12. Coronado: An Overview of BUD/S Training
“The only easy day was yesterday.”
—Navy SEAL instructor
Before we get back to the next adventure (and it is a doozy), let me address the elephant in the room: Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training, a.k.a. BUD/S.
I do not intend to paint an intimate portrait of the training itself. There is abundant detailed information available about the subject. (I’m not real happy about that, but it is what it is.) What I intend to do is briefly discuss my own perspective by touching on and perhaps expanding upon some hot-topic issues with regard to the training regimen.
First up, BUD/S is arguably the most rigorous special forces training in existence today. During my time in the Navy, the “5326 combat swimmer” designation was not an actual job (rating). To try out for BUD/S, the sailor had to already have a designated rating. This was done to protect the aspiring tadpole by leaving him with an actual job to fall back on to continue his naval career. Today, the Navy, in their infinite wisdom, has designated a “5326 combat swimmer” as a job rating. This allows the candidate to carry on to BUD/S training straight from graduating boot camp. The only question I have regarding this development is what does the sailor do in the Navy if he quits or washes out? I presume he is sent off to an A school of his choosing.
To qualify for participation in BUD/S training, the prospective student must pass an initial physical fitness test. The student then enlists in the Navy, attends and eventually graduates boot camp, and receives orders to report to BUD/S training. Upon arrival, the student is assigned a class. Until his class formally “forms up,” the student participates in daily physical training while also adhering to work-detail assignments. This normally occurs within a two-to-four-week period. Once the class forms up, this signals the official start of the twenty-four-week training regimen.
Allow me to now introduce a “nuclear bomb” into this discussion. Since 2015, women have been eligible to try out and, if successful, enter the SEAL training pipeline. One such woman tried in November 2018 but dropped out during the three-week indoctrination phase prior to training. Most women might not take kindly to my opinion, but the cold hard fact is that women have no business trying out for SEAL Teams. For any gals reading this who are bona fide athletes, fitness experts, or athletic competitors, before throwing this book into a fire, please read my analysis and then decide for yourself if I’m a chauvinist pig or a realist.
A woman is a woman. Most men, at least in my day, strive to be as masculine as possible and revel in their masculinity. Some feminists might argue that masculine and feminine roles are constructs designed to placate society. The irony is that in their fight for equality, women end up emulating the things they hate most in men—imperialism, careerism, ruthless competition. I agree 100 percent that in many endeavors, women should be given the same dignity, opportunity, and respect as a man. That said, a woman who truly understands the physical limitations imposed on her by her gender should be able to objectively assess the differences when standing in front of a mirror alongside an active duty, world-class-fit Navy SEAL.