The South African Police Special Task Force is considered one of the world’s foremost elite special forces units because of the intense physical and mentally gruelling training candidates have to endure before they are selected.
The training itself takes two years to complete, and on average, only one percent of all candidates who apply to join the unit make it past the training.
Today, the South African Police Service will welcome eleven newly trained Special Task Force members to the organisation’s elite unit.
The cohort will stand on parade at the SAPS Tshwane Academy, where they will receive their STF wings from the National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the National Commissioner would acknowledge the eleven, which include a 31-year-old female, as having undergone and successfully completed the 36th two-year Special Task Force Selection Training Programme.
“Also standing on parade will be an additional ten STF members who will receive their Operators Badge after undergoing a two-year probation period during which they were already serving as members of the elite unit,” Mathe said.
“The Special Task Force (STF) is a highly specialised unit whose members are responsible for only responding to high-risk incidents, which include hostage incidents, search and rescue missions, as well as specialised operations support,” she added.
The Special Task Force members stand out from the rest of the police units as they wear camouflage uniforms.
So what does it take to become a member of this elite unit?
According to the website saptf.org which is dedicated to memorialising the unit, applicants must have completed the six-month-long basic police college training and must have had two years active service.
Candidates must also be under the age of 32.
In order to be considered, candidates are put through gruelling physical fitness and strength tests and have to be able to complete:
- A 3,2-kilometre run in boots, long trousers and with a rifle within eighteen minutes;
- Five uninterrupted, consecutive pull-ups (palms forward);
- Sixty sit-ups in two minutes;
- Thirty-five consecutive and uninterrupted push-ups in one minute; and
- Ten twenty-five metre sprints in sixty-five seconds.
Swimming
The following activity must be completed to demonstrate acceptable swimming competence:
• An unassisted 200 metre swim in dark water, such as dam water, adopting any swimming style.
Endurance
The following activity must be completed to demonstrate acceptable endurance capacity:
• A fifteen kilometre walk carrying fifteen kilograms in three hours.
And if you think that is hard, it is just the beginning.
Candidates still have to go through ‘vasbyt’ - to grit one’s teeth in Afrikaans - that tests the limits of their physical and mental capabilities.
According to saptf.org, the duration of ‘vasbyt’ is approximately 90 hours.
During this time, members are constantly gauged by the course officer, instructors and medical consultants with the aim of monitoring and testing the limits of their mental and physical stamina and endurance for as long as possible before a complete system shut down is experienced.
Candidates may not sleep or eat during ’vasbyt’ and are limited to between two and five litres of water a day.
The only constant is the incessant physical endurance routines designed to ensure that candidates remain awake.
They are also constantly taunted by jibes, accusing them of being too soft and requiring the comforts of civilian life in order to heighten the discomfort and intensify the experience. The vast majority of candidates will leave the course within the two weeks leading up to ‘vasbyt’ or during ‘vasbyt’ itself.
After a well-earned two days rest, official training begins, saptf.org says, which includes, among others, weapons training, tactical assaults, VIP protection and survival.
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