The PLT testing system is Green Team’s exclusive physical training program, standing for Physical Limit Training, a system designed to push the body to its absolute limit."System" in this case, is used in a broad sense.
Green Team's PLT testing system encompasses every aspect of physical conditioning and is a mandatory requirement for all new recruits.As a newcomer, Long Zhan had only heard rumors about Green Team's signature PLT system, supposedly it had daily workloads exceeding that of BUD/S Hell Week. He'd dismissed the rumors as mere hype at first.
However, from the very first morning of training, Long Zhan felt the pressure of the PLT system.
Over the next two months, facing the onslaught of escalating physical training and intense competition from fellow trainees, he was forced to devote himself completely to training in order to barely stay ahead.
It was unbelievable!
Because of his superhuman recovery, Long Zhan had faced zero challenges during his two years in the SEALs.
He'd been like Usain Bolt in sprinting, nobody could even come near him..
Now in Green Team, the pressure was palpable. For the first time in this new life of his, he needed all-out every single day just to keep up with the pack.
The reason why physical training was so difficult even for a physical beast like Long Zhan, was because of the PLT testing system. While you would think that PLT was some super ingenious way of training, it was actually quite the opposite.
It was simple! In fact, it was incredibly simple!It just takes SEAL-level baseline training and cranks it up a notch, essentially a supercharged version of regular PT.
In short, it's about pushing yourself to the limit and doing whatever it takes to survive.
For example, teamwork training used to involve carrying logs, but now it involves carrying even heavier, more difficult-to-control rafts or speedboats.
Endurance training in the Navy SEALs used to involve just pushing tires as far as you could.
Now, in Green Team's PLT testing system, the task was to push a multi-ton bus or car on sand.
Each training session becomes more challenging, but the time required to complete it doesn't increase, it actually decreases.
This is the key to the entire system!
Trainees who fail to complete a task will undergo a physical penalty before immediately being re-introduced to a new training session. Draining the person’s stamina for the next training session was intentional.Under this relentless grind, unless you're a stamina freak like Long Zhan, one failure can snowball quite heavily, since a subpar performance leads to more punishment, more exhaustion, more failures.
Failing once leads to more and more failure, a vicious cycle by design.
The PLT testing system instantly separates the elite from the rest. No matter how hard those with poor fitness try, elimination was just a matter of time.
Only those with truly exceptional stamina can persevere all the way to the end.
Because of this punishment mechanism, once the first penalty is applied, the outcome is essentially fixed. Newcomers who continue to struggle are like clowns in a circus.
Hence, this system of punishing unqualified candidates has earned its own name: The Circus Act!
Don't call it inhumane or unscientific, punishing failures without giving them recovery time, chaining drills endlessly.
These are the elite of the elite in the special forces, their physical development has long been pushed to its limit. If you can’t hack it now, no amount of training will help you. If you can’t hold on and persevere, it simply means that you don’t belong in DEVGRU.Furthermore, Green Team selection isn't a place to train recruits, there's not enough time to nurture and cultivate a new recruit's potential.
Training new recruits isn't Green Team's job, but the job of those below them, the Navy SEALs, and the Marines.
Green Team's mission was to fill DEVGRU's six squadrons with the world's top special forces operators.PLT is the most effective filter for Green Team recruits, tailored exclusively to them.
If this level of training was applied to a regular Marine unit, it would be catastrophic.
Not only would it not improve the recruits' physical fitness, but under this inhumane training, they'd likely be completely worn out within three days. Their bodies would collapse, unable to withstand the pressure, and they'd need to be hospitalized. It would be like trying to lift 100 kilograms when you can only lift 50 kilograms. The same principle applied.
Conversely, the various tricks and torture tactics that are so effective in recruit and special forces assessments are completely useless when applied to the recruits that make it to Green Team.
The new recruits who come to Green Team for training are all veterans that have been accustomed to these tricks a long time ago.
Perhaps it's precisely because they understand this that Green Team's PLT system is so unique, forgoing all the bells and whistles in favor of the most direct and mindless approach, ramping up the workload to an insane level.Only those who can thrive in such an environment are selected, ensuring that everyone that makes it into DEVGRU is truly exceptional.
Of course, if Long Zhan didn't always strive for first place and was content to simply settle for a mediocre position, then training would become much easier.
Unfortunately, such an approach was practically suicide even in the SEALs, much less Green Team.
From the lower-level SEALs to the current DEVGRU Green Team, the "grays" system has always been implemented. A gray is someone whose academic performance is neither good nor bad, who meets the training standards but never exceeds them by much. They never give their all in anything, content to simply slack off and never strive to push their limits.
SEALs only seek those who strive for progress and are not afraid of any difficulties or dangerous missions.What they hate most is those people that don’t give it their all and then run away when things get challenging.
The "top five and bottom five" elimination system, where soldiers fill in each other's names, was specifically developed to identify the "gray men" hiding in the ranks and to prevent them from infiltrating the special operations team and messing everything up.
Instructors might miss them, but the new trainees that spend all their time together can spot who the slackers are instantly.
After over two months of this type of training, even machines like Long Zhan got worn out.
Less physically capable recruits like Brian and Clay were even more exhausted, both physically and mentally, practically teetering on the brink of life and death every day.
If the PLT testing system ran full days, instead of half, with the other half consisting of advanced marksmanship, they would be finished.
During the marksmanship training, new recruits had a bit of time to rest and relieve the lactic acid in their muscles.
Without this “recovery” time, these two months would've culled far more than just eight recruits, most wouldn't last!
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