[MikeSteelBe]

Platt fought and killed with a collapsed lung. It’s not a stretch to believe that Army Ranger school physically conditioned him well enough to to do that. Matix was a marine.

I see you point about the mental aspect, because training would not be safe if it were truly life threatening.

[hiredhand]

I do remember reading that one of those guys was badly wounded like that before just running out of steam. I volunteer for the U.S. Army's Robin Sage program... which is the last segment of their SF training. The training cadre are all combat seasoned SF soldiers and have done multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and "other" places. One evening we were talking about student attrition rates in the program from various factors... and how their training prepares them for the various stresses that they'll encounter. But finally one older Sgt 1st Class spoke up and said, "There's NOTHING that can prepare you for some bastard who pops out of nowhere CLOSE with a gun or some type of explosive and tries to KILL you!" The room got really quiet after that and everybody (including the rest of the cadre) just pondered it for awhile.

I'll go with you on the physical aspect though. Physical conditioning can make a BIG difference.