Frogman Perspective
My Journey of Becoming a Navy SEAL
The Beginning
Over the past 12 years I have been serving in the United States Navy and 11 of those years I was serving as a United States Navy SEAL. I want to give you a quick history of who I am and what I did in the Teams to bring relevancy to this no bullshit guide to prepare you for the rigors of not only preparing for BUD/s but for when you actually arrive there.
When I was a sophomore in high school, I began to really think about what I wanted out of life. I knew I wanted to join the military and the Navy was the only branch I wanted to be a part of. At first, I was battling as to what I wanted to do in the Navy, I entertained the idea of possibly going to the Naval Academy and then move onto becoming a fighter pilot. That idea soon faded, I just didn’t have the grades or the passion to go for that specific career in the Navy. What ate away at me was I knew I wanted to be apart of something special, something that would set me apart from the rest and challenge me in ways I couldn’t even imagine. My father at the time was all about the Naval Academy idea but once that faded, he was determined to not let me just settle for anything, he wanted me to be elite, not just average.
One day my father brought home a pamphlet on Navy SEALs. As soon as he handed it to me, I was blown away. Up until this point I have heard of them but that was as far as it went for me. When I started to read that pamphlet I was hooked, I knew that this job and career was for me. The SEAL mission set, the team camaraderie, the mindset, and the motivation to accomplish the impossible, these are the things that were inline of what I wanted in life. My life was changed from that day on. I began to conduct a lot of research about the SEALs, I bought books, documentaries, BUD/s Class 234 videos. I educated myself on what exactly SEALs did and what the job would be like. Once I set the goal to become a SEAL, BUD/s was just something I needed to go through to do the job, it wasn’t the end all be all for me.
I began my training and preparation for BUD/s my sophomore year of high school. I completely revolved my life around my training. My life consisted of school, sports, and training for BUD/s. My family was a huge supporter of me pursuing my goals to become a SEAL. My father even went as far as paying for a membership at 24-hour fitness that had a pool I could use 24/7 and paid for my scuba certifications because he knew I needed to be proficient in the water. My training consisted of 6 days a week with one rest day, typically on Sunday. I would run Monday through Friday. Starting the week off with a short distance such as 3 miles and finishing the week with a long 6-mile run. I would then swim 4 days a week. Two of those day would be swimming for time typically between 30-60 minutes straight focusing only on sidestroke. The other three days I would do hypoxic pyramid sprint work focusing on freestyle stroke. This drastically increased my cardiovascular and lung capacity. In addition to running and swimming I conducted calisthenics training 6 days a week. Exercises I focused on were push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, dips, flutter kicks, leg levers, v-ups, and arm haulers. This is by no means an all-inclusive list, but I just wanted to give you an idea of the exercises I did. Once a week I would add in a ruck run and an open water ocean swim with fins and a mask. Also, If you’re training for BUD/s buy your self a pair of Bates Lite boots and pants and get used to running in that and running in soft sand.
The Decision to Enlist
I enlisted into the Navy the summer of my senior year into a program called DEP. This allowed me to pick a date immediately following graduation that I could leave for boot camp. For my rate I chose Hospital Corpsman (HM). In 2006 you had to choose a SEAL source rating in case you ended up quitting or getting dropped from training you had a skill to fall back on, now a days it’s different and you enter the Navy under a SEAL contract if you qualify and you get put in a undesignated rate status. This should be motivation for you not to ever QUIT, because if you do, you are now at the mercy and “needs of the Navy” trust me she will do what she pleases with you. July 2006 I’m off to boot camp, then onto Corpsman school which was located across the street from boot camp. Corpsman school ended up being 11 weeks long, self-paced program. I enjoyed medicine so I found this training easy and It paid off later in my career. While I was attending Corpsman training, I got involved with the dive motivator program. This program changed me physically and mentally. Before boot camp I was training hard, while attending boot camp I lost a lot, due to the nature of the schedule, in today’s Navy things are different. You will be assigned to an all Special Warfare division that is comprised of candidates that have Special Warfare contracts. Post boot camp you will then attend an 8-week SEAL preparation training before you head off to BUD/s
In the dive motivator program, I trained alongside other guys who were going into Special Warfare programs after they finished Corps. school, or some were just waiting on their orders to pop so they could leave. Everyday was a grind and a competition. We always pushed each other everyday no matter what. Everyday we had to train before class even started, so we would be up at 4 a.m running, swimming, and doing PT. After classes we hit it again, this type of training really set me up for success not only physically but most importantly mentally. July of 2007, I arrived at BUD/s and I checked into the quarter deck, wearing my dress whites and to be honest I was scared shitless. I was 18 years old when I arrived to BUD/s, I didn’t have any life experience or knew really what I was getting myself into but I was determined more than ever, and the moment I walked onto that quarterdeck that fire got even stronger.
Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL Training
I classed up with BUD/s class 266 summer of 2007 and I had no idea what was to come. BUD/s didn’t come easy for me, I did well in majority of the evolution’s, but my weakness was running. Looking back on my training prior to BUD/s I wish I spent more time running. I ended up getting rolled to BUD/s class 267 post pool competency do to failing 4-mile timed runs. I ended up classing up with class 267 healthier than ever. Hell-week really messed my body up in class 266 it took me a long time to recover. But once I was in class 267 my body was right and the rest of 2nd phase went well. I had experience with diving prior to joining the navy, I got certified as a rescue diver in high school. I truly believe this really gave me the confidence I needed to be comfortable and success throughout 2nd phase. 3rd phase was where the fun started in BUD/s. It was the time you began learning to shoot small arms, small unit tactics, and demolition. This was the introduction to the job of being a Navy SEAL and I loved it. I graduated BUD/s February 15, 2008 at the age of 19 years old. It was a surreal moment and feeling for me, all the hard work and dedication finally came to fruition for me. Immediately following BUD/s I was off to SEAL Qualification Training (SQT). Over the course of the next four months is where SQT instructors really taught us how to be United States Navy SEAL. We honed our skills in all aspects from skydiving, marksmanship, combat diving, land warfare, and maritime operations. SQT is why you busted your ass in BUD/s for previous 6 months.
