TEAM Building Week - popularly known 'Hell Week' - is the
toughest stretch of a six-week long physical training programme
that all naval divers have to go through.
The aim is to build physical fitness and test the mental stamina of
Naval Diving Unit trainees by giving them an exhaustive list of
tasks to perform.
Not all these tasks require brawn. Even essay writing is
part of Team Building Week.
Second Warrant Officer Norris Lucius, 35, from the unit, said: 'The
aim of the physical training phase is to build diver fitness.
'We train them progressively over five weeks to take the rigours of
diving. The sixth week is Team Building Week. This is a test to
assess the diver's capability of performing in extreme conditions,
mentally and physically.'
2WO Lucius said Team Building Week starts with instructors
'creating chaos' for trainees. Such 'chaos' can tax even the
stout-hearted, which is why this segment of the course has been
dubbed 'Hell Week'.
Trainees are allowed about three hours' sleep during the first few
days of 'Hell Week' but they steal it in snatches and snooze away
from the comfort of their bunks. Physical training winds down
towards the end of the week. This is when the mental challenges
start.
2WO Lucius said: 'That's where sleep deprivation kicks in and we
get them to write essays. We also do a lot of coordination training
where we have games in which you are told to use your mental
abilities to coordinate things.'
Though trainees are exhausted at the end of the week, the Naval
Diving Unit said the dropout rate is low because close supervision
ensures that the trainees are not pushed beyond their
limits.
2WO Lucius said: 'The instructional team is broken up into three
shifts so that you don't tax or fatigue the instructors so much
that their attention is diverted from the safety of the
trainees.'
-- David Boey
-ST
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