ABSTRACT
This chapter describes and discusses the organizational culture, informal practices and decision-making processes in the Norwegian Naval Special Operations Commando (MJK), and how Marinejegers learn the local discourses and practices throughout their institutional apprenticeship. Marinejegers learn collectively how decisions ought to be made the marinejegerish way: they make important decisions collectively. The chapter also describes how the practice of Seamen's Councils is still used in MJK today. In this ad hoc Seamen's Council the instructors collectively decided that they did not trust the candidate any longer, and without trust they could not bring him along to the next level of training. Seamen's Councils as a practice is neither easy to lead nor to control – and thereby challenges the conventional military hierarchy and its practices. Seamen's Councils are an old Norwegian maritime tradition, and as such not an exclusive Navy or special operations forces (SOF) practice. To conduct special missions, SOF operators use their SOFish mindset, skill set, and practices.
