luv2run wrote:
You are very naive.
Just a few things from a more political viewpoint:
1) Mandatory service is a bad idea whether it be for the military or for community service. That is a form of slavery and takes away the very freedoms the US is supposed to stand for.
Mandatory service is not a form of slavery and it is not incompatible with democracy. Were the men drafted to fight and win the Second World War slaves??
Please try and pull your self-centered head out of your ass.
They are older than the average sailor. They are trained well for what they do, but without millions of dollars of support planners, helicopters, ships, they are like any other soldiers. In town here they are easy to take down, average guys, actually rather polite, and well behaved, once they know the law is here, I must say.
Wrong studmuffin: nukes are a GREAT cost-cutter, in the best tradition of 'to whom it may concern'.
Who needs international relations when you can send a
20-megaton warning shot?
I'll be more specific: how about some 20 kiloton warning shots 'way 'Way 'WAY up high over a few places? Let's say Teheran, Caracas, Berkeley, the NWFP, New Haven and Cambridge?
Before joining the military, consider getting a criminal record preferably with some jail time.
You'll fit in better.
MIDWESTrunner wrote:
I know the physical attributes are grueling and demanding... but honestly, I've been through some hellish workouts in xc and track and doubt that they could be much superior to those ... ex. 5 mile run followed by 20x400 at 63-66 with 90 sec. rest followed by 10 mile run at 6'10 pace ...
Haet to burst your bubble but there is nothing you could ever have done in track practice that could compare to what you will endure.
Like someone else said, start swimming as much as possible. It doesn't matter how big and strong you are or how much pain you can deal with, if you can't swim like a fish you won't make it through the course.
a little naive are we wrote:
MIDWESTrunner wrote:I know the physical attributes are grueling and demanding... but honestly, I've been through some hellish workouts in xc and track and doubt that they could be much superior to those ... ex. 5 mile run followed by 20x400 at 63-66 with 90 sec. rest followed by 10 mile run at 6'10 pace ...
Haet to burst your bubble but there is nothing you could ever have done in track practice that could compare to what you will endure.
Like someone else said, start swimming as much as possible. It doesn't matter how big and strong you are or how much pain you can deal with, if you can't swim like a fish you won't make it through the course.
Start working upper body like crazy also. Lots of push-ups, pull-ups etc... Put on some weight, muscle of course. Like someone said earlier, the typical distance runner build will not cut it in that environment.
Good Luck if you decide to go through with it. But remember , you can be proud of doing any job in the military if you are looking for more than just bragging rights.
my friend is in the seals, and they are not always older than your typical navy guy, although most are.
My friend is 24, and although he can't tell me much I've heard some of his training stories.
Basically they beat you up. You are going to get your a** kicked, over and over. It doesn't matter if you can run a 4:00 min mile you have to be able to take the physical pounding and the mental. They do interrogations on you, they run you until you can't go any further, and they keep going.
One of his training exercises he was basically held captive for 3 days and treated like a "POW"... except without following the POW code...
Post it here wrote:
You need to realize that you can't just inlist in the Navy and immediately go to Navy Seals training. These men are often in the militarty for more thana couple of years before they have been recommended by their superiors to go to the Navy Seals training. I suggest you do a lot more research before inlisting otherwise you may find yourself cleaning toilets on some destroyer or stuck in a submarine for 4 years.
WRONG!
you ARE GUARANTEED, i repeat, GUARANTEED entrance into the BUDS navy seal training/tryout at coronado island. for freshly enlisted recruits it is refered to as the "seal contract." you can also choose which bonus you want to receive should you pass BUDS and become a seal- which is $40,000 or a similiar college tuition deal should you want to pursue a degree.
after 2 months of basic training at the great lakes training command, YOU CAN "IMMEDIATELY GO TO NAVY SEALS TRAINING."
that is why the navy so heavily relies on the seal allure for their recruiting. if you flunk out of navy seals, you still have to finish your four years in the navy at which ever rating (job) you signed up to be trained for (cryptologist, engineer, yeoman- tsss).
[quote]Safer than HMC (FMF) wrote:
I'd pick the Seals over HMC (FMF),
what is hmc (fmf)?
I just finished reading an excellent book called Lone Survivor, it is about a Navy Seal team in Afghanistan, true story, written by the lone survivor of a 4 man Seal Team. The book gives some good insight on the Navy Seal Training. I would recommend to anyone thinking about the Navy Seals to read this book.
If you post on letsrun.com about becoming a seal, then you are not the caliber of individual we need in the seal program. You are simply one more person who think it would be "cool" to be a seal, you want attention and the seals are not the place to look for it.
Your mediocre running prowess (which is mediocre at best) means nothing when you are freezing, sleep deprived, hungry and scared for days on end.
Get real, don't kid yourself.
you know nothing if you don't know the most honored men and women of the u.s. navy. the most respected, with the highest casualty rate, and dedication to country, of any rating in the u.s. navy. there are no finer people, than those who know death is certain, who walk into tgheit jobs, and perform with dedication and duty than the HMC(FMF).
This thread is getting ridiculous. Like a Chuck Norris thread. PJs, Smokejumpers, Seals, Green Berets are just gov't welfare recipients in uniform. They are average athletes. If you want to be an elite, then train for it, get a coach, and work out a schedule, and make the marks. Don't waste your time with mediocrity with average gov't programs like the Seals.
Stoner man-I am pretty sure you got two things wrong there.
1)After earning your trident and being an offical SEAL, you get the $40,000 bonus(taxes apply), AND you still get the GI bill after you get out and want to attend college. Even desk jockeys in the Air Force get the GI Bill.
2)There was a time(when I signed up for the SEAL contract) when I got to skip the rate. IF I fail out of BUDS, then i will get assigned a new rate. Right now my rate would be SO(spec ops).
rather than be just be a ceremonial soldier in the js or seals why not join the green berets who actually have to fight and spend many days and nights in combat, rather than be just the admiral's window dressing in a navy with not much else to do but ferry ammo and gasoline around to the army. the navy, air force, and coast guard are the easy services. nobody expects the seals in the navy to get hurt or die, just look clean and spiffy for press and the admirals. you'd have alot less parade time and more trigger time in the army.
Better to be alive in the SEALS than be a walking HMC(FMF) corpse you numbskull.
Not a SEAL, but my father was a frogman during Vietnam.
He has told me a few stories, but mostly keeps quiet about it. It has already been said a dozen times, they kick your ass until you break and then keep on going.
They know when you get into the real "conflict" settings, the duration of those operations can last days without any sleep at all. Better to see how you'll react in training
than on gameday. Besides you don't want someone from your team to fly off the handle and crawl up in the fetal position in the middle of the operation.Remeber that scene in the Dirty Dozen where Telly Savalas goes nuts and they his own men have to kill him.
Besides, it's very expensive to launch a special forces operation...esp. without congressional approval. Sometimes they are deployed by air drop, long range lt. weight water craft,submarine, or a combination of the last 2 mentioned.
This gets to the essence of why they are SEALS.
A few things that stick out from my fathers training was the exposure in water...get used to cold water, cold showers, shivering etc. He said towards the end they were required to assemble car parts 10-15 underwater blindfolded.
They also used to make his group of ~8 carry around a telephone pole for days...splinters in all...not a time to pause and say ouch.
One of the final training exercises was a random one.
In the middle of the night while 1-2 miles of the coast of FL on a frigate or something, they woke them up and threw them off the ship and told them to make it back to shore.
Upon impact with the water, he was bit by a Portugese Man of War(jelly fish) and popped his eardrum. Which leads me to believe that my father was never sympathetic after one of my "long runs".
They also require a considerable amount of SERE training which gets at the psychological aspects that people were talking about. They will beat you up and see how well you can take it. They don't care if they break your nose or you lose a tooth.
If you're superfit it's a bonus. Also helps if you know 2-3 languages, preferably arabic, russian, korean or chinese and are very tech savvy. This may ensure a support role on 1 or 2 SEAL teams that operate in the same theater.
I'm sure it's nothing that you haven't heard or can't find out on the internet. Good luck...you're a better man than me.
there's nothing elite about that. sure it sounds tough but you tell an ordinary old story that's been heard a million times long before the u.s. ever existed. all soldiers should have to put up with that sort of stuff. the green berets, etc. are like that, and what of it, they are not elite athletes, just soldiers. if anything, it sounds like a bunch of army/navy pr to get admirals nice jobs at defense contractors.
what are you talking about, you can't just "join" the Seals.
It's not a mums and toddlers tea club.Seal candidates are hand picked from elite tough service guys (gals as well).
Go get clued up.
how many women make it ?