Free Warrior Training by Keith Fennell

day’. After the previous nine days, our bodies welcomed the lower intensity. But for some soldiers, climbing a 10-storey tower and completing a 60-metre traverse – sliding along a rope suspended between two towers – was utter anguish. If this freaked them out, then I’m sure the next exercises – a forward rappel, then a 10-storey building climb and emergency stop – were enough to push them over the edge.
    You don’t have to be a base-jumping adrenaline addict to be an SAS soldier. But you must be able to overcome your fears in order to get the job done. The applicants who didn’t complete these activities were removed from the course.
    That evening, the 50 of us who remained were jammed into the back of a couple of seven-tonne trucks and driven to Lancelin, a coastal military training area 127 kilometres north of Perth.

    Besides being a team player, SAS soldiers are selected on their ability to work independently – to operate alone. Accordingly, the next phase of the course was a four-day individual navigation exercise. Each soldier was required to complete as many checkpoints and travel as many kilometres as he could.
    We weren’t told when the activity would finish or how many kilometres we were expected to cover – it was a test of personal discipline and self-belief. How hard will guys push themselves when there is no one around to make them? We were given guidelines, one of which was that there was to be no walking on tracks. If a soldier was caught moving along a track, he’d immediately be removed from the course for a lack of moral integrity. The WSM was so clear about this that I was almost too shit-scared even to cross over a track, let alone parallel one.
    In one sense, I was relieved to have made it this far and looked forward to spending four days alone. I planned to rest for 10 minutes each hour and break for 30 minutes during the hottest part of the day. I would walk until it gotdark and then push on for another 30 to 45 minutes. How hard I pushed was up to me – I was responsible for shaping my own destiny.
    It was a bit like rocking up to your office job and finding a note on your desk informing you that everyone else – including your boss – has been granted leave for the immediate future. You, however, are to begin working your way through 20 large boxes of paperwork, each box the equivalent of a week’s normal work. You’re not permitted to go home and you should sleep on the floor. It’s summer, the air-conditioning has been turned off and your office is infested with thousands of flies. There’s enough food to last you five days – nothing too exciting, of course. You’ll be hungry, but you won’t die from a lack of sustenance. When you choose to eat and sleep is up to you. And finally, there are to be no Google searches, no email and no phone calls – just you, your 20 boxes of paperwork and a few thousands flies. Oh, and there are a couple of snakes somewhere in the office – but don’t be concerned. Although dugites are poisonous, they’re not aggressive and should keep to themselves.
    After four days alone, with no end in sight, how hard would you continue to push? On the SAS selection course, three boxes of paperwork would be deemed a solid effort, two and a half a fair effort, two boxes adequate and one box – the equivalent to a week’s work in four days – a fail. Pack your bags, you’re going back to the Battalion.
    For safety, each man carried a radio and was required to send a daily message to confirm his location. Apart from the DS at the checkpoints, we were alone. In four days Isaw only one other trainee; he was traversing a ridge over a kilometre away.
    My first leg was 10.8 kilometres. When I was about halfway there, I stumbled into a small clearing and found two large green garbage bins. I lifted one of the lids and found it was brimming with marijuana. I called