Some people do more than hike ...
Sandbaggers Gobi Challenge
Posted on 05/08/2011 5:20:44 AM PDT by stevie_d_64
As soon as Jack Walston heard that bin Laden had been killed, he guessed a Navy SEAL pulled the trigger.
Walston, 45, of Shore Acres, retired from the Navy SEALs in 1996. He now runs a fitness company, Original Navy SEAL P.T. Course Inc., which offers military-style workouts to civilians in Houston and New York City.
"These guys are mentally and physically tough men," he said of SEALs. "These aren't guys that come handing out flowers and bandages and candy. When they show up they mean business, and they're not there to console you. They're there to take you out. And I'm glad that we have tough men who are willing to do that job."
Two dozen commandos from the secretive, "all-star" SEAL Team 6 raided bin Laden's compound on May 1 and left with the terrorist mastermind's body, along with documents, computers and other evidence. Interest in Navy SEALs has spiked ever since, driving a 1,000 percent increase in traffic to Walston's website.
'Tougher, meaner' The acronym SEAL stands for Sea, Air & Land. President John F. Kennedy founded the elite force in 1962. Prominent former SEALs who live in the Houston area include Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Marcus Luttrell, co-author of Lone Survivor, and Vietnam veteran Michael Thornton, who earned the Medal of Honor for saving the life of another SEAL in 1972.
Walston spent three and half years serving as a Navy corpsman assigned to the Marine Corps before he decided he wanted to become a SEAL.
"I really liked the nature of the work and I heard the grass was greener, and there was a group of guys who were supposedly a lot tougher, meaner and stronger," Walston said. "I wanted to find out if I'd be able to make it through their training."
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Interesting. My pop did the opposite.
My late father worked for the OSI. On one of his trips to a South American country he took photos of them offloading Whirlpool washing machine boxes from a C47. WTH? Dad later told me they contained weapons and ammo.
IMHO, $54,000 dollars a year for what these brave men do is absolutely disgraceful. I understand that they train and do this sort of high risk job for more than money but WOW! This is definitely one of those “If I was the President...” type moments.
The Houston Chronicle article said as a prerequisite to BUD’S, you had to be able to do 42 push-ups within 2 minutes, 50 sit-ups within 2 minutes, 6 pull-ups, and then a 500-yard swim within 12½ minutes, and a mile and half run within 11 minutes, all in quick succession.
And then, only 14 out of 205 of his class made it through. This is men who could do the aforementioned prerequisite. That means around 90% of those who could do those things above couldn’t handle it.
Sheesh. No wonder they say their’s is the toughest in the military, probably in the world.
Back in the day, I worked with a guy who had been a UDT guy during WW2. He told me that he was one of those original SEALS who hiked across the Gobi Desert and set up a radio/radar station in China’s war against Jap.
They certainly are a different breed. Can you imagine hiking across the Gobi Desert? I guess their level of fear is less than most?
That’s Olympics-level physical conditioning. Amazing!
Back when I was a LOT younger I might have given it a shot. Today, at age 68, not so much.
“Back when I was a LOT younger I might have given it a shot. Today, at age 68, not so much.”
Same here. These days, I think about it before I hike across the room to get a beer. :^)
No, UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams) were the WWII precursors of the SEALs. The SEALs were trained in all facets of special forces warfare, along with the underwater specialty.
80% drop out rate.
80% divorce rate.
They are not family friendly. At all.
BLAST FROM THE PAST.....
3 NAVY SEALS TO GO ON TRIAL FOR SLAPPING AND OFFENDING A TERRORIST....OBAMA SAYS AND DOES NOTHING.....
No prob...I figured you’d like to see the story...
That’s a keeper!!!
Wow... remind me never to mess with you! :)
Thank you for your service!
That physical screening test you mention is not difficult, any decent swimmer can go over twice that speed without any real difficulty. I’m not surprised that the actual training program is far more demanding. I would be concerned if that were NOT the case actually.
USA Swimming Navy Seal Challenge results
http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/Documents/62cbd095-ebb5-4b88-a98a-b24e32976581/master_seal.pdf
17 year-old Mr. Gabriel Rooker from Oregon finished first by points with a 500 yard swim of 4:58 (see, 12:30 is WAY easy for decent swimmers), ran 1.5 miles in 8:21, did 70 push-ups, 102 curl-ups, 24 pull-ups.
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