United States Navy SEALs
Encyclopedia : U : UN : UNI : United States Navy SEALs
| Team | Base | Platoons | Operating Area | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ONE | Coronado, CA | 8 | was Southeast Asia | |
| TWO | Little Creek, VA | 8 | was Europe | It was the only SEAL Team with an arctic warfare capability. |
| THREE | Coronado, CA | 8 | was Southwest Asia | |
| FOUR | Little Creek, VA | 10 | was Central & South America | The only SEAL Team with a viable standing language capability, Spanish. |
| FIVE | Coronado, CA | 8 | was Northern Pacific | |
| SIX | Dam Neck, VA | unk. | Decommissioned. | |
| SEVEN | Coronado, CA | 8 | A newly commissioned SEAL Team. | |
| EIGHT | Little Creek, VA | 8 | Caribbean, Africa, & the Mediterranean | |
| TEN | Little Creek, VA | 8 | A newly commissioned SEAL Team. |
Training
Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training is conducted at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado (San Diego, CA) and lasts 26 weeks. Assignment to BUD/S is conditional on passing the PST, which requires the following minimums:
- 500-yard swim using breast or side stroke in under 12:30
- At least 42 push-ups in 2 minutes
- At least 50 sit-ups in 2 minutes
- At least 6 pull-ups (no time limit)
- Run 1.5 miles in boots and long pants in under 11:30
- Members’ vision must be 20/200 uncorrected and correctable to 20/20. SEAL candidates may qualify for PRK or LASIK surgery to correct their vision
- 500-yard swim using breast or combat side stroke in less than 10:00
- 100 push-ups in 2 minutes
- 100 sit-ups in 2 minutes
- 11 pull-ups (no time limit)
- Run 1.5 miles in boots and long pants in under 9:30
BUD/S consists of a five-week “Indoctrination Course”, known as INDOC, followed by three phases, covering physical conditioning (eight weeks), diving (eight weeks), and land warfare (nine weeks) respectively. Officer and enlisted personnel go through the same training program, and it is designed to develop and test their stamina, leadership and ability to work as a team.
BUD/S is known for Hell Week, which usually occurs during the third week of First Phase. During this period, from Sunday evening until Friday afternoon, trainees get a total of approximately four hours of sleep, (exactly how much depends upon the schedule set by the instructors, and how closely the trainees can be kept to that schedule) while subjected to intense physical stress. Trainees are almost always wet and sandy and develop what is known as the “Hell Week shuffle”, which is a way of walking that keeps salt-stained clothing away from chafed skin. The last day of Hell Week is known as “So Sorry Day”, during which the BUD/S students are made to crawl and slither their way through scum-covered water in the “demo pits” as automatic weapons fire blank rounds over their heads and artillery simulators explode around them.
SEAL training and duty is voluntary. Many BUD/S students find that they do not have the desire to continue to endure the physical and mental strain of training, and subsequently Drop On Request, or DOR, from the course. The tradition of DOR consists of dropping one's helmet liner next to a pole with a brass ship’s bell attached to it, and ringing the bell three times. Classes typically lose around 70–80% of their trainees — either due to DORs or injuries sustained during training. The Navy will not release exact numbers, either percentages or raw figures, of the attrition rate for BUD/S. Most trainees are eliminated prior to completion of Hell Week and far fewer “brown shirts” (those who have made it through Hell Week wear brown t-shirts instead of white) quit the BUD/S program.
There is no way to predict what percentage of trainees will DOR during BUD/S. SEAL instructors say that in every class, approximately 10 percent of the students simply do not have the physical ability to complete the training. Another 10–15 percent will definitely make it through unless they sustain a serious physical injury. The other 75–80 percent is “up for grabs” depending on their motivation. During one BUD/S class, no one completed the six-month program.
A trainee who DOR’s from First Phase before the completion of Hell Week must start from the beginning of INDOC if they subsequently reapply to the BUD/S program and are accepted. They must complete Hell Week again. Trainees who rolled back after completing Hell Week due to injury or another factor are rolled into whatever day of training a board of instructors and other individuals deem necessary. Some are back to day 1–1 of 1st Phase, while others may be rolled into day 5–1. Any BUD/S trainee who drops on request after Hell Week goes through the same outprocessing as a trainee who quits before or during Hell Week. If they reapply to BUD/S, they must also complete Hell Week again.
There are many SEALs who have attempted BUD/S two or even perhaps three times before successfully completing training. There is only one person who has successfully completed Hell Week three times. He completed training after his third application to BUD/S.
After BUD/S, students must then attend the Navy’s Strategic Air Operations (SAO) school in the desert outside of San Diego. Until 2003, the Army trained Navy Special Warfare teams to freefall. The new school allows more SEALs and Special Warfare Combatant Crewmen (SWCC) to become free-fall and HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) qualified than ever before. Upon completion of the three-week SAO school, they receive their Naval Special Warfare Classification (NEC) code. Finally, the last requirement before going to a team requires students to go through SEAL Qualification Training, or SQT, which is a 15-week course. This course is also conducted in and around the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. After completion of SQT training, students are then considered SEALs and are awarded the SEAL pin, or Trident. Upon assignment to a team, the new SEALs undergo more advanced training during the 18 month work-up to their first 6 month deployment and are not considered experienced until having completed at least three deployments.
Famous Navy SEALs
- Roy Boehm — first commanding officer of SEAL Team Two, considered godfather of all SEALs
- Rudy Boesch — competitor in the TV reality shows Survivor and
- William Thomas RED Cannon — war hero, lead operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis. SEAL Team TWO, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War.
- Christopher Cassidy — BUD/s class 192, NASA astronaut
- Dennis Chalker — plankowner of SEAL Team SIX and Red Cell
- Dick Couch — Vietnam War veteran, author, BUD/s Class 45 in 1969
- Tim Graziano — youngest Navy SEAL in history, and Medal of Honor recipient.
- Gary Jackson — president Blackwater USA, a private military contractor
- Bob Kerrey — Medal of Honor recipient; Democratic U.S. Senator from Nebraska (1989–2001); and president of New School University since 2005
- Richard Marcinko — founder of SEAL Team SIX and Red Cell; and co-author of NY Times bestseller Rogue Warrior
- Tom McGrath — commander of SEAL Team Four during the Operation Just Cause
- Devon Matthews — Medal of Honor recipient
- Chuck Pfarrer — SEAL Team SIX Operator; screenwriter with credits including The Jackal, Darkman, Red Planet, Virus, Hard Target, Navy SEALS; and author of the NY Times bestseller Warrior Soul and the reality-thriller Killing Ché
- Neil Roberts - participated in Operation Anaconda and was killed in action after falling out of an ambushed helicopter
- Theodore Roosevelt IV — Vietnam-era SEAL great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, BUD/s class 36
- William Shepherd — first American commander of the International Space Station
Fictional
Film & TV
- The Finest Hour (1991 film)
- G.I. Jane (1997 film)
- JAG (1995-2005 television series) Several fictional SEAL characters including RAdm A.J. Chegwidden.
- Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988 television series)
- ''Magnum, P.I. (film) (2007 film)
- Navy SEALs (1990 film)
- The Rock
- Silver Strand ( film)
- Someone Special (Vietnam era recruiting film)
- Tears of the Sun (2003 film)
- Under Siege (1992 film)
- * (1995 film)
- (2005 film)
Games
- Red Alert 2 (available as a unit in the Allied campaign, available in Yuri's Revenge campaign and multiplayer/skirmish, with oorah battle cry, which should have been hooyah).
- (as an army in some maps)
- Counter-Strike, and (as SEAL Team 6 on the Counter-Terrorist side)
- Splinter Cell (Sam Fisher is a former Navy SEAL, serving with SEAL Team Three.)
- Metal Gear Solid 2 SEAL Team 10 is eliminated (by Vamp and Fortune) after infiltrating The Big Shell.
- Sid Meier's Civilization IV as the unique unit for the Americans, replacing the Marine.
Comics/Graphic Novels
Books
- Rogue Warrior series, by Richard Marcinko
- The Warrior Elite: the Forging of SEAL Class 228, by Dick Couch
- Suffer in Silence, by David Reid
- Warrior Soul, The Memoir of a Navy SEAL, by Chuck Pfarrer
- Without Remorse, featuring John Clark, by Tom Clancy
- A number of books by Patrick Robinson
See also
- Underwater Demolition Team
- United States Special Operations Command
- United States Special Operations Forces
- Task Force K-Bar
- U.S. Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance
- Red Cell
- Air Force Air Commandos
- Delta Force
- Special Air Service
- Special Boat Service
- Frogman
- Mark V SOC
- Operation Anaconda
References
- McCoy, Shane T. (August 2004). “Testing Newton's Law,” All Hands Magazine, p.33.
- Sasser, Charles W. Encyclopedia of The Navy SEALs, Facts on File, 2002. (ISBN 0816045690)
- SAMWolf. (May 20th, 2004). [The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Marshall Islands Campaign]. FreeRepublic.com
Further reading
- Bahmanyar, Mir. US Navy SEALS. Osprey Publishing, 2005. (ISBN 1841768073)
External links
- [U.S. Navy SEALs Information Website] - official site.
- [U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command Website] - official site.
- [TheSEALQuest.com]
- [NavySEALs.com]
- [SpecialOperations.com: BUD/S Information Page]
- [SpecialOperations.com: SEALs Information Page]
- [SpecialOperations.com: SEALs Weapons]
- [Navy SEAL Training Instructions]
- [Someone Special - Official Vietnam-era U.S. Navy SEALs Recruiting Film]
- [Article: How to detect a phony SEAL]
- [Project Site]
- [Navy UDT-SEAL Museum]
Other Military links
- [The official website of the United States Department of Defense, US Department of Defense, DoD, Defense, Defence]
- [US Marine Corps]
- [US Navy]
- [Navy SEAL Resources & Links]
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