On the eve of Veterans Day, about 25 Army Special Forces soldiers sat in a restricted briefing room outlining their plan to invade Key West overnight.

The men were to sky dive miles offshore and navigate underwater using high-tech, closed-circuit, re-breather scuba systems before storming the beaches at Fort Zachary Taylor, and rendezvousing with a "friendly" force to accomplish a classified mission.

"It's the culmination of everything they learn here," said Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Talmadge, an instructor at the Army Special Forces Underwater Operations School. "This is the end of the course, the final test. It just happens to fall on Veterans Day this year. We didn't plan it that way."

The high winds, choppy surf and low visibility make for perfect test conditions. The Special Forces Combat Diver Qualification Course is a brutal six-week crash course in scuba and stealthy war-zone infiltration techniques. Most of the men who entered the course two months ago had already washed out by Tuesday. Those who remain are now considered experts in scuba-related warfare, a rite of passage in the Special Forces community.

"It's going to be great," said Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Smith of the weather. "It's going to be awful out there."

Many locals come out for the annual test, waving American flags and cheering the men on as they run through town. Some of the test includes a nine-mile run that hits portions of Duval Street.

"That's usually around five in the morning, so it's mostly just drunks cheering them on, but we get others who get up early just to wave and support us. That's awesome. Every once in a while the guys will get a few strippers that will flash them," Talmadge said with a grin. "A little extra incentive to get the job done."

The men who made it this far in the course are "battle-hardened operators already, with a ton of trigger time in combat," Talmadge said. Both he and Smith are combat veterans of Afghanistan. Talmadge was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he suffered there.

When Navy SEAL Neil Roberts fell out of a helicopter during the March 2002 battle called Operation Anaconda in the Shahi-Kot Valley, Talmadge and his fellow Green Berets were one of the teams that helped recover his body, he said.

Roberts initially survived the fall and despite severe injuries fought back and killed many Taliban fighters before being overrun by a larger force, according to media reports. The mountain near where Roberts died was dubbed "Robert's Ridge" by other Special Operations Forces.

"It was very important to retrieve his body," Talmadge said. "That's something that's a given in the Special Forces community. No one was leaving without doing that."

Much of what Talmadge and Smith, who is a Special Forces medic, experienced overseas cannot be discussed openly, but they spoke with the kind of staid vernacular of those who don't need to boast to prove their worth.

Talmadge recalled how enemy fighters never left their dead, either.

"There was blood; we knew they had wounded and dead, but part of their culture is to bury their dead immediately," Talmadge said.

"I grew up in the solid middle class surrounded by video games and all those things," Smith said. "My dad was military, but to say it was a shock in Afghanistan is an understatement. It really makes you appreciate everything you have here."

When asked whether the war in Afghanistan was winnable, the men looked at each other for a moment.

"Well, define winnable," Smith said. "I don't mean to dodge the question, but the only way for us to do our jobs and maintain sanity is bite off small chunks. We do our best to accomplish our missions within our AO (Area of Operations) and let commanders answer that kind of question."

Talmadge and Smith studied the Persian language and knew the history of the area long before they were deployed.

"The people of Afghanistan have been fighting wars for centuries," Talmadge said. "My personal opinion, I think the people there just want to live their lives."

The halls of the Army base on Fleming Key are lined with photos of graduating classes over the years. Some of the men pictured later died in combat. Talmadge and Smith peeked in the door where the current class was being debriefed for the final test.

Many of the graduates will be deployed overseas again, the men said. Their fate unknown, they will always live on in the halls of the Special Forces Underwater Operations School.

"Yeah, that's weird it (the final exam) fell on Veterans Day this year," Talmadge said. "I don't think anybody realized it until today."

alinhardt@keysnews.com