The Coast Guard Administration’s Special Task Unit marked its 10th anniversary yesterday with a martial arts demonstration at a training facility in Taoyuan.
Expounding on the unit members’ physical capabilities and stamina, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Su-ching (李甦清), head of the unit tasked with anti-terrorism and rescue assignments, said each member of the unit goes through tough training courses on a daily basis.
“Push-ups, for example. Every one of us needs to complete at least 100 push-ups within a minute every day,” he said.
All 52 members on the unit are career soldiers and are stationed at Taoyuan Airport, Taichung Airport, Kaohsiung Airport, Hualien Airport and Taitung Airport.
Lee said members must go through a three-month training course by the Marine Corps’ Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol Unit, and another two-month course by the Military Police’s Special Service Unit. Each unit member must also be a certified lifeguard, swimming coach and scuba diver, and have certificates demonstrating their underwater skills, Lee said.
Each unit member is also proficient in at least two different styles of martial arts.
“Some of them volunteered to join us because of the fatter paychecks, I must admit,” Lee said, noting that members enjoy an additional NT$29,500 on top of their regular monthly paychecks because of the additional risks involved in carrying out their assignments.
“But surviving in this unit takes a lot of guts, persistence and belief,” he said.
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