As the saying goes, "The body is the foundation of revolution."
To become one of the world's top special forces soldiers and complete missions that ordinary units cannot, physical fitness is an unshakable foundation.
The Green Team places the physically demanding PLT test system at the forefront of all training activities, which is undoubtedly the most scientific and rational approach.
This allows for the swift elimination of trainees who fail to meet the basic standards in the early stages.
At the same time, through high-pressure and high-intensity training, it enables the identification of the most promising trainees—those with strong mental resilience—allowing for targeted attention in later training to accelerate their development.
Outstanding individuals are given more resources, and this is not just true for the SEAL Team 6 Green Team, but almost everywhere in the world.
During the entire 8-week Phase 1 training, the person who appeared most frequently on Instructor Adam's top five list was the ever-present fitness giant, Long Zhan.
As the highest-ranking military officer among all the new recruits, Long Zhan's performance was truly astonishing to Adam.
The day before, the recruits were tortured in various ways, pushing their bodies to the absolute limits, exhausting every ounce of potential from their cells. Naturally, normal trainees would have worse physical conditions on the second day than on the first.
However, Long Zhan was an exception.
No matter how brutal the previous day's training was, Long Zhan would always appear rejuvenated the next day.
It was as though the exhaustion from the previous day—where he could barely walk, had no appetite for food, and only wanted to sleep—had never existed.
In Adam's nearly ten years as a Green Team instructor, he had seen many highly talented and capable recruits, but he had never encountered anyone with such incredible physical acid clearance and recovery speed. This was truly a first.
While still in awe, Adam shared his amazement at the table, and soon, many DG official SEAL posters learned of a physical anomaly among this batch of recruits, and the name "Physical Monster" quickly spread.
Long Zhan, with his exceptional physical abilities, became the undisputed T0-level recruit, and no one could challenge his position.
Among the other recruits who were not eliminated, several T1-level recruits also emerged.
In the top five lists over the eight weeks, Long Zhan's new friends, Brian and Clyde, stood out as some of the top performers in the Green Team.
Unlike Long Zhan's monstrous physical abilities, which dominated others with sheer strength, Brian relied on outstanding teamwork skills. His willingness to help other recruits made him extremely popular within the Green Team.
Teamwork is at the core of special operations, and Brian perfectly understood this.
Clyde's rise to prominence was different from both Long Zhan and Brian.
Because his father, a former SEAL, had written a book revealing many private details about the SEALs without the approval of active-duty personnel, Clyde was ridiculed from the moment he entered the SEALs.
To escape the negative impact of his father's actions, Clyde was determined to prove himself and establish his own influence.
His goal in joining the Green Team was to surpass his father.
Driven by this intense desire, Clyde's competitive spirit surpassed that of anyone else. He constantly sought opportunities to prove himself.
For Clyde, defeating Long Zhan would signify the ultimate achievement.
Every time during training, Clyde clenched his teeth, determined to catch up to Long Zhan. Even when he couldn't keep up, he never gave up. When Brian asked him to help others, he ignored it, his sole focus being to surpass Long Zhan.
Despite the massive gap in physical abilities, and despite never once managing to outdo the physical monster Long Zhan, Clyde's determination to challenge the strongest exemplified the SEALs' indomitable spirit.
The Green Team sought to identify exceptional recruits with outstanding abilities in specific areas, and Clyde's fierce competitiveness fit this criteria perfectly.
As a result, the attention of Instructor Adam began to focus more on the three of them.
The weekly top-five list was kept anonymous and confidential; only the instructors knew who was in the top five. The names of the bottom five and the eliminated recruits were the only ones posted publicly on A4 sheets in the camp.
Long Zhan, Brian, and Clyde were unaware that they had become frequent members of the top five, and they continued to train with the same intensity, never relaxing.
They maintained their best condition to face the next round of training.
With the completion of the 8-week PLT test system, Phase 1 training ended.
After a weekend of rest and recovery, the remaining 30 Green Team recruits began Phase 2 training on the first day of Week 9.
From this stage onward, many aspects of the training began to change.
First, the proportion of physical training in the Green Team was gradually reduced and eventually eliminated from the curriculum, with the time freed up for specialized skills training.
For example, in Phase 2, the physical training would no longer be an upgraded version of the PLT test system, but would instead focus on regular PT exercises.
This was good news for recruits who had had enough of the PLT training.
The recruits also faced a new course, one that required ample "brainpower" to succeed—a course known as S&T training.
S&T, or "Simulation and Modeling Training," was a short but intense course lasting just a month. Despite its brief duration, it presented challenges as it involved open-ended answers. In some ways, it was even more difficult than the PLT training.
While the PLT tests focused solely on physical conditions—where strong physical abilities guaranteed a high chance of success—the S&T course was the opposite. Physical requirements were low, while intelligence and reflexes were paramount.
Humans can control their hands and feet, but the brain is far less controllable. How well one can think, make the right decisions at the right time, and avoid freezing under pressure is not easy to gauge.
And that, truly, was the challenge.