While some might question the necessity of being inducted into this “Polar Bear Club,” SEAL candidates once again silence inner doubts and follow instructions as given. Even in the later phases of SQT, candidates call upon their mental determination to pull them through.
“I kept thinking of that scene in the movie ‘Armageddon,’” said a fellow SEAL candidate and boatswain’s mate 3rd class. “The rescue team going to the asteroid asked about the environment in space, and as NASA engineers described it, the heroes replied, ‘Worst possible environment imaginable, that’s all you had to tell us.’
That’s pretty much what Cold-Weather Training was like for me: worst possible environment imaginable.”
After the completion of Cold-weather Survival Training, they are awarded their trident badge and Navy Enlisted Classification code at Naval Special Warfare Center, Coronado, Calif.
With terrorist threats on the rise around the world, SEALs are needed more than ever. Yet, even with a pressing need for more such men, training of candidates remains as tough as it has ever been.
The 24-month training process will continue to separate the determined candidates from the undecided.
As Navy SEALs put their lives on the line defending America, each member of that team must know without a doubt that the man fighting next to him will not give in or punk out when things start to get rough.
“NO! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” he silently screamed at the pessimistic voice as the sea came at him again. It worked! He focused once again on the other SEAL candidates linked arm-in-arm with him in the wet sand. He could hear their combined sputterings and groans. He also heard the crash of the surf, but the defeatist voice inside his head was gone–at least for the moment. Someone had to ring the bell before the group could crawl out of the icy water, but it wasn’t going to be him, damn it! He gritted his chattering teeth, and prepared for the next wave. “After all,” he told himself sternly, “what’s a little water to a SEAL?”
