SEAL Team 10 - Selection and Training

Selection and Training

SEAL training is extremely rigorous, having a reputation as some of the toughest anywhere in the world. The drop out rate for SEAL training is sometimes over 90 percent. The Navy SEAL candidate spends over a year in a series of formal training environments before being awarded the Special Warfare Operator Naval Rating and the Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) 5326 Combatant Swimmer (SEAL) or, in the case of commissioned naval officers, the designation Naval Special Warfare (SEAL) Officer.

Navy SEAL training pipeline:

• 8-week Naval Special Warfare Prep School
• 24-week Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/s) Training
• 3-week Parachute Jump School
• 26-week SEAL Qualification Training (SQT)

Upon graduation from SQT, trainees receive the coveted Navy SEAL Trident, designating them as Navy SEALs. They are subsequently assigned to a SEAL Team or SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) Team and begin 18-months of predeployment training before their first deployment that consists of:

• 6-month Individual Specialty Training
• 6-month Unit Level Training
• 6-month Task Group Level Training

Those Enlisted SEALs with a medical rating will first attend Advanced Medical Training Course 18D for 6 months before joining a team in order to become a SEAL medic. Those pursuing Officer positions first attend the Junior Officer Training Course to learn about operations planning and how to perform team briefings. In total it can take over 2.5 years to completely train a Navy SEAL for his first deployment.