#7. The Road To heaven (Taiwan Marines) Militaries all over the world seek to recruit
the best soldiers possible, in order to weed out the many applicants they have introduced
rigorous exercises ensuring only the top recruits make the cut.
In Taiwan the military has opted to put their soldiers through both mental and psychical
stress, this ensures the soldier can endure the toughest battle conditions.
The "Road to Heaven" test, is the final stage of a nine week intensive Amphibious Training
Program, it requires trainees to execute various exercises including a leopard crawl along
a 150 ft long path that is littered with jagged corals and rocks. As the recruits slowly crawl
across the sharp and jagged terrain they experience extreme pain as they are cut to shreds. All
recruits participating in this final exercise have been awake for over 4 days nonstop making
the course even more challenging.
#6. The Fire Walk (Belarusian Special Forces) Belarus is known as the last dictatorship
in Europe, a key ingredient to any dictatorship is a strong and feared military. The Interior
Ministry of Belarus is in charge of the country’s security forces, and soldiers of the ministry
often go through incredible training courses that include physical tests and obstacles
in adverse conditions. Servicemen from the Special Unit are undoubtedly
tough guys. To prove exactly how tough they are, and to be accepted into the ministry's
elite Red Berets, they must complete these extreme courses.
The initial test includes a 10k quick march, followed by an extreme assault course, hand-to-hand
fighting, storming a high-rise building and acrobatics. Their commanders throw in extra
challenges to make things even harder – such as trying to knock new recruits off the balance
beam with car tires and live gunfire. On average, it takes recruits five to six attempts to
earn a spot in the coveted Red Berets – thus only the fittest manage to do so.
#5. Cobra Blood Cocktail (U.S. Marines) These days becoming an elite soldier is a
nearly impossible task, with a barrage of mental and physical tests, gone are the days
when a few push-ups and an obstacle course proved a soldier's worth. United Stated Marines
training now includes drinking cobra blood and ripping the heads off chickens with your
bare teeth. An 11-day exercise, called Cobra Gold is held
every year in Thailand; it’s comprised of around 13,000 soldiers from the United States,
Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea. The course covers amphibious assault, humanitarian
relief and the evacuation of friendly forces, as well as jungle survival techniques.
After being taught how to properly kill venomous cobras by naval instructors, Marines are encouraged
to experience drinking the animal's blood. The cobras blood is said to have many nutrients
and can help sustain a soldier in an emergency. Many of the men happily oblige, tipping their
heads back while the blood is squeezed out of the snake's body and into their mouths.
Other unique rituals include killing a chicken by biting off its head and eating a cobra's
tail.
#4. Shot To The Chest (Russian Special Forces) The Russian Special Forces combat a wide array
of threats from domestic terrorists to international criminals; this means they must be prepared
for any event that may unfold. Recruits are subjected to unique and dangerous training
exercises to ensure they can handle the job. These exercises are part of a specialized
Russian confidence training course; one of their most daring techniques includes shooting
each other in the chest. The idea behind the exercise is to prepare
the men if they are ever shot. Some soldiers end up wounded while others just take hits
to the vest. Whatever the outcome, the men must be able to return fire quickly and accurately.
Trainees are also tested in a crowded environment where they must navigate through people while
firing at targets, shots pass mere inches from the volunteers playing innocent bystanders,
this exercise helps teach the soldiers how stress affects one's concentration.
#3. Coldwater Training (U.S. Navy SEALs) We have all heard of the infamous Navy Seals,
they are known to perform some of the most secretive and dangerous work in the world.
But what many of us don't know is exactly how these brave men train for the job.
Navy Seal Trainees endure extreme surf torture, also known as "cold water conditioning,”
First being covered from head to toe in mud the men then have their arms and legs bound
as a part of "drown proofing." The recruits must bob up and down twenty times,
float for five minutes, swim to the shallow end of the pool and turn around without touching
the bottom. They must then retrieve a face mask from the bottom of the pool.
The insanity doesn't end there either – a BUDS instructor will also attack the trainees
in the pool to simulate a combative drowning victim.
#2. The Sludge Run (British Royal Marines) Our next course is specially designed to turn
the boys into men! The Royal Marines' highly-feared Mud Run is
the most grueling part of the 32-week training course that is said to turn 'civilians into
commandos', and after learning more you will understand why even the top recruits dread
it. The recruits are forced to spend up to 45
minutes at a time performing extreme physical tasks in mud so thick that they can barely
move. Exhausted, demoralized, and covered from head to toe in terrible-smelling sea
sludge. Their uniforms offer little protection from the putrid mud as their superiors bark
orders at them to do press ups, and crawl on their hands and knees through the shore.
These Royal Marine hopefuls participate as they dream one day of wearing the coveted
Green Beret marking them as the most elite of Britain's fighting forces.
#1. Hand Grenade Hot Potato (People's Liberation Army of China)
Our number one spot is earned by a military whose soldiers literally risk life and death
before ever reaching the battlefield! Training an army is no easy task; it involves great
discipline, precision and courage that can be called upon in times of war.
However Soldiers in China take this idea to the next level. As a training exercise to
harden the soldiers, a life and death game of "hot potato" is played with live hand-grenades!
The pin is pulled as the men huddle in a circle and pass the explosive off to one another.
This game continues until the very last second when the soldier holding the grenade throws
it down a hole and dives for cover as it explodes! This insanely dangerous game is said to help
harden the soldiers and teach them how to think quickly under extreme stress.