WHY THEY ARE “PICKED MEN.”

Some of Physical Feats to Be Performed
in Commando “Battle Culture.’’

“Battle culture,’ which to nonmilitary
highbrows may seem like a contradiction in
terms, is the name applied to the new train-
ing program which is making every British
soldier a commando. The program teaches
the co-ordinated use of head, hands and feet.

The scheme will be tried on all British
troops, and when a soldier has “graduated”
he will be able to run cross-country for two
miles in full battle kit in sixteen minutes,
sprint 200 yards and then score three out of
five hits in seventy-five seconds in a firing
test. This exercise will be followed by a 10-
mile “forced hike,’ to be completed within
two hours.

Here are some other feats which must ‘be
accomplished during the new training course:

‘A soldier is expected to carry a man of his ©
own weight 200 yards in two minutes—both
wearing full battle kit,

Starting in physical training kit—shirt and ~
shorts—the soldier will have to complete a
'100-yard “alarm” race by running twenty
yards, stopping to don full battle dress, then
sprinting the remaining eighty yards to a
finish; all within 330 seconds of starting.

Soldiers are expected to be thoroughly
trained for “unarmed combat,” which in-
cludes the full knowledge of how best to use
fists, knees, thumbs, etc., in personal hand-

to-hand fighting. Included in this training |

is a thorough grounding in judo.

One of the primary: feats which must be
mastered is diving into a swimming pool in
full battle order from a height of twenty feet,
Soldiers must keep their rifles up during the
Swim that follows et