The Army’s Long-Range Reconnaissance Forces

The aptitude assessment procedure for long-range reconnaissance training takes two weeks. During the first week, the soldiers need to demonstrate their physical fitness: pull-ups, backpack run, obstacle course, swimming fully clothed, land navigation – always racing the clock. There is barely enough time for a breather in between tests. Failing a test means failing out of the entire selection process.

The survival exercise in the second week is also a test of character. For days, the soldiers simulate being on the run: long days of marching, little sleep and barely any food. Character traits the instructors want to see are absolute determination, stamina, and a high tolerance for frustration.

Long-range reconnaissance troops are specialised forces. The demands placed on body, mind and character are correspondingly high. The soldiers operate in six-man teams up to 150 km deep in the adversary’s territory. Their mission: observe and report.

“When we’re on the move, we’re on our own. Nobody is coming to help us. We can’t simply abort when we are on a mission,” Major Frederik Vestergaard explains. He is the chief instructor at the Munster Training Centre in the training division of the ISRIntelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Corps, the branch to which the long-range reconnaissance forces belong. Should a team member be injured or something go wrong, that person would still have to be ready to continue on. They would need to have the will to get home, says Vestergaard.

“Long-range reconnaissance forces need a high tolerance for frustration. If they fail, they need to be able to deal with that, because everyone fails at some point. What we want to see during the selection process isn’t anything out of this world. It’s not arbitrary. It is based on operational reality,” Vestergaard adds. He oversees the process and is responsible for the safety of the participants.

“We provide very close support throughout the process,” Vestergaard explains. Eight instructors, a psychologist, a physician and the officer in charge accompany the soldiers. “The instructors need to have gone through the process themselves.” Only that way will they be able to realize when a participant is in danger of going beyond his or her personal limits – and intervene. “Also, the participants are constantly accompanied by at least two instructors. In our buddy system, one experienced non-commissioned officer is always partnered with a slightly younger colleague.”

Doctors with borders

Before the soldiers are even allowed to participate in the aptitude assessment procedure, they have to undergo a medical examination. “All the candidates have an up-to-date 90/5,” Stefanie Meier (not her real name), captain in the Medical Corps and neurosurgical resident at the Bundeswehr hospital in Berlin, explains. The “90/5” is a military medical fitness examination form. “This means that the soldiers were examined by colleagues beforehand to determine whether they are physically capable of enduring such levels of strain,” the doctor explains. It is already her second time accompanying soldiers during the selection process. “My job is not to treat scrapes or scratches right away, in the field, on demand. That also doesn’t reflect operational reality, because there won’t always be a doctor nearby. I see my role more as saving the participants from themselves if necessary,” Meier says. If soldiers are in danger of going beyond their limits, she intervenes and pulls them from the process. “The point isn’t to have the participants get hurt. People will sometimes overestimate themselves under stress.”

For Markus Auschek, special branch instructor for psychology at the Training Centre in Pfullendorf, selecting the right soldiers plays a decisive role in terms of safety: “When it comes to the question of safety, the most important thing is to train the right person. If I choose the wrong person and our people are out 150 km behind the adversary’s lines, and that person cracks under the strain, it could cost the lives of the whole team. That’s why they brought me on board, so that we make the right choice.”

But who is a good fit? Auschek has clear-cut ideas: “The person we choose must combine different personality traits. I need somebody who really is able to put up with hardship, to a much greater extent than in the rest of the force. If your team’s radio specialist has to carry an eighty-kilo backpack for kilometres on end, I have no use for anybody who will then start to question the meaning of life. That would be counter-productive. The person we want is somebody who, when they finally get to where they’re going, is still motivated enough to set up a concealed position, because any negligence here might also cost someone their life. And once our people have occupied their position, they need to immediately shift gears again and be wide awake so that they can work their radios properly.”

To pass the selection process, physical fitness is an essential requirement. “It’s primarily about muscular endurance,” Captain Meier says. That is why intense training is important. However: “Don’t overtrain. During the previous selection process, we had several participants who’d overdone it on the weights beforehand – and then in the critical phase, their bodies couldn’t handle the strain anymore and they had to drop out. That’s why it is more important to focus on endurance,” she adds.

In chief instructor Major Vestergaard’s estimation, the candidates should have good land-navigation skills. “Long-range reconnaissance forces spend 90 percent of their time in the forest or in extreme terrain. Which means that anything that helps you find your way around is certainly also an important military skill.”

The right motivation

Mentally preparing for the aptitude assessment procedure is also important. “There are two aspects. First, you need to reflect on why you want to do this. The motive, the ‘why’, is the foundation for enduring the ‘how’,” Auschek says. There is no right or wrong motive. Wanting to follow in the footsteps of your father is just as legitimate as looking for a training programme that promises to be challenging and exciting.

The second pillar is the how. “There are certain techniques, for instance how to talk to yourself. If you beat yourself up mentally during the high-pressure phases, you will not make it.” The trick is to keep the mind occupied. “Otherwise, your mind will occupy itself with itself and that usually goes wrong,” Auschek explains.

Good self-distraction methods, for instance during a high-pressure phase, can include visualisation techniques such as thinking positive thoughts, like past experiences with friends and family, or even simply going through a recipe. Breathing techniques can also help in stress situations to avoid mistakes and accomplish the mission.