So what navy seal stories have you heard? Sometimes I hear people lying that they are seals and making up stories, but it makes you think if these stories were true where do we stand:
For training:
Mr X swam 25 miles
Mr X had his hands bound and was thrown in the open water, where you are forced to drown then resuscitated
Mr X has been shot out of a sub where he had to swim supposed 25 miles to shore
Mr X has done man ironman races - I ask which ones and your best time and he says I just finish them I dont have a good time.
Mr X has swam in 30-40* water which is the only one I believe to be true
I live in Virginia Beach, worked for a SEAL Command. Everyone here “Know a Seal”. While training for the two IM Distance Races I have done I quite often heard, “I know this Seal guy that has won Ironman”
Earlier this year I was swimming with a guy who couldn’t stop talking about his Seal days. He dropped out of Seal boot camp shortly after entering (due to a physical injury, so he says). He was actually a pretty poor swimmer, but wouldn’t listen to anything the instructor told him because “the Seal instructors told me to do it this way”.
I’ve never heard any actual Seal stories from an actual Seal. Those guys don’t need to brag about dumb swimming accomplishments (or anything else) to impress people.
I’ve never heard any actual Seal stories from an actual Seal. Those guys don’t need to brag about dumb swimming accomplishments (or anything else) to impress people.
This. I think it’s because usually these guys look imposing (the one I’ve met does) and usually if you spend more than five minutes around them is is painfully obvious they are physically superior. They really don’t need to tell you about it.
thats not what the OP said. forced to swim 100m with bound hands and feet is different to being forced to drown and then be resuscitated, thats just plain stupid. As for 100m with bound hands and feet, they should try treading water for 5mins while wearing your pajamas at your local swimming pool like we had to do when we were at school just to get a life saving badge, now thats what I’d call feeling at home in the water to be fair I did nearly drown though from recollection (taking winter PJ’s over summer ones was clearly a bad tactical decision that day) maybe the seals should introduce that as their first test
My brother was a Seal for 12 years. He didn’t brag, he didn’t complain, and he mostly never told field stores. Although he and my grandpa (WW2 vet) would share a beer and talk the same language.
When what he did open up about what he was involved in (1989-2002) it seemed that he was in every conflict going on then: Panama, Columbia, Bosnia, Serbia, the Middle East, Somalia, etc. And what little I learned about his “travels” makes me wonder about how what one group of people can inflict pain and suffering upon another, based on religion, tribal affiliation, geography, politics, whatever. Quite chilling behavior.
I also learned that real Seals really don’t talk much. BUDS washouts do.
Friend is a former seal. I ride with him a bit. His strength is not the physical, it is the mental. From my perspective, the one critical strength that he has is coolness under pressure. People all the time think that they can handle their sh*t in times of crisis. Most people can’t. If you have not been in a chaotic situation where your decisions have very real consequences (i.e. life and death), you just don’t know how you will measure up. People that try to measure themselves against a seal by physical tests miss the entire point in my humble opinion.
On a related note. I’ve often thought that it must It must be challenging being a former seal and transitioning back into “normal” life. Seals were the creme de la creme in theirr field. Yet when you return to civilian life, your professional accomplishments are often not at the same caliber i.e. not at the pointy end of the stick for income, etc. whatever measurement you want to make for success. How do you handle it? I’d say the same for professional athletes however they often have had a high income and fame so they still are deemed successful by society.
I just have one SEAL story. At a tri years ago, a woman bragged to my wife that her BF (studly looking guy with the right haircut at least), was an active SEAL and he was a legend in the water. Of course he swam like a manhole cover :-). I checked the race results and he swam 1500m in just over 31 minutes! WTF? (maybe he did it all under water with just one breath, or towed his wounded buddy?)
I suspect that SEAL or not, he passed me somewhere along the way, but it was raining too hard to tell.
I completely respect real military guys and top level ones like real SEALS all the more. They all risk their lives (just by signing up!) and I just work in an office, enjoying the freedom they provide for me, and the biggest risk I take is riding home in traffic!
I fell complete shame for fake SEALS. They want what real SEALS have, but by lying that they have it too, are actually further from having it than before they lied. Sad really.
I once was deep sea fishing in Vancouver and I was reeling in a ~20lb salmon. I was fighting it for a good while and then all of the sudden it surfaced 100 yards out. That’s when I came eye to eye with a salmon-stealing seal and the line broke shortly thereafter. We didn’t catch any other salmon that day. I’ve hated seals ever since.
I live in Virginia Beach, worked for a SEAL Command. Everyone here “Know a Seal”. While training for the two IM Distance Races I have done I quite often heard, “I know this Seal guy that has won Ironman”
I once was deep sea fishing in Vancouver and I was reeling in a ~20lb salmon. I was fighting it for a good while and then all of the sudden it surfaced 100 yards out. That’s when I came eye to eye with a salmon-stealing seal and the line broke shortly thereafter. We didn’t catch any other salmon that day. I’ve hated seals ever since.
I was swimming off Kits beach once and a seal nuzzled his nose against my heel…
Seals are furry creatures that live in the sea, SEALs are the Navy guys that live in the sea. They do love to get their pictures taken as a group, but the ones I know don’t talk about the job too much. They all can shoot like monsters, they all jump out of perfectly good airplanes lots of times,aren’t that fast of swimmers or runners, but will wear you out with their staying power. There are probably 100x as many guys that say they are/were SEALs or tried out for the teams.
I do know a couple of them that are having a hard time after they have been out of the Navy for a while. But then I know some Marines that are having transitional problems as well. My hat is off to all that serve, I make a point of not wanting to hear their stories any more than my wife wants to hear my hospital stories. I do not know any SEAL Officers, but the Noncoms I know are pretty regular guys and usually pretty handy around the house/farm.
to be fair I did nearly drown though from recollection (taking winter PJ’s over summer ones was clearly a bad tactical decision that day) maybe the seals should introduce that as their first test