blackswaneuroparedux:Den første kjærligheten er som den første…

blackswaneuroparedux:

Den første kjærligheten er som den første snøen: Man ser sporene så tydelig.

– Lillebjørn Nilsen

Jegertroppen (Hunter Troop) all women Norwegian special forces.

Norway established the Jegertroppen, or the “Hunter Troop,” the world’s first all-female special operations unit with the goal of improving the country’s effectiveness in international operations.

In wars such as Afghanistan and Iraq, one of the big challenges was that highly trained women soldiers were needed to enter houses and be able to speak to the women to flush out insurgents and enemny combatants. Adding female specialised soldiers was an operational need.

The training programme is extremely challenging. The Norwegian Special Operations Forces Command reported that only 88 of the 317 candidates passed the initial admissions test and only 13 trainees made it to the end of Jegertroppen’s yearlong course. The high dropout rate is similar to male Special Operations Forces units.

Those that passed the rigorous training programme and now fully fledged special operators were expected to conduct special reconnaissance missions and are trained on parachute operations, weapons, survival, and patrol skills.

Hunter Troop soldiers do carry less weight than their male counterparts, a minimum of 60-pound rucks instead of the 88 pounds for male operators. But otherwise they complete the same training with long trips through the snow, days of limited food supplies, and operations on little or no sleep. But as Colonel Frode Kristoffersen, commander of the Norwegian Special Forces, noted Jegertroppen’s female soldiers displayed superior shooting and observational skills to many of their male brothers in arms.