Selection & Training
After completing basic training and having served in a conventional unit, candidates aspiring to attain the coveted "green beret" must undergo comprehensive medical and psychological reviews as well as physical trials, and then, if approved, pass a rigorous selection course (Capacitación). The course is divided into Basic and Advanced phases and is staffed exclusively by UOE officers and NCOs, all of them fully qualified in Special Operations.
The Basic phase lasts for about four weeks and is aimed at testing the physical and psychological endurance of candidates through a gruelling combination of intense physical exercise, long-distance marches carrying up to 50 kg of weight, and numerous trials at sea and in mountain environments. The Advanced phase of selection lasts for about two months and, though the physical rigor of the course steadily increases, candidates also receive more specific training in basic naval commando skills:
- Combat swimming
- Small-craft navigation
- Shipboarding
- Mountaineering and rappelling
- Demolitions
- Marksmanship
- Communications
- Hostage rescue
- Orienteering
- Escape and evasion in enemy territory
- Land/maritime survival techniques
- Battlefield medicine
Candidates are free to drop out of the course at any moment, from the first day to the last. Though some drop-outs result from physical injury (or even death), most instances are voluntary. The attrition rate for the UOE selection process can occasionally be as high as 100% and averages from 70-80%—the highest failure rate of any course in the Spanish armed forces. It is not uncommon that by the end of the course the instructor-candidate ratio is 3:1. The unit's harsh entrance criteria has furnished its official motto, "Entra quien puede, no quien quiere." ("He who can enters, not he who wants.")
Successful candidates are immediately sent to parachuting school upon arrival at the UOE and proceed to more advanced and specialised training in Naval Special Warfare skills (diving, sniping, intelligence, etc.).
Read more about this topic: Unidad De Operaciones Especiales
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