At a friend’s request I’m writing a short novel that’s something of a black comedy, and one of the underlying premises is that the a character is required to endure training in an imaginary elite branch of his made-up country’s military. I’m intending the training to be an obvious parody of recognizable US services that specialize in unconventional warfare, most notably the SEALs and Rangers.
Now, I know that in real life willpower, discipline, and psychological fortitude are essential to completing most special forces programs, and I’m going to assume as artistic license that my character has the drive to finish the program.
Given that, I was wondering how young a sufficiently motivated person could be while standing a chance at completing training: 18? 16? As they start to go under the threshold, what kind of injuries or major issues would they start to have? Inability to build and maintain the kind of stamina needed to haul hugeass packs for long distances? Broken bones? Joint issues? Diarrhea?
I realize that the entire concept is patently absurd, but I’m having a lark writing this out, and I was hoping to keep it from becoming entirely unbelievable.
When I was on my high school wrestling team, once upon a time, there were a few guys there who I have no doubt could have gotten through at least Marines boot camp at 15 or 16. These were guys who could bench 250 while weighing 135, who could crank out 40 or 50 pull-ups, and who could run endless wind sprints (in a hot, rubber-lined mat room, with no water breaks.) These guys definitely had the sheer physical stamina to get through damn near anything.
Now, our wrestling coaches could be hard-asses and they did yell at us a lot, but I don’t think it was anywhere near the level of mental stress that someone going through military basic training would be put through. The physical stuff they could handle, but I have no idea if they would have been able to stand up to drill instructors screaming in their faces constantly. At 18, probably, but at 15 I don’t know.
I have met and trained with one exceptional 14 year old who I have no doubt could have completed the training. The kids was 6’1" and a black belt in TKD and Shotokan, extremely fit and extremely strong. He would certainly have been physically capable of completing the training. Psychologically, no way.
Injury wise, strains and sprains basically. So joint issues, pulled muscles, shin splints, slipped discs. The training isn’t intended to actually put the soldiers at risk, it’s intended to test there endurance and build there strength and endurance. So broken bones and other serious injuries are going to be rare. Having said that I did meet a medic who broke her pelvis from a fall while carrying a pack. But that sort of event is very rare.
One point to keep in mind is that the more fatigued you are the more likely you are to injure yourself, which in turn leads to greater fatigue and grater likelihood of injury. A tired person will be more likely to stumble and injure themselves, and carrying the injury will then wear them out even more quickly.
There’s also an absolute certainty of severe weight loss and the mental issues associated with fatigue. By demanding much more of the body than it’s capable of you put it into a situation where it’s constantly trying to repair damage. That leads to a major increase in nutrient requirements and difficulty in getting sufficient sleep even under normal conditions. During prolonged training excercises an unsuitable trainee will probably lose several kg a week and be perpetually mentally exhausted.
Wow, both of your replies are immensely helpful… thanks for the quick feedback!
A related question that I thought of in the wake of this concerns the actual trainee experience: I’ve heard that at least in the SEALS the bulk of drop-on-requests comes early in the program, and after a certain point the emphasis shifts from pure conditioning and gut checks to a mixture of continuous physical training and more academic studies: dive physics, small unit tactics, and all the other technical knowledge and practice that military personnel need. It seems like the pressure would get greater as the program continues, not lesser, and so I was wondering how good instructors keep students pressured and motivated after the initial physical conditioning and selection process is finished? Is it just a matter of piling ever-increasing amounts of responsibility and materials on each candidate?
Well, I’m in no matter affiliated with the SEALs, but my guess is that they’d want to cull the weaker candidates as soon as possible and not waste valuable training time and equipment on them.
Why would they want the pressure to get greater? It seems to me that the training should do four things: 1) Weed out a bunch of students (if for no other reason than to build the morale of those who did make it); 2) Ensure a level of physical fitness in the students; 3) Accustom the students to performing under physical stress/exhaustion; and 4) teach the students technical things (dive physics, etc.)
Now, the thing is, students being under physical and mental stress makes it much more difficult to teach technical things. So it seems logical to me to do just what you were told: start with physically and mentally stressful training to accomplish 1,2, and 3; and after that cut back on the stress so the students are able to learn the technical stuff.
Huh, I see- I’d guessed that the whole point was to make things as (reasonably) difficult as possible at every turn, to get people used to working effectively under immense pressure, but I see your point: it seems a lot more reasonable to focus on technical achievement over pure bloody-minded bravado after you’ve cut a unit down to the fit people who are motivated enough to still be there.
I don’t know if how many younger candidates make it, but according to a co-worker who was in the Navy, you can go to SEAL training right after A school, so, I guess you could be 18. I believe that is also applies to elite units like the Rangers and Special Forces. Special mission units like Delta and DEVGRU require time in service.
