Navy SEAL Training - BUD/S and Beyond

Congratulations: You’ve passed the SEAL PST and have graduated Boot Camp. You
now proudly wear the uniform of the U.S. Navy and are on your way to BUD/S (Basic
Underwater Demolition/SEAL) training. The Navy core values of Honor, Courage and
Commitment are a minimum expectation of every SEAL and trainee. Now is the time to
adopt the SEAL ethos – the mindset to never ever quit, and do whatever it takes to pull
your teammates through.

The BUD/S Instructors will be putting you through the very same training that they have
gone through themselves. They will be testing and observing you to determine if they can
trust you with their lives and your classmates. ’ There is a good chance, given the small
size of the SEAL community, that you will serve in future combat operations with some
of your instructors. These veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq know firsthand that, “the
more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in war. ”

Do you have what it takes? Do you want it badly enough? To make it through BUD/S
and “Hell Week” you will need great physical fitness and endurance, mental discipline,
teamwork, character, mature judgment, and a fiery desire to be a SEAL. Young men of
all physical builds, ethnicities, educational backgrounds, sports specialties and various
ages have succeeded before you. With determination, you can too.

Phases of SEAL Training

BUD/S-Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training

SQT-SEAL Qualification Training
Advanced Training
Ten Steps to Be A SEAL Operator

1. Sign up for the SEAL Challenge and make SEAL passing scores on the ASVAB test.
2. Train hard and consistently, and pass the Physical Screening Test (PST) for SEALs.
3. Attend Navy Recruit Training Command (12 weeks) and pass the SEAL PST again.
4. Take SEAL Indoctrination and Pre-Training (3-5 weeks) in Coronado, CA. 5. Enter
BUD/S (6 months total)

Phase 1 (8 weeks)
Phase 2 (8 weeks)
Phase 3 (9 weeks)
6. Complete U.S. Army Jump School (Ft. Benning, GA) or Naval Special Warfare
Parachute Course (San Diego, CA)
7. SEAL Qualification Training (Coronado, CA)
8. Graduate w/your SEAL class and receive your Trident, the Navy's SEAL Insignia. 9.
Start assignment to one of eight SEAL Teams or two SDV Teams in Coronado, CA,
Virginia Beach, VA, or Pearl Harbor, HI.
10. Sharpen your war fighting skills in your SEAL Platoon or SDV Platoon. After a
six-month “work-up,” deploy overseas to conduct Maritime Special Operations as
 directed by senior military commanders in specified geographic regions overseas.

BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) Training

BUD/S is a 6-month SEAL training course held at the Naval Special Warfare Training
Center in Coronado, CA. You’ll start with five weeks Indoctrination and Pre-Training as
part of a Navy SEAL Class, then go through the Three Phases of BUD/S. First Phase is
the toughest. It consists of 8 weeks of Basic Conditioning that peaks with a grueling
segment called “Hell Week” at the midway point, where you’ll be tested to your limits.

Hell Week is a test of physical endurance, mental tenacity and true teamwork where 2/3
or more of your class may call it quits or “ring the bell ”. Physical discomfort and pain
will cause many to decide it isn’t worth it. The miserable wet-cold approaching
hypothermia will make others quit. Sheer fatigue and sleep deprivation will cause every
candidate to question his core values, motivations, limits, and everything he’s made of
and stands for. Those who grit it out to the finish will hear their Instructors yell the
longed-for words, “Hell Week is secured!”

There will be an exceptional few with burning desire who persevere when their bodies
are screaming to quit, yet continue on. These men experience a tremendous sense of
pride, achievement, brotherhood and a new self-awareness that, “I can do anything!!”
The most outstanding among them -- that man whose sheer force of example inspires his
classmates to keep going when they’re ready to quit – is the “Honor Man” of the Class.

These determined men will proceed on to Second Phase (8 weeks of Diving) and Third
Phase (9 weeks of Land Warfare). Most men who have succeeded in Hell Week make it
through these phases. If not, it’s usually due to academic issues (e.g. , dive physics) in the
Dive Phase, or weapons and demolitions safety/competency issues in the Land Warfare
(weapons and tactics) Phase. After BUDS is completed, trainees go through 3 weeks of
Basic Parachute Training.

At this point, training shifts from testing how the men react in a high-stress “gut check”
environment, to making sure the trainees are competent in their core tasks. The men go
through a final 8 weeks of focused SEAL Qualification Training in mission planning,
operations, and tactic, techniques and procedures. Upon completion, they are authorized
to wear the coveted Navy SEAL Trident insignia on their uniform.

SEAL training ends with the formal BUD/S Class Graduation. Here the proud few in
their dress Navy uniforms are recognized for their achievement in the presence of family
and senior SEAL leaders. The Commanding Officers and senior enlisted advisors of the
Naval Special Warfare Groups and SEAL Teams attend. The BUD/s graduates, as their
newest Teammates, will be reminded of the special group they have entered, to be worthy
of the sacrifices of the courageous Frogmen who came before them, and the great honor it
is to serve as a U.S. Navy SEAL.

BUD/S PHASES
Phase 1 – Physical Conditioning (8 weeks)

Running in the sand

Swimming – up to 2 miles w/fins in the ocean
Calisthenics
Timed Obstacle Course
Four-mile timed runs in boots
Small boat seamanship
Hydrographic surveys and creating charts
Hell Week – Week 4 of Phase 1

5 ½ days of continuous training

Four hours sleep, total
Swimming
Running
Enduring cold, wet, and exhaustion
Rock Portage in Rubber Raiding Craft
Doing 10 times what you thought possible
TEAMWORK!
Phase 2 – Diving (8 weeks)

Step up intensity of the physical training

Focus on Combat Diving
Open-Circuit (compressed air) SCUBA
Closed-Circuit (100% oxygen) SCUBA
Long-distance underwater dives
Mission-focused combat swimming and diving techniques
Phase 3 – Land Warfare (9 weeks)

Increasingly strenuous physical training

Weapons training
Demolitions (military explosives)
Small unit tactics
Patrolling techniques
Rappelling and fast rope operations
Marksmanship
SQT-SEAL Qualification Training

Tired yet? Well the fun is just beginning. It takes about five years to train a SEAL up to a
high level of competence in all skill and mission areas. BUD/S is BASIC individual
training. Now the prospective SEAL must check into his SEAL Team, assume the "new
guy" role and start to learn how to operate as an elite commando unit. This mandatory
four-month course is the first step.

SEAL Qualification Training primarily focuses on the basics, but takes the individual's
skill levels to a higher plateau. Also, students start to learn how to operate as a team. The
course is a little over four months in length and starts with classroom training in mission
planning and intelligence gathering/reporting. Students then begin a series of "blocks" of
training covering the major skills required to conduct SEAL missions. These include
Hydrographic Reconnaissance, Communications, Field Medicine, Air Skills, Combat
Swimmer, Land Warfare, Maritime Operations (long range ocean navigation) and
Submarine Lock-in/Lock-out.

During Air week the class can expect to conduct day and night static line jumps, a water
jump accompanied by a "rubber duck" - a zodiac boat with motor and gear sent out of the
back of a C-130 under canopy, followed by six frogmen to chase it to the water. Fastrope
techniques, whereby a SEAL slides down a nylon rope for 80 feet using only gloved
hands to brake, and rappelling are taught. Finally, the "Special Insertion/Extraction"
(SPIE) rig is introduced - allowing six to eight SEALs to be removed from an area too
rugged or dense to land a helicopter.

During combat swimmer training the class will conduct over 25 day and night compass
dives, starting again from the basics and progressing to full mission profile combat
swimmer submerged ship attacks against Naval Vessels.

Land Warfare training is usually conducted at the Naval Special Warfare training facility
at Niland, Ca. for the West Coast Teams or at Camp A.P Hill for the East Coast teams.
This training lasts three weeks and is similar in content to the San Clemente Land
Warfare - except at a much more advanced level. Students enhance their skills in
patrolling, improvised booby traps, stalking, weaponry and military demolition. They
begin to practice the fine art of live fire immediate action drills, which have the team
firing and maneuvering in well-choreographed sequences. These drills become quite
interesting at night using pop up targets and pop flares and smoke grenades - all creating
confusion and chaos - which emulates the "fog" of battle pretty well.

Often the squads get split up and disoriented - especially during the famed "gauntlet" at
Niland where the squad patrols through a course with multiple and simultaneous "hits"
that they must analyze and react to, suppress fire and get out of the kill zone! WOW,
what a rush! Bullets fly all over the place, team members scream to communicate over
the noise, smoke grenades go off and pop flares light up the night sky then fizzle out. All
this is going on while SEALs endure sweat, fear, exhilaration and confusion, along with
the ever- present desire to perform the drill better each time because they know that their
life depends upon the level of competence of the team in a real firefight. The motto the
more you sweat in peacetime the less you bleed in war is constantly drilled into your
head. Train as you would fight - this is Navy SEAL Training at it's best folks!

Airborne

Picture yourself standing in the side door of a C-141 cargo aircraft traveling at 120 knots.
The windblast is deafening. Your stomach is churning, as you contemplate leaping out
the door into the sky 1500 feet above the ground. Many things could go wrong - you
could trip and hit your head on the door, your static line could break, or, heaven forbid,
your parachute could malfunction. Jump, two, three, four, five - check canpoy, look for
other jumpers, uh oh, got a tear the size of the grand canyon and you are coming down
fast. Through 1,000 feet, seconds tick away as the terror of the moment grips you.
Finally, the three weeks of airborne training kick in and you remember instinctively your
points of performance in this situation. Reserve deployment. Look, reach, grab and pull
the reserve handles. Watch as it cuts away your main chute and deploys your reserve -1B
parachute. 500 feet, not much room to spare as you drift to the ground preparing to do a
PLF (Parachute Landing Fall) or land on your fifth point of performance (your butt).
Grab your chute and report into the Army instructor - Congratulations! You have
completed your first Airborne jump at Basic Airborne training in Fort Benning, Ga. Four
more to go and you can pin on the lead wings and report in to your SEAL Team for SQT.

Airborne school is meant to teach SEALs how to jump out of a perfectly good airplane at
night with a full combat load. In the old days, the teams spent three days to teach this
same skill. But as safety concerns overrode the Team's old ways, the Army was assigned
basic jump training and they work hard to pack three days of training into three weeks!
So prepare to be repetitious - because, as they say, repetition is the mother of perfection.
At the end of three weeks of ground school, tower training, and jumping from or
bouncing in every type of contraption you could imagine, the students finally get to jump
out of a REAL Airplane. Most claim it to be a hairy experience - so you might expect a
few butterflies on your first jump. The standing joke is that your first jump will be a night
water jump - because your eyes will be closed and you will pee your pants! However,
most SEAL Airborne students learn to enjoy jumping and are eager to get to Free Fall
school when in the Teams. Accruing over 1,000 free fall jumps and 50 - 100 static line
jumps is not uncommon during a career in the Teams.

An Insert by Lieutenant Commander Mark Divine

One particularly memorable portion of my SQT training was land navigation in

Washington State. We parachuted into the pitch-black night and landed on a pitch black
Drop Zone lit only by four chemlights. Met by the organizer of this delightful event, First
Class Petty Officer Jefferey Kraus (who by the way is the only military man to hold the
distinction of having attended U.S. Army Ranger School, U.S. Army Special Forces
School, and U.S. Navy SEAL training! WOW what a glutton for punishment Jeff is - a
super great guy though and just a little devious too. )

Jeff handed us a coordinate of our destination - said to be there before 9 am the next
morning, told us there were dogs lined up to trail us in one hour, then sent us on our way
through the thick, pitch black forest. ALONE. Man was that spooky - no flashlights
because it would blow your night vision - knowing you were being tracked by dogs and
thinking that there were people out there looking for you - pretty close to what it was like
in the jungles of Vietnam (well not really-but there is only so much you can do to
simulate war in peacetime!).

That first night it was so dark that I read my Sylva Ranger Compass upside down and
moved stealthily for six miles in the exact OPPOSITE direction I was supposed to move!
When I finally figured this out I was in some farmer's back yard with his dog barking at
me and I remember thinking that I shouldn't have to climb over so many fences in this
exercise! Well I had to find my exact starting point if I had any hope of finding the target
by 9 am in the morning - a mere 7 hours away. So I ran with full rucksack - through the
farmers fields and over fences and by pure magic found my start point then started on my
way in the right direction.

At about 0400 in the morning I was totally lost in the forest - so much for my navigation
skills, a feeling of desperation was coming over me when I looked up at a tree about 100
feet in front of me and saw a white sign. My curiosity aroused, I wandered over to see my
exact grid coordinates posted on the sign! God bless the Army! In the middle of the
forest, lost with pretty much no hope of figuring out where the heck I was, the U.S. Army
had the foresight to place a sign on a tree telling me EXACTLY where I was. What
service!

Platoon Training
18D SOF Medic
SDV - SEAL Delivery Vehicle

Platoon Training

Platoon Training is where the rubber finally meets the road. Armed with a year of
individual skill training, hardened by thousands of hours of physical training, diving,
jumping, shooting and blowing things up, now the SEAL gets to put his fledgling talent
to work with seasoned veterans of Naval Special Warfare.

A SEAL Platoon consists of two officers, one chief and thirteen enlisted men.
Responsibilities are divided into positions in a patrol (such as Point Man, Patrol Leader,
Radio Man, 60 Gunner, Corpsman and Rear Security), department leadership (such as
Diving Department Head, Air Department Head and Ordnance/Demo Department Head)
and by rank. The senior officer is the Platoon Commander, the junior officer is his
assistant, the senior enlisted is the Platoon Chief and the next senior enlisted is the
Leading Petty Officer who is in charge of the day-to-day management of the enlisted
platoon members. SEAL Platoons have a training cycle, which includes either a 12 or 18
month training work-up, then a 6 month deployment overseas in an operational ‘combat
ready’ status at a Naval Special Warfare Unit or Detachment. These platoons are
incredibly highly trained and can accomplish most any task thrown at them. The training
that must be accomplished during the year-plus training cycle is based upon several
factors:

Advanced individual and platoon level skills necessary for the conduct of all Special
Operations Missions.
The methods of delivery, insertion/extraction most likely to be utilized while on
deployment.
The geographic area of responsibility of the SEAL Team.
Wherever there are troops on the ground in the world, you can be pretty sure that the
SEALs, along with their Green Beret counterparts, are either there now or were there
first!

For the first three months of the training cycle, it is usually back to the basics.
Hydrographic reconnaissance is covered once again combined with underwater
demolition of submerged obstacles. Next, air training lasts two weeks and builds upon
SQT skills, including several -Duck- drops out of different aircraft, both day and night
combat equipment parachute jumps, fast-roping, rappelling and SPIE rig, mission
planning in a classroom environment followed by intelligence gathering and reporting.

Next, is another Combat Swimmer course. It takes several years before a SEAL becomes
an ‘expert’ combat diver (expert is a relative term here, because compared to 99 percent
of all the divers in the world, a BUD/S student is an expert after Second Phase of
BUD/S!). Combat swimmer training in the platoon is a very arduous and intense training
block. The platoon will conduct over 30 dives during three weeks - including a Full
Mission Profile, where SEALs are inserted by aircraft or surface vessel for a 30 mile
‘over the horizon’ transit in the CRRC, followed by a demanding turtleback (kicking on
the surface toward the dive point in full dive gear), then a four hour, multi-leg dive into
the enemy harbor to emplace limpet mines on the hulls of the target ships, then extracting
after evading the anti swimmer measures put in place by the training cadre. Many SEALs
say that the Combat Swimmer course is exhausting.

The typical training day begins at seven a.m. , when you come into the team to set up
your dive rigs and prepare you gear. The officers then brief the dive, and SEALs plan
their dive profile for the day dive. The day dive takes place from about 10:00 a.m. until
about 2:00 p.m. , at which time you return to the team to post-dive the dive rig, then set it
up again for the night dive. You re-prepare all of your gear, plan the night's dive, then cut
out for a couple of hours rest and much needed food. You return to the team at 6:00 p.m. ,
for another dive brief, make final preparations and depart for the night dive at 7:30 p.m.
Insertion at 8:00 p.m. and dive until completion at about midnight. Then it is back to the
team to post-dive the rigs and cleanup your gear. Finally, you de-brief the dive and go
home for five hours of much needed sleep before doing it all over again the next day.
Needless to say, divers don't have the energy to PT much during Combat Swimmer;
however, some might say that swimming six to eight thousand yards underwater, often
against the current, qualifies as exercise!

Land Warfare training occurs again out at Niland or Camp A.P. Hill (sometimes at a
different location like Camp Roberts in CA. , if the teams want a change of scenery). This
starts with the basics, once again, in small unit tactics and builds to Full Mission Profiles
conducted in a simulated combat environment.

This training is as close to a 24-hour a day work schedule that you can get (besides being
on a submarine). Training begins immediately after breakfast at 6:00 a.m. , and it
continues until about 12:00 or 1:00 a.m. the following morning. There are breaks for
lunch and dinner – and, if it gets above 105 degrees during the day, the platoon will seek
shelter in the classroom for some academic classes.

The platoon will shoot thousands and thousands of rounds during this training and will
blow up more demolitions than you could imagine. Immediate Action Drills are again a
favorite of the SEALs and are the most intense portion of the training. Navy SEAL tactics
cannot be discussed in this publication, due to their sensitive nature and to protect the
troops; suffice it to say that SEAL IADs are unique and have been said to mislead an
enemy force into believing that they are up against a whole company (100 men) of Army
GIs. There are some great books on the market by Vietnam era SEAL vets. Darryl
Young's ‘The Element Of Surprise’ is excellent as is Dick Couch's SEAL Team ONE.
See the Navy SEAL Books section of this publication for a quick look at the other good
‘been there, done that’ SEAL books.

Land Warfare training ends with a week long Field Training Exercise where the platoon
is put in semi-isolation in a simulated combat environment. Each squad will conduct
several independent missions - usually a special reconnaissance, stand-off weapons direct
action raid, body snatch, point ambush or combat search and rescue (CSAR-downed pilot
rescue). The platoon combines to conduct a platoon-size direct action mission, which is
supported by helicopter assets, Desert Patrol Vehicle (only if a Desert Platoon), and
incorporates much of the training accomplished during the Land Warfare phase of
training. This mission is very comprehensive and, if the platoon is detected by the
training cadre, they are ‘contacted’ with enemy fire from which they must utilize the fire
and maneuver Immediate Action Drills learned during training and evade the pursuing
force.

Most SEALs say that this training is a great learning experience and superb conditioning
for combat. It provides the platoon with the foundation from which to conduct the
remaining year and one half (or so) of training. Some other training highlights are Jungle
Warfare Training in Central America. In Navy SEAL lore, these jungles are said to be a
living nightmare. The Army lost a man training there a couple of years ago - just flat out
disappeared. Man-eating crocodiles and poisonous sea snakes are just two of your
bedfellows as you patrol through the rivers and streams deep within the dense jungle
foliage. The platoon learns the value of a pump action shotgun to clear foliage when
contacted – especially if you can't see your target and he may be only a few feet from the
platoon.

Jungle hammocks are mandatory - ask anyone who has attempted to sleep on the jungle
floor - yikes! Patrolling one klick (one thousand yards) can take hours, as the point man
cuts his way through the bamboo and vines - humidity of 100 percent will probably send
a constant stream of sweat down your back. This training emulates, in many ways, the
environment of the Vietnam era that SEALs endured and thrived in. Operators from
SEAL Team FOUR have also found this very valuable in their efforts fighting alongside
the DEA and foreign nationals in the war against drugs.

SEAL Teams TWO and FIVE are responsible for regions of the world that are often
blanketed in snow – so their platoons conduct extreme cold weather training and winter
warfare training.

Usually conducted in Alaska, Montana, Upstate New York and Norway, the training
covers cross country skiing, snowshoeing, winter orienteering and mountain warfare
tactics, building snow caves and fire and maneuver tactics on skis and snow shoes.
Winter survival and escape and evasion are particularly arduous skills to master, and the
winter warfare platoons become quite adept at this unique form of warfare. The
remaining Teams that do not require a winter warfare background still attend cold
weather training and cold weather maritime operations in Alaska. This Naval Special
Warfare Detachment has a seasoned training cadre. The cadre's sole purpose is to train
each platoon in the requirements of conducting commando missions in a mountainous
environment, where the platoon needs to rope in and traverse steep cliffs and ravines in
cold weather.

Also, supported by a Special Boat Team detachment of two Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats
(RHIBS), the platoons conduct long range maritime operations (over 60 mile open ocean
transits in a Combat Rubber Raiding Craft, or CRRC) and the very high threat ‘over the
beach’ crossing in a cold weather environment, while utilizing dry suits to preserve
warmth. SEAL Team TWO platoons often conduct joint training exercises with their
Norwegian and German counterparts in the mountains of Europe. These men are quite
adept at winter warfare, but the U.S. Navy SEALs hold their own and excel when put to
the test - as usual.

Submarine Lock Out/Lock In (LO/LI) and Dry Deck Shelter Mass Swimmer Lock
Out/Lock In (DDS MSLO/LI) are another insertion skill practiced by the SEAL platoon
during training work-up. Imagine being on a fast attack submarine at hover 100 feet
below the surface of the ocean. You enter the escape trunk for a ‘Lock-Out’ cycle with a
35 HP motor and some other SEAL gear. It's cold, it's dark and the escape trunk hatch
closes while you ‘flood the trunk’ with water. With just your nose above the surface, you
then pressurize the trunk to depth until the outer door cracks open. You take a deep
breath and submerge to push the door all the way open to reveal the dark and vast ocean
depths. Returning to the trunk, you signal that you are ready to send the motor and gear to
the surface on the tethered line set up by the two SEALs who went out before you. The
gear goes up - then so do you - blow and go to the surface to prepare for a long, cold
CRRC transit to your unknown fate on the enemy shore. That is a small taste of what
working off a submarine is like - and SEALs do a ton of it. Sending a platoon of frogmen
out of a large Dry Deck Shelter at the same time is a more time effective and endurance
saving method than the escape trunk method - but both are taught because the DDS
equipped subs may not be available when required.

Soon the SDV teams will take delivery of the first Advanced SEAL Delivery System
(ASDS). The ASDS is the first dry submersible owned by the SEAL community. It has a
Submariner pilot and SEAL navigator, and it can carry a SEAL squad of eight men. The
submarine will have a relatively long range and high speed (these figures are classified)
and can hover above a mother submarine or the bottom and send the combat swimmers
out of the pressure chamber. The chamber is pressurized with a well similar to the
Seaquest DSV TV series so the SEALs just slide into the water and swim out the bottom.
This is hot stuff. You can bet that other services and government agencies (read CIA) are
salivating and can't wait for their first free bus ride.

Close Quarter Battle - this skill is a favorite and one in which Team guys take great pride
in. Taking down a house room by room, or an airplane or bus in a hostage rescue,
securing a vessel space by space after boarding from the sea or air - these all require an
incredible amount of training and experience. Explosive Methods of Entry is a
specialized skill taught in Close Quarter Battle training and other advanced courses. The
focus is on room entry techniques utilizing MP-5 submachine guns, side arms and the
CAR-15; mostly at night with MP-5 flashlight attachments, flash bangs (to stun any
occupants). Technically, the regular Teams do not advertise target recognition in a room
entry situation - everyone is expected to be a bad guy.

CQB is a valuable skill when performing the fine art of Visit, Board, Search and Seizure
(VBSS). An at-sea terrorist situation may call for the ship to be boarded, while underway,
and taken control of through force. This is a very dangerous proposition - as learned by
the SEAL Team FIVE platoon in the movie Under Siege. A typical VBSS mission
includes a platoon of SEALs, a follow on force like a Marine Maritime Special Purpose
Force (MSPF) to secure the ship after taking control, an insertion helo (either a H-53 or
H-46). The insert bird is escorted by two UH-1s or MH-60s for spotter and sniper
support. The Assault force is launched under cover of darkness from an amphibious
vessel or Aircraft Carrier. At the target vessel, the SEALs can beon the deck in less than
15 seconds to set security. The sniper helos take up position and relay information to the
assault team leader. The platoon begins movement through the vessel toward the bridge,
utilizing Close Quarter Battle skills. Once on the bridge, they will secure and stop the
vessel and call in the follow on force to secure the ship. By this time, the bad guys should
have been rounded up and hog-tied for interrogation. Just another easy day in the life of a
Navy SEAL! A related mission, called shipboarding, has the platoon board a vessel at
berth.

Mission Specific Training - Naval Special Warfare forces have five primary missions.
These include Unconventional Warfare (UW) - which is basically behind the lines
guerrilla warfare during times of conflict; Foreign Internal Defense (FID) - which
includes the training of foreign nationals and relationship building during peacetime;
Direct Action (DA) which involves any mission that a SEAL element may undergo
against an enemy target including the use or potential use of force - these missions can
consist of ambushes, stand off weapons attacks, hostage rescue, target assaults on
maritime and land based targets, amongst others; Counter Terrorist (CT) - which is just
what it sounds like and is the primary mission of DEVGRU; and finally Special
Reconnaissance (SR) - which entails hydrographic reconnaissance and SDV Beach
Feasibility studies, point and area recons, Indications and Warning missions and any
other overt, covert or clandestine mission where the primary purpose is to gather
information. Most SEAL platoon work-up time is spent training to hone skills, which are
utilized regardless of the mission category - such as shooting, demo and
insertion/extraction methods (diving, parachuting, SDV, patrolling, Desert Patrol
Vehicle, skiing etc).

However, there are more specialized skills that must be learned in order to effectively
conduct the broad range of missions that fall under the five categories mentioned above.
Therefore, SEALs attend most of the entire advanced individual training courses offered
by the Teams and other Special Operations communities. Some of these include: SERE
school, Diving Supervisor, Parachute Rigger, Army Ranger school, Naval Gunfire
Support, Sniper school, Breacher, Submarine trunk operator (OJT), Emergency Medical
Technician, H & K repair, Free fall School and Free fall Jumpmaster, Static Line
Jumpmaster, Target Analysis, Intelligence Photography, Stinger Weapon School,
Cooper/Shaw shooting school, Hand to Hand Combat Fighting Course (formerly
SCARS) 40 hour operator and 300 hour instructor courses, NSW Communications school
and Applied Explosive Techniques, and more.

18D SOF Medic

Navy SEAL Training - BUD/S and Beyond

Congratulations: You’ve passed the SEAL PST and have graduated Boot Camp. You
now proudly wear the uniform of the U.S. Navy and are on your way to BUD/S (Basic
Underwater Demolition/SEAL) training. The Navy core values of Honor, Courage and
Commitment are a minimum expectation of every SEAL and trainee. Now is the time to
adopt the SEAL ethos – the mindset to never ever quit, and do whatever it takes to pull
your teammates through.

The BUD/S Instructors will be putting you through the very same training that they have
gone through themselves. They will be testing and observing you to determine if they can
trust you with their lives and your classmates. ’ There is a good chance, given the small
size of the SEAL community, that you will serve in future combat operations with some
of your instructors. These veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq know firsthand that, “the
more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in war. ”

Do you have what it takes? Do you want it badly enough? To make it through BUD/S
and “Hell Week” you will need great physical fitness and endurance, mental discipline,
teamwork, character, mature judgment, and a fiery desire to be a SEAL. Young men of
all physical builds, ethnicities, educational backgrounds, sports specialties and various
ages have succeeded before you. With determination, you can too.

Phases of SEAL Training

BUD/S-Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training

SQT-SEAL Qualification Training
Advanced Training
Ten Steps to Be A SEAL Operator

1. Sign up for the SEAL Challenge and make SEAL passing scores on the ASVAB test.
2. Train hard and consistently, and pass the Physical Screening Test (PST) for SEALs.
3. Attend Navy Recruit Training Command (12 weeks) and pass the SEAL PST again.
4. Take SEAL Indoctrination and Pre-Training (3-5 weeks) in Coronado, CA. 5. Enter
BUD/S (6 months total)

Phase 1 (8 weeks)
Phase 2 (8 weeks)
Phase 3 (9 weeks)
6. Complete U.S. Army Jump School (Ft. Benning, GA) or Naval Special Warfare
Parachute Course (San Diego, CA)
7. SEAL Qualification Training (Coronado, CA)
8. Graduate w/your SEAL class and receive your Trident, the Navy's SEAL Insignia. 9.
Start assignment to one of eight SEAL Teams or two SDV Teams in Coronado, CA,
Virginia Beach, VA, or Pearl Harbor, HI.
10. Sharpen your war fighting skills in your SEAL Platoon or SDV Platoon. After a
six-month “work-up,” deploy overseas to conduct Maritime Special Operations as
directed by senior military commanders in specified geographic regions overseas.

BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) Training

BUD/S is a 6-month SEAL training course held at the Naval Special Warfare Training
Center in Coronado, CA. You’ll start with five weeks Indoctrination and Pre-Training as
part of a Navy SEAL Class, then go through the Three Phases of BUD/S. First Phase is
the toughest. It consists of 8 weeks of Basic Conditioning that peaks with a grueling
segment called “Hell Week” at the midway point, where you’ll be tested to your limits.

Hell Week is a test of physical endurance, mental tenacity and true teamwork where 2/3
or more of your class may call it quits or “ring the bell ”. Physical discomfort and pain
will cause many to decide it isn’t worth it. The miserable wet-cold approaching
hypothermia will make others quit. Sheer fatigue and sleep deprivation will cause every
candidate to question his core values, motivations, limits, and everything he’s made of
and stands for. Those who grit it out to the finish will hear their Instructors yell the
longed-for words, “Hell Week is secured!”

There will be an exceptional few with burning desire who persevere when their bodies
are screaming to quit, yet continue on. These men experience a tremendous sense of
pride, achievement, brotherhood and a new self-awareness that, “I can do anything!!”
The most outstanding among them -- that man whose sheer force of example inspires his
classmates to keep going when they’re ready to quit – is the “Honor Man” of the Class.

These determined men will proceed on to Second Phase (8 weeks of Diving) and Third
Phase (9 weeks of Land Warfare). Most men who have succeeded in Hell Week make it
through these phases. If not, it’s usually due to academic issues (e.g. , dive physics) in the
Dive Phase, or weapons and demolitions safety/competency issues in the Land Warfare
(weapons and tactics) Phase. After BUDS is completed, trainees go through 3 weeks of
Basic Parachute Training.
At this point, training shifts from testing how the men react in a high-stress “gut check”
environment, to making sure the trainees are competent in their core tasks. The men go
through a final 8 weeks of focused SEAL Qualification Training in mission planning,
operations, and tactic, techniques and procedures. Upon completion, they are authorized
to wear the coveted Navy SEAL Trident insignia on their uniform.

SEAL training ends with the formal BUD/S Class Graduation. Here the proud few in
their dress Navy uniforms are recognized for their achievement in the presence of family
and senior SEAL leaders. The Commanding Officers and senior enlisted advisors of the
Naval Special Warfare Groups and SEAL Teams attend. The BUD/s graduates, as their
newest Teammates, will be reminded of the special group they have entered, to be worthy
of the sacrifices of the courageous Frogmen who came before them, and the great honor it
is to serve as a U.S. Navy SEAL.

BUD/S PHASES

Phase 1 – Physical Conditioning (8 weeks)

Running in the sand

Swimming – up to 2 miles w/fins in the ocean
Calisthenics
Timed Obstacle Course
Four-mile timed runs in boots
Small boat seamanship
Hydrographic surveys and creating charts
Hell Week – Week 4 of Phase 1

5 ½ days of continuous training

Four hours sleep, total
Swimming
Running
Enduring cold, wet, and exhaustion
Rock Portage in Rubber Raiding Craft
Doing 10 times what you thought possible
TEAMWORK!
Phase 2 – Diving (8 weeks)

Step up intensity of the physical training

Focus on Combat Diving
Open-Circuit (compressed air) SCUBA
Closed-Circuit (100% oxygen) SCUBA
Long-distance underwater dives
Mission-focused combat swimming and diving techniques
Phase 3 – Land Warfare (9 weeks)
Increasingly strenuous physical training
Weapons training
Demolitions (military explosives)
Small unit tactics
Patrolling techniques
Rappelling and fast rope operations
Marksmanship
SQT-SEAL Qualification Training

Tired yet? Well the fun is just beginning. It takes about five years to train a SEAL up to a
high level of competence in all skill and mission areas. BUD/S is BASIC individual
training. Now the prospective SEAL must check into his SEAL Team, assume the "new
guy" role and start to learn how to operate as an elite commando unit. This mandatory
four-month course is the first step.

SEAL Qualification Training primarily focuses on the basics, but takes the individual's
skill levels to a higher plateau. Also, students start to learn how to operate as a team. The
course is a little over four months in length and starts with classroom training in mission
planning and intelligence gathering/reporting. Students then begin a series of "blocks" of
training covering the major skills required to conduct SEAL missions. These include
Hydrographic Reconnaissance, Communications, Field Medicine, Air Skills, Combat
Swimmer, Land Warfare, Maritime Operations (long range ocean navigation) and
Submarine Lock-in/Lock-out.

During Air week the class can expect to conduct day and night static line jumps, a water
jump accompanied by a "rubber duck" - a zodiac boat with motor and gear sent out of the
back of a C-130 under canopy, followed by six frogmen to chase it to the water. Fastrope
techniques, whereby a SEAL slides down a nylon rope for 80 feet using only gloved
hands to brake, and rappelling are taught. Finally, the "Special Insertion/Extraction"
(SPIE) rig is introduced - allowing six to eight SEALs to be removed from an area too
rugged or dense to land a helicopter.

During combat swimmer training the class will conduct over 25 day and night compass
dives, starting again from the basics and progressing to full mission profile combat
swimmer submerged ship attacks against Naval Vessels.

Land Warfare training is usually conducted at the Naval Special Warfare training facility
at Niland, Ca. for the West Coast Teams or at Camp A.P Hill for the East Coast teams.
This training lasts three weeks and is similar in content to the San Clemente Land
Warfare - except at a much more advanced level. Students enhance their skills in
patrolling, improvised booby traps, stalking, weaponry and military demolition. They
begin to practice the fine art of live fire immediate action drills, which have the team
firing and maneuvering in well-choreographed sequences. These drills become quite
interesting at night using pop up targets and pop flares and smoke grenades - all creating
confusion and chaos - which emulates the "fog" of battle pretty well.
Often the squads get split up and disoriented - especially during the famed "gauntlet" at
Niland where the squad patrols through a course with multiple and simultaneous "hits"
that they must analyze and react to, suppress fire and get out of the kill zone! WOW,
what a rush! Bullets fly all over the place, team members scream to communicate over
the noise, smoke grenades go off and pop flares light up the night sky then fizzle out. All
this is going on while SEALs endure sweat, fear, exhilaration and confusion, along with
the ever- present desire to perform the drill better each time because they know that their
life depends upon the level of competence of the team in a real firefight. The motto the
more you sweat in peacetime the less you bleed in war is constantly drilled into your
head. Train as you would fight - this is Navy SEAL Training at it's best folks!

Airborne

Picture yourself standing in the side door of a C-141 cargo aircraft traveling at 120 knots.
The windblast is deafening. Your stomach is churning, as you contemplate leaping out
the door into the sky 1500 feet above the ground. Many things could go wrong - you
could trip and hit your head on the door, your static line could break, or, heaven forbid,
your parachute could malfunction. Jump, two, three, four, five - check canpoy, look for
other jumpers, uh oh, got a tear the size of the grand canyon and you are coming down
fast. Through 1,000 feet, seconds tick away as the terror of the moment grips you.
Finally, the three weeks of airborne training kick in and you remember instinctively your
points of performance in this situation. Reserve deployment. Look, reach, grab and pull
the reserve handles. Watch as it cuts away your main chute and deploys your reserve -1B
parachute. 500 feet, not much room to spare as you drift to the ground preparing to do a
PLF (Parachute Landing Fall) or land on your fifth point of performance (your butt).
Grab your chute and report into the Army instructor - Congratulations! You have
completed your first Airborne jump at Basic Airborne training in Fort Benning, Ga. Four
more to go and you can pin on the lead wings and report in to your SEAL Team for SQT.

Airborne school is meant to teach SEALs how to jump out of a perfectly good airplane at
night with a full combat load. In the old days, the teams spent three days to teach this
same skill. But as safety concerns overrode the Team's old ways, the Army was assigned
basic jump training and they work hard to pack three days of training into three weeks!
So prepare to be repetitious - because, as they say, repetition is the mother of perfection.
At the end of three weeks of ground school, tower training, and jumping from or
bouncing in every type of contraption you could imagine, the students finally get to jump
out of a REAL Airplane. Most claim it to be a hairy experience - so you might expect a
few butterflies on your first jump. The standing joke is that your first jump will be a night
water jump - because your eyes will be closed and you will pee your pants! However,
most SEAL Airborne students learn to enjoy jumping and are eager to get to Free Fall
school when in the Teams. Accruing over 1,000 free fall jumps and 50 - 100 static line
jumps is not uncommon during a career in the Teams.

An Insert by Lieutenant Commander Mark Divine

One particularly memorable portion of my SQT training was land navigation in

Washington State. We parachuted into the pitch-black night and landed on a pitch black
Drop Zone lit only by four chemlights. Met by the organizer of this delightful event, First
Class Petty Officer Jefferey Kraus (who by the way is the only military man to hold the
distinction of having attended U.S. Army Ranger School, U.S. Army Special Forces
School, and U.S. Navy SEAL training! WOW what a glutton for punishment Jeff is - a
super great guy though and just a little devious too. )

Jeff handed us a coordinate of our destination - said to be there before 9 am the next
morning, told us there were dogs lined up to trail us in one hour, then sent us on our way
through the thick, pitch black forest. ALONE. Man was that spooky - no flashlights
because it would blow your night vision - knowing you were being tracked by dogs and
thinking that there were people out there looking for you - pretty close to what it was like
in the jungles of Vietnam (well not really-but there is only so much you can do to
simulate war in peacetime!).

That first night it was so dark that I read my Sylva Ranger Compass upside down and
moved stealthily for six miles in the exact OPPOSITE direction I was supposed to move!
When I finally figured this out I was in some farmer's back yard with his dog barking at
me and I remember thinking that I shouldn't have to climb over so many fences in this
exercise! Well I had to find my exact starting point if I had any hope of finding the target
by 9 am in the morning - a mere 7 hours away. So I ran with full rucksack - through the
farmers fields and over fences and by pure magic found my start point then started on my
way in the right direction.

At about 0400 in the morning I was totally lost in the forest - so much for my navigation
skills, a feeling of desperation was coming over me when I looked up at a tree about 100
feet in front of me and saw a white sign. My curiosity aroused, I wandered over to see my
exact grid coordinates posted on the sign! God bless the Army! In the middle of the
forest, lost with pretty much no hope of figuring out where the heck I was, the U.S. Army
had the foresight to place a sign on a tree telling me EXACTLY where I was. What
service!

Platoon Training
18D SOF Medic
SDV - SEAL Delivery Vehicle

Platoon Training

Platoon Training is where the rubber finally meets the road. Armed with a year of
individual skill training, hardened by thousands of hours of physical training, diving,
jumping, shooting and blowing things up, now the SEAL gets to put his fledgling talent
to work with seasoned veterans of Naval Special Warfare.

A SEAL Platoon consists of two officers, one chief and thirteen enlisted men.
Responsibilities are divided into positions in a patrol (such as Point Man, Patrol Leader,
Radio Man, 60 Gunner, Corpsman and Rear Security), department leadership (such as
Diving Department Head, Air Department Head and Ordnance/Demo Department Head)
and by rank. The senior officer is the Platoon Commander, the junior officer is his
assistant, the senior enlisted is the Platoon Chief and the next senior enlisted is the
Leading Petty Officer who is in charge of the day-to-day management of the enlisted
platoon members. SEAL Platoons have a training cycle, which includes either a 12 or 18
month training work-up, then a 6 month deployment overseas in an operational ‘combat
ready’ status at a Naval Special Warfare Unit or Detachment. These platoons are
incredibly highly trained and can accomplish most any task thrown at them. The training
that must be accomplished during the year-plus training cycle is based upon several
factors:

Advanced individual and platoon level skills necessary for the conduct of all Special
Operations Missions.
The methods of delivery, insertion/extraction most likely to be utilized while on
deployment.
The geographic area of responsibility of the SEAL Team.
Wherever there are troops on the ground in the world, you can be pretty sure that the
SEALs, along with their Green Beret counterparts, are either there now or were there
first!

For the first three months of the training cycle, it is usually back to the basics.
Hydrographic reconnaissance is covered once again combined with underwater
demolition of submerged obstacles. Next, air training lasts two weeks and builds upon
SQT skills, including several -Duck- drops out of different aircraft, both day and night
combat equipment parachute jumps, fast-roping, rappelling and SPIE rig, mission
planning in a classroom environment followed by intelligence gathering and reporting.

Next, is another Combat Swimmer course. It takes several years before a SEAL becomes
an ‘expert’ combat diver (expert is a relative term here, because compared to 99 percent
of all the divers in the world, a BUD/S student is an expert after Second Phase of
BUD/S!). Combat swimmer training in the platoon is a very arduous and intense training
block. The platoon will conduct over 30 dives during three weeks - including a Full
Mission Profile, where SEALs are inserted by aircraft or surface vessel for a 30 mile
‘over the horizon’ transit in the CRRC, followed by a demanding turtleback (kicking on
the surface toward the dive point in full dive gear), then a four hour, multi-leg dive into
the enemy harbor to emplace limpet mines on the hulls of the target ships, then extracting
after evading the anti swimmer measures put in place by the training cadre. Many SEALs
say that the Combat Swimmer course is exhausting.

The typical training day begins at seven a.m. , when you come into the team to set up
your dive rigs and prepare you gear. The officers then brief the dive, and SEALs plan
their dive profile for the day dive. The day dive takes place from about 10:00 a.m. until
about 2:00 p.m. , at which time you return to the team to post-dive the dive rig, then set it
up again for the night dive. You re-prepare all of your gear, plan the night's dive, then cut
out for a couple of hours rest and much needed food. You return to the team at 6:00 p.m. ,
for another dive brief, make final preparations and depart for the night dive at 7:30 p.m.
Insertion at 8:00 p.m. and dive until completion at about midnight. Then it is back to the
team to post-dive the rigs and cleanup your gear. Finally, you de-brief the dive and go
home for five hours of much needed sleep before doing it all over again the next day.
Needless to say, divers don't have the energy to PT much during Combat Swimmer;
however, some might say that swimming six to eight thousand yards underwater, often
against the current, qualifies as exercise!

Land Warfare training occurs again out at Niland or Camp A.P. Hill (sometimes at a
different location like Camp Roberts in CA. , if the teams want a change of scenery). This
starts with the basics, once again, in small unit tactics and builds to Full Mission Profiles
conducted in a simulated combat environment.

This training is as close to a 24-hour a day work schedule that you can get (besides being
on a submarine). Training begins immediately after breakfast at 6:00 a.m. , and it
continues until about 12:00 or 1:00 a.m. the following morning. There are breaks for
lunch and dinner – and, if it gets above 105 degrees during the day, the platoon will seek
shelter in the classroom for some academic classes.

The platoon will shoot thousands and thousands of rounds during this training and will
blow up more demolitions than you could imagine. Immediate Action Drills are again a
favorite of the SEALs and are the most intense portion of the training. Navy SEAL tactics
cannot be discussed in this publication, due to their sensitive nature and to protect the
troops; suffice it to say that SEAL IADs are unique and have been said to mislead an
enemy force into believing that they are up against a whole company (100 men) of Army
GIs. There are some great books on the market by Vietnam era SEAL vets. Darryl
Young's ‘The Element Of Surprise’ is excellent as is Dick Couch's SEAL Team ONE.
See the Navy SEAL Books section of this publication for a quick look at the other good
‘been there, done that’ SEAL books.

Land Warfare training ends with a week long Field Training Exercise where the platoon
is put in semi-isolation in a simulated combat environment. Each squad will conduct
several independent missions - usually a special reconnaissance, stand-off weapons direct
action raid, body snatch, point ambush or combat search and rescue (CSAR-downed pilot
rescue). The platoon combines to conduct a platoon-size direct action mission, which is
supported by helicopter assets, Desert Patrol Vehicle (only if a Desert Platoon), and
incorporates much of the training accomplished during the Land Warfare phase of
training. This mission is very comprehensive and, if the platoon is detected by the
training cadre, they are ‘contacted’ with enemy fire from which they must utilize the fire
and maneuver Immediate Action Drills learned during training and evade the pursuing
force.

Most SEALs say that this training is a great learning experience and superb conditioning
for combat. It provides the platoon with the foundation from which to conduct the
remaining year and one half (or so) of training. Some other training highlights are Jungle
Warfare Training in Central America. In Navy SEAL lore, these jungles are said to be a
living nightmare. The Army lost a man training there a couple of years ago - just flat out
disappeared. Man-eating crocodiles and poisonous sea snakes are just two of your
bedfellows as you patrol through the rivers and streams deep within the dense jungle
foliage. The platoon learns the value of a pump action shotgun to clear foliage when
contacted – especially if you can't see your target and he may be only a few feet from the
platoon.

Jungle hammocks are mandatory - ask anyone who has attempted to sleep on the jungle
floor - yikes! Patrolling one klick (one thousand yards) can take hours, as the point man
cuts his way through the bamboo and vines - humidity of 100 percent will probably send
a constant stream of sweat down your back. This training emulates, in many ways, the
environment of the Vietnam era that SEALs endured and thrived in. Operators from
SEAL Team FOUR have also found this very valuable in their efforts fighting alongside
the DEA and foreign nationals in the war against drugs.

SEAL Teams TWO and FIVE are responsible for regions of the world that are often
blanketed in snow – so their platoons conduct extreme cold weather training and winter
warfare training.

Usually conducted in Alaska, Montana, Upstate New York and Norway, the training
covers cross country skiing, snowshoeing, winter orienteering and mountain warfare
tactics, building snow caves and fire and maneuver tactics on skis and snow shoes.
Winter survival and escape and evasion are particularly arduous skills to master, and the
winter warfare platoons become quite adept at this unique form of warfare. The
remaining Teams that do not require a winter warfare background still attend cold
weather training and cold weather maritime operations in Alaska. This Naval Special
Warfare Detachment has a seasoned training cadre. The cadre's sole purpose is to train
each platoon in the requirements of conducting commando missions in a mountainous
environment, where the platoon needs to rope in and traverse steep cliffs and ravines in
cold weather.

Also, supported by a Special Boat Team detachment of two Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats
(RHIBS), the platoons conduct long range maritime operations (over 60 mile open ocean
transits in a Combat Rubber Raiding Craft, or CRRC) and the very high threat ‘over the
beach’ crossing in a cold weather environment, while utilizing dry suits to preserve
warmth. SEAL Team TWO platoons often conduct joint training exercises with their
Norwegian and German counterparts in the mountains of Europe. These men are quite
adept at winter warfare, but the U.S. Navy SEALs hold their own and excel when put to
the test - as usual.

Submarine Lock Out/Lock In (LO/LI) and Dry Deck Shelter Mass Swimmer Lock
Out/Lock In (DDS MSLO/LI) are another insertion skill practiced by the SEAL platoon
during training work-up. Imagine being on a fast attack submarine at hover 100 feet
below the surface of the ocean. You enter the escape trunk for a ‘Lock-Out’ cycle with a
35 HP motor and some other SEAL gear. It's cold, it's dark and the escape trunk hatch
closes while you ‘flood the trunk’ with water. With just your nose above the surface, you
then pressurize the trunk to depth until the outer door cracks open. You take a deep
breath and submerge to push the door all the way open to reveal the dark and vast ocean
depths. Returning to the trunk, you signal that you are ready to send the motor and gear to
the surface on the tethered line set up by the two SEALs who went out before you. The
gear goes up - then so do you - blow and go to the surface to prepare for a long, cold
CRRC transit to your unknown fate on the enemy shore. That is a small taste of what
working off a submarine is like - and SEALs do a ton of it. Sending a platoon of frogmen
out of a large Dry Deck Shelter at the same time is a more time effective and endurance
saving method than the escape trunk method - but both are taught because the DDS
equipped subs may not be available when required.

Soon the SDV teams will take delivery of the first Advanced SEAL Delivery System
(ASDS). The ASDS is the first dry submersible owned by the SEAL community. It has a
Submariner pilot and SEAL navigator, and it can carry a SEAL squad of eight men. The
submarine will have a relatively long range and high speed (these figures are classified)
and can hover above a mother submarine or the bottom and send the combat swimmers
out of the pressure chamber. The chamber is pressurized with a well similar to the
Seaquest DSV TV series so the SEALs just slide into the water and swim out the bottom.
This is hot stuff. You can bet that other services and government agencies (read CIA) are
salivating and can't wait for their first free bus ride.

Close Quarter Battle - this skill is a favorite and one in which Team guys take great pride
in. Taking down a house room by room, or an airplane or bus in a hostage rescue,
securing a vessel space by space after boarding from the sea or air - these all require an
incredible amount of training and experience. Explosive Methods of Entry is a
specialized skill taught in Close Quarter Battle training and other advanced courses. The
focus is on room entry techniques utilizing MP-5 submachine guns, side arms and the
CAR-15; mostly at night with MP-5 flashlight attachments, flash bangs (to stun any
occupants). Technically, the regular Teams do not advertise target recognition in a room
entry situation - everyone is expected to be a bad guy.

CQB is a valuable skill when performing the fine art of Visit, Board, Search and Seizure
(VBSS). An at-sea terrorist situation may call for the ship to be boarded, while underway,
and taken control of through force. This is a very dangerous proposition - as learned by
the SEAL Team FIVE platoon in the movie Under Siege. A typical VBSS mission
includes a platoon of SEALs, a follow on force like a Marine Maritime Special Purpose
Force (MSPF) to secure the ship after taking control, an insertion helo (either a H-53 or
H-46). The insert bird is escorted by two UH-1s or MH-60s for spotter and sniper
support. The Assault force is launched under cover of darkness from an amphibious
vessel or Aircraft Carrier. At the target vessel, the SEALs can beon the deck in less than
15 seconds to set security. The sniper helos take up position and relay information to the
assault team leader. The platoon begins movement through the vessel toward the bridge,
utilizing Close Quarter Battle skills. Once on the bridge, they will secure and stop the
vessel and call in the follow on force to secure the ship. By this time, the bad guys should
have been rounded up and hog-tied for interrogation. Just another easy day in the life of a
Navy SEAL! A related mission, called shipboarding, has the platoon board a vessel at
berth.
Mission Specific Training - Naval Special Warfare forces have five primary missions.
These include Unconventional Warfare (UW) - which is basically behind the lines
guerrilla warfare during times of conflict; Foreign Internal Defense (FID) - which
includes the training of foreign nationals and relationship building during peacetime;
Direct Action (DA) which involves any mission that a SEAL element may undergo
against an enemy target including the use or potential use of force - these missions can
consist of ambushes, stand off weapons attacks, hostage rescue, target assaults on
maritime and land based targets, amongst others; Counter Terrorist (CT) - which is just
what it sounds like and is the primary mission of DEVGRU; and finally Special
Reconnaissance (SR) - which entails hydrographic reconnaissance and SDV Beach
Feasibility studies, point and area recons, Indications and Warning missions and any
other overt, covert or clandestine mission where the primary purpose is to gather
information. Most SEAL platoon work-up time is spent training to hone skills, which are
utilized regardless of the mission category - such as shooting, demo and
insertion/extraction methods (diving, parachuting, SDV, patrolling, Desert Patrol
Vehicle, skiing etc).

However, there are more specialized skills that must be learned in order to effectively
conduct the broad range of missions that fall under the five categories mentioned above.
Therefore, SEALs attend most of the entire advanced individual training courses offered
by the Teams and other Special Operations communities. Some of these include: SERE
school, Diving Supervisor, Parachute Rigger, Army Ranger school, Naval Gunfire
Support, Sniper school, Breacher, Submarine trunk operator (OJT), Emergency Medical
Technician, H & K repair, Free fall School and Free fall Jumpmaster, Static Line
Jumpmaster, Target Analysis, Intelligence Photography, Stinger Weapon School,
Cooper/Shaw shooting school, Hand to Hand Combat Fighting Course (formerly
SCARS) 40 hour operator and 300 hour instructor courses, NSW Communications school
and Applied Explosive Techniques, and more.

18D SOF Medic

Navy SEAL Training - BUD/S and Beyond

Congratulations: You’ve passed the SEAL PST and have graduated Boot Camp. You
now proudly wear the uniform of the U.S. Navy and are on your way to BUD/S (Basic
Underwater Demolition/SEAL) training. The Navy core values of Honor, Courage and
Commitment are a minimum expectation of every SEAL and trainee. Now is the time to
adopt the SEAL ethos – the mindset to never ever quit, and do whatever it takes to pull
your teammates through.

The BUD/S Instructors will be putting you through the very same training that they have
gone through themselves. They will be testing and observing you to determine if they can
trust you with their lives and your classmates. ’ There is a good chance, given the small
size of the SEAL community, that you will serve in future combat operations with some
of your instructors. These veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq know firsthand that, “the
more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in war. ”

Do you have what it takes? Do you want it badly enough? To make it through BUD/S
and “Hell Week” you will need great physical fitness and endurance, mental discipline,
teamwork, character, mature judgment, and a fiery desire to be a SEAL. Young men of
all physical builds, ethnicities, educational backgrounds, sports specialties and various
ages have succeeded before you. With determination, you can too.

Phases of SEAL Training

BUD/S-Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training

SQT-SEAL Qualification Training
Advanced Training
Ten Steps to Be A SEAL Operator

1. Sign up for the SEAL Challenge and make SEAL passing scores on the ASVAB test.
2. Train hard and consistently, and pass the Physical Screening Test (PST) for SEALs.
3. Attend Navy Recruit Training Command (12 weeks) and pass the SEAL PST again.
4. Take SEAL Indoctrination and Pre-Training (3-5 weeks) in Coronado, CA. 5. Enter
BUD/S (6 months total)

Phase 1 (8 weeks)
Phase 2 (8 weeks)
Phase 3 (9 weeks)
6. Complete U.S. Army Jump School (Ft. Benning, GA) or Naval Special Warfare
Parachute Course (San Diego, CA)
7. SEAL Qualification Training (Coronado, CA)
8. Graduate w/your SEAL class and receive your Trident, the Navy's SEAL Insignia. 9.
Start assignment to one of eight SEAL Teams or two SDV Teams in Coronado, CA,
Virginia Beach, VA, or Pearl Harbor, HI.
10. Sharpen your war fighting skills in your SEAL Platoon or SDV Platoon. After a
six-month “work-up,” deploy overseas to conduct Maritime Special Operations as
directed by senior military commanders in specified geographic regions overseas.

BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) Training

BUD/S is a 6-month SEAL training course held at the Naval Special Warfare Training
Center in Coronado, CA. You’ll start with five weeks Indoctrination and Pre-Training as
part of a Navy SEAL Class, then go through the Three Phases of BUD/S. First Phase is
the toughest. It consists of 8 weeks of Basic Conditioning that peaks with a grueling
segment called “Hell Week” at the midway point, where you’ll be tested to your limits.

Hell Week is a test of physical endurance, mental tenacity and true teamwork where 2/3
or more of your class may call it quits or “ring the bell ”. Physical discomfort and pain
will cause many to decide it isn’t worth it. The miserable wet-cold approaching
hypothermia will make others quit. Sheer fatigue and sleep deprivation will cause every
candidate to question his core values, motivations, limits, and everything he’s made of
and stands for. Those who grit it out to the finish will hear their Instructors yell the
longed-for words, “Hell Week is secured!”

There will be an exceptional few with burning desire who persevere when their bodies
are screaming to quit, yet continue on. These men experience a tremendous sense of
pride, achievement, brotherhood and a new self-awareness that, “I can do anything!!”
The most outstanding among them -- that man whose sheer force of example inspires his
classmates to keep going when they’re ready to quit – is the “Honor Man” of the Class.

These determined men will proceed on to Second Phase (8 weeks of Diving) and Third
Phase (9 weeks of Land Warfare). Most men who have succeeded in Hell Week make it
through these phases. If not, it’s usually due to academic issues (e.g. , dive physics) in the
Dive Phase, or weapons and demolitions safety/competency issues in the Land Warfare
(weapons and tactics) Phase. After BUDS is completed, trainees go through 3 weeks of
Basic Parachute Training.

At this point, training shifts from testing how the men react in a high-stress “gut check”
environment, to making sure the trainees are competent in their core tasks. The men go
through a final 8 weeks of focused SEAL Qualification Training in mission planning,
operations, and tactic, techniques and procedures. Upon completion, they are authorized
to wear the coveted Navy SEAL Trident insignia on their uniform.

SEAL training ends with the formal BUD/S Class Graduation. Here the proud few in
their dress Navy uniforms are recognized for their achievement in the presence of family
and senior SEAL leaders. The Commanding Officers and senior enlisted advisors of the
Naval Special Warfare Groups and SEAL Teams attend. The BUD/s graduates, as their
newest Teammates, will be reminded of the special group they have entered, to be worthy
of the sacrifices of the courageous Frogmen who came before them, and the great honor it
is to serve as a U.S. Navy SEAL.

BUD/S PHASES

Phase 1 – Physical Conditioning (8 weeks)

Running in the sand

Swimming – up to 2 miles w/fins in the ocean
Calisthenics
Timed Obstacle Course
Four-mile timed runs in boots
Small boat seamanship
Hydrographic surveys and creating charts
Hell Week – Week 4 of Phase 1

5 ½ days of continuous training

Four hours sleep, total
Swimming
Running
Enduring cold, wet, and exhaustion
Rock Portage in Rubber Raiding Craft
Doing 10 times what you thought possible
TEAMWORK!
Phase 2 – Diving (8 weeks)

Step up intensity of the physical training

Focus on Combat Diving
Open-Circuit (compressed air) SCUBA
Closed-Circuit (100% oxygen) SCUBA
Long-distance underwater dives
Mission-focused combat swimming and diving techniques
Phase 3 – Land Warfare (9 weeks)

Increasingly strenuous physical training

Weapons training
Demolitions (military explosives)
Small unit tactics
Patrolling techniques
Rappelling and fast rope operations
Marksmanship
SQT-SEAL Qualification Training

Tired yet? Well the fun is just beginning. It takes about five years to train a SEAL up to a
high level of competence in all skill and mission areas. BUD/S is BASIC individual
training. Now the prospective SEAL must check into his SEAL Team, assume the "new
guy" role and start to learn how to operate as an elite commando unit. This mandatory
four-month course is the first step.

SEAL Qualification Training primarily focuses on the basics, but takes the individual's
skill levels to a higher plateau. Also, students start to learn how to operate as a team. The
course is a little over four months in length and starts with classroom training in mission
planning and intelligence gathering/reporting. Students then begin a series of "blocks" of
training covering the major skills required to conduct SEAL missions. These include
Hydrographic Reconnaissance, Communications, Field Medicine, Air Skills, Combat
Swimmer, Land Warfare, Maritime Operations (long range ocean navigation) and
Submarine Lock-in/Lock-out.

During Air week the class can expect to conduct day and night static line jumps, a water
jump accompanied by a "rubber duck" - a zodiac boat with motor and gear sent out of the
back of a C-130 under canopy, followed by six frogmen to chase it to the water. Fastrope
techniques, whereby a SEAL slides down a nylon rope for 80 feet using only gloved
hands to brake, and rappelling are taught. Finally, the "Special Insertion/Extraction"
(SPIE) rig is introduced - allowing six to eight SEALs to be removed from an area too
rugged or dense to land a helicopter.

During combat swimmer training the class will conduct over 25 day and night compass
dives, starting again from the basics and progressing to full mission profile combat
swimmer submerged ship attacks against Naval Vessels.

Land Warfare training is usually conducted at the Naval Special Warfare training facility
at Niland, Ca. for the West Coast Teams or at Camp A.P Hill for the East Coast teams.
This training lasts three weeks and is similar in content to the San Clemente Land
Warfare - except at a much more advanced level. Students enhance their skills in
patrolling, improvised booby traps, stalking, weaponry and military demolition. They
begin to practice the fine art of live fire immediate action drills, which have the team
firing and maneuvering in well-choreographed sequences. These drills become quite
interesting at night using pop up targets and pop flares and smoke grenades - all creating
confusion and chaos - which emulates the "fog" of battle pretty well.

Often the squads get split up and disoriented - especially during the famed "gauntlet" at
Niland where the squad patrols through a course with multiple and simultaneous "hits"
that they must analyze and react to, suppress fire and get out of the kill zone! WOW,
what a rush! Bullets fly all over the place, team members scream to communicate over
the noise, smoke grenades go off and pop flares light up the night sky then fizzle out. All
this is going on while SEALs endure sweat, fear, exhilaration and confusion, along with
the ever- present desire to perform the drill better each time because they know that their
life depends upon the level of competence of the team in a real firefight. The motto the
more you sweat in peacetime the less you bleed in war is constantly drilled into your
head. Train as you would fight - this is Navy SEAL Training at it's best folks!

Airborne

Picture yourself standing in the side door of a C-141 cargo aircraft traveling at 120 knots.
The windblast is deafening. Your stomach is churning, as you contemplate leaping out
the door into the sky 1500 feet above the ground. Many things could go wrong - you
could trip and hit your head on the door, your static line could break, or, heaven forbid,
your parachute could malfunction. Jump, two, three, four, five - check canpoy, look for
other jumpers, uh oh, got a tear the size of the grand canyon and you are coming down
fast. Through 1,000 feet, seconds tick away as the terror of the moment grips you.
Finally, the three weeks of airborne training kick in and you remember instinctively your
points of performance in this situation. Reserve deployment. Look, reach, grab and pull
the reserve handles. Watch as it cuts away your main chute and deploys your reserve -1B
parachute. 500 feet, not much room to spare as you drift to the ground preparing to do a
PLF (Parachute Landing Fall) or land on your fifth point of performance (your butt).
Grab your chute and report into the Army instructor - Congratulations! You have
completed your first Airborne jump at Basic Airborne training in Fort Benning, Ga. Four
more to go and you can pin on the lead wings and report in to your SEAL Team for SQT.

Airborne school is meant to teach SEALs how to jump out of a perfectly good airplane at
night with a full combat load. In the old days, the teams spent three days to teach this
same skill. But as safety concerns overrode the Team's old ways, the Army was assigned
basic jump training and they work hard to pack three days of training into three weeks!
So prepare to be repetitious - because, as they say, repetition is the mother of perfection.
At the end of three weeks of ground school, tower training, and jumping from or
bouncing in every type of contraption you could imagine, the students finally get to jump
out of a REAL Airplane. Most claim it to be a hairy experience - so you might expect a
few butterflies on your first jump. The standing joke is that your first jump will be a night
water jump - because your eyes will be closed and you will pee your pants! However,
most SEAL Airborne students learn to enjoy jumping and are eager to get to Free Fall
school when in the Teams. Accruing over 1,000 free fall jumps and 50 - 100 static line
jumps is not uncommon during a career in the Teams.

An Insert by Lieutenant Commander Mark Divine

One particularly memorable portion of my SQT training was land navigation in

Washington State. We parachuted into the pitch-black night and landed on a pitch black
Drop Zone lit only by four chemlights. Met by the organizer of this delightful event, First
Class Petty Officer Jefferey Kraus (who by the way is the only military man to hold the
distinction of having attended U.S. Army Ranger School, U.S. Army Special Forces
School, and U.S. Navy SEAL training! WOW what a glutton for punishment Jeff is - a
super great guy though and just a little devious too. )

Jeff handed us a coordinate of our destination - said to be there before 9 am the next
morning, told us there were dogs lined up to trail us in one hour, then sent us on our way
through the thick, pitch black forest. ALONE. Man was that spooky - no flashlights
because it would blow your night vision - knowing you were being tracked by dogs and
thinking that there were people out there looking for you - pretty close to what it was like
in the jungles of Vietnam (well not really-but there is only so much you can do to
simulate war in peacetime!).

That first night it was so dark that I read my Sylva Ranger Compass upside down and
moved stealthily for six miles in the exact OPPOSITE direction I was supposed to move!
When I finally figured this out I was in some farmer's back yard with his dog barking at
me and I remember thinking that I shouldn't have to climb over so many fences in this
exercise! Well I had to find my exact starting point if I had any hope of finding the target
by 9 am in the morning - a mere 7 hours away. So I ran with full rucksack - through the
farmers fields and over fences and by pure magic found my start point then started on my
way in the right direction.

At about 0400 in the morning I was totally lost in the forest - so much for my navigation
skills, a feeling of desperation was coming over me when I looked up at a tree about 100
feet in front of me and saw a white sign. My curiosity aroused, I wandered over to see my
exact grid coordinates posted on the sign! God bless the Army! In the middle of the
forest, lost with pretty much no hope of figuring out where the heck I was, the U.S. Army
had the foresight to place a sign on a tree telling me EXACTLY where I was. What
service!

Platoon Training
18D SOF Medic
SDV - SEAL Delivery Vehicle

Platoon Training

Platoon Training is where the rubber finally meets the road. Armed with a year of
individual skill training, hardened by thousands of hours of physical training, diving,
jumping, shooting and blowing things up, now the SEAL gets to put his fledgling talent
to work with seasoned veterans of Naval Special Warfare.

A SEAL Platoon consists of two officers, one chief and thirteen enlisted men.
Responsibilities are divided into positions in a patrol (such as Point Man, Patrol Leader,
Radio Man, 60 Gunner, Corpsman and Rear Security), department leadership (such as
Diving Department Head, Air Department Head and Ordnance/Demo Department Head)
and by rank. The senior officer is the Platoon Commander, the junior officer is his
assistant, the senior enlisted is the Platoon Chief and the next senior enlisted is the
Leading Petty Officer who is in charge of the day-to-day management of the enlisted
platoon members. SEAL Platoons have a training cycle, which includes either a 12 or 18
month training work-up, then a 6 month deployment overseas in an operational ‘combat
ready’ status at a Naval Special Warfare Unit or Detachment. These platoons are
incredibly highly trained and can accomplish most any task thrown at them. The training
that must be accomplished during the year-plus training cycle is based upon several
factors:

Advanced individual and platoon level skills necessary for the conduct of all Special
Operations Missions.
The methods of delivery, insertion/extraction most likely to be utilized while on
deployment.
The geographic area of responsibility of the SEAL Team.
Wherever there are troops on the ground in the world, you can be pretty sure that the
SEALs, along with their Green Beret counterparts, are either there now or were there
first!

For the first three months of the training cycle, it is usually back to the basics.
Hydrographic reconnaissance is covered once again combined with underwater
demolition of submerged obstacles. Next, air training lasts two weeks and builds upon
SQT skills, including several -Duck- drops out of different aircraft, both day and night
combat equipment parachute jumps, fast-roping, rappelling and SPIE rig, mission
planning in a classroom environment followed by intelligence gathering and reporting.

Next, is another Combat Swimmer course. It takes several years before a SEAL becomes
an ‘expert’ combat diver (expert is a relative term here, because compared to 99 percent
of all the divers in the world, a BUD/S student is an expert after Second Phase of
BUD/S!). Combat swimmer training in the platoon is a very arduous and intense training
block. The platoon will conduct over 30 dives during three weeks - including a Full
Mission Profile, where SEALs are inserted by aircraft or surface vessel for a 30 mile
‘over the horizon’ transit in the CRRC, followed by a demanding turtleback (kicking on
the surface toward the dive point in full dive gear), then a four hour, multi-leg dive into
the enemy harbor to emplace limpet mines on the hulls of the target ships, then extracting
after evading the anti swimmer measures put in place by the training cadre. Many SEALs
say that the Combat Swimmer course is exhausting.

The typical training day begins at seven a.m. , when you come into the team to set up
your dive rigs and prepare you gear. The officers then brief the dive, and SEALs plan
their dive profile for the day dive. The day dive takes place from about 10:00 a.m. until
about 2:00 p.m. , at which time you return to the team to post-dive the dive rig, then set it
up again for the night dive. You re-prepare all of your gear, plan the night's dive, then cut
out for a couple of hours rest and much needed food. You return to the team at 6:00 p.m. ,
for another dive brief, make final preparations and depart for the night dive at 7:30 p.m.
Insertion at 8:00 p.m. and dive until completion at about midnight. Then it is back to the
team to post-dive the rigs and cleanup your gear. Finally, you de-brief the dive and go
home for five hours of much needed sleep before doing it all over again the next day.
Needless to say, divers don't have the energy to PT much during Combat Swimmer;
however, some might say that swimming six to eight thousand yards underwater, often
against the current, qualifies as exercise!

Land Warfare training occurs again out at Niland or Camp A.P. Hill (sometimes at a
different location like Camp Roberts in CA. , if the teams want a change of scenery). This
starts with the basics, once again, in small unit tactics and builds to Full Mission Profiles
conducted in a simulated combat environment.

This training is as close to a 24-hour a day work schedule that you can get (besides being
on a submarine). Training begins immediately after breakfast at 6:00 a.m. , and it
continues until about 12:00 or 1:00 a.m. the following morning. There are breaks for
lunch and dinner – and, if it gets above 105 degrees during the day, the platoon will seek
shelter in the classroom for some academic classes.

The platoon will shoot thousands and thousands of rounds during this training and will
blow up more demolitions than you could imagine. Immediate Action Drills are again a
favorite of the SEALs and are the most intense portion of the training. Navy SEAL tactics
cannot be discussed in this publication, due to their sensitive nature and to protect the
troops; suffice it to say that SEAL IADs are unique and have been said to mislead an
enemy force into believing that they are up against a whole company (100 men) of Army
GIs. There are some great books on the market by Vietnam era SEAL vets. Darryl
Young's ‘The Element Of Surprise’ is excellent as is Dick Couch's SEAL Team ONE.
See the Navy SEAL Books section of this publication for a quick look at the other good
‘been there, done that’ SEAL books.

Land Warfare training ends with a week long Field Training Exercise where the platoon
is put in semi-isolation in a simulated combat environment. Each squad will conduct
several independent missions - usually a special reconnaissance, stand-off weapons direct
action raid, body snatch, point ambush or combat search and rescue (CSAR-downed pilot
rescue). The platoon combines to conduct a platoon-size direct action mission, which is
supported by helicopter assets, Desert Patrol Vehicle (only if a Desert Platoon), and
incorporates much of the training accomplished during the Land Warfare phase of
training. This mission is very comprehensive and, if the platoon is detected by the
training cadre, they are ‘contacted’ with enemy fire from which they must utilize the fire
and maneuver Immediate Action Drills learned during training and evade the pursuing
force.

Most SEALs say that this training is a great learning experience and superb conditioning
for combat. It provides the platoon with the foundation from which to conduct the
remaining year and one half (or so) of training. Some other training highlights are Jungle
Warfare Training in Central America. In Navy SEAL lore, these jungles are said to be a
living nightmare. The Army lost a man training there a couple of years ago - just flat out
disappeared. Man-eating crocodiles and poisonous sea snakes are just two of your
bedfellows as you patrol through the rivers and streams deep within the dense jungle
foliage. The platoon learns the value of a pump action shotgun to clear foliage when
contacted – especially if you can't see your target and he may be only a few feet from the
platoon.

Jungle hammocks are mandatory - ask anyone who has attempted to sleep on the jungle
floor - yikes! Patrolling one klick (one thousand yards) can take hours, as the point man
cuts his way through the bamboo and vines - humidity of 100 percent will probably send
a constant stream of sweat down your back. This training emulates, in many ways, the
environment of the Vietnam era that SEALs endured and thrived in. Operators from
SEAL Team FOUR have also found this very valuable in their efforts fighting alongside
the DEA and foreign nationals in the war against drugs.

SEAL Teams TWO and FIVE are responsible for regions of the world that are often
blanketed in snow – so their platoons conduct extreme cold weather training and winter
warfare training.

Usually conducted in Alaska, Montana, Upstate New York and Norway, the training
covers cross country skiing, snowshoeing, winter orienteering and mountain warfare
tactics, building snow caves and fire and maneuver tactics on skis and snow shoes.
Winter survival and escape and evasion are particularly arduous skills to master, and the
winter warfare platoons become quite adept at this unique form of warfare. The
remaining Teams that do not require a winter warfare background still attend cold
weather training and cold weather maritime operations in Alaska. This Naval Special
Warfare Detachment has a seasoned training cadre. The cadre's sole purpose is to train
each platoon in the requirements of conducting commando missions in a mountainous
environment, where the platoon needs to rope in and traverse steep cliffs and ravines in
cold weather.
Also, supported by a Special Boat Team detachment of two Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats
(RHIBS), the platoons conduct long range maritime operations (over 60 mile open ocean
transits in a Combat Rubber Raiding Craft, or CRRC) and the very high threat ‘over the
beach’ crossing in a cold weather environment, while utilizing dry suits to preserve
warmth. SEAL Team TWO platoons often conduct joint training exercises with their
Norwegian and German counterparts in the mountains of Europe. These men are quite
adept at winter warfare, but the U.S. Navy SEALs hold their own and excel when put to
the test - as usual.

Submarine Lock Out/Lock In (LO/LI) and Dry Deck Shelter Mass Swimmer Lock
Out/Lock In (DDS MSLO/LI) are another insertion skill practiced by the SEAL platoon
during training work-up. Imagine being on a fast attack submarine at hover 100 feet
below the surface of the ocean. You enter the escape trunk for a ‘Lock-Out’ cycle with a
35 HP motor and some other SEAL gear. It's cold, it's dark and the escape trunk hatch
closes while you ‘flood the trunk’ with water. With just your nose above the surface, you
then pressurize the trunk to depth until the outer door cracks open. You take a deep
breath and submerge to push the door all the way open to reveal the dark and vast ocean
depths. Returning to the trunk, you signal that you are ready to send the motor and gear to
the surface on the tethered line set up by the two SEALs who went out before you. The
gear goes up - then so do you - blow and go to the surface to prepare for a long, cold
CRRC transit to your unknown fate on the enemy shore. That is a small taste of what
working off a submarine is like - and SEALs do a ton of it. Sending a platoon of frogmen
out of a large Dry Deck Shelter at the same time is a more time effective and endurance
saving method than the escape trunk method - but both are taught because the DDS
equipped subs may not be available when required.

Soon the SDV teams will take delivery of the first Advanced SEAL Delivery System
(ASDS). The ASDS is the first dry submersible owned by the SEAL community. It has a
Submariner pilot and SEAL navigator, and it can carry a SEAL squad of eight men. The
submarine will have a relatively long range and high speed (these figures are classified)
and can hover above a mother submarine or the bottom and send the combat swimmers
out of the pressure chamber. The chamber is pressurized with a well similar to the
Seaquest DSV TV series so the SEALs just slide into the water and swim out the bottom.
This is hot stuff. You can bet that other services and government agencies (read CIA) are
salivating and can't wait for their first free bus ride.

Close Quarter Battle - this skill is a favorite and one in which Team guys take great pride
in. Taking down a house room by room, or an airplane or bus in a hostage rescue,
securing a vessel space by space after boarding from the sea or air - these all require an
incredible amount of training and experience. Explosive Methods of Entry is a
specialized skill taught in Close Quarter Battle training and other advanced courses. The
focus is on room entry techniques utilizing MP-5 submachine guns, side arms and the
CAR-15; mostly at night with MP-5 flashlight attachments, flash bangs (to stun any
occupants). Technically, the regular Teams do not advertise target recognition in a room
entry situation - everyone is expected to be a bad guy.
CQB is a valuable skill when performing the fine art of Visit, Board, Search and Seizure
(VBSS). An at-sea terrorist situation may call for the ship to be boarded, while underway,
and taken control of through force. This is a very dangerous proposition - as learned by
the SEAL Team FIVE platoon in the movie Under Siege. A typical VBSS mission
includes a platoon of SEALs, a follow on force like a Marine Maritime Special Purpose
Force (MSPF) to secure the ship after taking control, an insertion helo (either a H-53 or
H-46). The insert bird is escorted by two UH-1s or MH-60s for spotter and sniper
support. The Assault force is launched under cover of darkness from an amphibious
vessel or Aircraft Carrier. At the target vessel, the SEALs can beon the deck in less than
15 seconds to set security. The sniper helos take up position and relay information to the
assault team leader. The platoon begins movement through the vessel toward the bridge,
utilizing Close Quarter Battle skills. Once on the bridge, they will secure and stop the
vessel and call in the follow on force to secure the ship. By this time, the bad guys should
have been rounded up and hog-tied for interrogation. Just another easy day in the life of a
Navy SEAL! A related mission, called shipboarding, has the platoon board a vessel at
berth.

Mission Specific Training - Naval Special Warfare forces have five primary missions.
These include Unconventional Warfare (UW) - which is basically behind the lines
guerrilla warfare during times of conflict; Foreign Internal Defense (FID) - which
includes the training of foreign nationals and relationship building during peacetime;
Direct Action (DA) which involves any mission that a SEAL element may undergo
against an enemy target including the use or potential use of force - these missions can
consist of ambushes, stand off weapons attacks, hostage rescue, target assaults on
maritime and land based targets, amongst others; Counter Terrorist (CT) - which is just
what it sounds like and is the primary mission of DEVGRU; and finally Special
Reconnaissance (SR) - which entails hydrographic reconnaissance and SDV Beach
Feasibility studies, point and area recons, Indications and Warning missions and any
other overt, covert or clandestine mission where the primary purpose is to gather
information. Most SEAL platoon work-up time is spent training to hone skills, which are
utilized regardless of the mission category - such as shooting, demo and
insertion/extraction methods (diving, parachuting, SDV, patrolling, Desert Patrol
Vehicle, skiing etc).

However, there are more specialized skills that must be learned in order to effectively
conduct the broad range of missions that fall under the five categories mentioned above.
Therefore, SEALs attend most of the entire advanced individual training courses offered
by the Teams and other Special Operations communities. Some of these include: SERE
school, Diving Supervisor, Parachute Rigger, Army Ranger school, Naval Gunfire
Support, Sniper school, Breacher, Submarine trunk operator (OJT), Emergency Medical
Technician, H & K repair, Free fall School and Free fall Jumpmaster, Static Line
Jumpmaster, Target Analysis, Intelligence Photography, Stinger Weapon School,
Cooper/Shaw shooting school, Hand to Hand Combat Fighting Course (formerly
SCARS) 40 hour operator and 300 hour instructor courses, NSW Communications school
and Applied Explosive Techniques, and more.
18D Medic

Those that have made it through the gauntlet of BUD/S and SQT and have the disire to be
SEAL medics will be sent to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina for an additional six months of
advance medical training known as 18D (pronounced "delta"). This course provides in-
depth training in conventional and unconventional medical skills ranging from diagnosis
and treatment of nearly every known condition, to advance emergency medicine and
battlefield trauma life support. This is not your standard school book training, much of
what is learned in the classroom is practiced in the field under realistic conditions of war
on each other. By the time SEALs are ready to graduate 18D they can start an IV in the
smallest of veins with one arm tied behind their back, blindfolded. One important thing
to remember is that every SEAL is a warrior, and in war the best preventative medicine is
superior fire power. 18D SEALs are shooters first, medics second.

18D is a joint SOF course where the student and instructor staff is made up of Army SF,
Marine Corps Recon, Air Force PJs, and Navy SEALs.

SDV - SEAL Delivery Vehicle

SEAL Delivery Vehicle School: BUD/S graduates who receive orders to SEAL Delivery
Vehicle Team ONE in Hawaii or TWO in Little Creek, Va. must attend the three month
SDV School in Coronado, Ca.

This course teaches the students how to dive the MK-16 mixed gas dive rig and to pilot
and navigate the MK-VIII SEAL Delivery Vehicle. The SDV is a "wet" submersible,
which SEALs use to conduct 100 percent long-range submerged missions; they also use
it to secretly deliver SEALs and other agents onto enemy territory from a submarine or
other vessel at sea. It takes a formidable amount of training to be able to pilot and
navigate the SDV well, and the best SDVers usually stay at an SDV Team for the bulk of
their SEAL careers. We discuss the SDV more in the equipment section of this site. Since
this training is highly technical and very dangerous, it is considerably more relaxed and is
a refreshing transition for the BUD/S graduate from the harassment of BUD/S training to
the professional attitude at the SEAL Teams. Still, SEALs are expected to perform at a
high level; it is not unheard of to be expelled from this training. Also the new SEALs
reputation starts while he is at BUD/S, and reputation is the cornerstone of the
professional SEAL's career. To be known as a good "operator" is as highly coveted in the
Teams as a six-figure paycheck is on Wall Street! Many aspects of the SEAL Delivery
Vehicle program are classified and beyond what we can discuss here - so you will have to
join the Navy to find out.