The Air Force is using new technology to determine the precise mental and physical limits of special warfare trainees—and push past them.
THE FUTURE of U.S. Air Force Special Warfare stomps into the room on the double—a half-dozen men and women, fresh out of basic training, clad in identical off-white T-shirts and blue shorts. At Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, no trainee walks. Ever. This facility is about sustained maximum effort.
The trainees want to be among the Air Force’s elite Special Warfare troops, those who leap from airplanes on rescue missions or embed with front-line troops to direct air strikes. But before they can do that, they face a gantlet of unforgiving qualification courses with infamously high wash-out rates. A Rand report from May 2018 found that the attrition rate during the initial Special Warfare assessment and selection course hovers at roughly 75 percent.
The Air Force’s solution aims the most cutting-edge sports technology at young airmen. Over eight weeks, the 350th Special Warfare Training Squadron in Lackland will use big data, video analysis, wearable sensors, and extreme exercise to teach airmen how to optimize their bodies like machines.
It’s not just their bodies. Instructors here say the airmen’s minds also need calibration. One of the Rand report’s key takeaways was that many airmen did not understand the challenge they faced. They prepared for the minimum standards instead of planning to go far beyond them. “They have to switch their mindset if they want to prepare themselves for what they’re getting into,” says Master Sergeant Dean Criswell, an instructor pararescueman with the 350th.
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