May 1, 2009 11:23 pm US/Eastern
Look Inside Miami's SWAT Training School
Part II Of An Exclusive CBS4 News Report
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
-
-
In November of 2006, employees huddled in 'safe' areas outside the Herald building, unable to return while the gunman was on the floor. SWAT team was called out.
Pierre Cazassus waits, wondering what challenges lie ahead. He's heard from his fellow cops how incredibly tough the Miami SWAT School is. He knows he must prove to the current SWAT Team members that he is ready to be one of them.
They yell at him and the dozen other recruits, "Get on your backs! Get on your backs!"
For now, each SWAT student is only a number. And what seems like verbal abuse in the midst of heavy physical training is meant to prepare them to handle intense pressure while searching a building, in a hostage situation, or in a gunfight.
Pierre is focused, but his mind wanders to his friend and fellow officer Josue Hererra. They've been cops together from the very beginning, and they tried out for SWAT School together. Josue didn't make it.
Pierre says, "I really needed him to be here."
Now Pierre will rely on his fellow SWAT trainees. Some of the guys are Miami cops like him, others are here from Brazil for the special training the SWAT school offers, and others are here to qualify to join Hialeah's SWAT Team, like Carlos Garcia.
"They say when cops need help they call SWAT," said Garcia. "That's why I want to be there."
Carlos knows just how grueling the three week school will be. Extreme dehydration knocked him out of Miami-Dade County's SWAT School last year.
"After the first week I went out medically for kidney failure and I was hospitalized after that."
Despite that hellish experience he's back for more and he'll get it. Within the first three hours of training he gets dizzy, but he recovers.
The recruits must show they have physical strength, the ability to listen to the instructors without deflating emotionally, and they must show they can push forward, despite screaming muscles and exhaustion.
That drive put one of the Miami recruits in the hospital for a few days with dehydration and muscle failure.
The men must also overcome basic fears. They breathe in tear gas, they feel the shock of the Tasers they carry, and they get over their fear of heights, and of drowning.
Carlos says, "It's rough, it's rough, it takes a lot of heart to be here."
They also learn tactics and skills, like casting off the side of a speeding boat, making a formation and sneaking onto shore without being seen.
Things start looking up for the trainees after week two. Trainers are finally calling them by their names and even have a little fun with the recruits, sitting on them while they do push-ups, and making crass jokes--a little comic relief to help the recruits keep going, because in this school you can break at any moment.
But Pierre is determined to move forward. "I don't think I could live with myself if I would drop now."
Carlos plans to finish this time. "I've come this far, it makes me want it more."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Your Body: The Wonder Under The Skin
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
