Special Ingredients

The combination of special warfare training that blends the best in technology with the most basic of combat fighting skills is at the core of the Navy SEAL training process. Many people believe that members of special forces teams, regardless of military branch, are cowboys, or bad boys, or even worse, out-of-control rogues with no respect for life and limb. However, despite the reputation that such organizations develop, the reality is far from the myths that surround them.

Many young men wishing to join the SEAL program are awed by the tradition and respect garnered at the mention of the word “SEAL”. SEALs are highly trained in a combination of basic warrior skills and techniques as well as in the most modern technology and weaponry known to man when it comes to warfare combat. By reputation, SEALs are considered one of the most elite Special Forces groups in American military force branches.

Location, Location, Location

Graduating from BUDs training may not seem that difficult to innocent bystanders. After all, how can any training that progresses on glorious, white sandy beaches in Southern California be difficult? What could be better than training on those very same, sandy white beaches populated by beautiful women wearing bikinis and flaunting their stuff in front of hundreds of BUDs recruits hoping to make the cut and become part of the SEAL team? Actually, watching the sun glint off the surface of the warm Pacific ocean, sailboats skimming by and the laughter of babes bobbing volleyballs and other round objects is many a young man’s dream.

However, becoming a Navy SEAL requires focus. The babes must be ignored. To succeed as a Navy SEAL, a person must rely on both mental discipline and basic intelligence and common sense. BUDs training requires more than just muscle and attitude to make it through one of the most intense, unforgiving, and grueling military training programs around the world. It takes heart.

Training

The BUDs training program is broken into three phases; each one provides grueling training for any recruit. However, that’s only the beginning. To become a fully qualified SEAL, recruits must pass very strict physical fitness tests. Those who are accepted into the program must first go through seven weeks of indoctrination and physical preconditioning, and that’s before they even start the BUDs program.

The first phase of BUDs training lasts nine weeks and consists of extremely difficult physical conditioning regimens that includes running, daily exercise, more running, and of course, swimming. During this portion of BUDs training, recruits learn to memorize the obstacle course by heart, as they see it for hours on a daily basis. Physical fitness scores and times for completing the obstacle course must be continually improved throughout the training process.

After the grueling weeks of enduring constant physical training, comes Hell Week. The infamous Hell Week comes during the third week of Phase One and is the point in time when large numbers of recruits drop out of the program. Hell Week lasts for five days. Recruits are expected to complete what boils down to nonstop physical training with very little sleep. Hell Week gives recruits plenty of time to play in role in the sand, as well as to perform such tasks as log PT and engaging in fun, “rubber duck races.” They begin or end the day with drills that encourage 16-mile runs along sandy, windswept beaches. For fun, the instructors sometimes initiate the run in the middle of the day as well, providing an opportunity for the recruits to enjoy the scenery.

More Training

Struggling with Log PT or the Mud Flats, Cast and Recovery, or Around the World, a BUDs recruit needs to dig deeper and deeper each and every day of training. “The Only Easy Day was Yesterday” is a term coined by veteran Navy SEALs and it stands as true today as it did almost thirty years ago. It means pushing harder each and every day of training, and finding strength when you though you had none left.

Phase Two of SEAL training teaches recruits everything they wanted to know and more about scuba diving, dive physiology, and closed-circuit re-breeding systems. It’s a time to learn about equipment failures, the hazards of nitrogen narcosis, as well as swimming beneath the surface and navigating cold, murky water during night swims.

But wait, there’s more! Phase Three is just getting started. This is the fun part of BUDs training and includes demolitions, recon and land warfare training. A BUDs recruit learns navigation skills, small unit tactics, repelling and patrolling skills as well as how to properly use small arms and weapons used by SEALs in combat scenarios.

The BUDs training is meant to be, and is, a grueling selection process more than it is a training program. BUDs training challenges recruits to dig deep and find personal resources and strengths that will get them through every day. In many cases, recruits are forced to break their days down into hours, minutes, and even seconds in order to get through it. It’s an intentionally brutal program, intended to train recruits to survive and function in the most stressful combat situations and scenarios that creative BUDs instructors can devise.

The Three D’s: Determination, Discipline, Desire

This is where the concept of heart comes into play. At this stage of training, a BUDs recruit begins to understand that it is intelligence, mental discipline, and inner strength that will win the day over muscle and brawn. Teamwork, sacrifice and the ability and desire to help teammates and buddies is tapped, developed, and encouraged during all facets of the BUDs training process.

The SEAL BUDs training program is one of the most difficult things a Navy recruit may ever have to deal with in either civilian or military life. It marks a definite growing point in the life of a young man that will stay with him for the rest of his life.

Navy SEALs may come from different backgrounds, cultures and religious denominations. They come in all sizes as well, but the one thing they share in common is that elusive and invisible ingredient called heart. A Navy SEAL respects teamwork, rather than individual glory. The SEAL becomes part of a unit, not a single entity. The benefit of the team relies on the integrity and devotion of a SEAL to become part of a team whose threads inextricably bind one to another.

The heart of a Navy SEAL beats for his buddies as well as himself. And that’s what it’s all about.