To become a SEAL in the Naval Special Warfare/Naval Special Operations (NSW/NSO) community, you must first go through what is widely considered to be the most physically and mentally demanding military training in existence. Then comes the tough part: the job of essentially taking on any situation or foe that the world has to offer.
Direct action warfare. Special reconnaissance. Counterterrorism. Foreign internal defense. When there’s nowhere else to turn, Navy SEALs are in their element. Achieving the impossible by way of conditioned response, sheer willpower and absolute dedication to their training, their missions and their fellow spec ops team members.
Work Environment
The job of a Navy SEAL relies heavily on adaptability and teamwork. Members train and work in all manner of environments, including desert and urban areas, mountains and woodlands, and jungle and arctic conditions. Whatever the specific mission and surroundings, you’ll utilize the specialized skills and the high-tech equipment required. And you’ll operate not only as a highly capable individual but also as a member of tightly knit SEAL units. These include task units (32-man), platoons (16-man), squads (8-man), teams (4-man) and swim buddy (2-man).
Training and Advancement
The comprehensive SEAL training process prepares you for the extreme physical and mental challenges of SEAL missions. Your preparation will consist of more than 12 months of initial training that includes Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL BUD/S School, Parachute Jump School and SEAL Qualificiation Training (SQT), followed by an additional 18 months of pre-deployment training and intensive specialized training. Everything in training is designed to push you to your physical and mental limits. If you’re up to the task, you’ll emerge in incredible physical shape and possess the necessary confidence, determination and teamwork to succeed in a combat environment.
SEAL Prep School
Here, aspiring SEALs are given a crash course in the physical standards required to even attempt to become a SEAL. It starts with an initial Physical Screening Test and ends with a more demanding Physical Screening Test, one that includes a timed four-mile run and a timed 1,000-meter swim. The goal is to increase your physical readiness between the two tests so that you are ready to move on to BUD/S. Those unable to pass the final test are removed from the SEAL training pipeline and reclassified into other jobs in the Navy.
Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL BUD/S School
BUD/S is a 24-week training challenge that develops your mental and physical stamina and leadership skills. Each BUD/S phase includes timed physical condition tests, with the time requirements becoming more demanding each week.
BUD/S – Orientation (3 WEEKS)
This initial course introduces candidates to the BUD/S program, its instructors and the lifestyle to expect here. You will get a sense of the training regimen that awaits and be prepared to start the first phase.
BUD/S – Physical Conditioning (7 WEEKS)
The first phase of BUD/S assesses SEAL candidates in physical conditioning, water competency, teamwork and mental tenacity. Physical conditioning utilizes running, swimming and calisthenics and grows harder and harder as the weeks progress. You will participate in weekly four mile timed runs in boots and timed obstacle courses, swim distances up to two miles wearing fins in the ocean and learn small boat seamanship.
The first three weeks of Basic Conditioning prepares you for the fourth week, known by many as Hell Week. During this week, you will participate in five and a half days of continuous training, with a maximum of four hours sleep total. This week is designed as the ultimate test of one’s physical and mental motivation. It proves to those who make it that the human body can do ten times the amount of work the average man thinks possible. During Hell Week, you will learn the value of cool headedness, perseverance, and above all, teamwork. For those who make it through this grueling challenge, the remaining three weeks are devoted to teaching various methods of conducting hydrographic surveys and creating a hydrographic chart.
BUD/S – Combat Diving (7 WEEKS)
The Diving Phase of BUD/S trains, develops and qualifies SEAL candidates as competent basic combat swimmers. During this period, physical training continues and becomes even more intensive. This second phase concentrates on combat SCUBA. You will learn two types of SCUBA: open circuit (compressed air) and closed circuit (100% oxygen). Also, basic dive medicine and medical skills training is provided.
Emphasis is placed on long-distance underwater dives with the goal of training students to become basic combat divers, using swimming and diving techniques as a means of transportation from their launch point to their combat objective. This is what separates SEALs from all other Special Operations forces.
BUD/S – Land Warfare (7 WEEKS)
Land Warfare trains, develops and qualifies SEAL candidates in basic weapons, demolition and small-unit tactics. Physical training continues and becomes even more strenuous as the run distance increases and the minimum passing times are lowered for the runs, swims and obstacle course.
This third phase concentrates on teaching land navigation, small-unit tactics, patrolling techniques, rappelling, marksmanship and military explosives. The final three and a half weeks are spent on San Clemente Island, where students apply all the techniques they have acquired during training.
Parachute Jump School
Upon successful completion of BUD/S, SEAL candidates go on to receive both static line and free-fall training at Tactical Air Operations in San Diego, CA. The accelerated 3-week program is highly regimented, facilitated by world-class instructors, and designed to develop safe and competent free-fall jumpers in a short period of time.
To complete the course, you must pass through a series of jump progressions, from basic static line to accelerated free fall to combat equipment – ultimately completing night descents with combat equipment from a minimum altitude of 9,500 feet.
SEAL Qualification Training
Next comes the process of taking fit, versatile and determined candidates, those who’ve already proven themselves exceptional, and transforming them into something even greater: warriors worthy of the SEAL designation. If you have what it takes to get this far, you’ll spend the next 26 weeks further honing your mental and physical prowess.
SEAL Qualification Training (SQT) teaches standardized Naval Special Warfare Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) – running candidates through a gauntlet of rigorous training courses. You’ll develop expertise in areas that include cold-weather survival, marine operations, advanced combat swimming, close-quarter combat and land-warfare training. Here, you’ll learn the intricacies of operating not only as a highly capable individual, but as an effective member of an operational platoon. Graduation from SQT culminates in the awarding of the coveted Navy SEAL Trident – after which you’ll immediately begin advanced training and be assigned to a SEAL team.
Advanced Training and Team Placement
Upon reporting to your First SEAL Team or Special Delivery Vehicle (SDV) Team, you can expect 18 months of advanced training broken equally between Individual Specialty Training, Unit Level Training and Task Group Level Training. Those Enlisted SEALs with a medical rating first attend Advanced Medical Training Course 18D for 6 months in order to become a SEAL medic. Those pursuing Officer positions first attend the Junior Officer Training Course to learn about operations planning and how to perform team briefings.
Training, physical conditioning and drills are part of the SEAL lifestyle. Once you’ve completed SEAL initial training, you can go even further with advanced training that could include foreign language study, SEAL tactical communications training, Sniper, Military Free-Fall Parachuting, Jump Master (Static line and Military Free Fall), Explosive Breacher and much more.
Navy SEALs - Role
- Counterterrorism
- Unconventional Warfare
- Foreign Internal Defense
- Direct Action
- Special Reconnaissance
Navy SEALS - Teams
- Naval Special Warfare Group One (West Coast)
- Naval Special Warfare Group Two (East Coast)
Navy SEALs - Operations
1963 - Vietnam
1983 - Grenada - Operation Urgent Fury
1989 - Panama - Operation Just Cause
1991 - Persian Gulf - Operation Desert Storm
2003 - present - Iraq - Operation Iraqi Freedom
2009 - Gulf Of Aden - Rescue of Captain Phillips
Navy SEALs - Weapons
Carbines / Assault Rifles
Machine Guns
- MK46 Mod 0 / MK48 Mod 0 - 5.56mmx45mm / 7.62mmx51mm variants of the M249 SAW
- M240 - 7.62mmx51mm belt-fed machine gun, typically mounted on vehicles or tripod but may also be carried
- M2 - .50 heavy machine gun often mounted on SEAL vehicles
Handguns
Sniper Rifles
- MK 12 Mod 1 - 5.56mmx45mm sniper rifle
- MK 11 - 7.26x51mm medium sniper rifle
- M91A2 - a .300 win mag bolt-action rifle based on the Remington 700 long action
- MK 13 - a more recent Remington 700 variant firing .300 WinMag
- TAC-338 - rifle made my McMillan USA, chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum
- MK 15 - long range bolt-action sniper rifle chambered in .50 BMG
- M82 - .50 caliber extreme long range anti-material rifle
Missile / Rocket Launchers
Sources:
www.navy.com
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