How Hard is Canadian JTF2 Training and Selection?

so you're saying that the the recruiting standards or requirements are kind of nobody really knows what they are so now that you're I mean now that you're talking to the recruiter what who what are the requirements uh so there's a a psychological evaluation you have to go do uh a couple I think I want to say it was two appointments um and it's just a psych going through all of their psych stuff determining if you would be a good fit or not um and then there's a physical test you have to do in the standard I do not remember um but it was like run pull-ups push-ups whatever it was certain times and certain numbers um and that all kind of goes in your file and it is sent off to the hill and that's uh or like so Dwyer Hill is our unit called the hill um and they get all these files from all across the different branches of the military and pick the people that are going to come on selection that year okay and then they run a few cereals of that so this sounds this sounds very similar to Delta that you they're they're recruiting from all Canadian military units yeah or Brands yeah like I I could have [ __ ] been a musician for two years and then tried out like yeah any any brand okay so they yeah so this is very similar to Delta yeah interesting and I think the the thought behind it is we're going to teach you everything you need to know yeah and like you don't need to be really good with a pistol because we're going to show you the proper way to do it anyway and if you shoot a lot you probably have bad habits coming here so I there wasn't a big concern of where you came from the most successful um recruits percentage-wise or from the Infantry um by like a pretty big percentage I think but still you can be a Navy whatever cook okay still are there other levels of Special Operations units within the Canadian Armed Forces or yeah yeah so we have uh jtf2 um is kind of the counterterrorism hostage rescue mandate tier one uh Cesar is like uh almost like the Delta Ranger relationship a little bit okay um there's a special operations regiment and then we have like um like a Helo group and like a cbrn chemical weapon all of that kind of stuff okay those dudes that because I like their crazy machines and do you guys work with them yeah yeah we work with them all the time like overseas and domestic and like it's it's do you see a lot of carryover from uh the I'm sorry I don't the the the Jake like the ranger relationship that you're just talking about with that other unit do you see a lot of draw coming from that unit into jtf2 uh yeah yeah um I think even more now I I don't know if it was set up this way but it there's a lot of guys now that go there first and then come to gtf2 okay yeah so you do the you do the psych test you do the physical test what how's the do they give you like a hey you're in immediately or is it a long wait no you gotta that's a funny one actually so you do you'll know if you pass the test because you know what the times are you know what the numbers are there's like a physical like a PSP staff they're like okay that's your push-up number good use your run time use your pull-ups use or whatever um so you know if you passed physical test I don't recall knowing if I passed the psych or if they're just like you know like sexing these are my notes they're going in um but you you wait for a message from Dwyer Hill to say like yeah you're picked up one selection so I was training with a group of guys to get ready for it um and we were like we were giving her like like two or three workouts a day and like our chain command was giving us time to do it and it was we got really good support in that sense but they were all I was already in uh Ricky platoon sniper and they were in a different uh Squadron or company uh so I we were I was going out for a run morning PT and I think it was all three of them were like oh we got our message we're picked up to go on selection I was like where the [ __ ] did you find that out and like oh I should sergeant major just told us so I like now I'm like well I didn't hear [ __ ] anything what the hell so I went found my sergeant major I was like he's like what do you want do you have anything to tell me he's like oh yeah you're going on selection I was like [ __ ] it's like thank you and then I went and did my run or whatever but it was just I don't even know it was maybe 10 minutes in between but I was like am I going what's happening here but yeah so they they send the message back to the the different units and you just get worried like show up at this time and that's that's all you know and there's like again you see like I I was training in Battalion with like [ __ ] some of the fittest people I've ever met in my whole life and you'd see they'd go on selection come back like three days later like [ __ ] happened didn't make it and they're like I can't talk about it but no I didn't make it like and then the next guy [ __ ] happened and that's what you're going it's it's intimidating yeah you see like working I'm working out with these guys I know they're machines and they're just like a couple days later coming back I'm like days went out there in a couple days like so yeah going in it was just such a mystery and just the rumors that fly around so is is the hill at the same is it at the same base that you're on or did you have to travel you know is it at another location yeah so I was in Edmonton which is in Alberta we traveled to Dwyer Hill which is uh near Ottawa and that's where all the selection was run all around that area okay so you get there you get you show up around how many people are trying out uh there's a couple cereals but the cereal I was on I think was 30 just over 30 people maybe 30 people yeah how many of these are they running a year uh it varies every year depending on recruiting numbers and all this stuff I think the year I did it so my selection was in 2008 uh uh I won't say there's four cereals or something like that okay three or four cereals a year yeah the year I was on it so I know it varies I think they try to get as many yeah good candidates as possible but um again recruiting numbers go like this so I bet they're like this right now oh yeah yeah same here but so you get in about 30 guys would what are they having how are you received are they welcoming standoffish are they yelling at you it's it's psychological like right off the bat so you I flew into Ottawa the night before they tell you where to stay in the hotel I tell you what time you meet a bus you just get on a bus like here's your number you'll now be referred to as this number go sit down it's not like not really a dick they're just like protect number nine get on the bus all right I just like [ __ ] me like what's gonna happen and it's kind of like that throughout it's a seven day selection um and you just don't know don't know what's gonna happen uh there's guys that have done it a couple times uh so they have a different clue or like there's some people that knew because friends or whatever told me like coming from out west we didn't have a clue none of us knew anything that was gonna happen yeah it was you had no ties inside the unit or anything no oh I did totally in the Block in the blind yeah just like hoping we prepared well enough so what I'm what was it like what were they looking for uh it's it's like Fitness is a big part but it almost doesn't matter I realize this after like the guys that were super fit that came back like if you can do 200 push-ups you're gonna be asked to do 202. like it the fitness is important because it's [ __ ] hard but it's more about mental resilience I think than actual physical fitness like you pass the fitness standard to get there now no matter how fit you are you're gonna you're gonna be pushed um and that but definitely happen uh and then it's just like it's like an all day 24 7 psychological [ __ ] mind [ __ ] okay just like in there's all kinds of different tasks to like see how you think uh to see how you work in a team see how you work Under Pressure obviously test the things you're scared of um how did they do that how do they test what you're scared of oh man they were just without maybe getting into exact specifics it would be like the old test to see if you're claustrophobic tests to see if you're scared of water or drowning test to see if you're afraid of heights that's to see your reaction in these situations um and when they find it when they find your fear are you going to hang out in that fear for a little while oh yeah you'll get expl like you were expl if you are showing something you're afraid of it is exploited for sure yeah okay yeah what was yours um the ones they tested I didn't really have any of them at that point I mean I have a healthy respect for Heights uh but I mean like I'm I love the mountains and I'm a climber and stuff but some of the most scared I've been have been on like Trad climbs because I I have a respect for Heights I wouldn't say I'm scared of it uh but that would probably be the one where I was like the the test that they do I was like [ __ ] goddamn my gosh like I just have to do it I just don't want to give away precisely what it was but that was the one where I was like okay yeah okay I'm like [ __ ] it I'm here like but that would have been the one I'm not really I'm not claustrophobic I'm we train a lot in the water getting ready for it so I was pretty comfortable in the water um yeah so if you don't I totally understand not wanting to give anything up and I don't want you to do that I'm not prying so if you don't want to answer just you know you can tell me it's fine everybody's gonna understand but I'm I'm trying to get you know the gist of what the selection's like so it sounds first it sounded like it was kind of a gentleman's course where it was just very matter-of-fact Auto emotional no no no no no so after that then they started yelling and they're oh yeah it's it you go back and forth there's a bunch of different personalities doing different things for different reasons so like it psychological some guys don't care about me welcome you're number 10. leave some people [ __ ] right in your face to see if you're afraid of someone yelling at you to see if like how you handle it and it was like just it was they it was a very good it was a roller coaster like and then you'd have time like on your own where you'd have a task and then it was with a team you know like you didn't know if when they tell you to go to sleep if you're actually going to sleep or something's going to happen or like it it was just it's seven days um and it's like there's not very much down time and there's just they try to really assess how you're gonna be if [ __ ] is hard and you're tired and you have a team relying on you or you have to do something on your own is it 24 hours a day is it is it just one task to the next test oh yeah it's 24 hours a day even even like your task of okay go go to sleep you're like okay like yeah it's just 24 hours a day and mine was run uh in like late fall I think it was November in Canada so it was like cold outside it was a mix of like rain and snow and [ __ ] crazy and I remember part of that actually helped me because I like hurt my knee on it so one of my strength going in strengths going in I was running I was a pretty good runner and there's a lot of running that has to happen uh but I hurt my knee and I was like now the first few days or whatever at the front of the Run stuff feeling pretty good about it until like Reddit limping at the back of everything like a staff and a [ __ ] ambulance right behind me like just [ __ ] quit number 10. just like running in the dark just quit why are you doing this look at everyone's up there do you think they want to work with somebody that's this [ __ ] slow like oh my god do you think they want to work with me yeah like this was my strength and I'm just trying to run but we ended up doing some stuff like going through this like crazy Ice Cold River and there's a bunch of cold kind of exposure stuff it ended up helping my knee a lot so it's like that night and then the next ass like oh it's feeling a little bit better and I started it was like I thought I was on my way out and then I had this little comeback that part is great that's where I was happy that we were doing it in the cold in Canada how many guys made it through uh out of all the cereals I want to say we had so it goes seven days selection and then it goes um to the assaulter course oh [ __ ] okay if you pass selection uh and are deemed you know what they're looking for you go on an assaulter course that's like 10 months so from all the cereals I think we started the assault or course at [ __ ] around 30 something like that let me rewind a little bit so they've had I'm just trying to understand everything so you're saying they have four the year you tried out they had maybe approximately four selections yeah throughout the year yeah do they do they compress all these selections yeah most of them are like back to back it was like all I think in the fall and it was like cereal one two three four so there's one time of year where you have a shot to try out for jtf2 if you're not in that one month yeah then you gotta wait yeah okay so four classes a 30 that's about what 75 percent Cut Rate yeah and you you would see it like it [ __ ] hour one when it started people were like [ __ ] this I'm out of here like uh we laughed about it later like because to get there is such a pain in the ass process to begin it like you got to do two years in the military and I mean not everybody joins just to do that but like I'm on the psych desk and the [ __ ] physical test and the training and like flying across the country to go and then like the first [ __ ] power people are like nope I'm done get me out of here uh like okay um but yeah it it's yeah 75 roughly are Chopped there and then uh man I wish I remember the numbers exactly I've had a lot of concussions between then and now it's all good uh but yeah I think I think our course started at around 30. okay so when it was time to start the assaulter course so you get through selection is there any kind of uh I mean is there what's does the attitude change once you make it through selection and you're getting ready to go to the Salters course are you still yeah no no the attitude changes drastically it becomes more now like a gentleman's course okay now they're clear that like this is still select like this is now part two of selection it's gonna be a 10 month course where you're learning [ __ ] everything but there's a big attitude change it was it was more like um a lot of people just they wanted to show you how to become a good assaulter um and that was pretty constant throughout there was some like I'm an instructor your candidate like making that known uh but for the most part it was good like a gentleman after that gentleman's course after that when you're going through the course do you see are you do you have access to the operators that are over at the unit already not really some guys had friends that were there and stuff and you get to have a chat with them or whatever but we had just like the Cadre of staff that were running each package that would be our our access to the you know current assaulters in the unit okay yeah what kind of skills are how's it broken down uh so selection's done um in the fall and then soac starts that's our special operations assaulter course starts in Jam when I did it started in January so we go and we actually uh we came down south and did like a shooting package where they're just like we're gonna teach you how to shoot these guns now it was done at uh like black water it was Blackwater at the time oh it's no [ __ ] you guys are coming down here yeah because it was it's cold as [ __ ] January like shooting pistol and loading mags uh and it was just I can't remember I I want to see it was like a month or a month and a half of just shooting like straight from the basics like the pistol that's how you hold it this is how you use it um I just every day shoot shoot shoot was it uh internal instructors uh jtf2 guys teaching yep okay yeah we had like a training Cadre that was and they would get guys so training and they would bring guys from like some of the squadrons into to also teach um so yeah it was all like we were learning to be assaulters from assaulters Rifle and Pistol yeah what happens after that so once you're done there uh and then we lost a few guys in that stuff um just like people you know couldn't pick it up or safeties are always a big one because it's all looking forward to being in the CQB so like if you can't pick up on weapons safety after some chances then it's like because you know fair enough you're getting into some tight situations later um but after that we went to the shooting was done and then it was uh CQB basic CQB so for the audience it's not military cqv's Close Quarters battle yeah that's that's entering houses entering buildings with the team and flowing through with weapons that's right yeah a lot of Hostage rescue yeah capture kill type stuff that's right how was that for you having never done that man I found it to be a lot of fun but this at this part in the course it was not so friendly because we have a training facility that's like a whole collection of different rooms um but there's a cap there's no ceiling there's a catwalk where the instructors are are watching what you're doing and then just like [ __ ] tearing you apart yeah it's a it's a high stress part of the course for sure you're trying to learn take all the things you learn in the shooting package and now put it into like a very Dynamic situation where once once once you're going and flowing like as a running you're making shots and like you're like your dude's right there and you're shooting right there like and what's beyond the chart there's just so many things to process that it was like it was High Street I enjoyed it um but I almost didn't make it through either I uh there was like it came down to like a final day in a final room um I loved being aggressive as [ __ ] CQB and sometimes it got me a little more attention uh it's but yeah I was like down to like if I got another safety I think it was going to be like that's it for me um but I still to this day after having done the course gone through when did all the CQB and squadrons and all the other things I still disagree completely with like the safety that put me kind of on the bubble um I think it was a bad call but do you think maybe they put that on you just to add to the pressure knowing that you only have one left um I don't think so uh because if they did I think they may would have done it to more people like there was a couple of us for sure that were like we just got to be careful on this run just be careful uh I don't think it was done specific it was just I did it to myself uh I don't do that yeah how long was that portion oh man uh uh I want to say it's just a couple months maybe so the shooting was a month yeah maybe maybe two months and again these are all very this is a long time ago yeah ish so we're roughly what three to four months into selection what do we have left uh so after after you've shown that you can you can be safe and and you're picking up on that stuff it was still we were mixing in stuff to it this time that was like fighting uh medical training so it'd be like CQB in the morning let's say maybe a period of like T Triple C medical training uh and like fight class CQB in the evening and then like another fight class in the evening what kind of fight class are you guys doing uh like the Mixed Martial Arts so this kind of you're getting the basics of striking boxing kicking um and then grappling uh like some BJJ stuff and then growing to incorporate like weapons and teams and like more like in a CQB like in a room environment like you're coming in someone's hospital but not necessarily armed like not compliant how do you take care of that guy you know what I mean like so incorporating now you have a long gun and you have your gear and like that kind of stuff so they built on first of the like the basics of just how to throw a punch how to kick all these different things some grappling and then add it in you know the guns you're going to have or using a knife that you might have if you're in a hairy situation at what point do they start uh how do I say at what point do they start cross-training so what point do they expect you to start busting out Jujitsu in a kill house or striking in a killer that was uh the next Port so it was like basic CQB and learning the fundamentals of fighting and then an advanced CQB was like bigger targets uh off Camp things we've never seen getting all like the and it was more hostage rescue Centric at this point uh different types of infills fast roping rappelling or like high-speed vehicle approach or you know sneaky um and then in those scenarios you would have guys that were in the building and this we'd switch from live fire to sim simunition um but there would be every [ __ ] scenario you can think of yeah they would put into these buildings and houses um and we would go you know everything from like explosive entry to just like mechanical breaching and just the whole thing came together in that and that's where you're you're presented with situations where you're like I assess that like I would probably be well time because I'm on course I'd probably be in trouble if I shoot this person so I'm gonna fight him um and that's where it all kind of came together okay so basically what they're doing is it sounds like if you correct me if I'm wrong it sounds like cgb's the big the mother lode here yeah and then they're adding in fighting medical error operations you guys doing any diving uh no not on our not on our basic assault navigation yeah yeah definitely that's the nav like navigation and all that stuff is we have a green phase that's uh after Advanced CQB so after the the kind of tackle like the hostage rescue kind of domestic stuff like you know you're wearing black and you're you're doing domestic Canadian hostage rescue or kind of the scenarios and then it goes oh [ __ ] so you guys do domestic stuff so that's uh so mandate yeah it's sort of like we're a mix because we have a domestic hostage rescue mandate well kind of globally but like we will be what the government reaches for if something happens that like our police can't handle so almost like you're uh what's your it hurt your FBI I think have HRT to your HRT yeah have like that domestic hostage rescue mandate here um so we have that no sure as well yeah I can't wait to dive into how this unit is broken down I didn't I had no idea you guys were uh both domestic and foreign yeah that's cool hey everybody I'm Sean Ryan click here to subscribe to 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Channel: Shawn Ryan Clips

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Keywords: vigilance elite, shawn ryan, shawn ryan show, the shawn ryan show, shawn ryan podcast, vigilance elite podcast, shawn ryan navy seal, navy seal podcast, navy seal, talk show, podcast, podcast show, real talk, cansof, armed forces, military, spec ops, special forces, sniper, jtf2, operator, covid, security, news, elite, special operations

Id: WfYvybR86N8

Length: 27min 17sec (1637 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 28 2023