SCREENING, TEST, and BUD/S

SCREENING

Entering training to become a Navy SEAL is voluntary. Anyone can volunteer, and officers and enlisted men train side by side. In order to enter SEAL training, however, they do have to meet certain requirements.

Those wishing to volunteer for SEAL training have to:
be a male active-duty member of the U.S. Navy
be 28 or younger (although waivers for 29- and 30-year-olds are possible)
possess uncorrected vision no worse than 20/40 in one eye and 20/70 in the other eye correctable to 20/20 through contacts or glasses (corrective surgery PRK is also possible),
there are waivers for colorblindness
be a U.S. citizen
pass the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)

Underwater Demolition Team jumps over the side from boat.

SEALs in woodlands operation.
SEAL recruit training has these components, lasting 48 weeks (or 11 months):
25 weeks Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado (San Diego, CA)
1 week of static line jump training, followed by 3 weeks of Military Free Fall (MFF) Qualification training at Tactical Air Operations in Otay, CA.
At Coronado, 19-week SEAL Qualification Training (SQT).
After this, the trainee is officially named a SEAL.

TEST

Assignment to BUD/S is conditional on passing the PST, which requires the following minima:
500-yard (457 m) 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 from a dead hang (no time limit)
Run 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in running shoes and shorts in under 11:00
Members’ vision must be no worse than 20/200 in both eyes. Vision must be correctable to 20/20. SEAL candidates may qualify for PRK 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 10:00 minutes
79 push-ups in 2 minutes
79 sit-ups in 2 minutes
11 pull-ups from a dead hang (no time limit)
Run 1.5 miles in boots and long pants in 10:20

BUD/S

Upon arrival at Naval Special Warfare Command, check-ins for BUD/S are immediately placed into a pre-indoctrination 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.

In the first phase BUD/S students are divided into 'Boat Crews' which can consist of six to eight men. However, although some exercises will be undertaken as boat crews (such as 'log PT', which requires boats crews to exercise with logs that weigh 150 pounds (68 kg) each, and 'Surf Passage', where boat crews must navigate the Pacific surf in inflatable boats), the first phase of BUD/S also consists of a series of demanding individual physical tests including frequent sets of push-ups and sit-ups, ocean swims and timed four mile (6.4 km) runs in boots and long trousers, in soft sand (to be completed in 32 minutes). The first phase is most well known for 'Hell Week', which usually occurs during the third week. 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, cold and covered in sand which leads to trainees developing what is known as '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 (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 (the bell was taken away for a few years in the 1990's...then later brought back). Classes typically lose around 70–80% of their trainees — either due to DORs or injuries sustained during training, but it is not always easy to predict which of the trainees will DOR during BUD/S. Winter class dropout rates are usually higher due to the cold. 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. There has been at least one BUD/S class where no one has completed the program. Most trainees are eliminated prior to completion of Hell Week, but trainees will continue to DOR in the second phase or be forced to leave because of injuries, or failing either the diving tests or the timed runs and swims. In fact, the instructors tell the students at the very start of BUD/S that the vast majority of them will not successfully complete the course and that they are free at any time to drop out (via the bell) if they do not believe they can complete the course. A trainee who DOR’s from First Phase before the completion of Hell Week and reapplies to the BUD/S program must start from the beginning of INDOC (if they are accepted). Any BUD/S trainee who drops on request after Hell Week goes through the same out-processing as a trainee who quits before or during Hell Week. If they reapply to BUD/S they would stand a very good chance of being accepted, but they must complete Hell Week again. However, those who have completed Hell Week, but cannot continue training due to injury are usually rolled back into the next BUD/S class after Hell Week, or the respective phase in which they were rolled. There are many SEALs who have attempted BUD/S two or even perhaps three or more 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.