When Adventure Racing Meets War

You may have wondered how the US special forces charged with hunting down Bin Laden, Al Quaida et al, hone their formidable military skills.

Well, we can not quite exclusively reveal that elite units of the US Army compete in a 15-week TV series called 'Combat Missions' and devised by the nice people who brought you the Eco Challenge.

To quote the organisers: 'Never before has there been a program like this one that incorporates the real world of military with the fierce intensity of team competition. Episodes will feature authentic combat training, hostage rescues, enemy attacks, and urban assaults -- all designed to simulate the drama of real-life combat.'

The basic scenario is that teams of elite US troops - 'soldiers, warriors and heroes' as the release has it - from Green Berets, Marine Recons, Navy SEALS, Delta Force, S.W.A.T., CIA spec ops, and others, will spend 15 weeks in the Mojave desert using sophisticated infrared laser impulse-firing weapons to simulate actual combat.

An outdoors web site may not be the place to say this, but is it in any wonder that the boundaries between the constructs of TV and Hollywood and the realities of war are becoming blurred? Mad stuff, particularly at the moment.