.*** Looking for advice (swimming and tattoos)

[Arf]

The creator of this thread picked up EOD, and is no longer trying for BUD/S, I can only offer minimal help with EOD, but I would still like to clarify anything I can for future prospects searching the forum.

I picked up my EOD contract two days after I originally posted this thread.

@atc722 you may be interested in this thread.

Navy EOD -> SEAL?

 

[Luckynumber27]

Good word man, didn’t mean to jack the guys thread. I know since the GWOT has been winding down, things have gotten much more bleak for any SOF candidate, just less demand. I know they say if no one quits, the whole class will make it, but I’ve literally been apart of weed out beat downs and drag races where they weren’t securing the evo till at least x number quit because they had to have y number to enter hellweek because they needed z number to go onto second phase for manning and personnel reasons. Just so happens very few of those weed out evos were the water ones when I was there, granted that was a few years ago. They can get their number from a solid 2 and a half time demo pit road run with the boats on a Friday versus a water evo with strict limits since the candidate drowning incident. But yes, much more guys are getting dropped in second and third phase these days.

 

[Arf]

I agree that you run way way more than you ever swim.
Boats on heads... I have scars on my head from those mothers that I will never be ashamed of. Nothing can prepare you for boats on heads. Eventually you just stop having concern for your body and embrace the suck.
I remember the first time we did a “drag race” with boats on heads. A drag race is when they make all of the boat crews (4-7 guys per boat crew, depending on who Drops on Request/DORs) do sprint races with the promise that “it pays to be a winner” and that the winning crews will get some kind of meek reward.
I finished and thought, “that was so much worse than I ever imagined it could possibly be.” The faster you run, the more that boat punishes you. By the end of Selection and The Tour I just blacked out I think. There was no more skin on the top of my head, and my neck, my back and my lower legs were no longer friends with me.

I remember one of my guys just singing that song, “My neck... my back.. my pussy and my crack...”

 

[Luckynumber27]

I guess in conclusion to the guy that runs a 7:30 mile and a half; keep that running up, don’t lose it. From a guy that was strong with a log and a good swimmer, nothing will make you see the face of Jesus like the running evolutions at BUDs. Not even getting actually drowned. Get that 500 down and get yourself a contract but overall, just be comfortable in the water and a passable swimmer, the real nut check will be the boats, especially come hellweek when you carry the mofo around for a week. It really all comes down to stuff about yourself that no one could tell by looking at you. The best athletes I ever personally met were in my class and most went undesignated to the fleet with me while guys you literally would laugh in the face of if they told you they were a SEAL have a bird on their chest now. The only consistent character arc of those guys that made it through in my estimation is that they were all great runners with a little suicidal level of no quit sprinkled in. That’s my 2 cents.

 

[Arf]

I guess in conclusion to the guy that runs a 7:30 mile and a half; keep that running up, don’t lose it.

I think @Zulio6 is looking at CCT or SF, but this is still good advice for him or anyone else looking at this thread.

The best athletes I ever personally met were in my class and most went undesignated to the fleet with me while guys you literally would laugh in the face of if they told you they were a SEAL have a bird on their chest now. The only consistent character arc of those guys that made it through in my estimation is that they were all great runners with a little suicidal level of no quit sprinkled in. That’s my 2 cents.

I share similar experiences. The guys that were the best athletes oftentimes didn’t make it because they weren’t used to failing. How you accept failing and getting the shit kicked out of you is what is going to determine your strength to pick yourself back up and see your pipeline through to the end. They zone in on you when you fail to assess how you handle it.
I passed out several times in Selection. A few times in the water, and once when we were doing burpees at the end of the training day (I was also sick). Nothing makes you realize you can push yourself past your limits like passing out. The day I passed out doing Burpees gave me the confidence that as long as I was still conscious I was capable of anything.


EDIT: DO NOT PRACTICE UNDERWATER BREATH HOLDS! Practice holding your breath lying down in your bed or on the floor. Do bicycle kicks or anything to burn oxygen but please do not do it in the water.

 

[Zulio6]

I'm not really sure right now what I'd like to pursue in the military.
Honestly my interests in SOCOM and which specific career I might like to try to pursue is always fluctuating. I am intrested in Seals very much tho.

 

[Zulio6]

I'm really starting to lean towards the Navy SO contract.

 

[Arf]

I'm really starting to lean towards the Navy SO contract.

I didn’t think drown proofing was that bad, but I was extremely comfortable in the water. Lots of guys were not and failed.

Even though I was comfortable in the water, I passed out twice doing breath holding evolutions.

You will be challenged, and not being comfortable in the water is going to make you panic.

The only thing I can say is just spend time in the water. If you can get on a club waterpolo team or practice with a college water polo team and just let them drown you, that would help you the most.

Second phase BUD/S is something I did not go through, and is essentially being drowned every single day.

 

[Luckynumber27]

After I got dropped out of training, I wrote a full three or four page paper on my thoughts about training and what I would specifically do if I ever went back. I think have it somewhere and if anyone wants it, I can send it their way in a private message, it’s certainly nothing I would post online, not trying to give away pipeline secrets or anything, just my personal reflections a few days after being in the pipeline. I understand a lot has changed since the 4 years since I was there, but a couple of my boot camp buddies went back and made it through this last year and they all said it was pretty much spot on and what they did to make it their second time through. Might be cheesy as hell but it was the honest opinion of a heart broken 22 year old that had just got perf dropped from the only thing he ever wanted to do with his life.