‘I’m not scared of death Inside Taiwan’s brutal navy frogman bootcamp

ZUOYING, Taiwan — A chill wind whips across the Taiwan Strait as a small group of Taiwanese marines stands shivering on a remote dock in the early hours of the morning, their shorts and thin jackets drenched after a day spent mostly in the sea.

“Are you a sleeping beauty? Are you skipping out on class?,” a trainer shouts at the wiry men, who have barely slept in days, as they do sit-ups and other exercises on the rough concrete floor, some fading in and out of consciousness from fatigue.

Blasts of cold water from a hose brings them to their senses.

Entry into the Taiwan navy’s elite Amphibious

Reconnaissance and Patrol unit or ARP, its answer to the US Navy SEALs or Britain’s Special Boat Service, is not for the faint of heart.

In the event of war with China, which claims the democratic island as its own and has stepped up its military and political pressure against Taiwan, ARP frogmen could find themselves spirited across the strait in small boats under cover of night to scout enemy locations and call in attacks.

Of the group of 31 who started the 10 week course, only 15 finished, with the closing week at the sprawling Zuoying navy base in southern Taiwan the last test, which Reuters was given rare access to witness.

“I’m not scared of death,” Fu Yu,

30, said after completing the “road to heaven”, a final obstacle course consisting of a stretch of rocks some 100m long over which they have to scramble on their bellies and do tasks like push ups to the satisfaction of their trainers.

“It’s a soldier’s responsibility, what we must do,” added Fu, who had previously tried and failed to complete the course.

Over six days and five nights, the volunteers to enter the ARP have to endure everything from long marches to hours in the water, with constant screaming by their instructors.

Picture: REUTERS THE Cook Islands has reopened its borders to fully vaccinated New Zealanders, but with less fanfare and more trepidation than last year’s kick-off. The two-way quarantine-free travel bubble lasted just three months in 2021 before authorities pulled the pin because of Auckland’s Delta outbreak. Since then, the island nation has vaccinated close to 100 per cent of its eligible population, paving the way for today’s reconnection. THE Kiribati government has reopened the country’s border with new updated travel procedures. The government closed its international border late in March 2020, to keep its population of approximately 140,000 people safe from COVID-19. All arrivals into Kiribati will be controlled through the entry point on South Tarawa. All other international port of entries in Kiribati remains closed. An ARP trainee dressed in camouflage wades through sewage contaminated water during the last week of a ten-week intensive program to become a member of the Taiwan navy’s elite Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol unit, at Zuoying navy base, Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.