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When the nature of future conflicts and crisis change, new demands will require innovated military skills and capabilities. It is crucial that military training, with its various rolls and functions, constantly are updated to meet changing needs.

The purpose of the study has been to explore and understand if requirements for “Special Operation Forces - Rangers” are relevant to the needs of the Swedish Armed Forces in the future. The purpose has also been to understand if military leaders should adjust military training based on women's physical conditions to create strong combat units with both men and women. A qualitative method with semi-structured interviews from seven interviewees and thematic analysis has been applied.

Categories and codes were identified and created two overall themes. The theme "organizational aspects" with the categories "external factors, leadership and group" intends to clarify which factors can affect the requirements and military training from an organizational point of view. External factors could be future threats like social development, political decisions and trends. Leadership highlight how working ethics is created and influenced by commanders, instructors and soldiers. The importance of the group can affect well-being and performance. The theme of "individual aspects" are personal factors, innated or a result of social construction. The categories under the theme are based on the individual's ability for training progress and personal qualities that may be considered necessary to become a Ranger soldier.

The results show that a high standard of physical strength is considered a prerequisite to accomplish military training. However, critics have challenged whether pure muscle strength is correlated with field performance. Modernized methods and new ways to evaluate an individual's performance in field service needs to be considered, where qualities such as mental robustness and problem solving are included in the evaluation and may compensate for lack of muscle mass to some extent.

The results also indicate that if equal opportunities e.g. with respect to gender, sexual preferences or physical and mental capabilities, where embraced at all leadership levels, and support provided in challenging situations, female subordinates did not see a need to adapt the leadership based on physical conditions.

The result has been discussed theoretically and methodologically and practical implications have been proposed as well as suggestions for future research.