Navy SEAL recruits blanketed in TEAR GAS singing ‘Happy Birthday’ so they can’t hold their breath

hellish week

Hell Week is the fourth week in Phase 1 – which takes place in Phase 3 – and is a relentless week of physical activity and very little sleep.

“The Hell Week is the most important event of the BUD/S training,” says the Navy.

Hell Week consists of five and a half days of cold, wet, relentlessly difficult operational training with less than four hours of sleep. It tests ‘physical stamina, mental toughness, pain and cold tolerance, teamwork, attitude and your ability to perform work under high physical and mental stress and sleep deprivation’.

It starts on a Sunday and runs through Friday.

Interns are constantly on the move. They run, swim, paddle, carry boats on their heads, do log PT, sit-ups, push-ups, roll in the sand, slog through mud, paddle boats and do surf passage, the Navy said.

On average, only 25 percent of candidates make it through Hell Week, the toughest training offered in the military.

Medical personnel will be on site throughout the week to assist exhausted or injured candidates.

Candidates will also experience brutal whining, tempting them to stop and mimic their inner voices, emphasizing their pain.

The other stages

Phase 1: Prep School

Trainees start in Illinois for two months to prepare for BUD/S.

Candidates undergo a modified physical fitness test to prepare them for the strenuous activity they will endure during BUD/S.

The test includes:

• 1000 meters swim – with fins (20 minutes or less)
• Push-ups: 70 minimum (two-minute time limit)
• Pull-ups: 10 minimum (no time limit)
• Sit-ups: 60 minimum (two minute time limit)
• Run four miles – with shoes + pants (31 minutes or less)

Candidates who fail will be moved to various Navy jobs.

Phase 2: Basic Orientation

The basic orientation lasts three weeks and takes place in Coronado, California, at the Naval Special Warfare Center.

In this phase, the candidates are introduced to ‘BUD/S physical training, the obstacle course and other unique training aspects’.

Phase 3: First phase (including Hell Week)

This phase – including Hell Week in week 4 – lasts seven weeks.

It is used to “further develop physical training, water competence and mental tenacity while continuing to build teamwork.”

Each week, students will experience tougher conditions such as longer runs, swims, and workouts.

They will also learn how to conduct hydrographic surveys.

At this stage, there is a significant drop in the number of candidates.

Phase 4: Phase Two – Combat Diving

This phase also lasts seven weeks and introduces underwater abilities unique to Navy SEALs.

Interns become “basic combat swimmers and learn open and closed circuit diving.”

Candidates must feel comfortable in the water and demonstrate a high level of comfort there.

Phase 5: Land Warfare Training

The final phase lasts seven weeks and develops skills in ‘basic weapons, destruction, land navigation, patrol, rappelling, marksmanship and small unit tactics’.

Half of this training will take place on San Clemente Island – about 60 miles from the base, and they will practice the skills they learned in Phase 3.

Source: Marine