Jocko Underground: Would You Have What it Takes to be in SOF?

When an Organization Cuts the Future to Save the Past

Layoffs carry a special kind of grief: it's not simply the loss of income, it's the sudden collapse of a story you had about where you belonged and what your work meant. The advice offered here begins with an unromantic truth — multiple responses are required at once. Keep performing, probe for clarity, and prepare an exit plan. Each action has a different time horizon and a different relationship to power: productive work maintains credibility; earnest questions reclaim information; an updated resume preserves agency.

Work hard, but don’t confuse loyalty with blindness

When a company trims growing segments while protecting shrinking ones, the signal is jarring. The sensible first move is to keep doing the work that made you valuable. Performance protects options: it gives you the credibility to ask candid questions without appearing reactionary, and it preserves references if you need them later. This is not compliance as a virtue; it’s a tactical decision to hold leverage while you resolve uncertainty.

Ask direct, non-accusatory questions

Silence breeds rumor. A concise, earnest request for information — framed as desire to support the mission — forces leaders to move from vague language to specifics. Bring questions up in structured moments, like town halls, or send a succinct email to your manager. Avoid confrontational language; the aim is clarity, not indictment. If leadership refuses to explain, that withholding itself is useful information.

Practical ways to prepare for departure

Updating a resume and quietly activating professional contacts are not acts of pessimism but insurance. Reach out for informational conversations, refresh LinkedIn, and have current work samples organized. A discreet plan allows you to act from choice rather than panic. If an investor arrives and the company pivots, you will be ready to either stay on better terms or depart on your terms.

Physical Standards, Habit, and the Brutal Simplicity of Readiness

The second conversation pivots to a different domain: what it takes to pass into special operations. The answer is blunt: numerical standards matter. In environments where objective benchmarks determine access to training, you cannot rely on general fitness alone. Specificity beats vague effort.

Numbers that separate candidates

There are clear metrics recruiters look for: sustained push-up and sit-up totals, a healthy pull-up count, and competitive run and swim times. Minimums exist, and above-minimum performance dramatically improves odds of selection. Training without measurable progress is just exercise; training with a plan and targets is preparation.

• Push-ups: Minimum standards can hover around high forties in two minutes, while recommended ranges push toward eighty.
• Sit-ups: Minimums near sixty in two minutes, with aspirational targets higher.
• Pull-ups: Small numbers hurt; mid-teens to twenties signal strong readiness.
• Run and swim: Competitive times in both disciplines are strong predictors of success.

Those figures are not meant to intimidate; they are diagnostic. If you struggle with one movement, prioritize it. Doing thousands of miles of vague cardio won't erase a weak upper body if pull-ups and rope climbs are the gatekeepers.

Designing purposeful training

Improvement follows specificity and volume applied intelligently. If pull-ups lag, program incremental progressions: negatives, assisted reps, frequency increases, and weighted scapular work. Push-ups and sit-ups respond to high-volume, frequent practice. Integrate obstacle-specific drills — rope climbs, leg-driven lunges, and burpee complexes — into weekly cycles so the neuromuscular patterns required by selection are reinforced.

Common Ground: Agency in Ambiguity

Both conversations converge on the same ethic: assume control over the things you can control. When institutions remove transparency, act to clarify your position and maintain optionality. When selection processes place a numeric bar in front of you, structure your training to clear it. Both require discipline, small daily choices that compound into outcomes.

The moral of tactical preparation

There is a temptation to wait for signals — a memo, an investor announcement, a recruiter’s call — before acting. The better path is to cultivate two parallel tracks: perform and protect today while you prepare contingently for tomorrow. That duality is not contradiction; it is leadership of the self. It preserves dignity in the midst of uncertainty and preserves opportunity when the world shifts.

Hard conversations with management and hard sets in the gym both demand the same posture: directness paired with persistent effort. When you ask a manager for clarity, state intentions plainly. When you train, chase measurable gains. The tension between asking and preparing is productive: answers sharpen strategy, and readiness lets you act on those answers without crisis.

Closing reflection

When the institutional world tilts, the individual must balance presence with preparation. Steadfast work, candid inquiry, and a maintained exit strategy protect your professional life. In physical pursuits, measurable standards and targeted practice translate hope into capability. Both paths reduce randomness and return the future to a set of choices you can influence.