SAS may lighten the load for female recruits

Elite military units face accusations of lowering standards in their efforts to sign up more women

THE Special Air Service is considering adapting its gruelling selection test to give women a better chance of joining, it has been reported.

The elite special forces unit is thought to be looking at plans to make one of its trademark recruitment exercises easier for female candidates to complete. Soldiers hoping to join the SAS and its sister regiment, the Special Boat Service, have to pass an initial physical test, which involves carrying heavy rucksacks over a series of long marches across mountainous terrain.

The loads get heavier as the marches get longer, increasing from 40 lb to 59 lb as the test proceeds. The initial selection process – intended to weed out anyone who is not physically suitable – culminates in a 40-mile march which must be completed in 20 hours.

The exercise is so challenging that the pass rate is often as low as just eight per cent, with only the fittest and strongest making it to the next stage. While the toughness of the test is regarded as one of the reasons the SAS maintains such high standards, there has been concern that it is too difficult and even potentially dangerous.

Now military sources have suggested the elite regiment is considering changing the requirements to make it easier for females to succeed.

One suggestion under consideration is to allow women candidates to carry lighter loads on the marches and to give them more time on exercises.

The proposal comes after the government said it wanted to see all close combat units in the British military open to women by 2019. Women who passed the initial physical test would move to the next stage, which would remain the same for all candidates.

However, there is understood to be concern among former and current members of the SAS that any changes to the recruitment process could lead to a lowering of standards across the unit.

The Ministry of Defence refused to comment.

Soldiers from any unit in the British Army can apply to join the SAS and SBS, but traditionally the units have recruited heavily from the Parachute Regiment and Royal Marines.

The current selection process, which takes six months to complete, is widely thought to be one of the toughest in the world.

After completing the so called “hills” stage, candidates then move on to the next phase, which includes jungle exercises in Belize and “interrogation” exams.

With the motto Who Dares Wins, the SAS selection procedure is intended to produce soldiers who renounce the concept of defeat.

The recruitment process came under intense scrutiny four years ago following the deaths of three Army reservists who collapsed during a 16mile march in scorching temperatures. Lance Corporals Edward Maher and Craig Roberts were pronounced dead on the Brecon Beacons in Wales after suffering heat stroke in July 2013.

Corporal James Dunsby died at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital from multiple organ failure more than two weeks later.

In 2015 a coroner criticised aspects of the enrolment process and said the soldiers would have survived had there been better planning and conduct on the march.

The deaths led to reported changes in the way the marches were organised, particularly in extreme weather conditions.