In March 2005, 72 percent of the young men who were recruited to join the Navy to become SEALs failed the initial Physical Screening Test (PST) when they first arrived at boot camp. At the time, the test involved six pull-ups and unremarkable run and swim times. “We recognized that we had to have recruiters test civilian candidates pursuing SEAL contracts on a full physical screening test, which includes the 500-yard swim.”
What was a 72 percent fail rate on the initial boot camp PST nine years ago has been reduced to a fail rate today of less than 10 percent.
The new processes and procedures began to produce the desired results. For example, a representative FY 06 baseline included an NRC goal of 1,400 enlisted SEALs. Against that goal, 829 sailors were shipped to NSW, where 125 became BUD/S enlisted graduates: a “ship to BUD/S graduation” ratio of 7-to-1, or 15 percent.
By contrast, in FY 10 NRC shipped 1,141 sailors against a goal of 1,140, with 225 of those graduating BUD/S: a 5-1 ratio or 19.7 percent. Moreover, in FY 13, NRC shipped 791 young sailors against a goal of 790, with 236 graduating BUD/S: a 3-1 ratio of 29.8 percent.
“When we really started the processes in 2006, we were on the cusp,” Smith admitted. “I know at the time that Rear Adm. Maguire was getting a lot of questions about combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, two land-locked countries, and whether it was absolutely necessary to conduct around-the-clock maritime training in which candidates stay awake for a week and are immersed in cold water. And there was real pressure there, from what I could perceive at my level. But he stood his ground, saying that this was required to develop these sailors into warriors who would be successful on the battlefield, in any environment, under the most difficult conditions.”
Candidates compete in the swimming portion of the Physical Screening Test (PST) to qualify for a Naval Special Warfare or Naval Special Operations contract at the Bartlett Recreation Center, Tenn., Feb. 11, 2014. The PST consists of a 500 yard swim, pushups, situps, pullups, and a 1.5-mile run. The top performers are selected in a draft and nominated to to fill NSW/NSO billets. U.S. Navy photo by MCSN James Anthony Griffin
“So we were fortunate that we were able to alter our course soon enough and well enough to start to increase the throughput without compromising the standard and without changing some of those historic training wickets, hurdles, or obstacles that we have always taken part in,” he said.
Along with the changes noted, in 2011 the directorate implemented other recruiting activities designed to reach ethnically diverse candidates. Increased language capabilities and cultural awareness are needed to better support NSW’s operational presence across the globe. The rate of enlisted Hispanic SEALs has more than doubled in the past two years as a result of these efforts.
“But some come up here and you’ve got a tougher decision,” he continued. “You’ve got this 18- to 23-year-old kid who has done so much to get this far. So what do you do with that guy? Inevitably, what we were dropping them for are things that I view as ‘trainable.’”
In addition, the directorate has even begun to enhance NSW awareness at local high schools in both the Southern California and Tidewater, Va., areas as well as with the Eagle Scouts across the country.
Smith said that the early payoff has been good. “We went from four [BUD/S] classes a year back to five; and then to six. And we went from a traditional size of 120 up to classes as big as 190. When we started to lose some efficiency there, we tailored that back down. As a result of WARCOM’s commitment to recruiting and preparing future NSW operators, the schoolhouse has been full and we’ve been filling every single class repeatedly.”
NSW Basic Training Command
Those classes fall under NSW Basic Training Command (BTC), located at Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, Calif. BTC includes nine different courses of instruction: Orientation; BUD/S; Junior Officer Training Course; Pre-SEAL Qualification Training ; SEAL Qualification Training (SQT); Basic Crewman Training; Pre-Crewman Qualification Training; Crewman Qualification Training (cqt); and Cold Weather Training.
“The Basic Training Command is the ‘one-stop shopping’ location for the SEAL and SWCC schoolhouse,” explained Capt. (Select) Jay Hennessey, commanding officer of NSW Basic Training Command. “And if I was to summarize what we have been doing over the past two years, it would be refining how we do business.”
Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) students participate in Surf Passage at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Calif, Jan. 21, 2014. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael Russell
Describing the “nature of NSW training,” Hennessey outlined both SEAL and SWCC pipelines, beginning with boot camp, followed by the eight-week NSW Prep course noted by Smith above.
“They come here for three weeks of orientation and then they start their respective pipelines,” he said, stating that the SEAL pipeline runs approximately 63 weeks while the SWCC pipeline is approximately 27 weeks.
“Inevitably, some students do well in the pipeline while others stumble,” he explained. “And when they stumble, they go through what we call a Student Performance Review Board. Those names that the board recommends dropping are looked at by the leadership here. And most of those are pretty easy. You look at the graphs and see by both performance and character indicators that they really didn’t belong here.
“But some come up here and you’ve got a tougher decision,” he continued. “You’ve got this 18- to 23-year-old kid who has done so much to get this far. So what do you do with that guy? Inevitably, what we were dropping them for are things that I view as ‘trainable.’”