Israel is certainly no new player to special forces and convert ops. This is because Israel has been an innovator in the field, largely due to the fact that they’ve had to rely on them for the survival of the country. No unit has been more important or more coveted than the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit 269, 262 or more commonly known as “The Unit”, “Unit 269”, Unit 262”, or simply Sayeret Matkal.
But in order to understand how Sayeret Matkal came about we have to go back to 1954 when Israel’s first special operations unit, Unit 101, was disbanded due to political pressure from the Qibya massacre. Without Unit 101, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) were forced to rely on the Navy’s Shayetet 13, the only other special forces unit. The higher ups quickly recognized this was not going to work and petitioned the government to create a unit capable of replacing Unit 101.
The IDF wanted a unit that would be capable of being dispatched to enemy-held territory and carry out top secret intelligence-gathering missions. Major Avraham Arnan headed the project and mandated that the unit would recruit only the best and brightest of Israeli youth. The unit would hand pick it’s members with physical and intellectual characteristics being equally important. As a result, Sayeret Matkal was born as part of Aman’s Unit 154. The unit as modelled after the British Special Air Service (SAS) and members were trained by Bedouin trackers in order to gain a better understanding of their enemies.
In 1962, the unit was finally deployed on it’s first assignment in Lebanon where success led to another operation in Syria just five months later. Sayeret Matkal would receive a few more missions, of course all focused on the intelligence-gathering behind enemy lines mandate. However, after 1967, Sayeret Matkal’s mandate would have to be modified due to the rise of Arab terrorism. As a result, the unit began developing the first hostage-resuce and counter-terrorism techniques in the world, making them pioneers. This is where the unit began to really shine and develop its reputation as one of the most elite forces on the planet.
Business continued as usual for Sayeret Matkal until the Yom Kippur war in 1973. Israel was forced to fight on two fronts ensuring the General Staff were too busy with the war and had no time to assign Sayeret Matkal with new missions. In order to be useful, Sayeret Matkal had to be adapted into a unit that could take missions on with little planning and more of a commando style. The war would end up being a proving ground for Sayeret Matkal as it went on its first commando missions. This changed how they recruited and trained with more a focus on training for wartime conditions.
The unit had one blow when in 1974 they failed a rescue attempt that resulted in the Ma’alot massacre. This created a hot debate over how Sayeret Matkal operated and whether or not another unit should be responsible for hostage-rescue missions. This ended up going away as soon as they launched Opeartion Entebbe in 1976 to rescue hostages held in Uganda by six Palestinians and two German terrorists. The mission resulted in a resounding success. Since then, Sayeret Matkal has largely been considered the jewel of the IDF.
But getting into the unit is extremely difficult. The basic requirements are a medical profile of 97 and a quality category of 52 or more with an initial psychotechnics grading of 50 or more. After that, recruits are faced with training that lasts for about two years. The training includes:
- 4 months of basic infantry training, held in the Paratroopers basica training base
- 2 months advanced infantry training within the unit
- 3 weeks parachuting course at the IDF Parachuting School
- 5 weeks of counter-terror courses in the IDF Counter-Terror Warfare School
- Remaining time is allowed to long-range reconnaissance patrol training and navigation/orienteering
At the end of it, they face the Beret March in the final four days to receive their red beret. If that wasn’t enough, things are topped off by a two-week course in enduring captivity. But this is like no other course, as recruits go through a mock kidnapping and then are held in person-like conditions where they are subjected to interrogation, threats and physical violence.
Who Dares Wins.
Ben