scorecardHow Indonesia's notorious special forces train by drinking snake blood and breaking bricks with their heads
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How Indonesia's notorious special forces train by drinking snake blood and breaking bricks with their heads

Mattis visited Indonesia to repair ties with the country's military, and expected to just observe a hostage rescue demonstration. But he soon found out that that wasn't the only thing they had in store for him.

How Indonesia's notorious special forces train by drinking snake blood and breaking bricks with their heads

The Indonesian special forces, or Kopassus, unsacked snakes and begin whipping them around to tire them out.

The Indonesian special forces, or Kopassus, unsacked snakes and begin whipping them around to tire them out.

The soldiers bit them in half and drank their blood.

The soldiers bit them in half and drank their blood.

You can watch it in the short video below.

You can watch it in the short video below.

 

The soldiers also broke bricks with their heads.

The soldiers also broke bricks with their heads.

And their fists.

And their fists.

And sledgehammers.

And sledgehammers.

You can watch more of that below.

You can watch more of that below.

The special forces operators also walked on fire and rolled in broken glass. 

The Indonesian special operators regularly train in tae kwon do.

The Indonesian special operators regularly train in tae kwon do.

And smash wood and cement blocks in all sorts of ways.

And smash wood and cement blocks in all sorts of ways.

It's pretty impressive.

It

The soldiers also train with staffs.

The soldiers also train with staffs.

And swords.

And swords.

The Kopassus has a vicious past, and allegedly raped, murdered, and tortured people under the Suharto regime.

The Kopassus has a vicious past, and allegedly raped, murdered, and tortured people under the Suharto regime.

Despite this history, Mattis said he thought the human rights violators of Indonesia's past had moved on from the special forces.

Mattis said he hopes the US and Indonesian militaries can work together to fight terrorism and limit China's expansion into the South China Sea. 

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