Personality Traits of Special Forces Operators: Comparing Commandos, Candidates, and Controls

Dutch special forces operators, also known as commandos, perform in mentally and physically tough environments. An important question for recruitment and selection of commandos is whether they have particular personality traits. To answer this question, we first examined differences in personality traits between 110 experienced Dutch male commandos and a control sample of 275 men in the same age range. Second, we measured the personality traits at the start of the special forces selection program and compared the scores of candidates who later graduated (n = 53) or dropped out (n = 138). Multilevel Bayesian models and t tests revealed that commandos were less neurotic (d = -0.58), more conscientious (d = 0.45), and markedly less open to experiences (d = -1.13) than the matched civilian group. Furthermore, there was a tendency for graduates to be less neurotic (d = -0.27) and more conscientious (d = 0.24) than dropouts. For selection, personality traits do not appear discriminative enough for graduation success and other factors need to be accounted for as well, such as other psychological constructs and physical performance. On the other hand, these results provide interesting clues for using personality traits to recruit people for the special forces program.