These are proofread versions of previous posts.
American Dane has very kindly and very patiently edited out various grammatical mistakes made by me.
Excerpts from the chapter: Frømand 210 – Frogman 210.
From the portrait book.
This chapter deals with Frederik’s time in the Frogman Corps.
That late summers day in 1995, Frederik feels very little, when he is called to the chief’s office. The Crown Prince is a little more than halfway through the demanding training in the Navy Frogman Corps. (1) He has seen mates fall out. More than 300 hopeful young men applied and only thirteen passed. Now only four are remaining. Pingo (Frederik), Pip, Trofast and Qvark. The rest have not passed the stone hard exercises. Either their physique have failed them. Or the psyche. Frederik wants to complete the training. He wants to call himself frogman. The meeting with the chief of the Frogman Corps, naval commander, Mogens Christens, makes Frederik tremble with nervousness that he will never fulfil his dream.
“We have a stop-test, (2) where the students has to run 2.400 meters (about 1½ miles) in hilly terrain, in combat uniform, boots and weapons in less than eleven minutes. The leader of the school of students came up and told me that Frederik hadn’t passed within the designated time. He was told that it wasn’t good enough and that he had until next Monday, where the test would be repeated – and if he didn’t pass, he was out. That went straight to the brain. It’s the writing on the wall. Demands that will not be eased. All the objective demands are there, whether you are a crown prince or not. What was he to do with special treatment? If Frederik was freewheeling, he would get the stamp from his colleagues forever”, determines Mogens Christens.
It’s a down spirited and sweaty Frederik who leaves the chief’s office and walks down the long corridor where the walls are covered with photographs of former frogmen. More than 200 black and white portraits of young men hang lined up as a testimony that they completed the frogman training. To get your portrait with number and name added to the gallery is an honour all frogmen-students aspire to. The Crown Prince knows well that he has to mobilize all his energy in order to pass the stop-test on Monday. It takes determination. Willpower. Psyche. Muscles.
Beforehand Frederik didn’t put too much significance into the stop-test.
“But we had just finished a pretty long week, where we were pressured very hard, training-wise and finishing in walking a very long distance home. I felt that my muscles had been worn away and that everything I had of fat-tissue and depots had been spent. It was a blinding hot August day and to run a stop-run in uniform and with the rifle on the back wasn’t the thing to do. The run however wasn’t particularly long but the terrain was very hilly at the end. Damn, I thought, and (I) knew at once that this is where it went wrong. But I also knew that I had one more chance to pass the test. That finishing in time had to be done and that there was no negotiation. I didn’t feel that well and (I) started to visualise in details how my exit from the Frogman Corps would be like”.
On Monday the decisive hour come. Frederik’s heart is pounding. He remembers the physical training in the forenoon and the communal run in the afternoon. At 16.00 everyone is dismissed in order to rest for a couple of hours on the bunk, before the exercises in the evening and night. But for Frederik the bunk will have to wait, because one of the instructors points to him and say that the hour has come.
“The instructor ran with me (3) and I knew that this was the final chance”.
Frederik completed the boot-run in the second attempt in 10 minutes and 53 seconds. Seven seconds under the time-limit. An unusual achievement. A victory and a liberation. And a turning point for Frederik. He can continue in the Frogman Corps and keep the hope and dream of becoming a frogman.
“It was a great pleasure and I knew that now I would make it through the complete course. I just knew that now I could make it. I had become so seasoned and (I) could shut off. Emergency training, run and exercises without sleep, would not be allowed to destroy me mentally. It was an exciting process to be in”, says Frederik and recalls clearly that only the following year after the nerve-wrecking stop-test another student left the frogman training after the exact same exercise and (he) didn’t pass chance number two.
The chief of the Frogman Corps believes that Frederik’s iron will made the difference.
“He found the edge. He knew that it was either fail or break”, says Mogens Christens.
(1) First a few months as an aspirant, just to get in, then even more months as a student, before you can finally call yourself a fully fledged Frogman.
(2) I you fail, you’re out.
(3) Frogmen students in general and aspirants in particular are not allowed to walk or stand still. They must always run, or if queuing do double time on the spot.
When an aspirant makes a mistake he is encouraged. I.e. he must do say 25 push ups, after which he is expected the sincerely thank the instructor for allowing him to strengthen his weak body.
I remember I attended a course at Frederikhavn naval station in 88, I think. There were some frogmen aspirants there at the same time, and while the rest of us walked towards the mess, the aspirants ran, and stood outside the mess doing double time waiting for it to open.
[FONT="]Back then aspirants were only allowed to quit on Thursdays. If they happened to break down on a Friday, too bad. They would have to complete the entire training schedule until the following Thursday.[/FONT]