'Just Don't Quit'

One day in January, the recruits waited in a muddy yard behind the gym for "OC Spray," remembered by just about everyone as the worst day of training.

Jenny, the biomedical engineer, stepped forward and stood ramrod straight in anticipation. The instructor raised a canister of a derivative of cayenne chili pepper known as oleoresin capsicum, or OC. Pepper spray. From four feet away, the instructor let loose a big burst.

Jenny choked, coughed and gagged. "Open your eyes!" the instructor screamed. "Open your eyes!"

To pass, Jenny had to open at least one eye, protect her gun from a trainee trying to grab it and force the trainee down spread-eagle onto the ground before yelling, "FBI! Don't move!"

One by one, the sprayed trainees, hunched over in agony, were led away to rinse their swollen faces and red-rimmed eyes. The point of the exercise was not merely to toughen them; the instructor wanted them to understand what OC spray felt like before they used it on someone else and to know that they could survive if it's used against them.

The next day, there was "Bull in the Ring," an ordeal designed to bring the recruits face to face with the old-fashioned culture of toughness that has long been part of the FBI. The trainees who had never been in a fight would experience one now.

Wearing boxing gloves, headgear and mouth guards, they were arranged in five circles in the academy gym, according to weight. "We're classmates, pals and friends," an instructor told the trainees. "But for the next hour, we're not. Just don't quit. Do not turn your back. It's going to hurt. It's not fun. You can't duck. You have to survive. Work your way through it. Keep going."

Jenny stood in the middle of the circle, surrounded by nine other trainees. One man moved into the circle and sent his fist into Jenny's face. She took the punch and tentatively hit back. He hit her in the shoulder and kept pounding. Then he backed up and another trainee moved in and began pummeling Jenny. For two minutes, she took and threw punches.

The instructors ordered them to do it all again for another two minutes each. Afterward, they had to punch each other as hard as they could while fighting on the ground.

The "Rocky" theme song was blaring.

Elvis jabbed cautiously at Michelle, the former corporate lawyer. He was uncomfortable punching a woman, especially one who had become a good friend.

"Hit her harder," an instructor yelled.