Preparing for the 160th SOAR
Not only pilots. Crew chiefs, maintainers and support all serve in the Regiment, and all of them go through Green Platoon first.
Who goes
The 160th are the Night Stalkers, and the motto is Night Stalkers Don’t Quit.
The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is not only pilots. Crew chiefs, maintainers, avionics, supply and support all serve in the Regiment, and all of them go through Green Platoon — the assessment and basic mission qualification course every new Night Stalker passes before joining a company.
If you are a 15-series soldier wondering whether this is a route available to you: it is, and the maintainer path is a real one rather than a footnote.
What to arrive with
| Event | Standard | Comfortable |
|---|---|---|
| Four-mile run | 36:00 | 32:00 |
| Two-mile run | 17:00 | 13:30 |
| Evaluated rucks, 4–8 miles | 15:00/mi | 13:30/mi |
| 12-mile ruck readiness | 3:00 | 2:30 |
| Pull-ups | 6 | 15 |
You also have to meet current Army fitness and body composition standards on arrival — score your AFT and check the screening weight before anything else, because those are administrative gates rather than things you can grit through.
What Green Platoon actually is
Several weeks of assessment across more than fitness: combatives, land navigation, advanced first aid and medical, driving and evasive driving, weapons, and a running evaluation of whether you can be relied upon. It is deliberately broad, because the Regiment’s standard is that everyone can do the basic soldier things extremely well regardless of their trade.
The distinguishing feature is repetition. A four-mile run is not hard; a four-mile run after a ruck, after a short night, on the fourth day of that pattern, is a different proposition. Train recovery between hard days as deliberately as you train the days themselves.
Training emphasis
- Run volume at a moderate pace. Nine-minute miles for four miles should be conversational, not a time trial.
- Ruck at 15:00 per mile over 4–8 miles until it is unremarkable, then go faster. Work out the splits.
- Back-to-back days. Stack a ruck the morning after a hard run once a week.
- Pull-ups and general strength — you will be handling equipment and yourself.
- Land nav, which is trainable at home and is a gate people fail.
Runs, rucks and the days after them
Lensatic’s SOAR plan trains the four-mile and the evaluated rucks together, with GPS tracking and per-mile splits on both, and a daily ten-second check-in covering sleep, soreness and resting heart rate so stacked hard days are visible rather than guessed at. The land nav practice mode grades your points against where you actually walked.
See the plans Land nav basicsQuestions
Do you have to be a pilot to join the 160th?
No. Crew chiefs, maintainers, avionics, supply and support all serve in the Regiment and all go through Green Platoon.
What is Green Platoon?
The assessment and basic mission qualification course every new member of the Regiment completes before joining a company.
What is the run standard?
Four miles in 36:00 or better, which is a 9:00 pace.
What are the ruck standards?
Evaluated rucks of roughly four to eight miles at 15:00 per mile or faster.
Is this official?
No. Preparation guidance published by Deadlift Digital LLC, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Army or the Department of Defense.