| Subject: Special Forces Training |
Author:
Stan
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Date Posted: 14:20:56 07/06/17 Thu
I was always "gung ho" when it came to the military. Rather than waiting to be drafted, I volunteered for the Army, and I requested to be assigned to a Special Forces unit. When I was interviewed for the Special Forces, the interviewer told me that Special Forces was only for the physically fit. It was for guys who were willing to accept the risks of danger, hardship, pain, and death. I couldn't be deterred. I told him I was willing to accept all that. He told me I'd be sent to a 10-week training course for Special Forces, and if I passed the course, I would be assigned to a Special Forces unit.
The first 9 weeks of the course were similar to standard military basic training courses, only much more strenuous. There was lots of running, climbing, crawling, swimming, wading, parachuting, and carrying heavy packs.
Then, in the 10th week, we had IRT (Interrogation Resistance Training). The instructor told us that, for many guys, this would be the most challenging part of the course. He went on to explain. Because Special Forces often worked behind enemy lines, there was a substantial risk of being captured by the enemy. And, if that happened, the enemy would resort to any means of interrogation to force us to reveal strategic information. That included torture, both psychological and physical. The instructor told us that, according to the statistics, one out of every 10 members of the Special Forces would eventually experience capture and torture by the enemy. So the purpose of the IRT was to prepare us for that possibility.
The first day of IRT, we were taken to a room where we were put in small metal cages and confined in them for 24 hours. The cages were too small to lie down in and too short to stand up in. So we had no choice but to remain in a very uncomfortable crouching position for 24 hours. My greatest fear there was getting a muscle cramp. After all the cages had been locked, the lights were turned off and we were left in total darkness. But after several hours of confinement, the silence was suddenly shattered by the sound of one guy in our group crying and yelling. Then, another guy cracked up, and then a third guy did too. We could hear some noises in the darkness, but eventually, silence returned to the room. The next day, when the lights were turned back on, we discovered 3 members of our group were missing. We were told that they had flunked out of the IRT. Apparently, all three of them had succumbed to claustrophobia.
We were taken out of the cages and forced to strip naked. Then, we were handcuffed with our hands behind our back. We were taken to a large room containing a raised stage and were told to sit down on benches facing the stage. An instructor on the stage said each of us would be taken, one at a time, onto the stage. There, we would be individually "interrogated", while the rest of our group looked on. He explained that, when each guy had his turn on the stage, he would select a sealed envelope from a small box. Inside that envelope was a card on which was written the type of physical punishment to be administered to the trainee and the number of strokes to be given. On the outside of the envelope was written a code word. If the trainee revealed that code word during his interrogation, his punishment would be immediately terminated, but he would also be flunked out of the training course.
Tom was the first member of our group to be interrogated. He was accompanied by 2 guards onto the stage. His handcuffs were removed, and he was told to select an envelope from the box. There was a large wooden frame on the stage, and the 2 guards tied up Tom in a standing position spread-eagled to the 4 corners of that frame. Then, the instructor read the punishment that was written on the card: "50 strokes with a wooden paddle on the naked buttocks." An audible gasp of disbelief could be heard from the trainees when Tom's punishment was announced. Surely, they only intended to frighten us with threats of physical punishment. They'd never really go through with it. But then, a guard picked up a wooden paddle and began Tom's punishment. Each time the paddle struck Tom's butt, we could hear a sharp slapping sound. So we knew that the punishment being inflicted was for real. Tom bravely took the strokes in silence for as long as he could, but by the 15th stroke, he broke down and started crying. By the 20th stroke, he was screaming and his body was flailing about violently, in futile efforts to escape the excruciating sting of the paddle. On the 30th stroke, Tom yelled out, "I can't take it anymore!" and then he yelled out the code word. The punishment was immediately halted. Tom was released from the frame, and then the guards escorted him out of the room. As he left, we could still hear Tom crying, probably as much from the humiliation of being flunked out of the course, as from the pain he had just endured.
Pete was the next trainee to be selected. He was escorted onto the stage by the 2 guards. His handcuffs were removed, and then he selected an envelope from the box. He was tied up to the wooden frame spread-eagled. Then the instructor read his punishment out loud: "30 lashes on the bare back with a cat-o-nine-tails". Another audible gasp of disbelief could be heard from the trainees. A guard picked up the cat-o-nine-tails and began Pete's punishment. I was terrified when I heard the sound of the leather tails striking Pete's back. After only 3 lashes, he started screaming from the pain. By the 6th lash, Pete couldn't take any more and yelled out the code word. He was taken down from the wooden frame and led out of the room.
Matt was next. After he was tied up to the wooden frame, the punishment written on the card he had selected was read out loud: "60 lashes on the bare buttocks with a razor strap". Matt was a very muscular guy and in top physical shape. So I thought he stood the best chance of making it through the entire punishment. But, by the 10th lash, he was crying just like the guys that had preceded him, and by the 20th lash, he had surrendered the code word. He was taken down and led out of the room.
I was the next one selected for interrogation on the stage. After the 2 guards had removed my handcuffs, I selected an envelope from the box. Then the guards tied me up to the 4 corners of the wooden frame. Fear of what my punishment would be kept gnawing at my stomach. The instructor took out the card and read: "10 lashes on the bare back" (I was relieved to get such a low number of strokes.) Then he completed the sentence: "with a bullwhip!" A loud moan could be heard from the trainees. My heart sank when I heard my sentence. Then, more optimistically, I thought, "Even though it would be painful, I only had to get through 10 lashes, and I could probably take 10 strokes of almost any punishment." Then, a guard picked up the bullwhip. He took one practice shot directed toward the back wall of the stage. First, there was a loud roar, followed by a sharp snap when the whip cracked. I experienced terror when I heard that sound. The next stroke would be aimed directly at me. I heard the loud roar as the whip approached me. Then, when the tail of the whip struck my back, I yelled at the top of my lungs. I had never experienced such intense pain in my entire life! The pain was not confined to the surface of my back, but reverberated through my entire body. Before I had recovered from the shock of that first lash, the guard administered the next lash. When it struck my back, I just screamed. I couldn't take the pain any more. When I saw the guard preparing to administer the 3rd lash, I quickly yelled out the code word. I broke down and cried in shame. The guards released me from the wooden frame and escorted me out of the room.
I was taken back to the room with the metal cages and locked inside one of those cages again, but this time, without any clothes on. The guard warned me that any communication with another prisoner would be severely punished. I watched as one trainee after another was led back to the cages. Most of them appeared dejected with their heads hanging down. A few of them appeared to be still in shock from the severe pain that had been inflicted on them. After everyone in our group had been locked in the cages again, the guards left the room. Then, Tom asked out loud if anyone in our group had managed to take their entire punishment, but no one spoke up. So, apparently, we had all flunked the IRT! Just then, 2 guards came back into the room. They had obviously been spying on us because they immediately unlocked Tom's cage and pulled him out of it. One of the guards said, "You were warned not to speak to the other prisoners." Then they secured Tom's hands over his head to some restraints on the wall at one end of the room. The guard announced that Tom would receive 40 lashes on his buttocks with a razor strap for his disobedience. The other guard promptly raised the razor strap and began administering the punishment. As Tom's buttocks had not yet recovered from the 30 paddle strokes he had received earlier on the stage, he screamed with every stroke of the razor strap. After the 20th stroke, Tom passed out from the pain. I thought that was a merciful escape from the rest of his punishment, but the guard yelled out, "You're not going to escape so easily from your punishment." We were shocked when the guard threw a bucket of water over Tom to revive him, and then they administered the remainder of his punishment. Tom was screaming uncontrollably during those final 20 lashes. When the punishment was completed, they dried him off with a towel. Then they released him from the restraints on the wall. But before putting him back into his cage, those sadistic bastards handcuffed his hands in front of him so he couldn't soothe his painful buttocks with his hands. After that, no one dared make a sound. Then the guards turned off the lights and left the room. We spent another night in those cages. In the darkness, only one sound could be heard and that was Tom moaning the entire night as he could get no relief from the pain that had been inflicted on him. We were all frightened and angry at being punished after having flunked the course. It made no sense!
The next day, we were all taken out of our cages, and our clothes were returned to us. We were taken back to the initial training room where we were surprised when the instructor congratulated us on having passed the IRT, except for the 3 trainees who had freaked out during our first night in the cages. He revealed that we had all been falsely informed that we would flunk out of the course if we said the code word during our interrogation in order to strengthen our resolve to resist the punishment. He told us that very few trainees can endure the entire torture. The punishments were specifically designed so that most men would fail. He said the important thing was not enduring the torture, but dealing with our fear of it. We were all overjoyed when we learned that we had passed the course, even though we were still suffering from the pain that had been inflicted on us. Even Tom, who had suffered the most, was elated. Then, we were all taken to the infirmary to have our wounds from the torture treated.
For the curious, this purely fiction story was inspired by an actual newspaper article I had read in the 1960s. The article related that, as part of their training, some of our soldiers had been subjected to real torture to prepare them for such a possibility during the VietNam War. The article also revealed that some of those soldiers had suffered serious injuries as a result of that torture. Unfortunately, the article did not give specific details about the torture used, but a photo had accompanied the article. It was taken in some woods. A soldier wearing only a t-shirt and shorts was tied up spread-eagled between 2 narrow trees about 5 feet apart. He was blindfolded and he was barefoot. The restraints prevented his heels from resting on the ground, with only his toes barely making contact. Although it wasn't clear whether the soldier had been subjected to any additional torture, I could easily imagine such punishments as described in my story having been inflicted on the soldier in the photograph.
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