Special Boat Service - Present Day - Recruitment, Selection and Training

Recruitment, Selection and Training

In the past the SBS was staffed almost entirely by the Royal Marines. Volunteers for the SBS are now taken from all the British Armed Forces although volunteers still predominantly come from the Royal Marines. Candidates wishing to serve with SBS must have completed two years regular service and will only be accepted into the SBS after completion of the selection process.

Until recently, the SBS had its own independent selection program in order to qualify as a Swimmer Canoeist but has now been integrated its selection program into a joint UKSF selection alongside candidates for the SAS. All members of the United Kingdom armed forces can be considered for special forces selection, but historically the majority of candidates have an airborne forces background. There are two selections a year, one in winter and the other in summer, and all the instructors are full members of the Special Air Service Regiment. Selection lasts for five weeks in Sennybridge, Powys in the Brecon Beacons and normally starts with about 200 candidates. On arrival candidates have to complete a Basic Fitness Test (BFT) and an infantry Combat Fitness Test (CFT). They then complete a series of cross country marches against the clock, with the distances covered increasing each day and including a 14-mile (23 km) march with full equipment on Pen-y-Fan, known as the Fan dance, which must be completed in four hours. By the end of the hill phase candidates must be able to walk four miles in 30 minutes and swim two miles in 90 minutes.

Those who successfully complete the hill phase move onto the jungle phase which can take place in Belize, Brunei or Malaysia. In the jungle phase candidates are taught navigation, moving in patrol formation and how to survive in the jungle.

After successfully completing the jungle phase candidates return to Hereford for training in battle plans, foreign weapons, and take part in a combat survival exercise. The final test is an escape and evasion exercise; the remaining candidates are formed into patrols, and carrying nothing more than a tin can filled with survival equipment they are dressed in old Second World War uniforms and told to head for a point by first light. The exercise lasts for one week and is followed by the final selection test resistance to interrogation (RTI), which lasts for 36 hours.

At the end of the resistance to interrogation phase the surviving candidates are transferred to an operational squadron.

For SBS(R) selection, candidates are required to complete the following tests over the four-day initial selection course:

• Combat Fitness Test (CFT) – 12.8 km (8.0 mi) carrying 25 kg within 1 hour 50 minutes
• Swim test – 0.5 km (0.31 mi) using any stroke in uniform and retrieve an object from 5m
• Gym tests
• Advanced CFT 1 – 15 km (9.3 mi) carrying 25 kg
• Advanced CFT 2 – 24 km (15 mi) carrying 30 kg