Game Warden Training: A Controversial Rite of Passage

Sat Dec 20 2025 19:50:58 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Heather Sterling's harrowing experience during a brutal combat drill at the Texas Game Warden Academy highlights concerns over training practices in law enforcement.

At the Texas Game Warden Training Center, cadet Heather Sterling faced aggressive combat drills that left her injured and led her to question the training methods used for future law enforcement officers. Despite the physical risks, many academies continue to conduct these high-stress exercises without uniform safety guidelines. Sterling has since resigned, calling the drill akin to a gang initiation.

During her training at the Texas Game Warden Training Center, Heather Sterling found herself facing a brutal four-on-one drill designed to test the resilience of cadets in extreme situations. Amid the chaos, she and her fellow recruits were subjected to physical assaults from instructors posing as assailants, a practice that is becoming increasingly scrutinized for its safety concerns.

As shown in footage from the training, instructors repeatedly attacked cadets, with Sterling receiving multiple blows to the head. Within minutes, she had suffered a concussion and was one of several recruits injured during the drill.

Such intense training methods, often referred to as RedMan training, have been linked to numerous injuries and even deaths across police academies in the United States. Since 2005, at least a dozen fatalities and hundreds of injuries have been reported, causing lawmakers and experts to call for reform in how these drills are conducted.

While some argue that these drills prepare officers for real-life confrontations, critics like Sterling believe their design can lead to unnecessary risk and trauma. This is a poorly disguised assault, she stated after her experience, emphasizing the need for change in training protocols.

As national scrutiny grows, it remains to be seen whether significant changes will be implemented to safeguard the welfare of future law enforcement officers undergoing similar training.