"The Elite Leap: School of Physical Education and Commando Training (1952)"

This photograph, dating back seventy years to January 17, 1952, captures the Commando Training Course (Al-Sa'iqa), Class 25, for a group of Iraqi Army officers and NCOs at the School of Physical Education and Intensive Training. I qualified for this elite course after being named the "Best Athlete" of the Military College (Class 28) in 1952. I also secured first place in this course, which led to my appointment in the Royal Guard, where I served until the end of the monarchical era in Iraq in 1958. Following the 1958 coup and the dissolution of the Royal Guard, I returned to the School of Physical Education and Intensive Training as an instructor and assistant to the school’s commander. The training was conducted according to the world's most rigorous military standards, emphasizing high endurance, rapid execution, and physical resilience. Exercises included the suspension bridge walk, tower jumping, the rescue net, river casting (conducted in the Diyala River, south of Baghdad), cross-country running with full field gear, heavy grenade drills, and palm tree climbing in full gear. Featured in the photograph: The officers and NCOs of the Commando Course. In the center are the course commander, Captain (Capt.) Hamid Qadir Al-Samarrai, and First Lieutenant (1st Lt.) Abdal-Majeed Al-Amiri. On the far left is Lieutenant (Lt.) Yousif Taher Al-Wahab, the top graduate of the course.