and the brain and guts trump equipment... more often but not always.
Such training is simply "peeling away the onion" down to the person's very core of who they are, in order to determine their functional ability, leadership, adaptability, even when all seems hopeless. There are very precise observations being made by the cadre, written down, and cross referenced. You should notice that there is very little belittlement and yelling by the cadre, in fact, giving up is encouraged. Why? Because such individuals are selected based upon their inner drive, as external motivations will often not be present to push them to achieve success on long range missions with lack of communications or command of direction.
Also, folks don't grasp what they are capable of until they push themselves beyond their own expectations. When called upon to perform, they have a measure of reference of where their limit may be. When situations really suck, they have a good frame of reference of what "suck" really means.
I don't think this concept has been better said than:
?Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn?t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.? ~Heraclitus
and
"On the plains of hesitation lie the blackened bones of countless millions who at the dawn of victory lay down to rest, and in resting died.?
Adlai E. Stevenson
Too true. If I could go spend a year with anyone to improve my skills it would be a member of special forces, for those exact reasons. I've never been in a fight, but now that I'm preparing for eventual troubles in the future, I want to learn from the best. It's the facet of prepping I'm most anxious about, since it's the most physically demanding, and given my medical history I want to be as tough as possible.
