DH Xavier - Breaking BUD/S: How Regular Guys Can Become Navy SEALs (formerly The SEAL Training Bible)

In Memory of SOCS Ty Woods (ret.)

(KIA 11 September 2012 in Benghazi, Libya),

who told me the secret to BUD/S:

Just get the fuck after it, dont be a pussy, and youll be fine.

Breaking BUD/S: How Regular Guys Can Become Navy SEALs

by DH Xavier

Chapter 1

An Introduction to BUD/S.

Well it aint no chainsaw-bearing clown, so what do I got to fear?

- The Lost Trailers

Eating The Elephant.

How do you eat an elephant? Elephants are huge. Your mouth - despite what your high school teachers said - is small. You eat it one bite at a time.

You want to be a Navy SEAL, we call ourselves Team Guys. You want to be paid to jump out of airplanes in the middle of the night, to sneak behind enemy lines and snatch bad guys out of their beds, to be elite and be silent and be deadly. You want to test yourself against one of the hardest selection and training programs in the world and prove to yourself theres nothing you cannot do.

This is no small order, as you likely know. It takes a special level of dedication and focus to make it, but it isnt impossible. If you can pass the basic SEAL Challenge physical requirements, you can physically become a SEAL.

SEAL Challenge Requirements:

500 yd. swim (breast stroke or CSS): 12:30

10 minute rest

Pushups (2min): 42

Situps (2min): 50

Pullups (unlimited time): 6

10 minute rest

1.5 mi. Run: 11:00

If you can meet or beat these scores, you have what it takes to be a Team Guy. Let that sink in. Better scores indicating better fitness might make it easier on you mentally, but if you can meet or beat these scores, you have everything you need to become one of the worlds elite Special Operations Forces (SOF). You dont need to have an XBOX or Playstation to get your action fix: you can get it at work every day.

There should be an alarm going off in your head right now telling you somethings wrong here. If thats all there is to it, then why do so few make it? Why do so many dedicated men fail to become Team Guys, despite their burning desires or extreme dedication? Why do thousands of men give up on their dream every year?

Theyre not eating that elephant one bite at a time.

Unlike every other book about Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training (BUD/S) in general, this book is going to show you how thousands of normal guys before you have successfully navigated BUD/S and gone on to become Navy SEALs. By the time you finish this book, you will be more prepared for BUD/S than any other candidate out there. Youll know the best way to keep up on soft-sand runs, youll know the best techniques for Log PT, youll know what to focus on during Pool Comp, and youll be better prepared for Hell Week.

Youll have the best set of tools possible to complete BUD/S. This wont make it easy by any means and the book wont do it for you. There are no cheat codes at BUD/S - you still have to do everything yourself. You might still Drop On Request (DOR) and quit. But knowledge is a weapon, and if you know what to expect and how people have done things before, you have a psychological edge and will be able to keep your head in the game.

And it IS a game. BUD/S is a long, terrible, miserable game that you wont want to play most of the time. But if you want to be a SEAL, youll play the game to the end. And at the end you get your Trident. Ill show you how.

Why a SEAL?

Pudgy, Cheetoe-eating, window-licking 12-year-old videogamers and Airsoft commandos cloud the internet with claims of what Special Operations (SpecOps) forces are the best/most elite. Watch a video on YouTube about any SpecOps force and a dozen wannabes will post comments below claiming that SEALs are better than the Rangers, which are better than PJs, which are more elite than SWCC, who arent fit to wipe their asses with Green Berets, who are better than everyone except Marine Force Recon, who all wish they were SAS. Those conversations make every single operator gag and want to kill people. Those conversations are absurd and only take place among people who dont know a thing about the subject. In fact, if I find out you take part in one of those online flame-wars after reading this book, I will come to your house in the middle of the night and kill you. Im kidding. I think.

So heres the requisite discussion of differing mission sets, responsibilities, etc. The goal here is not only to set the record straight, but also to make sure youre pursuing the right unit to do what you want to do.

SEALs. Navy SEALs (SEa, Air, Land) are commandos with a maritime capability. We call ourselves Team Guys. The basic mission sets of the SEAL Teams are Direct Action (DA) and Special Reconnaissance (SR). DAs are target assaults, like the one that killed Osama bin Laden, with the ultimate goal to capture or kill targeted personnel. SRs vary in length, but involve getting eyes on an unwitting target in order to gather intel, designate targets for air assets, or take a sniper shot. If you want a bad guy snatched out of his bed and brought in for interrogation, you call the SEAL Teams.

Navy Special Warfare Combat Crewmen (SWCC). Navy SWCC are small craft specialists. They pilot a number of maritime insertion platforms used by SEALs. While the large number of BUD/S dropouts in the SWCC ranks has inspired the occasional Team Guy to insist SWCC stands for SEAL Wannabe, Couldnt Cut it, the Special Boat Units are an integral part of the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) squadron and SWCC Operators fulfill a large number of versatile roles in the NSW Community.

Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). Navy EOD techs do a broad array of jobs related to explosives. After completing their own extensive training, some EOD techs are attached to SEAL platoons. They complete the entirety of the platoons pre-deployment workup alongside the SEALs and use their expertise in IED (Improvised Explosive Device) detection and disarmament to save SEAL operators from booby traps and land mines. Only a small portion of Navy EOD techs are attached to SEAL platoons, but those few are very much considered brothers in arms.

Army Rangers. Army Rangers are a well-trained light infantry unit. They dont do much low-visibility work, but they get a lot of combat. Theyre not out-of-the box operators, but theyre both violent and well-organized.

Army Special Forces (aka SF or Green Berets). SF guys exist to train indigenous forces to fight in proxy. Their tactical teams are called Operation Detachment Alphas (ODAs). Their speciality is guerilla warfare and counter-insurgency. They are extremely well-suited to being in remote areas without external support. They thrive on austerity and live in the grey.

Marine Force Recon. Force Recon guys are the closest relatives to SEALs under SOCOM. Their training is different in a number of ways, but theyre the only other SOF force with universally-amphibious capabilities.

Marine Special Operations Battalion (MSOB). MSOB (often called MARSOC) guys are the Marine Corps answer to SF ODAs, but with a universal maritime capability similar to Force Recon guys.

Air Force Combat Control Teams (CCT). CCTs are Air Force Joint Tactical Air Controllers (JTACs). Their specialty is controlling aircraft and munitions. When units drop bombs from jets or launch missiles from helicopters, its a JTAC who controls the aircraft from the ground. All SEAL platoons have their own organic JTACs. CCTs are spread out over the combat theatre to teams (ODAs, SEAL Platoons, MSOB teams, etc) who need additional JTAC capabilities.