UK Joint Special Forces Selection

[2] On completion, candidates are either classed as being suitable to continue to the next phase of selection; required to attend another briefing course; or unsuitable for service in UKSF.

The Hills Phase lasts 4 weeks, with candidates having to perform increasingly difficult loaded marches, navigating between checkpoints individually using only a compass and hand-drawn sketch map.

[1][3][4][5] Exercise High Walk, known as the Fan Dance, is a 26 km march that takes place at the end of the first week of the phase.

The candidates climb Pen y Fan's west slope (facing Corn Du) and then descend on the far side, known as Jacob's Ladder.

[8] The second phase of selection consists of 14 weeks of SF tactics, techniques and procedures training, held at a candidates' respective unit, Stirling Lines for the SAS, and RM Poole for the SBS.

Patrolling, ambush, break contact, close target reconnaissance, demolitions, vehicle handling, close-quarters combat (CQB), battlefield casualty, and dynamic shooting drills are also learnt.

Candidates are expected to apply and demonstrate skills learned from continuation training, whilst in an arduous, humid, dirty, wet, hot environment, where toxic and poisonous animals and plants are rife, and a simple cut could lead to a problematic infection.

Soldiers use live rounds, and simulate being a member of a four-soldier jungle long-range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP), deep behind enemy lines, for a month.

[15] For SBS personnel only, the SC3 course involves training and diving in all conditions, canoeing (often over long distances), underwater demolitions, beach reconnaissance and surveying techniques.