steveo21 Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Can any of you make the Navy Seals? I think I can pass the physical tests. Swimming 500m and 1.5 run with all the pushups and situps won't be much of a problem. But the 6 month entrance exams sounds scary. ------------------------------------------------------- SEALs launching public effort to recruit new members CORONADO, Calif. (AP) � The Navy SEALs prefer to operate in the shadows, but the Pentagon's need to increase the ranks of the elite terrorist-hunting commando force is prompting an unusually splashy recruiting effort. Navy SEAL Mitchell Hall, who won a Bronze Star in 2001 in Afghanistan, hopes to use the upcoming Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii to spread the word about the need for more recruits. The competition will make the 31-year-old chief petty officer a spokesman for the community of self-described quiet professionals and put him in front of the cameras he spent years avoiding. The change in recruiting methods comes amid the Pentagon's increasing reliance on special operations and the call for a 15% increase in SEALs over the next several years. The SEALs have a legendary reputation as an elite, highly skilled fighting force, but it is hard to find candidates with the necessary physical conditioning. Just to get a chance to try out, SEAL recruits must swim 500 yards, then breeze through a series of push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups and run 1.5 miles � all within strict time limits. This year, 500 of the 823 SEAL recruits � or 60% � failed the test in the first days of boot camp. "We can't survive on that any longer," said Master Chief Petty Officer Andy Tafelski, 51, who has a key role in the recruiting effort. "The pipeline has to become more efficient." For the SEALs, who consider themselves the best of the best, lowering their standards is out of the question. Hall, 31, will be competing in the Oct. 15 Ironman � a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile marathon � wearing a blue jersey emblazoned with a Navy SEAL insignia. He won the Navy SEAL's Superfrog Triathalon in September and now his goal is to finish among the top 100 in Hawaii's Ironman. "When I'm out there at hour five or whatever it is, and I feel like I'm hurting pretty bad, I've had experience with the same things doing activities in the SEALs," he said. To boost the SEALs' ranks, the Navy is also working with recruiters to begin testing potential SEALs before they get to boot camp and making sure they have the physical skills. Mentors will work with those who qualify to prepare them for what comes next. Every SEAL must finish one of the world's toughest entrance exams, a six-month training program that typically weeds out three of every four candidates. The Navy also is creating a SEAL rating � a formal job description _that should allow candidates to more quickly begin formal SEAL training. Previously, SEALs � the name stands for Sea, Air, Land � had to attend school to learn traditional jobs held by Navy sailors. Driving the changes is the need to add 400 men by fiscal 2008, bringing the total number of SEALs from 2,600 to about 3,000. Special operations units in the Army and Air Force also are planning to increase their ranks, and U.S. Special Operations Command is offering bonuses of up to $150,000 to keep the most experienced operators from bolting to the more lucrative private sector. The SEALs are looking to the fill the grueling Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training program at Coronado, outside San Diego, to its full capacity of 850 students � something that has never happened, Tafelski said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaceman Spiff Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 I know why you can pass that physical part.... Hell yeah! :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo21 Posted October 12, 2005 Author Share Posted October 12, 2005 Hell yea! Such an evil tool!You get that PM I sent ya? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tizzod Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Navy Seals Looking for Folks to Try out.... THAT should be amusing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaceman Spiff Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Hell yea! Such an evil tool!You get that PM I sent ya? Yes, yes i did. And actually, I'm about to pm you with a question about something.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NASMTrainer Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 66% of all that try, fail. It's no cakewalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Fever Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 One of my friends is a former SEAL who spent some time in Afghanistan. He can't even use it as a pick-up line most of the time because most women don't believe him. Some of the guys on his old team (SEAL Team 10) were the ones who got killed in the Chinook that was shot down while trying to rescue the 4 man team that came under heavy enemy fire back in July. He was offered a contracting job for big bucks a few months back but he decided not to do it. He’s divorced and has a young son that needs him around these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanCollins Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 It's the cold water skills that trips up most of the candidates. It would be advisable to spend 6 months in water training in the pacific ocean, to develop the mental and physical adpatation to cold water, and knock off a couple hundred scuba dives while you're at it. The lean muscle that the more athletic candidates posess does not help them with the cold water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Fever Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 My buddy had never scuba dived before his SEAL training. He was a good swimmer when we were younger but nothing spectacular. Our school didn’t have a swim team. He hasn’t said this because it’s not his style but in his case I think he just wanted it more than the guys who quit, he refused to give in. BTW, I’m fairly sure he did most if not all of his training on the east coast, I know he was based out of Little Creek. I’ll have to ask him. He’s about 6 feet tall and of average build. He was obviously stronger and in better shape these days than when he joined the Navy to begin with but he’s not what I’d call muscle bound by any stretch. Dude is a bit of a nut, but in all honesty he was nuts before he joined. He was the kid who you’d dare to jump off of the house into the pile of leaves…..and he’d do it. He’s a different dude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead Money Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Navy Seals Looking for Folks to Try out....THAT should be amusing.... I smell another friggin reality show :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanCollins Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 I smell another friggin reality show :doh: they show seal training like weekly on the Military Channel, San Diego, CA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timitim Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 If we make it easier for recruits to become SEALs then what is the older communitiy going to think of them? I realize that the trials you have to endure to get in are grueling but they are set for a reason. Very little of what they do to you During BUD/S is a wasted effort. Most of what they go through is what they will experience in the field on a daily basis if they get deployed. I personally think that in regards to our Special Operations Command...... Quality is better than Quantitiy. IF it were the other way around then that is what the conventional military is for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halter91 Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 They used to show in on the Discovery Channel all the time. From what I've been told by some friends who spent a lot of time in the service, a few Rangers, etc. The Seals is the hardest course to complete, besides Delta Force. It's basically torture and you have to be half nuts to join. I do repect them very much though. They are some bad mothers and I'm glad they're on my side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 They used to show in on the Discovery Channel all the time. From what I've been told by some friends who spent a lot of time in the service, a few Rangers, etc. The Seals is the hardest course to complete, besides Delta Force. It's basically torture and you have to be half nuts to join. I do repect them very much though. They are some bad mothers and I'm glad they're on my side. Seals is the most difficult / elite of all, including delta force. Nevermind what Chuck Norris says. .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wskin44 Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 The Navy Seals are a different breed of people. They are the best fighters we have. They are the first ones in anytime our military goes into hostile territory. If you are watching us invade somewhere on t.v. you can be sure that the Seals were there at least 48 hours earlier. If you ever meet one, just thank him for what he does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 A childhood friend of mine became a Navy Seal, and recently lost his life a few months ago as his helicopter was shot down over Afghanistan. I had seen him a few months earlier at my sister's wedding... the next thing I know I get a call on my cell phone from my sister telling me that it was his SEAL team that was shot down, and to turn it to CNN. Sure enough, the next day they released the names. It brought the war to my doorstep and drove home to me the sacrifices that people are making. So yes, to echo WSkin's remarks, if you meet a SEAL, thank him. That job is no joke, and it takes a lot more than physical attributes. A whole lot more. He was a great guy... one of the finest you'll ever meet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halter91 Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Sorry to hear that Zooney. My prayers go out to his family and friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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