Green Beret Training

Well, this thing is not for those who are lighthearted at all. You need a lot of guts, grit and gumption to achieve this feat in the US Armed forces. What I am talking about is being an officer in United States Army Special Forces, which is the cream of the armed forces in the USA. They are believed to be the elite amongst the Special Forces. These are also called Green Berets. These are a special operations force of the US Army. The officers in these forces are trained in everything from riding a camel to dealing with guerrilla warfare and terrorism. It can be imagined how tough the selection training process would be for those who want to don the green beret. Selection notwithstanding, I will try and map the Green Beret training.

Green Beret Training Preparation

To begin with, allow me to tell you why is this elite and group of army officers called green berets. The reason behind the name Green Beret is the distinct and identifying head gear which these officials wear. Now coming back to training, here is more on preparation for getting into the US Special forces. First things first, let alone the training, the preparation itself is test of your physical and mental strength. The selection process is an ordeal which goes on for 24 days. The preparation course for that will be the ultimate test of your mental and physical mettle. For getting through to the course, the minimum requirement is to score atleast 260 points in the physical fitness test conducted by the army. That is, if you are in the age group between 17 to 21. Although this is the minimum necessary, to get into the training, this may not suffice and the aim should be to score 300, as the competition is intense. Just to give you an idea of the test, an individual might be asked to do 100 push ups in 2 minutes or run a couple of miles in 12 minutes or so. Thus, you can see that you have to be in a really top physical condition to go through in the US army green beret training.

Green Beret Training Elements

If Green Beret training preparation and test was a trailer, then the training is the whole film and that too a difficult one, with no cuts, no romance and no editing. It is sheer sweat and blood and with no respite. Now you might wonder how long is green beret training, considering it s tough. The answer to that is that the training goes on for around 55 to 95 weeks.

Element 1 - Brute Strength
Once the candidates are selected, they are sent to North Carolina, Fort Bragg for training. Then the first phase is where there is severe and back breaking physical training. It involves pull-ups, push-ups, running, swimming, running an obstacle course, rucksack marches and orienteering exercises. This is a major test of the brute force that these candidates can have. Also check outarmy boot camp.

Element 2 - Teaming up and Leadership
Needless to say, this part of Green Beret training, called as Q-Course is equally taxing as the first phase. This course endeavors to get the leadership skills in the cadets out as well as how well they gel with a team. This is an extremely rigorous regime and cadets are occupied the whole day, from time even before dawn to after dusk.

Element 3 - Real Time Training
There will be no point in just having strength and not knowing how to use in the appropriate situations. So another aspect of this training is to simulate real life army scenarios and see how the cadets do in it. For assisting the soldiers, for instance in a mock prisoners of war camps the soldiers get Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training (SERE). Which can help them in tackling the enemy in case they are caught.