Inside the Recces: A Look at the Brutal Selection Process of South Africa’s Most Elite Forces

Shrouded in secrecy, South Africa’s Reconnaissance Regiments, often called the ‘Recces,’ boast a fascinating history. Originally formed in 1972, these elite special forces units have served under vastly different governments, adapting their missions throughout the past five decades.

Today, the Recces are a highly respected component of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). Their expertise is no longer confined to national operations. They frequently participate in United Nations peacekeeping missions across Africa, bringing their unique skillset to international efforts for stability and conflict resolution.

The Need for Specialized Forces: A New Era

In the face of rising communist insurgencies across Africa during the late 1960s, the SADF initially lacked a specialized unit to address this threat.

Much like the initial skepticism surrounding Special Forces in the US Army, the traditional military mindset favored established units like the Parachute Battalions (Parabats).

However, forward-thinking individuals like Jan Breytenbach recognized the need for a different approach.

Breytenbach, a highly innovative officer within the Parachute Battalions, saw the value of highly mobile and specialized forces capable of deep reconnaissance and disrupting enemy operations behind the lines.

In 1967, he secured permission to take a group of twelve men to Rhodesia, where they underwent rigorous SAS (Special Air Service) selection training. This bold move by Breytenbach aimed to establish a similar elite unit within South Africa.

This grueling selection process, a standard practice for elite forces around the world, served as a crucible for the future Recces.

Breytenbach and his men persevered, emerging stronger and forming the core of a new, permanent, and ultimately legendary counterinsurgency unit.

Recce Selection Training

The initial training of a special operations soldier is generally referred to as Selection.

The magnitude of what men go through to make it into a unit is intended as a mutual selection.

The instructors have a chance to determine a candidate’s suitability through whatever means they can devise, but equally important is the soldier’s chance to select whether he truly wants to follow through and stand at the end.

Each unit has its tried-and-true methods to strip everything away to raw and bloody will, and each soldier must find a way inside to not only stay in the game but also perform up to standards.

Development and Challenges of the Recces

The Recces went through their own learning curve to find the best men.

In the beginning, a traditional SAS-style course was undertaken. Half of the cruel and unusual punishment came from the landscape and wildlife of Africa itself.

The heat, terrain, and ability to endure it would ensure Darwin ‘Survival of the Fittest‘ had some say in the Recces.

Once the unit became official in the mid-1970s the recruiting and training classes commenced, the cadre often found themselves searching far and wide for candidates.

With the rigorous application process, showing physical fitness, and a suitability interview with a psychiatrist, much was invested in prospects before they showed up for Selection.

Psychological Resilience and Evolution

A series of events in 1975 proved that the ‘head shrinks’ would be an invaluable tool and that the evolution onto a plain of pain and endurance was indeed a large part mental.

One class began with 14 candidates. Only one of them graduated. He was on the course alone for a great part of it.

General Fritz Loots, who had become the General for Special Forces command and development with Breytenbach, was quite distressed.

Missions for the Recces were available, but a lack of manpower held the entire concept hostage.

The course officer had also reported that a further eight of them had the potential to become operators. Both Loots and Breytenbach decided that until further notice, no one would leave the course without permission. They reasoned that duty with the Recces was chosen, and like any other unit, it was their duty to stay on regardless.

Another class of 28 formed up, and fourteen men had thrown in the towel within a week. Angered by this, the 14 were ordered back to Selection, and several of them continued on to graduation and proved to be useful and capable Recces.

Two psychiatrists were put on duty to be available to help the men on Selection.

The idea of seeing a ‘headshrinker‘ being for the weak-minded was slowly dispelled and accepted by the majority of the cadre.

Although eventually, men would be allowed to drop or ‘throw in the towel,‘ the importance of a strong psychological workup before and during Selection greatly improved their success rate. They also improved the entire pre-selection work to determine the likely success of volunteers.

Modern Training and Operational Challenges

Sports science was coming into its own, and doctors used it to find out if the cardiovascular system was capable of enduring training. Joint flexibility and wear and tear on knees, hips, and lower back were profiled with X-rays and load tests to weed out those who were unable to carry up to 120 pounds on their back.

The old-school method of finding bodies and letting them sink or swim was not proving useful and amounted to a waste of time and money for a fledgling organization. Essentially, men who showed up had nothing standing between them and success except the unforeseen injury.

The cadre learned as well. Simple mistreatment and discouraging an individual did not gain positive results. Pushing a man to his limits and instilling desire while holding to rigorous standards gave the best results.

However, these changes did not lessen the difficult nature of the course. Recce Selection proved to be one of the most difficult in the world. As with any mission, the terrain dictates the type of training needed.

Operating in the subtropic heat and arid environment proved to be the downfall of many men.

Some people simply could not acclimatize to the heavy workload in the heat. Endless marching through rough terrain with packs, rationed food, and water day after day was simply too much for many men.

Being able to map, read, and keep yourself and your team on a ruler’s edge to an objective was fundamental. Doing so after a 24-hour march, shouldering an 80-pound ruck with blood pouring out of your boots from raw skin and limited food and water became exceedingly difficult.

A man’s temperament was constantly under surveillance, especially at these key times. A cool head in the midst of extreme physical discomfort was paramount. A man who would lose his head with another candidate or, God forbid, an instructor could lead to a swift ticket home.

The Recces needed the type of mentality that could ruck 150 klicks, recon a target, and hoof it back on foot with the enemy in pursuit, being out of food and searching for water.

The wildlife of Africa was a built-in part of the course that could not be avoided and would always be present in combat operations.

A notorious exercise to quell the natural fear of predators, including the crocodile, is presented in Harry McCallion’s book “Killing Zone.” McCallion had served in the British Paras and sought adventure in South Africa. Upon arrival, he was offered a slot to try out for the Recces. He was accustomed to the extreme physical fitness required and endless marching, but one exercise nearly caused him to leave straight away.

The class was conducting evolutions near a lake. The men were brought up to see the crocodiles that slithered up and down its banks and into the water. Later into the night after endless log and rifle PT and hard running they ended back up at the lake. They were instructed to dress down to their skivvies and swim across a croc-infested lake. There was a lot of protesting, and especially from McCallion.

Why in the world would he risk his life during Selection? A rope was there to help you get across. Twenty men refused to swim the 100 yards and disqualified themselves. McCallion decided that he had some and passed the course, alive or dead, and went for it. He lived as did the others.

Later a course instructor came to him and told him the reason for the evolution. A similar situation occurred recently during a hot extraction after contact. Several chanced it and made it, but two men refused. A scout happened to have found a narrow place farther upriver. The whole team’s life was in jeopardy due to fear. They didn’t want mindless men. They wanted men who could face their fear in the direst of circumstances, overcome them, and continue the mission.

Recces’ Version of Hell Week

Almost all selection courses have their version of Hell Week.

After my personal interviews with two Recces, one thing stood out: the South Africans required men during the most mentally and physically grueling part of the selection course to determine if they had the fortitude to become Recces.

The intentional lack of food for 5-6 days. Whereas in BUD/S, they are fed up to 6,000 calories/day, potential Recces had a handful of rice here and fruit there. In fact, one of the Recces I interviewed said that was the hardest part and probably the thing that messed with their will to finish the most.

When the body is beyond empty and at a physical low, the South Africans believed they could find a man’s deepest desire. Taking one of the most powerful needs that humans have and depriving them of it while continuing the demands of endless marches and PT could reveal the men who could stick around and endure the missions required by these Soldiers.

All of the bushcraft, tracking, counter-tracking, minor tactics, assaulting tactics, and reconnaissance fieldcraft could only be given to the men who were physically, mentally, and morally able to undergo the fear, deprivation, and punishment that is Selection for the Reconnaissance Commandos.

Anecdotes from Selection: A Candidate’s Candid Experience

Below, you will find a Recce candidate’s notes during the equivalent of Hell Week. It contains many gems and insights. The translation belongs to Willem Ratte, one of the world’s most experienced small-unit reconnaissance operators (thank you, Mr. Ratte).

• Wednesday (4.5.75): We got wet in the rain that night, and it was bloody cold.
• Thursday (6.5.75): Start 6 am with PT running through water and over sand dunes With a full sandbag. Lectures. Went to Sibaya Lake, where we had to swim. Nearly saw my ass. At 6 pm, we started our z (Bedford) BD with ropes too sore. Waiting now for the next trick.
• Friday (7.5.75): The next trick was to walk to Sibaya lake with full sandbag 16km. This morning we had to double 16 km back to camp. Then we had to run with kit on the beach and the crawl through the surf. Midday we had a compass lecture, practical. We walk up to our hips in a huge swamp. Then shooting practice. 8pm we start to walk, until 2am, approx 20km.
• Saturday (8.5.75): The night was heavy & cold. 6 am, we started to pull the Bedford with ropes until 9 am, approx 4km. Suffer heavy because we have been without food for 2 days now. 10 am we start walking until 1.30 pm, approx 8km. Midday, we do observation skills. Tests that evening. 8 pm we must do 16km again. GREAT EVENING FOR ME.
• Sunday (9.5.75. 6): Am (morning) we double back to camp. Rifle inspection and bush lane. Swim with kit and ambush for night.
• Monday (10.5.75): After the ambush, we have to move along the beach to our RV. Arrive in the morning at 7 am, approx 10km, then mountain climbing exercises. We are heavy & hungry. 3 days without food. Get food and sleep well.
• Tuesday (11.5.75): rest and get kit ready for big thing. Jump tonight for our starting point. We will have to do 400+km.
• Wednesday (12.5.75): Jump last night and start walking until 2 am, approx 20km. start walking at 6 am. Do 28km until 12 pm. Ha!
• Thursday (13.5.75): Walk approx 25 km to Sibaya Lake. Then row for 20km to the other side of the lake to the next RV.
• Friday (14.5.75): Walk with the boat for approx 8km. Suffer a lot. Then, walk for 30km to the coast. Eat lekker (nice) pap (porridge).
• Saturday (15.5.75): Start walking 5 am. Must do 36km before 3 pm. get there 4.30. Only group there. Throw food out for us by parachute.
• Sunday (16.5.75): Wait until 1 pm for others. Made nice porridge for breakfast. Must now walk 43km. They take all our kit and food.
• Monday (17.5.75): It is now 6 am and we are hungry and ice-cold. Wait for instructors. We walk approx 40km in direction of Ovbombo mountains. Must go over river. Me and Hein go over first. Half-way the rope breaks. float back to bank. Hein probably kicks off rope which holds rifles, 2 metres from shore. Search but find nothing.
• Tuesday (18.5.75): Walk until this morning 4.15. We receive orders to walk back 45km with a pole. My feet are one blister.
• Wednesday (19.5.75): Walk approx 30km until 9,30. my feet heavy & sore. Cross river by boat. Eat coffee and bread. very tired and full of longing.
• Thursday (20.5.75): get to RV at 9.30 am. We cammo ourselves with ash. Think is nearly over. General loots is at RV and we must do buddy rating. We lay an ambush 24km further on.
• Friday (21.5.75): Get to RV at 8 am. Bush was very thick. The next RV 15+12km far. My feet heavy & sore. Take short-cut through swamp. (They) Catch us and take our shoelaces and all our food.
• Saturday (22.5.75): Had to walk 12km further the previous night to an emergency RV. From there we start walking at 1 am. For 45km. Have no food. With a (native) Chief, we eat porridge, tea, and coffee. Full of longing. We are the first to get to the RV. Tell us to walk along the road for 10km. Hope this is the last stretch. (They) Chase us all the way. Get there at 5 pm. 6 pm, they tell us to go back 25km. We are heavy & tired, exhausted and hungry. Walk only until 8.30. O ja, we ate many dates. Wish I could give them to Hannelie.
• Sunday (23.5.75) Start walking at 4 am. I am still stiff. 40km. Get to the RV at 10 am. First there. Get food and tell us to walk along the road, individual test, approximately 5km, when the instructor in the bush calls us and gives us a beer and tells us the course is over. Bloody glad. Gen Loots is also there.

The South African Recces represent a compelling story of evolution, from a unit born out of necessity during turbulent times to a modern force capable of sophisticated, high-stakes operations in some of the world’s most challenging environments.

—

Disclaimer: SOFREP utilizes AI for image generation and article research. Occasionally, it’s like handing a chimpanzee the keys to your liquor cabinet. It’s not always perfect and if a mistake is made, we own up to it full stop. In a world where information comes at us in tidal waves, it is an important tool that helps us sift through the brass for live rounds.