For applying to officer candidature and willing to become a Navy SEAL Officer(Sea-Air-Land) , you have to get selected to BUDS, right after you finish off with your OCS. After the selection, you are required to attend a navy SEAL training that is executed by board of SEAL officers. To become a Navy SEAL officer one requires great mental fitness, medical well-being, and potential to make instant decisions while performing as a part of the team under challenging situations.
The SEAL officers gets highest stipend among all enlisted officers in military sector. For this reason, only experts with excellent state of mind and physical health are able to pass the entrance test. So, if you too think that you are the cream among all, and you can get into the complete examination process then read on the steps to become a Navy SEAL Officer.
Road-map for Becoming a Navy SEAL Officer:
Becoming a navy seal officer is not a easy job. The following mentioned are few tips on how to become a navy seal officer.
1. Adequate age is extremely important:
Applications will be accepted from males who are less or equal to 28 years of age. For people aging 29 or 30 years, an age waiver can be requested, and the confirmation for the same depends on each case. Teens who are 17 years old are required to enlist an application with their parent’s approval. If however, you are an experienced Navy SEAL professional and now wish to become a SEAL officer, then you can be permitted up to 33 years of age. There are few navy seal age limit terms that should be met to become navy seal officer.
2. Proper vision is mandatory:
It is essential to have vision under 20/70 to become a SEAL. But it is the worst case, for the best eye one is expected to have 20/40 vision. Individuals with color blindness are simply not acceptable.
3. Must be a U.S. Citizen:
To be the part of the esteemed group of U.S. navy SEAL, it is mandatory for an applicant to be a U.S. citizen. One must be a naturalized or native-born United States citizen, and it is mandatory for them to be able to read, speak, and write fluently in English.
4. Go through a security clearance:
SEAL entertains only those individuals who don’t have any criminal background. Those found associated with a felony are rejected in the security clearance phase.
5. Medical and Physical Fitness:
For an individual to get selected in the initial navy SEAL test it is not only vital to be medically fit, but it is also required to have psychological soundness. People with any kind of mental issue may not be able to clear the SEAL test.
6. Visit local recruiter:
Enlisting in the military is another requirement to become a U.S. SEAL officer. Hence, you need to visit a recruiter and inform them about your intentions to secure a SEAL Challenge Contract. For this, you need to provide the recruiter with all essential documents including work report of past ten years. On qualifying this, you will get in contact with the Naval Special Warfare, and they will train you for your PST or Physical Screening Test. Information regarding the assigned location of selected candidates is made available on the SWCC/ SEAL website.
7. Clear the ASVAB test to join in the military:
To join in the military force, you need to clear an ASVAB test that tests your skills in various disciples. General Science, Arithmetic Reasoning, Numerical operations, Electronics information, word knowledge, mechanical comprehension, paragraph comprehension and coding are some of the major abilities for which the candidates are tested.
8. Avail your Navy Contract:
Getting a SEAL contract is not so easy, and first, you have to avail a Navy contract that is superseded by the SEAL contract. The day you receive your Navy contract, you will be again tested for physical and psychological fitness, and complete your background screening. If there is any fault, then you will be informed that you are not eligible to become a SEAL. If you pass the contract then the next step will be to begin with your training in SEAL.
9. Physical screening test has to be passed:
The SEAL training begins with a physical screening test that lasts for couple of days. Once you pass the test, you can be then awarded with a SEAL contract.
10. Get a SEAL contract:
Your warfare mentor will award you with a SEAL contract that makes you eligible for another Physical Screening Test. On clearing the test, you are then eligible to participate in the Boot Camp of the SEAL training. For this, your old contract is cancelled and an updated contract is issued at the time of the Boot Training. If in case you are not able to clear the PST at this stage, then you will be placed in any other candidature within the Navy.
11. Begin the SEAL training:
The SEAL training begins at SEAL Preparatory School in Great Lakes, IL. The training begins with an initial PST and is followed with an intense boot camp. The training lasts for almost 2 months and if you pass it then you are promoted to participate in the BUD/S in Coronado, CA.
12. It’s the onset of BUD/S:
BUD/S Stand for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL. This is a 6 month training that aims to develop physical and mental fitness within individuals. It is divided into 3 different levels and you need to show regular improvements with every passing week. It is because, only 25% of the total applicants are able to make it till the final round. Phase one covers the basic conditioning, phase 2 covers the underwater skills of the candidate such as SCUBA diving, swimming, and phase 3 trains a candidate for use of specific weapons, small-unit tactics, and other necessary skills.
13. Onset of the Orientation:
Within the initial 3 weeks of the BUD/S you are offered with an orientation session that will bring you to the lifestyle expected after being a SEAL officer. Within the orientation session you are also tested for different skills and practices on stringent standards. May be you are exposed to cold water or you are ask to run miles in cold with wet clothes, and more. Such activities are practiced to check your strength under severe conditions.
14. Initiate the physical conditioning phase:
The physical conditioning phase lasts for 7 weeks and is quite ghastly. It includes number of physical activities and is considered the final test for a candidate’s mental and physical fitness. At this phase you are trained to work under different conditions with and without a team. If you are able to pass through this hectic week, you are then allowed to spend more couple of weeks for charts, surveys, and on other academic components.
15. Begin with the diving portion of the BUD/S:
At this phase, you will be provided training to combat all difficulties that you can meet while swimming under severe conditions. The phase mainly concentrates on your Scuba skills and can impart you with training on few medical skills.
16. It’s time for the Land Warfare Phase:
For the next few weeks, you will be now trained to use basic weapons, small unit tactics, and demolitions. But during this training process, it is expected that you don’t forget your initial training course, and hence, you are tested for the same. Patrolling techniques, land navigation, military explosives, and marksmanship are the major areas where training is imparted during this phase.
17. Initiate the parachute jump school:
Now that you have cleared all major challenges of BUD/S, it is time to go for some static line training and free-fall training including various tactical air operations. This training methodology is carried in San Diego, CA. In case you face any kind of problem like acrophobia or vertigo, then you have to overcome it, otherwise you will not be able to qualify for the further SEAL training process. This training procedure starts off simple, but later on moves to complexities and can be really tough.
18. Time for SEAL Qualification Training (SQT):
The SEAL qualification training includes evasion, survival, escape, and resistance. In addition to this, one is also trained for tactical air operations. The training is done to hone your physical and medical prowess. It is the time when you can learn about techniques, tactics, and procedures involved to become an expert SEAL officer. Marine operations, cold-weather survival, advanced swimming, land-warfare training, and other strict procedures are followed within this training process.
19. It’s time to get awarded with the prestigious SEAL trophy:
After completing your graduation from SQT, you are now a certified Navy SEAL officer, and hence, you are awarded with a trident for the same. If you intend to take an advance training in this domain then you may follow more steps mentioned below.
20. Select your rating:
Navy SEAL officer require specialized training not only in a foreign language, but also in various other domains. Individuals with this designation are expected to hold expertise in almost every niche. So whether it is medical fitness or mental intelligence, the candidates selected for the SEAL training are offered with education in each and every domain. Depending on your training procedure, you are further dispatched to other locations such as VA, Pearl Harbor, Coronado, HI, CA, and Virginia Beach.
21. Report to your SEAL trainer for advance training process:
The advance training for the SEAL officer may last around 18 months. You will be asked to carry individual specialty training, task group level training, and unit level training. No matter which way you select, the rating in all three will determine that you are ideally fit for which niche. If you possess a good medical rating then you can attend the Advanced Medical Training Course that lasts for 6 months and make you eligible to work as a SEAL medic. In case you get an officer rating then you have to go through the Junior Officer Training Course to explore and learn about various managerial and operational know-hows.
22. Put your skills to action:
As by now you have developed all your skills like a superhero, it is the correct time to put all of your skills into action. Deployments last for couple of months and may include almost everything. You need to do swimming, or travel by helicopter, parachute, or on foot, and more. Either way, you will be offered with a training procedure that will make you stand above the standard military forces.
23. You can opt to go further:
Being a Navy SEAL officer will provide you with number of sound opportunities on professional and educational front. The Navy offers adequate training to its officers to make them expert in each and every field from biological and chemical warfare to military tactics.
Becoming the Navy SEAL officer is not an easy task, as it involves lots of risks and dangers. The SEAL training program is also very intense and one has to come out as a winner to get awarded with the SEAL trident. But, if however, you are able to succeed in this deadly path, then you are able to avail number of benefits that are offered by the U.S. government, only to their expert SEAL officers.
