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CHAPTER 1

So you wanna be a Frogman ...

Becoming a Navy SEAL is something that many young American men have aspirations of achieving. From the time they were young children running around with water guns or setting booby traps around the house, they have wanted to become one of America's elite. As teenagers, they may have watched a special operations movie that lit the fire within their souls to become an operator. Then there are others, answering the call of duty after an event such as the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. If you are one of them, there are a few things you'd better know up front. Whether your motive is patriotism, challenging yourself personally, or just wanting to be a part of one of the world's most elite special operations units, the same advice applies: You had better come prepared — prepared mentally, physically, and emotionally, or you will fall by the wayside like the other 70-plus percent who don't successfully complete the program. That percentage probably seems a bit daunting, and it is. This program is not for those lacking inner strength and mental fortitude. Becoming a SEAL is only attainable if you possess a "never quit" attitude that trumps all circumstances. With the right attitude and proper physical preparation, your odds of making it through this rigorous program will most certainly be increased. Then you, too, may be standing tall with the Navy SEAL Trident pin upon your chest.

BUD/S

What I am going to tell you here is not a matter of national security, nor is it even a secret in the simple sense. The information in this book is available by means of thorough research on the Internet, thanks to many years of media attention and recruiting ploys by high-ranking military brass. What I am going to tell you differs from your Internet research in that it is straight from the mouth of one who has been through the system: a rootin', tootin', shootin' Frogman.

As a school or training program, whichever you choose to call it, BUD/S is truly in a class of its own. Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Training takes place primarily on the sandy shores of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California at the Naval Special Warfare Center (NSWC). The average daily high temperature is 70 degrees. Tourists from around the world flock to the shores of this paradise to enjoy the sun and sand. If this sounds like a nice place to be, it is, unless you happen to be a BUD/S candidate. For you, that balmy temperature will be tempered by many trips into the Pacific Ocean to get wet and sandy. Although the ocean temperature averages around 65 degrees, I can promise you it will feel much colder after repeated visits.

In my opinion, one of the primary things that sets BUD/S apart as a training program is the instructor staff. BUD/S instructors are Frogmen; they come straight from the SEAL community. They are very current on what's going on at the team level and with our various combat and training operations overseas. They all go through an instructor training program both at the regular navy level and at the NSWC. They are picked for this duty based on proficiency in their jobs, ability to teach at the team level, personality, and, perhaps most significantly, their remaining operational life. The vast majority of instructors have a long operational life remaining — that is, for quite some time to come, they can and will be deployed overseas to do the work SEALs do. To put it another way, there is a very high chance that a graduating BUD/S student will end up in a platoon with one or more of the instructors that put him through training. We train our own. Because of this fact we, as instructors, demand an extremely high output level from the students. We may very well end up in combat with you, and we want to know that the men we are sending downrange are of a quality with which we would want to work. You are being taught and graded by your eventual peers, not some outside entity with no stake in the game, or an over-the-hill relic with no more operational life. Your peers will always be your harshest and best judges.

The program: BUD/S is a prescribed twenty-four weeks of training, divided into three unique phases of instruction. First Phase emphasizes the physical side of training, employing shock-and-awe teaching methods. While the SEAL candidates focus on physical conditioning and strength training, instructors weed out the weak and uncommitted. Second Phase, or Dive Phase, consists of combat diving skills. Students learn the basics of being a combat diver and are introduced to two different diving systems. The final phase of BUD/S, Third Phase, also known as Land Warfare Phase, introduces the SEAL trainees to weapons and demolitions while also teaching the basics of navigation and small-unit tactics. Although each phase has a unique goal and focus, the trainee is being exposed again and again to common challenges to ingrain in him some very important attributes that will stay with him throughout his career as a Navy SEAL: teamwork, acquisition of new skills, attention to detail, and self-awareness.

Teamwork: Upon arrival at the NSWC, you will already have a class number. In an ideal world, that class is the one you start with and the one you graduate with. That is not always the case, however, as many trainees suffer various setbacks such as injuries or are held back due to performance issues. Within the class, you will be broken down into small teams called boat crews, and further into pairs known as swim buddies. Your boat crew is where you will first be exposed to how important it is for you to be able to function at your highest level while working alongside six other men. If all is right in the world, those six other men are also functioning at their highest levels, and as a team you are virtually untouchable. In reality, seldom is the machine in that pristine working order. There will definitely be times throughout the entire training program when you will have to take up the slack of one or more teammates or they will be taking up your slack. Either way, the truths of the value of teamwork most often come from these less than perfect moments where you are being tested to your limit and have to help one another succeed. There is a saying you will hear often at BUD/S that exemplifies the teamwork message of a Navy SEAL: "You are only as strong as your weakest link."

You will learn new individual skills that you have to hone to perfection so that they become second nature. These are skills everyone has to know and be able to apply in order for the swim pairs, boat crews, and the class as a group to function properly. You will have to serve as a mentor and teacher within the class at times to help those who are slower on information uptake. In turn, you will receive assistance from your teammates, as you, too, will struggle and need help at times. Knot tying, small-boat maintenance, boat handling both in and out of the water, uniform standards, swimming techniques, completion of the obstacle course, study of the ocean, surf reports, tide tables, patrol formations, weapons handling, gear maintenance: You will need to master all of these skills, and all while being tested physically. You will be tested endlessly in ways you have never imagined. This will all take place in the first few weeks of training — nothing complicated yet, just basics, to see if instruction under stress is something you can deal with undaunted. The workouts exist to test you, to stress your system while requiring you to do newly learned things together as a team. If you come into the system in less than the best shape of your life, you will more than likely fall by the wayside and watch your class move on without you.

Attention to detail: In all phases of BUD/S training, and indeed during the rest of your career as a Frogman, one of the most-stressed training ideals is attention to detail. The reason is simple: Details are what make up complicated systems. The more complicated a system, the more details required to make it work, and any detail not fully engaged or completed will lead to the failure of the entire system. Attention to detail also has an inherent safety mechanism. With regard to the dangerous work we do, safety is what keeps us operational and prevents us from undermining our own efforts. Most importantly, it is this attention to detail that will help keep you and your teammates alive. In the life of a Navy SEAL, there is no room for error. An oversight or losing focus could get you or the man standing next to you killed. Attention to detail is paramount; do not ever forget it.

Self-awareness: This is something you will get from BUD/S in a way that is virtually unattainable anywhere else in life. Because of the unique structure of the training, you will be given more opportunities for self-reflection and outside criticism than most people will get their entire lives. People who have been in life-or-death situations (their own or a loved one's) and other combat vets are the only people you will ever meet who will have had the same exposure to themselves that you will get on a regular basis throughout your training.

First Phase: Physical conditioning. Has a nice, gentle ring to it, doesn't it? This is absolutely not the case. First Phase is a shocking, gut-wrenching experience. It is a unique trial, and as a trainee you often wonder if the First Phase instructors are trying to cause you physical harm more than anything else. First Phase is a test of your physical endurance, mental tenacity, and true teamwork skills. First Phase consists of early morning physical training and uniform, gear, and room inspections, as well as timed events such as 2-mile ocean swims, 4-mile beach runs, and completing the obstacle course. During this phase, you will also become very familiar with all of the different exercises you can do with a telephone pole. The phrases "sugar cookie," "surf torture," and "push em out" "I'm beat" will be all too familiar. You will become expert at moving the inflatable boats during surf passage evolutions as well as rock portage outside the Hotel del Coronado. Did I forget to mention that you will also carry those boats on your heads for miles, bury and unbury them in the sand, and do extended arm carries for hours? You will be living a SEAL saying, "Pain is weakness leaving the body." One week of this phase of training is the infamous "Hell Week." Hell Week will push you to your ultimate limits. Excruciating physical pain, bitter cold, and relentless fatigue will cause more than two-thirds of your class to quit by ringing the bell and placing their helmets below it in a line on the grinder (the concrete-asphalt area where callisthenic workouts are done). Those few left who dig deep and push through the cold and the pain will reach the time when they hear those wonderful words on the last day: "Hell Week is secured." From this point forward you will be treated a little differently by not only the other trainees at BUD/S but the instructors as well. You are also identified differently, as you trade your white undershirts for brown ones — a sign to all that you have endured true hell and have proven you have something unique inside of you and have earned the right to continue on in training. You will have a strong sense of pride and accomplishment, and you have now created lifelong bonds with the brothers of your class. The men who remain after Hell Week are the core of what a true BUD/S class is. You and your brothers will continue the fight as a team.

Second Phase: Diving. Seems simple, right? Put on a dive rig, go underwater ... you're diving! Not even close. Aside from the underwater part, what you'll do as a Frogman is vastly different from what most of the world views as diving. Combat diving takes place at night — no lights, zero visibility, no surfacing to figure out where you are, no talking. Just hours and hours of hearing your heart beat and listening to your breath, with only a swim buddy and an attack board with a watch and a compass for company. Before you get to experience all of the cold, wet, and tired fun that combat diving has to offer, you first must learn the basics. Self-control, diving techniques and procedures, dive medicine, dive physics, and navigation (with nothing more than a watch and compass), as well as the ins and outs of open-circuit (SCUBA) and closed-circuit (Draeger rebreather) dive systems, will all be part of the dive training. All of these techniques and procedures will be put to the test in an evolution called Pool Comp. Pool Comp will push you to your diving limits, and many members of your class will not move on past this point. Pool Comp, which lasts approximately twenty minutes, is a diving evolution in which the SEAL instructors put you through a series of tests while you are crawling around in a circle on the bottom of the pool. This test is set up to assess your familiarity with the diving system and your attention to detail in diving procedures. It is also a chance for the instructors to see if you can keep cool, stay calm, and maintain a level head as they push you to your breaking points underwater. It all begins with "surf hits" by instructors circling around you like sharks. Each hit spins you round and round while you lose various pieces of equipment. In fact, your mask is the first piece of equipment to go. Following the surf hits is a series of hits in which the instructors will shut off your air, tie your inhalation and exhalation hoses in various knots (simple to complex), and untie various straps you have on your body. You must first get your air turned back on. Sometimes you can do this while your diving rig is on your back, but at other times you must remove the diving rig from your back and place it in front of you on the bottom of the pool so you can work on the knot better. Remember that this is all happening while you are on the bottom of the pool, slowly drowning. It is important in Pool Comp to remember the steps and procedures you were taught; attention to detail will serve you well. Completing any of the steps out of order or improperly will result in your immediate failure. The final step of Pool Comp is a very large hit by an instructor in which he ties a knot in your air supply that is impossible to get untied, nicknamed the "whammy knot." Do not get too excited when you recognize this point in the test. You still must remain calm and follow your steps and procedures. Give the whammy knot a good attempt, signal your instructor you're going to do a controlled ascent, kiss the bottom of the pool, and "blow and go." If all goes well, you will reach the surface and scream "I feel fine," and the instructor will pull your exhausted, barely-able-to-swim butt over to the edge of the pool, where he will let you know that you passed. Pool Comp, dive physics, and various other diving tests, skills, and knowledge will get you started in the right direction, but application of that knowledge is where the real learning begins. You'll learn that with proper planning you can target a specific sailboat, in a marina with thousands of sailboats, from under the surface of the ocean in the middle of the night without ever being seen. You'll learn how to read and decipher intelligence reports, surf reports, and tide tables and plug them all — plus the knowledge about the ocean you gained in First Phase — into your planning for a successful combat dive. You will learn all this while continuing your physical training. "Continuing" might be misleading; all the physical stuff will get progressively more demanding. Longer conditioning runs and swims, longer timed runs, and swims with shorter time limits will be the norm. Faster finish times will be expected in the weekly obstacle course tests.

Third Phase: Beginning within the compound in Coronado, Third Phase quickly moves the students out to a remote island in the Pacific: San Clemente Island. Away from all distractions, trainees engross themselves in land warfare, including basic weapons handling and safety, marksmanship with pistol and rifle, explosives demolition, land navigation, patrolling, rappelling, and small-unit tactics. This is where you start to learn the skills that get the jobs done overseas. You will learn map-and-compass techniques for basic navigation. Classes in shooting fundamentals will facilitate later training with a firearm and instill a forward-thinking, or aggressive, mindset. You will learn about explosives and how to use them to render a target objective disabled or destroyed. Movement over all types of terrain and the theories of landscape sightline and troop movement that keep you out of harm's way in combat are also taught during Third Phase. Class time is overlapped with field application in an ever-increasing level of difficulty in order to test the student's knowledge and ensure that lessons learned are learned for the long term. The instructors continue to increase physical fitness standards and reduce times on tested evolutions including swims and runs, as well as the obstacle course, only this time with full kit and H-gear (a utility belt carrying a canteen, ammunition, etc.).

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Navy SEALs BUD/S Preparation Guide"
by .
Copyright © 2014 SOFREP.
Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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