ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: Have you ever wanted something so much you believed you'd do anything to get it? Would you crawl on the ground? How about getting kicked and shot at by your colleagues? CNN's Steve Harrigan has found a handful of men in Russia who endured that and much more to turn their dream into reality.</s>STEVE HARRIGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Red Berets are looking for a few good men. But to join the elite Russian anti- terrorism squad, you first have to prove your endurance: two hours of crawling, sliding, rolling, accompanied by kicks and gunfire. If you fall behind, you're out. (on camera): Forty-four men started out the day trying for a red beret. By this point in the exam, just half are left. (voice-over): The toughest obstacles are still ahead: six rounds with fresh opponents, opponents who know how to fight with all parts of the body.</s>LT. ALEXANDR NIKIFOROV, INTERIOR MINISTRY (through translator): Brutal? Of course it's brutal. How else can you pick the best? Anyone else would have given up.</s>HARRIGAN: Some are knocked senseless and pushed aside, but others, like 22-year-old Lieutenant Ivan Kolokostov from Siberia, keep getting up only to get hit again and again.</s>LT. IVAN KOLOKOSTOV, INTERIOR MINISTRY (through translator): Spirit, that's the most important thing. It's my dream to get a red beret.</s>HARRIGAN: Ivan and five others get the red beret. The rest are left to lick their wounds and try again next year. Steve Harrigan, CNN, Novaya, Russia.
Russia's Red Berets Accept Only the Toughest of Applicants