A Few Questions about Navy SEALs training

Nuwanda

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Just a few questions about training as a Navy Seal & who can join.

Is there a training facility for SEALs in Texas? (Corpus Christi or Houston) or do all SEALs get training only in Coronado, CA?

What are the rank orders/titles of those training recruits?

How often and when are day passes or 3 day passes given?

And the trickiest question that could break my novel idea....if the person interested in joining as a SEAL has 15 years of military experience but with the Royal Irish Regiment & as a private contractor but is has gained US citizenship, is he allowed to join?

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions!
 
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Duncan J Macdonald

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Just a few questions about training as a Navy Seal & who can join.

Is there a training facility for SEALs in Texas? (Corpus Christi or Houston) or do all SEALs get training only in Coronado, CA?

No. Naval Special Warfare Preparatory School in Great Lakes, Illinois. (8 Weeks) Then BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolition School) is only at the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado (24 Weeks)

What are the rank orders/titles of those training recruits?

No special ranks or titles. Since it is a combined enlisted/officer training, you'll have Instructors from all ranks.

How often and when are day passes or 3 day passes given?

While at Great Lakes, you'll likely get weekends, unless you are in a duty status, or have lost liberty for some reason. At BUDS, especially during Hell Week, you ain't getting any time off. Incidentally, the Navy doesn't hand out Day or 3 Day passes. We go by hours -- 72-hour liberty would be your 3 day equivalent, and they are rare.

And the trickiest question that could break my novel idea....if the person interested in joining as a SEAL has 15 years of military experience but with the Royal Irish Regiment & as a private contractor but is has gained US citizenship, is he allowed to join?

Sure -- he can apply to a recruiter -- but he might be too old. I'd recommend calling up your local friendly US Navy recruiter's office and asking them.


Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions![/QUOTE]

No problem.

R/
Duncan
 

Nuwanda

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This has been amazingly helpful! You covered everything so nicely.

I figured there wouldn't be any passes during hell week. Would there be any given shortly after? I just want to be clear on how often he might get to leave base?
 
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Sure -- he can apply to a recruiter -- but he might be too old. I'd recommend calling up your local friendly US Navy recruiter's office and asking them.

Wasn't the guy American Sniper was based off of +30 when he entered SEAL training?

This is what Google turned up for me:

Applicants must be from 17 to 28 years old. Waivers for men ages 29 and 30 are available for highly qualified candidates. Men with prior enlisted service as SEALs who are seeking to become SEAL Officers can request waivers to age 33.

For you're guy I would say 30 is the max. IMHO I don't necessarily care if a story is 100% aligned with real world facts. It is a story. You might want to try and find some people on here with multiple publications under their belt and ask them if you can wiggle that fact.
 

cornflake

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As pretty much everything that Kyle whatsisname loony said was a lie, I wouldn't use his stories as the basis of anything, even age.

There are a bunch of books by SEALs that are fact-based though, including Finishing School, and there's a documentary following a BUDS class that has a lot of footage.
 

Trebor1415

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WeaselFire

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Also, when and what training? SEALs, and all special forces, are constantly training, both at Navy and other military bases as well as at private facilities. VietNam era versus present will change somewhat where they are trained. What their specialty is will change training. Whether or not they are/were in other special forces groups can change training. Some might even skip Great Lakes, others may successfully go through BUDS and never become a SEAL.

In general, most SEAL trainees will be in their early 20's, though a lot has changed in the last decade as dependency on special forces troops has increased. Some won't even be Navy, but now days most will have joined the Navy, or Marines, with an intent of becoming a SEAL. Much more elan and cache now than the group used to have, though every branch of the service has a vast array of special forces troops now.

I have a friend whose son went through the Naval Academy and eventually tried out for SEALs (Dad's still pissed, SEALs don't end up on the Joint Chiefs, where he wanted his son). Made it on his second attempt, at age 27. Another friend's son joined the Coast Guard out of high school to become a rescue swimmer, eventually moved to SEALs and ended up in three BUDS classes before passing (injuries both time he was sent back). But another friend's son made SEAL the day after his 19th birthday (Dad was a VietNam era SEAL and the boy had trained for it since he was about three).

The guys my age that I know used to be SEALs were all sailors somewhere before choosing special forces, but in that era there wasn't anything for sailors to do so the only way to get to combat was special forces. That's a huge difference from the last 15 years or so. Same with Rangers and other special forces. Have a friend who left Marine Recon six months before 9/11. Tried to reup and they didn't want him.

So you have a wide range of possibilities for your character, Foreign-born SEAL candidates are not unusual and, if your character has special training the SEALs need, it's quite possible he'd be accepted. If your character is special enough, 72 hour liberty could be granted, or if he had cause that warranted it. Rare doesn't mean impossible. But I wouldn't see liberty during BUDS as a possibility without getting the privilege of returning later with a different class. :)

You might consider not making your character a SEAL. SEAL missions can, and do, include operators from other assignments, even foreign military, so you could write the character into a SEAL mission without making him a SEAL. I have a friend who was Army Rangers via 82nd Airborne, worked with the DEA on some missions, ended up in the CIA, went through BUDS (at 32) and did CIA ops until he retired (Yes, you can retire from The Company). He worked with SEAL teams in Central and South America quite a bit.

The sky, as well as land and water, is the limit. :)

Jeff
 

Nuwanda

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Thanks everyone for the detailed responses and/or links.

The idea I'm sort of bouncing around is set in the current year. my MC is basically hired to go in to SEAL training undercover. So depending on how he'd relay intel would depend on how often he could leave the base. The direction this series is going might end up making this just a "shelf" idea. But it's still a really fun idea I'm toying with I think!
 

Trebor1415

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"My MC is basically hired to go in to SEAL training undercover"

Hired by who? Remember, he has to be in the U.S. Navy already, meet the standards to apply, apply for SEAL training, and be accepted. And there is a background check as part of the process. He's not going to get in under a fake name.

And what kind of investigation could he possibly do as a trainee? There time is very regimented, they are constantly training and under observation, they don't get much sleep, aren't really given any chances to go off alone, etc. The whole thing just seems impossible. And this assumes he's able to physically and mentally hack the training without getting injured, washed out, or quitting.

The exception might be if the *Navy* itself needs to slip someone in for some internal investigation. I don't know if that would really happen but it least it seems plausible.

Here's a question: Does he have to be a SEAL trainee? What if he was already a qualified SEAL and its arranged for him to go in as a trainer? This would work if the Navy itself needs to send someone in undercover as he's qualified for the job and they could arrange the transfer as an instructor.

He could also be one of the support staff who isn't actually an instructor and could be slipped in that way.
 

Nuwanda

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The exception might be if the *Navy* itself needs to slip someone in for some internal investigation. I don't know if that would really happen but it least it seems plausible.

Here's a question: Does he have to be a SEAL trainee? What if he was already a qualified SEAL and its arranged for him to go in as a trainer? This would work if the Navy itself needs to send someone in undercover as he's qualified for the job and they could arrange the transfer as an instructor.

He could also be one of the support staff who isn't actually an instructor and could be slipped in that way.

I have all this on my list of "could this work". The "hired by the navy itself " was an angle I thought about regularly. It's definitely an idea I have to be really precise with if I follow through with it.

I'm also looking at other branches of special forces but decided to tackle the Seals first to see if any of it was plausible before looking at the next one.

There's a lot to think about!
 
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ironmikezero

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The only scenario that I think would be remotely plausible would be for a deep cover NCIS agent, who is a former SEAL operative, to be reinserted in a team or in an ad hoc advisor/instructor role. The primary jurisdiction remains with DOD and would have SECNAV sanction. However plausible this might be (and that's quite a stretch), it's far more Hollywood than reality.
 

WeaselFire

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my MC is basically hired to go in to SEAL training undercover.

NCIS investigates SEALs, not any hired operative. You're going to need to do a loot more in depth research to make this plausible. As in Tom Clancy research.

Jeff
 

Nuwanda

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Oh I know there's a TON of research ahead of me but that's part of the fun! But if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I'll still come away with good knowledge though!

Thank you for all the input :)