She's marched for miles carrying gear that weighs as much as she does, killed animals for food during survival training and practised jumping out of planes to get behind enemy
But Jannike, a pony-tailed 19-year-old from northern Norway, will only concede that she's "pretty tough".
She is part of the Hunter Troop, the world's first all-female special forces training programme.
"I wanted to do something bigger, the toughest the army could offer me," Jannike says. "I wanted to [see] how far I could push myself."
After six months, despite some "really low moments", she is determined to get through the course.
Next up on the training schedule is close-combat fighting and offensive driving.
In between rounds, the women, who are all aged between 19 and 27, rest, and the dynamic changes completely.
They sing, and joke around. Three women sprawl out on an equipment box, enjoying the brief downtime. Later they light a fire, and get a barbeque going.
Back in the mid-1980s, Norway became one of the first countries in Nato to allow women to serve in all combat roles, although the numbers actually doing so have remained low. Women were allowed to apply for the special forces, but none had got in.
The United States and Britain, in comparison, have only recently begun lifting restrictions on women officially enlisting in combat units.
No comments:
Post a Comment