5 Characteristics to be comparable to a Female Jegertroppen Operative

The Norwegian Jegertroppen (Hunter Troop) is the world’s only female special forces unit. Many hopefuls apply each year, but only around ten make it to be a member of the unit. To qualify for this urban reconnaissance unit, you need certain characteristics to make it. These characteristics will also stand you in good stead for most challenges in life. To be a member of this unit is a calling, and the disappointment for those who do not make it is genuine.

Hell Week is actually part of a three-week-long extensive selection course, and to be considered for the selection course alone, the applicants must be able to pass the following minimum fitness requirements:

• 2 Body lifts (pull-ups)
• 20 Push-ups
• 35 Sit-ups in 2 mins
• 20 Ridge Lifts (back extensions)
• Swimming 200 meters with the first 10 meters underwater

Then follows the actual Hell Week. The recruits are subjected to forced marches, physical exercise on land and in freezing water. And any other challenge the instructors issue. After this selection process, the recruits undergo a 10-month long training course. The skills learned range from parachuting, sniper training, urban reconnaissance to close combat fighting and winter survival skills. The recruits are subjected to extreme physical close combat fighting, which includes fighting in the water against larger male instructors.

After completing the parachute course successfully, the remaining candidates, usually around thirteen to sixteen, are presented on parade with their paratrooper wings and the unit’s purple beret. The physical requirements have also gone up at this stage of their training. At this point Jegertroppen candidates must be able to:

• Run 3km in less than 12 minutes
• 50 situps in less than 2 minutes
• Swim 400 meters (with the first 25 meters underwater) in less than 11 minutes

Now the small group of trainees who earned their wings move straight into Exercise Pneumonia. The exercise involves being para dropped in full kit and sleds in North Hedmark. They retrace the World War Two operation, where the allies blew up a ferry to sabotage the Nazi atomic bomb development. Heavy Water, crucial to the process, was being produced in Norway. The trainees have to set up an observation post, observe and determine guard routines, then sneak aboard the ferry and “plant a bomb”. The mission is successful once the “heavy water” is aboard and the light on the “bomb” comes on when the detonation device is activated remotely.

There is one last obstacle left for the remaining Jegertroppen recruits. Once they are back in Rena (where they train), they have to pass one last hurdle to be a full-fledged Jegertroppen. They have to do a 15km march, in full combat gear (including weapons), through the forests near Rena, in less than two hours and 15 minutes. The trick is, nobody can make it without running. It can be heartbreaking for the one or two who fall out at this stage, but now only the best are left.

So, what do you need to get to this point?

Mindset.

The only way you can achieve anything worthwhile in life is by having the right mindset. Nobody has ever accomplished anything without having this deep tenacity about making it happen for themselves. I can guarantee you that not one of the Jegertroppen recruits who ended up being full members of the unit had a mind not set on making it come hell or high water. Without the mindset, the rest does not fall into place, ever.

Self-Discipline.

Jegertroppen candidates have to pass some of the most strenuous physical and psychological hurdles to reach their end goal. A case in point is that women are not physically as strong as their male counterparts. While being trained, the future Jegertroppen operatives undergo much more physical conditioning than their male counterparts in other units of the Norwegian Army. This cannot be achieved without self-discipline, to force yourself to keep training and to keep going through pain. That requires self-discipline.

Perseverance.

Certain exercises such as the survival course, where the recruits do not know when it will end, Exercise Hjortefot (Deer foot) where they are tracked by members of the Norwegian Home Guard who try to ambush them, Hell Week, and many other times the name of the game is to put one foot ahead of the other and simply persevere. This is especially applicable when the morale of the recruits is at their lowest.

Physical conditioning.

There is no soldier or sports person or any other person for that matter engaged in physical activity who is not physically conditioned. It is for that reason that some of the best recruits for the Jegertroppen were athletes first. The unit builds up their recruits, but those arriving there with a certain level of physical conditioning are more likely to make it and find the whole experience slightly easier. Staying fit is also one of the characteristics of most successful people.

Intelligence and Emotional intelligence.

Jegertroppen operatives are elite troops, which means they are capable of complex problem solving and are socially relatable. The most obvious areas where these elite soldiers will work will be in areas where they either interact with women in places like Afghanistan or Iraq, where they must know which questions to ask, how to pick up leads and what follow-up questions to ask. It is also a fact that as they hide their faces they are expected to work undercover at some stage, which means they must be able to interact with enemies or criminals in a socially relatable manner, hence emotional intelligence. If they cannot think on their feet, they may be just another name on a monument.

In conclusion.

It goes without saying, but you also have to be female to be Jegertroppen. The whole process before the unit was established went through a test and evaluation phase before Norway got to this point. They now have at least a hundred qualified Jegertroppen operatives to call on. These female special forces further qualify themselves in being officers, or snipers or engineers, after they become full-fledged Jegertroppen. They may be female, but they carry themselves with pride and are more than a match for other armed forces.