<p>Can anyone give me a heads up on the difficulty of getting SEAL in service selection?</p>
<p>Approximately 50 midshipmen compete for 20 billets each year.</p>
<p>It changes from a every year, but no matter what year, it is very difficult to get a slot. Usually there are approximately 15 slots. This year, 25 slots, the most ever, were given out on service selection night. There were 60-70 firsties going for it. Another thing to keep in mind is that despite the fact that almost half of those trying to get SpecWar slot got it, those 60 mids were all legit. They had all passed the battery of tests that Seals at the Academy dish out at them. The numbers of plebes who aspire to be Seals is MUCH higher than the firsties who end up putting it down for service selection three years later.</p>
<p>if im not mistaken you also have to complete BUD/S training afterwards which is very difficult to do.</p>
<p>What sort of tests do the SEALs hold while at the Academy for midshipmen and does anyone know anything about mini BUD/s?</p>
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It changes from a every year, but no matter what year, it is very difficult to get a slot.
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you also have to complete BUD/S training afterwards which is very difficult to do.
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<p>Both are correct statements.</p>
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What sort of tests do the SEALs hold while at the Academy for midshipmen and does anyone know anything about mini BUD/s?
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<p>I don't know exactly, but my squad leader at NASS told me one of her friends was going for SEAL, and he had to do some ridiculously long swim as one of his tests. </p>
<p>She said that the guys at USNA who get SEAL as their service selection spend their 4 years there doing four things, and four things only: Eating, Sleeping, Working Out, and Studying their arses off.</p>
<p>It is safe to assume that if you get pick for SEALs, you're basically safe for BUD/S?
I've heard Annapolis grads at BUD/S have low attrition rates.</p>
<p>i dont think you are safe to assume that. Of course, I don't know the people coming out of Navy going to the SEALs but BUDS is crazy and you need to be a special type of person to get through, no offense obviously.</p>
<p>Actually, the attrition rate for Academy grads varies each year, a couple years ago all the grads DOR'ed during or before Hell Week. Also there is a stigma of people who go to BUD/s simply because its glamourous from the Academy. Once a week or so the LT, who is a SEAL, usually holds PT sessions, that consist of swimming, running, and strength portions. There are other groups on the yard that boast a few SEAL selectees each year, such as CAT and IST. However, if a person does not make the initial selection for SEALs, they can go to the fleet as a SWO, earn their SWO qual pin and then cross transfer and enter BUD/s, with permission from their command. </p>
<p>Andrew</p>
<p>I watched that program on BUDS training on the military channel last year. Ugh.......that training was bordering on sadism. Those SEALS are awesome.</p>
<p>We lived on the amphib base in Coronado for 6 years. It was an eye-opener! The common thread among all the SEALs we know is an ability to keep going, no matter what. One who grew up on a farm in Nebraska said that nothing is worse than being on horseback in a blizzard bringing in cattle knowing that your dad was waiting in the barn. </p>
<p>He now lives in Hawaii...</p>
<p>Pentagon Looking to Increase Ranks Without Easing the Tough Training</p>
<p>Published in the Washington Compost:</p>
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As Navy Ensign Brandon lay slapped by wave after black wave of frigid Pacific surf, his arms linked with a row of other would-be Navy SEALs, a cold but comforting thought surfaced from his murky consciousness: "No matter what," he reassured himself, "they're not going to kill me."</p>
<p>Shaking uncontrollably in the cold brine, the slight, 22-year-old from Ohio dreaded the nighttime "surf torture" as one of the toughest ordeals of the SEALs' aptly named Hell Week, designed to break down the bodies and wills of all but the steeliest young men....
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<p>This is an interesting article that was published last year.</p>
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Actually, the attrition rate for Academy grads varies each year, a couple years ago all the grads DOR'ed during or before Hell Week.
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<p>-Are you sure about that? Academy grads do have the highest success rates at BUDS as compared to everyone else. Some how I find it hard to believe that an entire class of grads DORed that early, unless you are referring to just a specific block of BUDS and not every grad from that year.</p>
<p>I also have trouble believing there is a stigma for those who think that it is "glamorous" to be a SEAL. I will concede that every plebe class has scores of people who want to be SEALs, many because it is glamorous. However, the SEAL LTs and senior enlisted at the Academy provide them with more than enough indoctrination to weed out those looking only at the glamorous side of Sec War. You specifically mentioned weekly PT sessions, but there is also the SEAL Screeners that they hold every semester which includes swimming in the Severn in the dead of the Annapolis winter and usually last most of the weekend. By Firstie Summer, all the mids who still want SEALs usually do a cruise block with a SEAL team. Several of my friends who went on these courses could describe them only as month long beat down sessions. I can't speak for what ROTC guys going to BUDS experience during their four years, but I highly doubt that recieve the same amount of indoctrination into what being a SEAL is really all about.</p>
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It is safe to assume that if you get pick for SEALs, you're basically safe for BUD/S? I've heard Annapolis grads at BUD/S have low attrition rates.
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<p>I don't think it is safe to "assume" that anyone is safe for BUDs. However, as was stated earlier, it takes a special type of person to be a SEAL. If you get SEALs out of the Academy, there is an excellent chance that you ARE that type of person.</p>
<p>To anyone interested in becoming a SEAL, read "The Warrior Elite" by Dick Couch.It's an excellent insight into BUD/S and really clarifies what goes on. </p>
<p>As far as BUD/S being "safe to assume" after coming from USNA, that is definitely not true. Potential SEAL officers are pushed even HARDER than the normal candidates, because they will have to lead. While going to the Academy does help you, it in no way can make you invincible to unpredictable factors such as sickness and injury. Officers only have one shot at BUD/S. </p>
<p>The book also mentions that many of the USNA Ensigns in BUD/S say that it is as hard as actual BUD/S training to get a BUD/S billet on Service Selection day.</p>
<p>Changes to special-warfare recruiting, training practices show promise for growing unit</p>
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In the past year, Naval Special Warfare Command and Big Navy kicked off a full-court press in the quest to expand the force of Navy SEALs.</p>
<p>They beefed up recruiting, assigning SEAL commandos at each recruiting district, and targeted a larger pool of young athletes and achievers. They?re growing a mentorship program for prospective SEAL recruits to help them along at boot camp....
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The parents of a Navy commando killed in Afghanistan defended the location of a planned statue of their son on Friday against critics who say it would glorify violence in a park frequented by children.</p>
<p>“What we’re dealing with, what the country’s dealing with, is violent,” said Dan Dietz, whose son, Navy SEAL Danny Dietz, won a posthumous medal for heroism....
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<p>i've heard about this ********, someone should step up and from a petition.</p>
<p>None of the children of the people opposed to this statue will ever become anybody worthy to kiss the feet of a man like Dan Dietz.</p>
<p>If you want to give words of encouragement or thanks to Danny Dietz's wife, Maria Dietz, she posts occasionally on the navyseals.com website. Just thought I would toss that out there. [<a href="http://www.navyseals.com/community/forums/discussions.cfm?forumid=16&topicid=152541%5B/url%5D">http://www.navyseals.com/community/forums/discussions.cfm?forumid=16&topicid=152541</a>]</p>