HERITAGE – facts & figures

Around the globe the Military uses the same recipe to Select their very best. You create extreme conditions and see if the individual’s mind is strong enough to function with clarity. You take only volunteers – he must want it.

Statistically less than 5{961fdcf33b98201d178ab1ff98a24210f98ed9e4db4730493500a5fcf201b7b1} of students make the initial cycle with most falling off in the selection period. The R.S.A. SF is now just over 45 years old. By 1988 less than 480 people had qualified. This is just over 30 a year.

By 2014 – 42 years after it started it had produced just over 1 000 qualified operators of which 200 had died. That is just over 22 soldiers a year.

The workload is over a wide spectrum including, Seaborne dive raids, river based diving operations and crocodile attacks, HALO Insertions, Base Attacks, Urban Assaults, Hostage Rescue and over 240 Bush missions. The Recce’s operate on first in and last out basis. It is there to gather the data before the work and there to report back at the end. Within this, the most telling fact is as follows:

F Zeelie – 1 Recce – First person killed in the Bush War.
H Carstens – 1 Recce – Last Person killed in the Bush War.

The facts that define these soldiers, are presented in the blocks below. For convenience we have separated these into Figures, Facts & Anecdotes.