Some Questions about the Navy SEALs?

gugliamo00

After college... after you get your commission in the Navy, you can apply for Special Warfare. Not many are allowed to do so. If you're allowed to apply you receive special training. Then you go to Coronado where you undergo a little over a month of "Indoc." After that, if you're still "interested," you begin BUD/S. That lasts about six months. If you make it that far, you're about one third of the way through your initial training. After that you may be assigned to a SEAL team, or to an SBU... and you're operational. From then on, you're training, practicing, planning, involved in work-ups, on missions, debriefing, preparing for the next mission.

But officers get pretty much removed from the action when they make O-4. If you're enlisted, you can go out as long as you qualify. Also, if you don't make it through the training, you're effectively out of Special Warfare. Whereas an enlisted guy may get the chance to try again, commissioned personnel only get one shot at it.

Also, being an officer isn't everything you see in the movies. Yeah, there's a few more bucks, but they're hard earned. You get a few classes on leadership, then you're expected to lead. It's not unlike reading a book on swimming and then being thrown into the deep end of a pool and being expected to figure out how to make it to the side. Some guys hit the water and knock out a 200 IM, hop out of the water with big grins on their faces and hardly even breathing hard. Others splash and struggle and fight their way to the side where they hang on for dear life gasping for air. And some, no matter how hard they try, flounder and drown.

Being a good officer isn't something you can learn from a book or in a classroom. You can learn ABOUT being an officer, but some just don't have what it takes. The good ones "fly by the sears of their pants." Some in the second group get by with the help of guys in the first group, or by "sticking to the book." One Admiral said that the Navy Regs were written for "left-handed swab handles," (that means "feckless fools") who wouldn't know what to do if it weren't written down for them. Problem with "book officers" is that when the stuff is hitting the fan, there's not much opportunity to check the Regs.

I enlisted in 1960 at age 20 with a BA in Math. The degree allowed me to enter as an E-3 giving me about a year jump on the guys without the education. When it came time for me to reenlist for my E-6, somebody dusted off my degree and recommended me for OCS. I took advantage of the opportunity and retired in 1985 at age 45. Before you get your hopes up, I need to tell you that it was pure luck on my part. I happened to be at the right place at the right time. I also happened to possess a college degree qualifying me for consideration for an officer program.

And, if you get your degree on your own... (1) the degree gives more options, and (2) a lot of the guys in the teams have degrees... even the enlisted.

But, if you go NROTC, I believe a commission is pretty much an expectation... limiting your options.

BoatsBM1

Well as a "soldier", officer or enlisted, you ain't becoming a Navy SEAL.

Greco

Make sure you do Navy ROTC in college.

http://www.sealchallenge.navy.mil/seal/contractinstructions.aspx

This is the enlisted requirements but the officer requirements would be the same for the physical stuff.

Joe

No, you are not required to serve time as a regular "Soldier". The simple reason is If you were a "Soldier" you would be in the Army not the Navy.
Hint:
Army (Soldiers) = Special Forces (Green Berets), Delta Force, Airborne Rangers, 10th Mountain Div.
Navy (Sailors) = SEALS

marine_jimmy

You join the Navy, either enlisted or as an officer, and then put in a package to go to BUD/S. Your ROTC program should be well versed in helping SEAL wannabes get to BUD/S, so just let them know what you're wanting to do.

I don't know if it is still the case, but in the past if an officer rang the bell his Navy career was over. Something to think about if you want to be military even if you don't make it through BUD/S- and most people don't.

Captain Awesome

You go to your recruiter, saying you want to take the SEAL challenge, so you don't have to be a regular soldier first. Just be prepared, if you're doing ROTC expecting to be an officer, you have to pass BUD/s on your first go, officers only get one chance.

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