Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

---

Candidates must survive one of the most demanding selection processes in the U.S. military. Try brilliant.org/Newsthink for FREE for 30 days and get 20% off your annual premium subscription.

I highly recommend the book Inside Delta Force by Eric L. Haney: https://a.co/d/6qnEc2p

Chapters:
0:00 The Maduro Raid
0:22 Delta Force Beginnings
1:00 The Fitness Test Built to Break You
1:40 The Interrogation
2:09 The Stress Phase
3:04 The Peer Review
3:48 The Psychological Assault
5:04 The Final Temperament Test
5:45 Training
7:18 The Shadow Wars
7:55 Today’s Sponsor: Brilliant

Newsthink is produced and presented by Cindy Pom
https://x.com/cindypom

Grab your Newsthink merch here: newsthink.creator-spring.com

Support Cindy on Patreon! patreon.com/Newsthink

Sources:

Uwharrie Mountains panorama: Wasrts, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Uwharrie Mountains: Hathcock at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Lufthansa Boeing 707 hijacked flight: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F051866-0010 / Wegmann, Ludwig / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE via Wikimedia Commons