TRAINING

Now as note you young men who want to be one of the best..THIS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. There is alot more here than you might understand. You get one chance, that's it!! So don't expect to get in, almost 80% of a BUD/S Class WILL FAIL!!!!!

First a word from me...When you apply for BUD/S your in the Navy with a rating. A rating is something you must get first from the list I have below:

Aerographer's Mate (AG), Aviation Ordinance (AO), Aviation Warfare Systems Operator (AW), Aviation Boatswain's Mate (AB), Boatswain's Mate (BM), Boiler Technician (BT), Cryptologic Technician (CT), Electrician's Mate (EM), Electronics Technician (ET), Engineman (EN), Gunner's Mate (GM), Hospital Corpsman (HM), Hull Maintenance Technician (HT), Intelligence Specialist (IS), Interior Communications Mate (IC), Machinery Repairman (MR), Machinist's Mate (MM), Mineman (MN), Operations Specialist (OS), Ocean Systems Technician (OT), Ocean Systems Technician Analyst (OTA), Ocean Systems Technician Maintainer (OTM), Photographer's Mate (PH), Personnelman (PN), Parachute Rigger (PR), Quartermaster (QM), Radioman (RM), Signalman (SM), Sonar Technician (STG), Torpedoman's Mate (TM), or Yoeman (YN).

As you may be wondering why they would only have certain jobs you can only choose from...very simple, the Navy doesn't want you getting a rating that would take over a year to train you for.

Now if you FAIL BUD/S then you go back to your rating (Thats why you had to get it) and you stay there for the rest of your career in the Navy. So again I'll say it, YOUR STILL IN THE NAVY WHEN YOU FAIL BUD/S!!

PRE-BUD/S:

This is the program that all going to be SEALs must pass in order to get on with BUD/S. In this course a going to be SEAL must run, swim, and exercise until he drops on the ground and ready to die. Only then may he pass on to BUD/S. The training is very tough. If you want to see the exact requirements click on it (coming up next month). Most of you have already see it so I won't put it in unless you WANT to see it.

This is where dreams and hopes are made or crushed. A typical BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL Training) class will be about 150 men strong. Out of the 1000 men who apply to be a SEAL, must go through screening to see who will be able to go on to BUD/S. Only about 15% will make it through and go on to BUD/S, that's when the 6 very vigorous months of training take place. There are four phases which I will go in detail to.

This phase comes first. This phase will last only about two weeks. This is where instructors get to see what your made of. The instructors find people who can "Class up". Which means go on to BUD/S! The students who do "Class up" have a tradition of going to Gator Beach, Coronado and painting their helmets green. This is the start of a 25 week course that will make the weak quit and the strong find strength with in himself and his team mates.

This is where all Tadpoles learn to love the water and love running. This is where most of the students quit or will be failed. This will last 5 weeks. Knot tying is put on the first thing to do list for Tadpoles. They swim underwater to tie a knot on a piece of rope and swim back underwater. This and other things such as Basic First -Aid, Surf Passage in a small inflatable boat, Drown Proofing, and best of all "Surf Torture"! The Basic First-Aid is where you treat minor wounds. Surf Passage in an IBS (Inflatable Boat, Small) is where you come to class a hot and sweaty and smell like something that's been rotting. You sit down and instructor tells you how to pull your IBS and crew out of the rough sea and on to the rocks. If that isn't hard enough you have to do it in some rough waters, if you do it wrong, you end up breaking your leg. Drown Proofing is where the BUD/S instructors hog tie you up and throw you in the deep ene of the pool and you have to swim to the other end! Well if you make that you'll the water by now. It gets better as you and your class run out to the beach to have some Surf Torture! that's right TORTURE! You stay wet 99% of the entire time now! For the rest of the 5 plus months to go you stay wet! To tell you how cold it is in Coronado, it never gets above 68 degrees in the summer and 56 in the winter! So its COLD! SEAL Tadpoles go through Hypothermia. Well if you think that's not hard try this on for size. While having all that fun under the sun you also get to run 2 and 3 miles TIMED and swim 1 to 2 miles! If that's not hard you also have to go through the obstacle course and that too is timed. To give you a complete overview of what Tadpoles do here it is for you to enjoy. The ones on the left are evolutions the ones on the right are required times.

1) 50 meter underwater swim PASS/FAIL

2) Underwater knot tying PASS/FAIL

3) Drown proofing test PASS/FAIL

4) Basic Lifesaving test PASS/FAIL

5) 1200 meter pool swim w/fins 45 min.

6) 1 mile bay swim w/fins 50 min.

7) 1 mile ocean swim w/fins 50 min.

8) 1.5 mile ocean swim w/fins 70 min.

9) 2 mile ocean swim w/fins 95 min.

10) Obstacle course 15 min.

11) 4 mile times run 32 min.

Having fun yet? Well try it. Well if you enjoyed all that and much more during your five weeks of misery well then you have one more test to overcome. HELL WEEK!!!

Well I bet you would have fun if you actually got to see some pictures of Hell Week so here you go.

This phase the roughed up SEALs are taken to back to the ocean they love and are given a chance to see what's under it! This phase is about SCUBA: open and closed! The definition of open circuit versus closed circuit. Open circuit is the regular SCUBA you as a civilian can rent. The closed circuit is a closed in system that has no bubbles released when you exhale. The tadpoles are also given the duty of running longer and faster than what they're use to. They now swim about a mile longer and they also do a 3.5 mile swim in the middle of the night! The only way they can see is by a huge bonfire created by the instructors! The added horror to this all is the test that will make you or break you in swimming. The instructors throw you in a diving pool, but what you don't know will hurt you, because at the bottom of the pool there are about two or three instructors that jump you and tear all your equipment off and tie your air hoses in a knot, not a wimpy knot that you tie your shoes with, but a knot that only sailors can put in an air hose! The test of all this is if you can withstand the hardship of untying your air hose and putting ALL your equipment back on and then swim back up to the surface! It can last from a minute to over four minutes!!

The land warfare phase now begins!! With an increase of running and more PT, you still have fun! You blow things up and get to shoot M-16's and other great guns!

The obstacle course becomes more of a challenge with the decrease in time! If you mess up, it's back to the beginning and you do it until you get it! Sound fun? The Tad Poles still are getting little sleep as they do static ambushes, night ambushes, running, PT, shooting, and swimming out of San Clemente Island! After tadpoles do a flight pass, that's where tadpoles carry a wooden pallet and run up a steep hill! If the instructor doesn't like your pass, you do it again! During your four week here you run the 14 mile run, swim the 5.5 mile swim, go out at night set charges and blow up stuff, and get to learn how to shoot every type of weapon you might get to play with!! The last thing these tadpoles will do is play a war game for five days using all they know and staying alive through it!

This is what the newly found Tadpoles do in order to complete what they represent, S.E.A.L. The Tadpoles will spend three weeks at Fort Benning, Georgia. They learn to master the art of HALO and static line jumping.

You might being saying, "What? I though after all that running and crap, that you would get the Trident?" WRONG! You must wait SIX MONTHS before that day. During those six months you will be traded among Teams to see what team is the best suited for your talents. You'll be traded like a football player. The team who wants you the most will get you.

The students have done it! Now with less than one/third of the students, once know as tadpoles, are still here! They did it and now they can claim their honor with a single pin, a pin that represents EVERYTHING to a SEAL, the Trident!

Now with that insignia on they look out into the future and wonder when they will be called upon? The stares of the newly found SEALs are one of that only obtainable by combat, but as only a BUD/S student would know, BUD/S is combat! So they stare out into space for a 1000 mile stare!