Surviving the Cut

Go inside the toughest combat course in the world. US Army Ranger School replicates the nonstop stress of war to forge the Army's elite combat leaders. Candidates sleep little, eat less while running 20-hour missions. Only one in three survives the cut.

Students must survive one notoriously difficult milestone called Extended Training Day nothing else in any special operations training course rivals the torment of this single day. Only 10 percent survive the cut.

Marines are pushed to unconsciousness in the pool, wrestle 90-pound packs in the pounding surf of the Pacific Ocean. It's a man-breaking, all-out endurance test that forges top soldiers with unparalleled skills. One in three don't survive the cut.

Elite special ops soldiers challenge themselves to become the most highly trained combat divers on the planet. For six weeks, they are tested in the most severe underwater conditions, pushing the limits of the human body to prove they have what it takes.

This is all or nothing training: A five-day, non-stop series of high stress missions. Make the wrong move, allow fatigue or distraction to take over and the entire team will fail.

Only the best men are sent to the Marine sniper course, but one third of them are likely to fail.