The special forces of the United States conducted a rigorous open day at Fort Bragg’s 44,000-square-foot Human Performance Forge, and offered the visitors a taste of what it feels like to be a part of the elite Green Berets. Ammo crates, test: haul fuel canisters, and several of them have come across a track in under eight minutes. A sergeant even shouted – We are going to test your physical capabilities as well as your perseverance.
Though the public who faced these challenges is the tip of the iceberg, candidates from the real Special Forces, on the other hand, were deep in “team week” and were seen going through very hard endurance tests that eventually weed out nearly 70% of applicants.
Under the Presidential term of Donald Trump, and also Pete Hagseth, the Defense Secretary, there has been a revolution in the recruitment as as well as the training of the military. Pete Hagseth, who is himself a veteran, has criticized the ongoing standards and has argued that diversity should be prioritized over combat readiness. “‘Diversity is our strength’ is the dumbest phrase in military history,” he said.
He has eventually been backed by Trump, and the Secretary has already started reinstating that the soldiers were removed from vaccination previously and transgender recruits are also banned.
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Trump’s administration has made several ambitious proposals and one of the most ambitious one among them is the – creation of a Star Wars-like missile shield dubbed the “Golden Dome.”
At the Fort Bragg demo, a participant found it a bit hard through a comparatively easier drill that Command Sergeant-Major Lionel Strong stated would be 100 times harder. He even described the thig with a real life example of “carrying a 20 kg rucksack, in freezing rain, after a 70-mile hike.”
While Green Berets, who belong to the elite forces, use gender neutral standards but still an entry to the military force is uneven. Women on the other hand, aren’t able to fulfill the expectations – for instance, they might need to do a single pull up whereas men need to do three in the Marines.
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Some critics are of the view that the reforms brought in by Hagseth are of the motive for taking the women out . In a 2024 book, he wrote: “We need moms. But not in the military. And certainly not in combat units.” His recent memo called for sex-neutral standards in combat arms units. “That’s not acceptable,” he said in a video posted on X.
Concerning these changes, the New American Security states that only 143 women have come up to join the elite units like the Rangers in the past decade—out of over 40,000 recruits. Some of the reasons, why standards are looked to tighten are declining entry rates and poor fitness levels among general applicants.
