As their name suggests, the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) serves as one of the United States Army‘s five active duty special forces divisions. In late June, they had a slightly different special operation when they ascended to the summit of Pikes Peak to deliver the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb‘s checkered flag.
Jeff Hartsough, a senior non-commissioned officer who dabbles in hillclimbing, led a convoy of military machinery like Flyer 72s and Polaris MRZRs to the mountain summit to present the flag to race officials. Although officially just a pre-race procession, it doubles as additional practice for the 10th as well as data collecting for the vehicle manufacturers; Polaris maintains a successful off-road division, while Flyer Defense frequently collaborates with the 5th Special Forces Group to race light strike vehicles at the Mint 400.
“We’re not just here to have fun, we’re actually training,” Command Sergeant Major Kevin Dorsh told the PPIHC broadcast. “We’re actually getting some good data for that. We have some reps. They’re with those vehicles, they’re going to pull the data, be able to pull that back, ultimately make the force better.”
10th Group, nicknamed “The Originals”, is headquartered at Fort Carson just outside Colorado Springs. Most of their operations take place in Europe under the United States European Command (EUCOM), with emphasis on regions like Germany and the Baltics, though they have also been deployed to the Middle East. Members of the 10th stationed in Europe currently help train Ukrainian special forces to defend against the Russian invasion.
Dorsh, who has been with the 10th since 2002, saw parallels between his group and the PPIHC organisers.
“It is a team of five. Not many people know that. Very small team, and it’s putting all of this together,” he began. “It’s absolutely amazing. That’s the same thing as Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (SFODAS), which is comprised of twelve service members: what they do, what makes it so special is that we go into tough situations; very small, self-supporting, but then we’ll team with partners, other nations. For 10th Group, our area of operation is European Command, all of Germany and the Baltics and everything through theirs, we’re partnering with them and then ultimately that small team, through that host nation, can absolutely have strategic effects.
“The relationships specifically within Special Forces that we create while we are deployed, there’s nothing like it. Our special forces motto, ‘De oppresso liber: right to free the oppressed,’ gives the opportunity to basically build those relationships and then you’re working from within. You empower that nation to be able to do those things so they can stand on their own. They can fight an aggressor like what’s happening right now over in Europe: our guys and gals, they’re forward deployed right now supporting our Ukrainian partners and doing some great things to allow them to stand on their own and to be able to fight an aggressor from the east.”
Besides bolstering their own capabilities, the 10th as well as other units from Fort Carson like the 4th Infantry Division, felt coming to Pikes Peak helped bridge the gap between the military and civilians living in the area. The Friday before the race, the Army set up vehicles and tents as part of the Fan Fest in Colorado Springs; Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lommel described the public reception to their presence as “incredible. Our team got up here at the the wee hours of the morning, camped up here last night and they said everybody that’s here at this event has just been incredibly welcoming, bringing them into the fold, making sure they had hot coffee last night and are well rested and ready to take the checkered flag to the top.”
“It’s all about building those relationships, you know, the ties between the military and the community,” Dorsh continued. “It’s something like this where we get to see people that just really want to come together and see a phenomenal performance. What’s interesting specifically with 10th Group is we have a lot of service members; they specialise in a very niche capability. They’re phenomenal athletes, phenomenal people, all that. It’s the same thing here that you have all the pit crews here, everything and I mean ultimately being able to train for one event. It’s just today, it’s going on right now, that’s exactly what we do. To be able to have that opportunity to be able to camp overnight and thicken those relationships and just get to know each other, man, nothing like it. Absolutely love it.”
This was particularly imperative from a recruiting standpoint and wanting to prove that the military was a viable career option despite how pop culture portrays it.
“The idea of working with the Fan Fest and Pikes Peak was to show that everyone in the Army is not just what we’re doing in the movies,” said Captain James Holland from the 4th and United States Army Recruiting Command. “For Fan Fest, for example, we brought veterinary technicians, space satellite technicians, and other communications experts to show that it’s not just what you’re doing in the movies and there’s plenty of other jobs and opportunities within the Army.
“While our main goal is to recruit America’s sons and daughters, the secondary piece, which is the most rewarding piece for me in in recruiting, is to give back into the community and to be a part of that community and show that while Fort Carson is a major part of Colorado Springs, that we’re here and we’re a part of the community and want to be a part of it.
“Something that gets lost on a lot of people that American service people, whether it’s the Army, the Navy, Air Force, you name it, we serve globally. We interact globally with a lot of different partners across the world. That’s just one of those other opportunities to where somebody that joins the military or specifically the Army, the Army is the most globally diverse enterprise that the military has, there’s limitless opportunities to be stationed and travel anywhere in the world, no matter what it is that you do within the within the Army.”
American military recruitment through motorsport is far from a novel concept. Each of the uniformed branches of the Armed Forces have sponsored cars in series like NASCAR and IndyCar as another means to tap into potential future service members; the Air Force is the title sponsor of Championship Off-Road, which allows for promotional events by the branch at races. The opposite also holds true as many race teams across all disciplines employ veterans.
“For us, it’s really just about being able to spread a message,” said CSM Michael Downin, also part of USAREC. “So as soon as you get away from a military installation, a lot of times the information about the military drops pretty precipitously. For us, it’s just about being able to interact with the community in a one-on-one basis and really just spread the message that the Army is a viable career option for so many people out there. We have kind of a myriad of different opportunities, whether it’s something from combat all the way through to vet-techs. It’s just really an interesting and a good opportunity for us to interact with as many people as possible and just spread that message to as many people as possible and that’s what we really do as recruiters.”
The 2024 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was won by Romain Dumas.
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