Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/390970
REPORT The main part of "The SelecTion" is few days and nights spent in former SoF training grounds, Drawsko Pomorskie Field Training Area. out there competitors face a string of fast, long marches, evo- lutions over and under the water, jumps to the water from helicop- ter, secured areas infiltrations, obstacle and psychological courses, interrogations etc. All of this is intersected with pieces of information (like azimuths) that must be remembered and recalled from memo- ry any day and night, sometimes in really weird situations. The cap- stone of memory test is multi-number code, given one by one during whole time of "The Selection". in this case competitor must be pre- pared to provide for example four number from the end. The event course is monitoring by MA J ARkADiUSz kUPS and instructors, not infrequently former special forces soldiers and sometimes challenge graduates. Among them you can find doctors, medics, scuba divers, lifeguards, mountain rescuers and hand to hand combat instructors. At the beginning, the Selection was supposed to be some kind of a live Armed Forces commercial – the graduates were promised a fast track to Polish SoF units. As it happened, few of them actually wear uniform, and not necessarily a military one, but for example a Border Guard one. Back in the day, the cooperation between "The Selection" organizers, a fixture that comes from military press, and the Ministry of Defence, became quite complicated. The problem was in pervasive paper work and very often organizational mess. For instance, few days before fixture beginning it has been not confirmed if Drawsko Field Training Area will be available, not to mention the availability of boats or tents. luckily , this situation is a thing of the past as the relationship between the organizers and the Ministry is getting more smoothed over. The pre-selection is organizing at the Military Techni- cal Academy, Field Training Area (FTA) is available, and MoD supports the Selection with helicopter or even Rosomak APc.