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The United States Navy Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) forces are the elite Special Operations Forces of the U.S. Navy, employed in unconventional warfare, foreign internal defence, direct action, Counter-Terrorism, and special reconnaissance operations.

Those qualifying to become Navy SEALs are authorised, after completing a specialised programme known as SQT (SEAL Qualification Training), to wear and display the Special Warfare Badge, also known as the SEAL Trident. This badge (sometimes called “the Budweiser” for its resemblance to the Anheuser-Busch eagle logo) serves as the insignia for the SEALs as a whole and is the largest and most recognisable warfare insignia among U.S. Special Operations Forces. It is usually worn along with the U.S. Navy paratrooper wings, which are awarded after 10 jumps. During the Vietnam War, SEAL members wore “tiger stripe” camouflage uniforms, often with civilian blue jeans and “coral” sneakers, for patrol missions. On base, they wore standard uniforms with a black beret during the early years (when they patrolled alongside the Swift and STAB boat units of the “Brown Water Navy”) and tiger-striped “boonie” hats in later years. Currently, they wear variations of the U.S. Marine Corps MARPAT camouflage and RAID BDUs. Only men may apply to become SEALs.

Concurrently, Naval Operations Support Groups were formed to aid UDTs, SEALs, and two other unique units—Boat Support and Beach Jumpers—in administration, planning, research, and development. During the Vietnam War, UDTs performed reconnaissance missions and SEALs carried out numerous offensive operations.

History

Navy SEAL Teams and Structure

A Navy SEAL Platoon consists of 16 men (2 officers, 14 enlisted men). This can be easily split into 2 squads or four 4-man fire teams for operational purposes. The size of each SEAL “Team” is larger, ranging between eight to ten Boat Teams per SEAL Team.

As of 2006, there are eight confirmed Navy SEAL Teams. The original SEAL Teams in the Vietnam War were separated between West Coast (Group ONE) and East Coast (Group TWO) SEALs. The current SEAL Team deployments are from Teams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10. The Teams now deploy as Naval Special Warfare Squadrons. Any Team can deploy anywhere in the world. Each of these 8 teams is commanded by a Navy Commander (O-5), and has a number of operational SEAL platoons and a headquarters element.

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

Again, the above are the minimum requirements necessary to qualify for BUD/S. Prospective trainees are expected to far exceed these minimums. Competitive scores are as follows:

  • 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

Upon arrival at Naval Special Warfare Command, check-ins for BUD/S are immediately placed into a pre-indoc phase of training known as “PTRR”, or Physical Training Rest and Recuperation. PTRR is also where all of the “roll-backs” are placed while waiting to be put into a class. Once additional medical screening is given, and after enough BUD/S candidates arrive for the same class, organized physical training begins.

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

Fictional

Film & TV

Games

Comics/Graphic Novels

Books

See also

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)

Further reading

  • Bahmanyar, Mir. US Navy SEALS. Osprey Publishing, 2005. (ISBN 1841768073)

External links

Other Military links

Armed Forces Diving | Special forces of the United States | United States Naval Special Warfare Command | United States Navy SEALs

US Navy Seals | SEAL | Navy SEALs | אריות הים (יחידה) | United States Navy SEALs | Sea Air Land | SEAL

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "United States Navy SEALs".

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