For you Navy guys.

[FoxBodyNick]

What is your end goal in SO?

Sorry I didn't read that right man. Tired! haha. End goal is to complete the training!! One step at a time!

[S_K]

Sorry I didn't read that right man. Tired! haha. End goal is to complete the training!! One step at a time!

If that is your end goal then you are royally screwed, blued, and tattoed my friend. Have a goal and a plan beyond boot camp or you will get any shit job they decide to throw at you.
Any promises your recruiter made.. forget them, they ain't happening. In the military, if you don't have it in writing - it's not going to happen. A lot of people will make you promises based on what could happen or what they would like to see happen. Never turns out that way, learn to deal with it and make the best of the situation.
800 Boot camp will be harder than you have any idea. Keep pushing thru. Never give up. Never complain, that just gets them motivated

Sorry kid, but it seems like you have rose colored glasses - take 'em off. Shit is about to get real.

[FoxBodyNick]

If that is your end goal then you are royally screwed, blued, and tattoed my friend. Have a goal and a plan beyond boot camp or you will get any shit job they decide to throw at you.
Any promises your recruiter made.. forget them, they ain't happening. In the military, if you don't have it in writing - it's not going to happen. A lot of people will make you promises based on what could happen or what they would like to see happen. Never turns out that way, learn to deal with it and make the best of the situation.
800 Boot camp will be harder than you have any idea. Keep pushing thru. Never give up. Never complain, that just gets them motivated

Sorry kid, but it seems like you have rose colored glasses - take 'em off. Shit is about to get real.

Thank you for the response. By make it through the training I mean BUD/s, not boot camp. Sorry about that. I don't expect to have an issue with 800. I am not going to make further goals until I have met the main obstacle in my path and that is graduating from BUD/s. I am fully aware of how recruiters are. I saw them deal with my brother and watch them try to promise me things and I didn't let it even effect me. I am not naive nor ignorant on my current situation or what I am walking in to. I am 24 years old. Not out of high school and naive. The SO contract I am signing is for SEALs. I have been in DEP for a year now training with other contracted special operator candidates who are waiting to ship. I have been well informed and trained by my mentors. I do plan on making it through BUD/s but that is my main objective at the moment. The reason I said make it through training is because of injuries and medical issues that might come from the intense training. My mental state is solid. I was given this contract through a lot of evaluation and hard work. That is my job. There is no other shit job they are going to throw at me. I mainly got on here to ask about information regarding info needed for basic to make it smoother for us as a whole so I can inform them instead of going in there making stupid mistakes.

I didn't expect all of you to know the details of this. I just mainly wanted the Navy guys or prior Navy guys to chime in with those "here is what you should know that they don't tell you" kinda things..



These rose color glasses are just for style and aren't blurring my vision my man

[S_K]

My apologies Nick. I totally misread you. I have a lot of respect for the brown water guys. Good luck to you.

[FoxBodyNick]

My apologies Nick. I totally misread you. I have a lot of respect for the brown water guys. Good luck to you.

Haha. You're good man. Without details on the situation it would definitely look that way! and thanks, I'll need it!

[majorownage]

Good luck. Try not to stick out. You do not want attention.

[my95z28]

Seems like you have a good head on your shoulders. The biggest piece of advice that I can give you is when you are feeling down, like you aren't good enough, like the best thing for you to do is go ring that bell stop and think, why are there others that are better than me? Because if you quit, that is admitting that the ones that made it are better than you, which simply isn't the case. If they made it, so can you. Helped me out a lot through training albeit not SEAL training. Good luck and keep us updated!

[Brn N Rubr]

Not that I want you to fail, but I want you to know what happens if you DOR from BUDS....they will give you one chance and send you to Pensecola to be SAR swimmer aircrew candidate. If you DOR or fail out of that they will send you undesignated to the fleet (think scraping the side of the boat).

I am enlisted aircrew stationed here in Fort Worth (typing this from Bahrain - fun stuff). Since I went to aircrew school as a "fleet returnee" it was a little different for me. There were tons of BUDS guys there.

Just keep your head and push through. It's all a mind game.

[slowyellow]

First of all, welcome to the Navy. The Navy is exactly what you want to make of it. I've busted my ass the past 8 years and it's been good to me. I've got a few buddies that are "team guys", and have talked to them a little bit about when they went through BUDS. As you already know, 90 percent of it is mental. And it's going to be cold, lol. I'm sure you have heard all sorts of things about it so I won't bore you with anymore.

As far as bootcamp goes, I went to a military boarding school during 2 years of my high school. Compared to that, Navy Bootcamp was a joke. Just do the obvious things. Kind of like forest gump, "whatever you tell me to drill sergeant" lol. But realistically that's what they want there. Just do what they tell you, and focus on becoming part of the "team" that they want you to become. Keep your head down, keep your attitude in check, and you should do fine.

Good luck in BUDS man, my buddy says that the percentage of older guys that make it through is pretty small. And remember, pretty much everyone gets some sort of injury there, they want to see you push through it, and get the mission (buds) done. I wish you the best. And feel free to PM me with any specific questions. And if you end up out this way, which you have a pretty damn good chance of, look me up. I'll be here for at least another 5 years.

[samuel642000]

First of all, welcome to the Navy. The Navy is exactly what you want to make of it. I've busted my ass the past 8 years and it's been good to me. I've got a few buddies that are "team guys", and have talked to them a little bit about when they went through BUDS. As you already know, 90 percent of it is mental. And it's going to be cold, lol. I'm sure you have heard all sorts of things about it so I won't bore you with anymore.

As far as bootcamp goes, I went to a military boarding school during 2 years of my high school. Compared to that, Navy Bootcamp was a joke. Just do the obvious things. Kind of like forest gump, "whatever you tell me to drill sergeant" lol. But realistically that's what they want there. Just do what they tell you, and focus on becoming part of the "team" that they want you to become. Keep your head down, keep your attitude in check, and you should do fine.

Good luck in BUDS man, my buddy says that the percentage of older guys that make it through is pretty small. And remember, pretty much everyone gets some sort of injury there, they want to see you push through it, and get the mission (buds) done. I wish you the best. And feel free to PM me with any specific questions. And if you end up out this way, which you have a pretty damn good chance of, look me up. I'll be here for at least another 5 years.

Pretty much everything he said, Navy boot is a cake walk, I've had HS football workouts that were more difficult. If you're going to the 800s you should already be in pretty good shape so the hardest thing about boot will be to maintain your current condition. I went in in better shape than I did leaving.
They seem to hit you on your rank structure of you "ship" more than anything else, that and insignia reconigzition were the main reasons I was hit on inspections.
The hardest time I had was being bored, there's a lot of hurry up and wait.
Main thing I learned was to have the night watch wake you up 15 min prior to reveally, that way you can shit, shave, get dressed, and make your rack before all the chaos with everyone being awake.
All in all I thought boot was a breeze, just had to find ways to kill time and keep sane. I actually volunteered to be M.A. And sure I got punished when people fucked up but I feel it worked out better than sitting in the shadows. Your choice there man.

But have fun make the best of it and welcome abroad squid.

[DallasSleeper]

Enjoy. Learn to stay off the radar and make the best of every bad situation.

This is the best piece of advice, you don't want to stand out one way or the other, be middle of the road. Any attention is bad. The longer they go without knowing your name, the better off you are. Also do everything you can now to be in the best possible shape you can when you get there. Lots of pushups, situps and running right now.

[slowyellow]

Main thing I learned was to have the night watch wake you up 15 min prior to reveally, that way you can shit, shave, get dressed, and make your rack before all the chaos with everyone being awake.

Forgot about this. This is a must. Makes it a lot easier when you are already "done" and there is 70 people fighting over 8 mirrors and sinks to shave.

[FoxBodyNick]

Thanks for the responses. Advice noted. Ready to apply it and get after it!

[FoxBodyNick]

This is the best piece of advice, you don't want to stand out one way or the other, be middle of the road. Any attention is bad. The longer they go without knowing your name, the better off you are. Also do everything you can now to be in the best possible shape you can when you get there. Lots of pushups, situps and running right now.

Yes they work us pretty hard to get us prepped. Our SEAL mentor puts us through the ringer both in the pool and out.

[SEB]

Just want to say congrats man on your new career! I think the service is the best place for young men & makes MEN out of boys. My brother got in trouble at 18 & got a DUI & injured his buddy really bad who was in the car with him & the guy to this day 5 years later still has issues from that night. They gave my brother the choice of 2 years locked up or go in the service. He was a knuckle head before he went in the service & had bad habits & didnt know what to do with his life prior to the service. He went through bootcamp & they made him infantry & first tour got his heal shattered riding a troop carrier that went over a IUD & came back to San Antonio & did 6 months picking up & driving familys around San Antonio for other injured service men & went back to his unit & did another tour. I am proud to report he is 23 now & is in College & a Supervisor at UPS & does NG every other month. The service made a man of my brother.