2016/03/14
Army Paratroop Training Center Organizes Alternative Triathlon Competition to Integrate Military Training with Leisure Sports(105.3.14)
(Military News Agency reporter, Lin Ze-Ting, Pingtung, March 13th) Unlike the conventional endurance sports, triathlon which is a three stage competition involving swimming, cycling and running, the alternative triathlon organized by the Army Paratroop Training Center involves parachuting, cycling and running (including combat fitness). Besides offering a refreshing event, the competition has brought more prestige for the Special Forces who have always been under rigorous training. The driving force behind this competition is the Parachute Team Instructor Lieutenant Colonel Yeh Yi-Sheng.
With the increasing popularity of the triathlon event, Yeh Yi-Sheng who had previously participated in the triathlon event was struck by an idea and began to organize a new alternative triathlon event that involves parachuting as a replacement for swimming, 25 kilometers of cycling and 10 kilometers of running in March 2013, so that parachuting will no longer be a boring training. The number of officers and soldiers signing up for the events was higher than expected.
Integrating military training with leisure sports was the ideal of Yeh Yi-Sheng. As the number of officers and soldiers with parachuting proficiency began to increase, he hopes to promote the relevant sports and cultivate the habit of leisure sports in officers and soldiers in an entertaining fashion and strengthen the combat skills of the officers and soldiers.
To increase the combat proficiency of the paratroopers, rigorous training is a must. In recent years, Yeh Yi-Sheng has drawn up a plan to conduct the first night-time parachute infiltration and sea parachuting as a deliberate attempt to select different unfamiliar environments for training in order to train the boldness of the officers and soldiers and their parachuting skills and their response on the spot.
To complete these missions, a tedious process is inevitable and the challenges can hardly be imagined by outsiders. Yeh Yi-Sheng expressed that the officers and soldiers in the missions will have to complete psychological analysis and overcome difficulties of height, strong wind and noise interference from the engines of the C-130 transport aircraft, as well as grasp the height to ensure the mission can be completed smoothly.
From the aspects of combat tactics, the officers and soldiers in the execution of the nighttime parachute infiltration will have to determine their altitude using only glow sticks and altitude meter and identify targets for the attack forces to destroy the enemy commander and high value targets. When executing sea parachuting, the paratroopers will coordinate with the Marine Corps to launch a resistance attack upon landing on the coasts. Yeh Yi-Sheng believes that these are the new ideas for the Special Forces.