This may be new for the Navy,but I doubt it.
I don't know when the US Army started sending Special Forces recruiters to basic training centers to interview potential SF volunteers,but I know for a fact they were already doing it in March of 1964,and this was long before the song or the John Wayne movie.
AFAIK,every recruit with a GT score above 110 or 120 (can't remember which now) was marched to a small building and given the pitch by senior SF NCO's,and told that if this interested them they should volunteer for SF training after jump school. Back then you had to complete jump school before you would be accepted.
When I graduated from Jump School in Aug of 64,everyone in my graduating class of 187 went to either the 173rd Abn or the 1st Calvary division,both of which were going to VN,except for me and 2 other guys. We had orders to go to the Special Warfare Center at Bragg.
BTW,the poor guys that got sent to the 1st Cav really got screwed because after going through all the grief of jump school,they were sent to a non-airborne division and didn't even get the extra money from jump pay. Back then basic pay for a E-1 was something like $67 a month,and being jump qualified in a airborne until meant another $55 a month. You damn near doubled your pay.
