Only six out of ten soldiers who start the Special Operations course manage to finish it

MADRID, 19 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Only six out of ten soldiers who access the Special Operations course manage to finish it due to its hardness and the demands of its tests, which lead students to test their limits and manage large doses of stress.

In an average of the last five years, 146 members of the Armed Forces request each edition to access the so-called Special Operations Basic Aptitude Course (CABOE), although only one in three manages to pass the rigorous prior selection process that qualifies them as students.

Of the 44 troops who, on average, have started classes each year, 39 percent drop out before the end and the remaining 61 percent manage to finish it, according to data from the Army, collected by Europa Press.

The course is run by the Mountaineering and Special Operations School located in Jaca (Huesca), although those selected are also trained in Alicante and the Air Force skydiving school in Alcantarilla (Murcia).

It is a total of 1,000 hours of course that begin with a basic module in which "it is intended that the student knows his own limits and knows how to act in stressful situations", according to the Army itself in a document that compiles its activities in 2022.

In this first phase, the applicants to join the 'green berets' of the Army carry out topography and navigation practices, transmissions, overcoming obstacles, hand-to-hand combat and also with firearms.

"During this part, resilience is important, but it is also essential to convey to the students the importance of humility," explains a course teacher, 1st Sergeant of the 'Valencia' III Special Operations Group.

After this first phase, the students continue with a much more technical second part in which they carry out life and movement in winter mountains and also in the water, skydiving and special recognitions.

Once the program is over, the soldiers who have made it to the last day -- some 27 of the 44 who started it -- receive the Special Operations Course badge that opens the door to the elite unit of the Army of Land.