February 24, 2014
Major General Patrick Cordingley feels some may not be up to the task
However, if they are selected, it will endanger the lives of their colleagues
Exercises made easier following a report by Health and Safety Executive
Came after the death of three recruits in the Brecon Beacons last year
By RICHARD MARSDEN
23 February 2014
Fears: Major General Cordingley says if someone is not 100 per cent physically up to the task, lives will be in danger
Fears: Major General Cordingley says if someone is not 100 per cent physically up to the task, lives will be in danger
A former top Army commander has slammed a decision to relax gruelling entry tests for the Special Forces, warning that accepting softer recruits could put soldiers’ lives at risk.
Exercises for troops wanting to join the SAS and SBS have been made easier following a damning report by the Health and Safety Executive into the deaths of three recruits on an endurance march in the Brecon Beacons last year.
New rules include providing extra rations, giving troops time to rest on marches and making sure safe drinking water is available rather than using streams if supplies are low.
Since the changes were implemented at the start of the year, the ‘pass rate’ has more than doubled, from 20 of 250 in winter 2013 to 46 on this year’s course. But the softer selection process could endanger the lives of troops on operations, according to Major General Patrick Cordingley, 69, the commander of the Desert Rats in the 1991 Gulf War.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘If someone who is not 100 per cent physically up to the job is passed because the selection standards have been lowered, it could endanger not only his life on operations but those around him.
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‘Special Forces recruits are chosen to be able to go into dangerous operations and make very quick decisions under a lot of pressure. It would be very unfortunate if you dulled the physical capability of the men chosen.
‘I think people taking part should be allowed to make their own mind up if they feel they are not capable of continuing.’
Corporal James Dunsby, a member of the Army Reserves, who died after falling ill during a SAS selection training last year
Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, one of the soldiers who died during the training exercise last year
Corporal James Dunsby, (left) and Lance Corporal Crag Roberts (right) died after falling ill during a SAS selection training last year in Wales
Tragic: Reservist Edward Maher died while scaling south Wales’s highest mountain Pen Y Fan during the same exercise
Tragic: Reservist Edward Maher died while scaling south Wales’s highest mountain Pen Y Fan during the same exercise
An SAS source, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘The SAS and SBS cannot afford to accept candidates whose fitness, mental aptitude or military skills are in any doubt.
‘The inspectors have no idea of the risks to soldiers’ lives when they’re in battle.
‘So even though the SAS and SBS have been struggling to fully staff their squadrons in recent years, there is no benefit to having a larger pool of guys.’
Other military figures say that the quality of recruits will not be diminished because the endurance exercises are only a small part of a lengthy course.
The HSE imposed changes on the selection tests following the deaths of Corporal James Dunsby, 31, Trooper Edward Maher, 31, and Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, 24, after the so-called ‘Fan Dance’ endurance march, up and down the 2,900ft Pen Y Fan mountain, in sweltering conditions last July.
HSE inspector Sarah Baldwin Jones launched an inquiry and concluded that the courses breached the Health and Safety at Work Act
Under the new guidelines, recruits on the Fan Dance are allowed to use an easier route in bad weather.
A police inquiry into last year’s deaths is ongoing.
HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE SAS: A GUIDE TO THE SELECTION PROCESS
Training: Cadets change their clothes as they take a break before beginning a command task at a checkpoint in the Brecon Beacons
The Special Forces selection course lasts five months and involves a series of increasingly challenging exercises.
The first phase, which has been unchanged since the Fifties, is a series of timed marches – an individual effort over demanding terrain in the Brecon Beacons carrying a 45lb rucksack with a rifle, weighing a further 12lbs, and water bottle.
This very tough month begins with basic military physical tests followed by a ‘beast’ – a fierce march – over Pen Y Fan, the highest peak in the Beacons.
The times march is officially called ‘High Walk’ but known universally as ‘Fan Dance’ – in reference to the name of the peak.
Next comes a three-week map-reading tour of the hills and then Test Week, during which the most grueling marches are undertaken.
These become increasingly challenging as the loads get steadily heavier until the final march: ‘Endurance’.
This is 40 miles long and has to be completed without stopping, within a certain time and while carrying a 60lb rucksack, a rifle and a full water bottle.
At the end of Endurance, the course numbers will be about halved and the survivors will have won a place on ‘continuation training’, including the jungle phase in Brunei.
The officers on the course face the additional hurdle of Officers’ Week which further thins out the survivors.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co. uk/news/article-2566333/ Softer-entry-tests-SAS-lives- risk-Former-Army-commander- attacks-decision-relax- selection-rules-following- deaths-three-recruits.html# ixzz2uGGU4EKp
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