Male-only teams from 48 countries shall find each other in “foam, mud, sweat and water” in the middle of June. As an intellectual challenge, there have already been Sudoku puzzles.
Every four years, the German Federal Police invites special units from all over the world to the “Combat Team Conference” (CTC) in Sankt Augustin. The small town in small town in North Rhine-Westphalia is home to a directorate of the Federal Police and a training ground for its units for deployment abroad.
From 11 to 16 June, the showdown will take place in Sankt Augustin for the 14th time. The organiser of the event, also called the “Special Forces Olympics”, is the special unit (GSG 9), which is also part of the Federal Police. As the host, it does not take part in the competition itself, but the “GSG 9 Kameradschaft” (GSG 9 comradeship) made up of former members of the force does.
The event is not a “conference” as the name suggests, as there is no lecturing or discussion. Instead, the police officers have to climb, paddle, sprint, run long distances, get sprinkled with water cannons and brave smoke bombs. This is how the Federal Police describe the scenario of the last competition in 2019, where the teams also had to solve Sudoku puzzles during a stopover. Afterwards, a 100-kilogram steel beam was to be carried through the finish line.
The “Combat Team Conference” has been held since 1983, then every two years and from 1995 every four years. Ulrich K. Wegener, the founder of the GSG 9, who died in 2017, was one of the two people who came up with the idea. Wegener commanded the force – which at the time still belonged to the paramilitary German Federal Border Guards – for many years.
A week ago was the registration deadline for the upcoming “Combat Team Conference”; according to the Federal Police, 48 teams have registered to participate. Among them are exclusively men, a spokesperson confirms to “nd”. Excusingly, it is said that the teams “decide independently about their participating male and female competitors”. However, there are no women in the GSG 9 either.
In addition to the special task forces of individual federal states, teams from EU countries, the USA, Singapore, Israel, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates competed in 2019. The title was won by the Swiss special unit Argus, in 2015 the winner was the Cobra from Austria.
The Federal Police describes the “Combat Team Conference” as an “exchange of experience and comparative exercise”. Each team consists of five team members, a captain and a “substitute”. They are addressed as “comrades” as in the military and not “colleagues” as in police jargon. One of the goals is to get to know each other. For this, “foam, mud, sweat and water” offer the best conditions, writes the Federal Police. Those who violate exercise rules will be accordingly “severely punished”.
Germany has set up a project office to prepare the “conference”; according to the Federal Police, the preparation is done by the “comrades” in an off-duty capacity. Costs are covered from the budget for the Federal Police, and also from the entry fees of the participating teams.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: The CTC in 2019 (Bavarian State Ministry).
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