The secrets of the Secret Service

Charged with protecting the President of the United States (as well as numerous other tasks, like investigating counterfeiters) the Secret Service is known as an “elite” force. I just read a really interesting feature in the Washington Post about their training methods:

Krista is 4 feet 11 inches. She moves like a gymnast, nimbly, with concentrated grace. She has lively green eyes, fine features and a buoyant ponytail. She cheers Scott, Dan and the others between drills with Dove chocolates. A social worker, she also used to work at Disney World, dressing up as cartoon characters.

“She was Minnie Mouse, for God sakes,” Mixon grumbles.

But now, she’s being pummeled into near-unconsciousness by instructors who are role-playing an assault. The trainees suffer bruises, cuts, broken ribs and more in their training. This is serious stuff. It was engrossing reading:

During barricade-shooting, a technician chastens Dan: “Don’t expose your leg. You get hit in the fibular artery, you’re dead in seconds.” Though, if hit, you are still expected to fight: “You have 10 seconds where you can keep fighting.” They call it “the dead man’s 10 seconds.” The one Secret Service employee who died in the line of duty shot the would-be assassin after he’d been mortally wounded. “He fired back. He didn’t give up.”