Five of 16 Americans survived. Of the 410 indigenous civilian irregular defense group soldiers in the camp, only about 122 survived. Men like Bennie Adkins are a rare breed, but they seem to appear in disproportionate numbers among Green Berets. The Army has put a great deal of effort into understanding why such men seek out service in Special Forces and what makes them different. New research has provided some insight into the nature and causes of that difference.
Dr. Andy Morgan of Yale Medical School studies the effects of stress. His biggest challenge was finding a controlled environment where people are exposed to high stress. The Army, as it turns out, had been doing this for years. It reaches the pinnacle at the Resistance Training Lab (RTL) in SERE school at Ft. Bragg.
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