacher was in the Special Forces and went to Grenada(which was crazy to me cause he was off fighting the year I was being born). I loved talking to him and had great stories. Really cool guy. He was really into martial arts too and remember him giving a demonstration to the school. I can't imagine the training he got.
I was at fort Jackson SC and we were told the green trained troops we're sent to the front because we were in the best shape and ready for combat. We were not sent down there, my buddy in the navy was processing bodies in body bag's but they were not our soldiers. They were done in two weeks and we didn't hear much about it until Regan and coronal North scandal. We trained the sandaneastons, there ruck sacks were almost bigger than they were. Not a one of them was over 5-8 But they were tough as nails and new they were going home to combat.
I did Robin sage twice back in 2007 as a part of the G unit (the guerillas). On one of our first missions we had some of the Team guys with us as observers while we ambushed an enemy convoy. When the mission was done and we got back to camp we did our AAR and the Team guys with us said "The ambush was good but you guys executing all the prisoners while shooting in the air yelling VIVA LA PINELINE is not exceptable". That was an awesome mission to say the least.🤣🤣 Also Pineland day was always awesome. A nice welcome break from MREs.
Thanks for sharing!
Remember- It's not a war crime the 1st time
Theirs that 40 out of 240 not graduating right there 😂 Awesome you got to do this bro 🤘
Dude they still have G led loac ambush to this very day. It is by far my favorite part of sage. Always and uncomfortable but funny situation that allows the ODA to see exactly what to teach the guerilla force in the coming days
I earned the Green Beret in 1975. There was nothing easy about any of the training. What kept me going was the constant challenge and excitement of the entire course. Most of the instructors were Vietnam combat veterans. This was harder than Ranger School which was very exhausting. I miss my days with 7th Group!
Went through in summer of '68. Was called "Gobbler Woods" then, but was renamed back to Robin Sage later, which was the original exercise name. We infiltrated by night parachute jump and were in a much smaller AO in those days. Lots of similar exercises and had fun working with the folks out there.
Props to the homie who brought the Twizzlers. That's a nice morale boost my guy. Breakfast of champions.
what if he brought charms instead?
That was me believe it or not lol had a great time
@@austin3132 Only tier one operators understand this, but ambush effectiveness is boosted by 38% when you have a belly full of Twizzlers. Rest in peace OPFOR.
Kudos to not only 🇺🇸 Warriors, but all those civilian neighbors, role players and support personnel that make each and every Robin Sage possible and successful.
😅 😮😮😮😮
Yes kudos the civilians helping special forces learn how to fight civilians 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣.
went there as a guerrilla role player 2 years ago as a cadet. definitely the coolest experience I had as a cadet.
I’ve always wondered if they still do this. I went through in 2000 OPFOR, that was one of the most fun schools, classes for us. They told us to not immediately follow what they say and give them a hard time. I was mostly just thankful I didn’t have to shave every day for a month.
Yes
Was a Gorrilla back in the 1980s during Robin Sage it was a good insight into how special forces operate was watching 12 strong the movie when the locals stole the airdrop during Robin Sage there was an airdrop resupply and the cadre told us to steal it and the candidates had to negotiate it back good training the cadre told me a perfect SF candidate is part Ranger & part used car salesman
🦍? Oh you mean guerrillas lol
@@benayabonaventura He said what he said. 🤫
@@slappy8941 opfor? Lol or silverback lol
Hey, I missed it myself! Simple mistake.
Wow, I didn’t know Harambe and King Kong were Green Berets
I was in my early twenties when I went through this training phase. When we did a supply truck raid I suggest to the TL that we take some of the indigenous forces with us to build bonds and cohesion. It lead to a successful mission and high ratings for the team
Back in the 90's I was with the 82nd / 37th Eng at Bragg. We got tasked to support Robin Sage in the Summer. The SF came in and trained us up and did their thing. Lots of great memories from that month in the woods. The worst part of it was the ticks, would pull off close to 50 a day and ended up with lime disease! Fun times!
Holy Canoli!!!
Good ol’ Lyme disease! Gotta love the woods of NC!
What were your symptoms?
I hear lime disease has no cure. Is that correct? Did you get medicaled out?
@@jasonhutter7534 most of our squad had it. We came back went to see the medics and had a blood test. BINGO we have a winner. The bullseye rash was easy to see. We all felt like we had bad flu, no energy ect. They gave us all this or that and quarters. Never had issues after that. Them ticks were like a horror movie. Tick buddy checks 3 times a day was standard.
Just beautiful! The physical demonstration of being 'free from oppression'. Thank you Coffee or Die Magazine for this gem of a video 🙂
There is no more honorable profession.
It's pretty cool to see the CWO3 and the LTC with a WW2 Special Forces Wing Baseball Cap. I assume this is to honour the Jedburgh Teams and the OSS Operational Groups.
I actually worked Robin sage for a while. One of the best experiences of my life. Awesome working with the special forces. Actually led me to join the military. Also was some great pay lol.
Went through sage in 05. I weighed 155 with an infil ruck of 141. Being an Echo sucks on infil and everyone hates you because of the amount of coms equipment you infil with. I completed the “Q” in June of 06 and found myself in Iraq two months later. I did three deployments before getting out. Iraq was sage just shifted into a higher gear with the pedal all the way down.
Blessings to SF professionals and their families. Truly inspirational
i was a part of an interoperability experiment in the summer of 2003, to see if anglico marines could integrate into an ODA to provide CAS and IDF as force multipliers for ODAs in the real world. i was a part of a two man team attached to ODA 911 at Camp Mckall. SFC Thompson was our instructor, we were treated as students and not role players, we got evaluated and peer evaluated just like SF students. lived with the Gs just like normal students. one of the greatest experiences of my life. We have a group of local civilians that were 3rd generation role players as a guerilla unit with a black widow logo patch. i got to meet some legends who were G chiefs from vietnam era green berets who work with montagnard indians. it was a life changing experience walking amongst giants. our team leader Capt Thompson out of the 82nd airborne was probably one of the best combat leader i ever trained under. a year after i graduated from phase four, i was in iraq with a 5th group and 7th group teams doing God's work. an experience i will never forget.
I'm British and i can't imagine people being so helpful and patriotic to our own army here. Its such a shame. I love the patriotism of you yanks! That's why you guys have some of the best armed forces in the world.
Thank you COD Magazine for more excellence in journalism, thank you SF community for all the warmth, humor, friendships, and mentorships you've brought to my life--and for such outstanding service to this country--and thank you North and South Carolina for your service and patriotism in supporting our exceptional military.
I went through in the summer of 1969 and it was simply called Pineland, I still remember that Star was the capital. it lasted just two weeks. we didn’t have an OPFOR but we were told that Gommers were the OPFOR. The one difference was that we used M-14’s and I saw the funniest thing; two of us were running through a backyard and the other guy’s blank adapter was caught on a clothesline and he flew up as if on a swing and landed on his back, he had his M-14 slung on his shoulder. I radiated Aug 2, 1969 and on Sep 17, 1969 I was on my way to the 5th Group in the Nam. I spent three months on B-40 bugging the SGM to send me to a Team but he would after awhile just blow up and shout NO. Finally David Souce was badly wounded and he was the only 05B (18E0 at A-401 and I was finally sent to replace him. There were only 8 on the Team with 362 Cambodian troops. On my 3rd day on the team Captain Mike (ret Lieutenant General Michael Canavan), called a Team meeting and told SSG Lott to get his company together for a 30 day Combat operation and to take the kid (me) with him on the OP. WTF I just got here. I learned that the reason behind sending me was that I didn’t have a reputation. My Teammates had to know quickly if I had the right stuff. The 30 days passed with just a few contacts but after we returned things really changer. For the three days I was shunned no one spoke to me basically ignored my existence. Apparently Lott told the Team that’s I was solid and when I entered the Team Room I was treated with a cold beer and asked to join the guys around a table, I was now a trusted Teammate. I completed five 30 day combat ops and when Lott’s year was up I was given command of the 43rd Company with 112 Cambodians and I was still a SPC 4. I was teamed with Lott’s replacement SGT Greg Skogland also a medic. Sadly three of my Teammates passed away from stomach cancer caused by their exposure to Agent Orange. My dear friend Greg, Lott and Soucie; later CPT as a MG in command of JSOC was able to beat the stomach cancer. So far at 75 I’m doing well with the only Agent Orange complications are COPD and asthma and skin pigment issues, mainly large areas of skin that turned white on my chest and thighs. Apparently when going through areas that were sprayed the Agent Orange particles that remained after they dried came into contact with my sweat soaked Tigers. After I returned I completed college at the University of Texas, Austin and when my career started I joined the 12th Special Forces Group Reserves. Toward the end of my time with the 12th Group I was selected as the 18Z of ODA-1256, B Company, 2nd Battalion up to 1993 when the 12th was deactivated.
So incredibly cool. Thanks for this!
Great video! Its nice to see how elite special forces work. Keep up the good work BRCC!
This is awesome y’all got to take part and record this!
Brings back memories. This was my favorite phase of the Q Course.
I live in NC and would love one day to volunteer with Robin Sage. I have no doubt it would be an experience I would never forget. (A former colleague of mine enlisted in the Army to be a Green Beret. I ran into him last summer and he had earned his beret and was waiting for his Group assignment.)
Outstanding!!! Keep up the great training. Enjoy 😉 the sight and what your doing with Special Force’s units hear in America 🇺🇸. God Speed
I live in Moore County NC.. And the power is still out. It's always interesting when they do Robin Sage. It's good training, and next time I'm planning on becoming a civilian volunteer to be part of the resistance.
Pinelanders get carried away and took out the power?
@@Krevin1775 Not sure who did it but 2 transfer stations got hit at different locations simultaneously..
@@RIFFRAFF104 the name rhymes with Maus shlab. Gotta get those minions to accept the New order
This has to be one of the most valuable and coolest training exercises I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing on the interwebs. Hats off to our boys and girls that take the oath to defend our freedoms. Without you this country would be no more. God Bless, Amen.
Great share.
Keep up the great work. Remember - Stay low, run fast and shoot straight 👍🇦🇺
Always wanted to learn more about Robin Sage but there aren’t really any docs out there on it. This was dope!!
I read a book about SF years ago and the majority of it was about the whole Robin Sage exercise. This documentary didn't really go into how much and how deeply the local population gets integrated into the event, including a sort of tacit agreement that, say, some of the soldiers were in need of food, and a farmer had some chickens in a pen... well, the gov't will reimburse you for your loss, and people are okay with it. The civilians are very proud and eager to be involved in helping to provide the environment that has helped shape our country's Special Forces soldiers.
I live in Montgomery co, i love it when they come in at the neighboring farm. Means it’s time for us to play. Iv learned more than I thought I would over the past few years that Iv helped out.
If I lived in this town and were involved with this I would be immensely proud! This would feel like an honor to participate in!
Wow just great to see this, what an awesome community to help out with this 4 times a year for so many decades!
Now this is great content.
Great to see Americans volunteering there time n land to help train our future war fighters. Nothing can make you feel better than to help your country. The Robin n Sage program looks amazing and it works.
I love your guys content.
Beautifully articulated report on this, yet I personally would love a piece on the illusive "Tigerland" and interview's with survivors who can albourate as to training insight to TEACH our"Edward" youth
Thank u to all of our military members we appreciate and r blessed for u all 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Love it, gave me goosebumps
Robin Sage? Hell, Memories are awake.
Idk who these “green berets” are but man they sure know how to Larp! Jk, thank you for your service and I’m stoked to get this inside look at the infamous Robin Sage
I was a civi helping with robin sage .. the best job I ever had in my life , I learned a lot , first time shooting a modified ak with blanks of course .. Bragg is my home things have changed so much since moving back it’s so hard to get a fun job like this I wish I could do it again 😢. but im a Womack baby until death shout out to everybody serving and retired no matter color or gender I appreciate y’all and my parents for serving ❤
You should have enlisted, Bud!
Here to show some love to the fellow ESC guys past and present and our small roll in it all.
Really an amazing phenomenon all the way around from the future operators in training to the civilian volunteers and the private land. I assume police agencies in the area are also aware. Just amazing. 'Merica!!!
Unfortunately a couple decades ago a cop didn't know what was going on not sure how but a deputy didn't know about the exercise and the soldiers didn't know the cop was being serious and when they grabbed guns the cop shot and killed them both
@@CenlaSelfDefenseConcepts Very unfortunate. Tragic. Horrible.
Marsoc uses my property in SC. Real nice guys, don't go along with the woke military bs whatsoever.
@@willijohnk6110 That's really cool of you and I would feel so honored if I was in your shoes. I hope you get a chance to meet some of the guys. If I did, I wouldn't tell anyone.
They always have a cookout and chance to meet all the marines at the end of the course. I help them train occasionally as an insurgent. They dont pay you anything to use the property, but its totally worth it to meet the guys.
I currently work Sage. It a blast
Pretty cool. Thank you North Carolina for helping make warriors.
There is no more honorable profession than fighting to liberate the oppressed. Freedom is a human right and volunteering to help foreign nations is incredibly admirable
Special Forces are awesome Americans and so are these great volunteers in their own manner.👍👍👍
Now I know why last year; I found an misfired 7.62x39 outside of the building where the trolley is stored...
Probably by far the best COD episode yet!!!
Great doc! Pinelanders are a proud bunch🤣. I bet the civilians participating are having a great time through and through. If I was a kid there, I would definitely try to join in as much as I can (and would probably try to get an 18X contract as soon as I can also😉)
why dont you join? you got the mentality
Being a property owner there must be invaluable. That’s amazing Also those locals are training along side the green berets all year round. They’re getting too tear field experience. They’d definitely be able to hold their own. Note to foreign&domestic invaders. Don’t go to Pineland….
So it's pretty safe to say, if ever (which I hope not) any invasion of the US happened, it would come to a sudden and very violent stop in Pineland, NC. The locals there have been training so much with US SF, they are probably the worst guerilla nightmare one can imagine.
No lol
No.
Is the intro song a re worked Hell March from Red Alert?
awesome look at behind the scenes. BRC you win, From down under!
That music was awesome by the way🤘all of it
Nice 🙂
This brings back horrible memories lol. I suffered through robin sage with a horrible cold!
I went through Robin Sage in December 1989. By chance were you in that class? I know that it’s a reach, just curious.
I’ve always wanted to see a video on Robin Sage!! Have heard about it over and over again. So this freaking awesome 👏
Right on! 💥🇺🇸🪂🤟
Robin Sage has changed a lot since 1977!
So the army is paying civilian farmers to play war on their land? That’s so badass
I imagine they are well compensated for their time and use of their land as well. It would be a great gig. No farming for a few weeks. Let's play war!! 😀💪👍👍
Who is it they are training up to kill? On civilian farms?
@@donaldpate1863 anyone that’s what’s to fuck around and find out 🤣 they are always training regardless of whether we’re at war or not.
The Heart of America the media doesn't talk about and one of many sources of commitment the enemy fails to understand.
NICE
Huge thanks to the landowners!!!
Military leadership in extrmely hostile investment is that you lead by an example and get them to follow you. Not to force them to go. I got trained in recon and unconditional warfare, E4 in Finland.
Not a flinch from Patti!
So fucking cool. I was in an IDF recon unit and I’d give anything to have this level of training. Damn looks fun!
couple cadets in my rotc class went to this idk if they were opfor or not sounded cool tho.
Best time I’ve been through
Volunteer, lol. I was volun-told. Still best time of my 4 years. Hogan's heroes '02.
From 11:28 to 11:32 there's a clip from the film, "Guerrilla USA, Preparation" from "The Big Picture" series of films. In that clip a Special Forces officer is explaining the world situation where after WWII a portion of the United States fell under the Communists sphere of influence. This area of the northeastern United States is called Easton on the map. The other two areas are called Weston and and Floridan. Does anybody know what year the scenario had changed and Easton became the United Provinces of Atlantica and Floridan ended up consisting of the provinces of Appalachia, Columbus, and Pineland? Also does anyone know who was responsible for creating or changing these scenarios?
Just remember that, as You and I, Here Stateside, are watching Robin Sage training on Coffee or Die YT Channel, so too are the Bad Guys.
Very true but what is released isn't uncommon knowledge yet our enemies have a difficult time replicating the training.
Surely the army cleared this.
ok and? This doesn't effect GB's on ground operational.
You're one of those guys that shout "OPSEC!!!!! GAAAAARGH!" Aren't you? 😒 Everything in this video is basic, readily available information.
God bless America and her freedom fighters. Both civilian and military!
Does anybody know where the instructors talking in the video got their Jedburgh team hats? They look dope
They sell them at Bragg
@@sh4902 where at bragg
@@patmanboofer4463 they're Cadre hats sold at SWCS.
There a way you can do this through a guard unit?
Yes 19th SFG and 20th SFG are national guard units.
This is badass. But one question how do you know if you’re shot in one of these role plays ?
Go through all this for 80k a year and working for a government that doesn’t care Look at all the guys that died in the Middle East.. imagine training so hard just to get left behind Sad
You know, I always wondered how they might extract an HVT any decent distance. Makes sense to strap 'em to a skid and drag 'em off lmfao
I know guys can go and apply for SF green berets out of boot camp but ranger is graduate level training, SF is MBA level from what iv'e seen. Delta being Phd
nice
Great work ya'll !! 👏👏🙏 Love the lady !! 😁 🇺🇸💯🦾💥🔥💪
This really highlights the difference between special forces and the brute force ways of the SEALs.
The Green Berets developed a relationship with the local land owners so that Green Berets could pretend to develop relationships with pretend land owners 😅
I remember in the early 80's helping SF in Robin Sage, my unit was the enemy and we would wear whatever we wanted to. We captured an SF base in the woods, I remember this giant cooking pot they had..............And I thought to myself, I hope they don't have to carry that thing around. Another time, my team and I walked up on about 6 SF guys in a little bowl on top of a hill, they didn't know who we were, since we were dressed like them. We didn't engage them, we kept on walking just out of sight and called it in. Oh how I miss the day of my youth and Fort Bragg.
Wow! Are the Top Seven Special Forces Units in action? Or some of the top 7 SF? Which one or ones is or are in action in the battlefield: REFAIM, DUV DAVAN,669, SHALDAG, SHAYETET 13, SHAYERET MAKTAL, AND YAMAM?
thats cool
My country Special forces were train there Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹
Thank you PATTY ur a Patriot thank you🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚔️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Wow I would not want to mess with NC if this is what the residents do for fun. Help with the training lol
fk this would be so much fun was professional op4 for 3 years up here in canada
That's the coolest shit I've ever seen, wish I lived in NC.
I went through Pineville back in 06. Huge relief to be finished.
*Pineland
Is this something civis can sign up for?
No it's to train to shoot civs
Hope will always be only a training!