Men are very rarely dismissed from a BUD/S class; instead, they are continuously pushed to their mental and physical limits until some of them choose to quit the course. BUD/S is a course full of traditions, customs, and rituals and even the act of quitting has evolved into a standardized routine. Quitting, or dropping on request (DOR) is done through a public event called “Ringing Out.” When a trainee decides that he can’t go on and decides to quit, he rings a large brass bell three times and places his helmet on the deck alongside those of former classmates who have already exited the course. Men who ring out of BUD/S are not harassed or demeaned by the instructor staff. They are quickly removed from the training area and processed for orders to another duty station where they will complete their time in the Navy.
In the final analysis, BUD/S takes men possessing the raw aptitude and traits to serve as a frogman, and through training and time develops them into men with a very powerful mindset—an invincible mentality that is always focused on finding a way to succeed. The purpose of BUD/S is to instill some of the fundamental core values of the SEAL community into the students. These core values include:
Accomplishing the mission is all that matters.
They don’t hand out 2nd Place trophies in war.
Whatever needs to happen, must be made to happen.
Luck is good, but preparation is better.
Never make excuses.
One must never bring shame to the SEAL brotherhood.
In order to fulfill these values and deliver upon their promise, SEALs are put through an incredibly difficult trial that calls for an extraordinary amount of mental toughness. Although most SEALs possess mental toughness as they initiate this training, it is through strife, pain and perseverance that this mental fortitude is brought to the level needed for these men to successfully and effectively function in the scenarios that SEALs are invariably placed under.
If we take some of the same methods used by SEALs and apply them in our own quest for optimal performance in our lives, this mental toughness is a malleable clay that any one of us can mold into the masterpiece that will give us the needed edge in order to accomplish any goal.
Earn Your Trident Every Day
“By wearing the Trident I accept the responsibility of my chosen profession and way of life. It is a privilege that I must earn every day.” These words taken from the SEAL Ethos allude to the philosophy of the SEAL community that no SEAL can ever rest on his laurels or be satisfied with his current level of knowledge, skill, physical fitness, or any other aspect of serving as a Navy SEAL. This philosophy has been summarized in a statement known to all SEALs—Earn Your Trident Every Day!
This statement, as powerful as it is brief, reminds every SEAL that there is always something that he can do to improve, and that in the SEAL community, continuous improvement is something that is expected. It is simply what SEALs do, and it applies to everything they do, for as long as they live.
“Earn Your Trident Everyday” means that every day one must push past the limits of yesterday's performance or achievements. It means turning weaknesses into strengths and strengths into superior capabilities. It implies that perfection is the goal; and that at the end of every day every SEAL must be able to reflect that he did everything possible to improve himself and, by extension, his beloved SEAL brotherhood.
Despite the grueling training a newly-designated SEAL has undergone by the time he reports into his first operational unit, he still has a long way to go before his teammates are willing to put their lives in his hands. A new SEAL has much to learn and experience before he will be counted amongst the proven and seasoned SEALs in a unit. The traditional “welcome aboard” reception that awaits new SEALs has evolved over time as a way of impressing upon them that even though they now wear the Trident, they are still new and can’t be fully accepted as operators in the fullest sense. Enlisted or officer, every new SEAL will once again face a series of “evolutions,” except that unlike those in BUD/S and SQT, these evolutions and tests are, for the most part, unscripted and unscheduled, with the sole purpose of humbling the incoming rookies and reminding them that their journey as SEALs has just begun; that they indeed must earn their Trident every day!
Selection Is Continuous
In a previous chapter you learned the differences between military courses that are designed for training versus selection purposes. Every major special operations unit in the world has some form of selection process that serves as the gate through which one must pass in order to become a member of the unit. As in the SEAL teams, members of these units soon realize that the hard work and evaluation process doesn’t end with passing the selection process. In other words, if getting into the unit was hard, remaining in it is even harder!
“Selection is continuous” is a phrase utilized to signify that the testing will continue. Whether referring to an exceptionally arduous training evolution, or simply referring to the fact that all newbies are at the bottom of the pecking order in the unit, it means that you will continue to be measured against the other SEALs or even against yourself on a daily basis. If you are to truly understand how SEALs think and approach life, you must carefully study and reflect upon what you are about to read in this chapter.
Why SEALs Continuously Test Themselves
The journey to becoming a SEAL is a long and difficult one. So difficult, that 75% of those who enter the training pipeline fail to successfully complete it. It is a well-known fact that the training will often be physically and emotionally brutal. Why then, do so many young men subject themselves to such agony?
One psychologist working within the Naval Special Warfare community told me, “The men who desire to become SEALs have an innate thirst for high-achievement. They want to separate themselves from other men by way of their accomplishments and by achieving things that most cannot.” He went on to say that most high-achievers in sports, the business world, science and academia, automobile racing, etc., share a common need for excitement and the surge of adrenaline that is associated with performing at the outer limits of whatever it is they are doing at the time.
Studies have shown that the levels of adrenaline, endorphins, and other “feel good” substances produced by the human body are as comparable in stock traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, doctors performing lengthy surgical procedures, and salesmen pitching their product or services to high-level executives, as they are to those found in extreme athletes or military personnel engaging in high-risk operations. In other words, SEALs, like most high-achievers, crave the excitement associated with taking on significant challenges, including ones that involve the risk of death or serious injury.
“We want to be in a situation under maximum pressure, maximum intensity, and maximum danger. When it is shared with others, it provides a bond which is stronger than any tie that can exist.”
—SEAL Team Six Officer
“It’s a mindset that is prevalent in the SEAL community,” said the psychologist, who has worked with SEALs for almost a decade. “What you have is a bunch of highly trained, very capable men who don’t seem happy unless they are being measured or evaluated in some way, by others or by themselves. The higher the standard they are being judged against, the better.” He went on to say, “Most outsiders would think that once a man becomes a SEAL and joins a team, he’s able to relax a bit and enjoy his newly-acquired status as a member of an elite group of warriors. That’s not what happens. Instead, newly minted SEALs discover that while they are now wearing the same highly coveted Trident insignia as their more seasoned teammates, they are being looked at as unknown quantities and must prove themselves worthy of being trusted with the lives of those who have been operating as SEALs for a decade or longer. It is part of what makes the SEALs unique; the test is never over and you have to earn your Trident every day.”
What Motivates SEALs
Why do the vast majority of SEALs continuously seek to push themselves beyond established limits, when most people a
re content to settle for far less demanding lives? Here’s the psychologist’s response, “It’s the innate need for achievement that is shared by most SEALs, the accomplishment of goals, specifically, exceptionally demanding goals that are typically seen as unattainable by most people. Coming in as a close second motivator is the competitive factor. SEALs love to win and the only way one is able to win is to compete. The competition can be against fellow SEALs, or anyone for that matter; but I can assure you that if a SEAL is in a room with at least one other person, he’s competing in some way against that person, even if that person isn’t aware of it!”
Studies of top level achievers in various professions and competitive environments such as world-class sports depict the same need for success and attainment of lofty goals, and a sheer love of competing against someone or some type of measurable standard. For SEALs, whether the goal is to become the best sniper in his unit or finishing a night land navigation exercise in record time, achieving success with a competitive edge is the sought after prize. They enjoy knowing that they are among the few who have dreamed of living the life of a SEAL, and actually achieved the dream.
“It’s a sense of identity,” said one SEAL. “The SEAL community is very small. There aren’t many men who have the ability to continuously train and push themselves to the degree that we do. Professional athletes earn a lot of money and fame, but to be honest, I’d rather have the feeling of knowing that I’m living a life (as a SEAL) that very few men can live.”
The Adrenaline Factor
The adrenaline factor likely plays a role in explaining why SEALs constantly seek to test themselves against the outer limits of various physical and mental skills and challenges. An “adrenaline surge” courses through the body when the adrenal glands are stimulated through heightened activity or other stressors. This surge is part of the release of a number of hormones, including adrenaline. For many SEALs, this feeling is one that they cannot get enough of.
“A lot of SEALs openly admit that they are seeking that rush,” says a Navy psychologist who has worked with the SEAL community. “They’re looking for those sensations they get from putting their life on the line during dangerous training evolutions or even actual combat operations. For many, it is a feeling that they cannot get elsewhere—a feeling of acute awareness and crystal-clear focus, of knowing they are exceeding expectations. They either succeed and live—or they die. It’s very much a primitive thing, but SEALs love it and they seek it out at every opportunity.”
Pushing the Limits
Why do the vast majority of SEALs feel a need to push themselves to the next level, closer to the edge of established barriers and limits? Why is it that their last accomplishment is never good enough?
“SEALs say that it simply isn’t rewarding to repeatedly accomplish the same goals or conquer the same challenges, even if they are quite significant and perhaps even dangerous,” says the psychologist. “Performing the same activities and doing well at them simply doesn’t bring the same amount of excitement as it did the first time, so they want to push themselves even farther and go for the next big goal.”
He went on to say, “It is a mindset that men who are drawn to the SEAL community are risk takers. This trait, combined with a love of pushing themselves past previous physical and mental limits, is what makes SEALs unique as individuals. When you have a few hundred of them assigned to the same SEAL team, what you get is a group of high-achievers who are constantly competing against each other. The result is what you’d expect—a high-testosterone ultra-competitive group of winners who revel in testing themselves against any and all opponents and challenges.”
SEAL Missions
The previous chapters have presented a brief introduction to the type of initial training Navy SEALs participate in. I would like to now introduce you to some of the types of missions these men routinely perform, both during training and during actual operations.
It can’t be denied that being physically fit is a prerequisite in order to be a Navy SEAL. However, physical fitness is NOT the most important trait that is needed. This may come as a surprise to some of you, but there are many other qualities that are paramount if you are to succeed the life of a Navy SEAL. An unwavering iron will, resolve, tenacity, and mental toughness are all attributes necessary for these men to be able to conduct the types of missions that they do, and to persevere in the types of environments in which they operate and the life-and-death situations they often face. Combat is not a competition—you are not there to compete, you are there to dominate and overwhelm the enemy, otherwise you won’t be coming home.
During an interview on a nationally-televised talk-show, the host of the show was discussing with a Navy SEAL the various countries he had been sent to during his career. She was quite impressed that this SEAL had been to so many different places around the world, however, she was completely missing the main reason behind his travels. This brief exchange, which happened during the interview, brought to the show’s host an immediate focus on the reality of what SEALs do, and I thought it was worth sharing.
Interviewer: “Did you have to learn several languages?”
Navy SEAL: “No, ma’am, we don’t go there to talk.”
Interviewer: “Oh…I see…ok.”
It is important that you understand that Navy SEALs exist for one purpose—as implied by the comment made by the SEAL during that interview—to kill the enemies of the United States.
Sound cruel or barbaric? Perhaps… but it is also reality. The cold, hard truth is that the battlefield is often associated with conditions and actions that most people would consider savage or uncivilized. The battlefield isn’t at all like the sports arena or the business world—it is combat, and it usually means death for someone. If you walk onto a battlefield only looking to compete with the enemy, more than likely you will be that someone who ends up dying. No one walks off a battlefield unscathed, you may walk away bloodied, bruised, and battered, but alive; it all depends on the training and the mindset with which you begin the battle. The competitive nature of Navy SEALs is one of the factors that usually dictates a winning outcome when they operate.
Developing an attitude of “domination versus competition” begins from the moment they start their preparation for selection, and it is infused into the entire culture of the Teams. Everyone associated with the SEAL community, be they SEALs or support personnel, operates with a mindset of “maxing out” and achieving excellence in everything that they do. This mindset stems from the early lessons all SEALs learn at BUD/S, where students are constantly reminded that “It Pays to be A Winner!” This mindset is developed through various forms of competition and brutally difficult training. Through the various methods utilized by the instructors, and later on the members of a SEAL unit, the mentality of trainees and SEALs starting out is transformed and shaped into that of a warrior who perseveres against all odds and relentlessly seeks to dominate the enemy and any other factor that might threaten the successful accomplishment of the mission.
I know that the vast majority of people reading this book will have no association with the military, and therefore have no chance of actually going to war in the literal sense. But, as stated previously, the mission of the book is to help you understand the mindset and invincible mentality that infuse the iron will of Navy SEALs. To do so, one must always remember why the SEAL teams exist and why the training to become a SEAL is so difficult.
Much of the information contained in this chapter was extracted from a research study conducted by the Naval Special Warfare Command. The purpose of the study was to identify physically demanding missions and mission segments performed during SEAL operations and to rank them according to their importance to mission success. The ultimate objective was to identify the abilities that contribute to success as a SEAL operator. Not surprisingly, some personality traits and intellectual skills, such as problem solving, assertiveness, and the ability to work effectively as a member of a Team, emerged during intervie
ws of several dozen highly experienced SEALs as being even more important to the probable success of a SEAL operator than many physical attributes and abilities.
The study results imply a need for high-levels of mental toughness in SEALs, which, of course, aligns with the main purpose of this book—learning about the mindset common to all SEALs.
Survey Results
Interviews of the veteran SEALs revealed 23 traits and abilities that were felt to be the primary factors associated with successful SEAL operators. It is important to note how many of the most important traits and skills, as defined by highly experienced SEALs, are mental versus physical. If you review, for example, the definitions for teamwork and problem solving, you’ll quickly realize that there are many, perhaps dozens of associated traits and skills implied in each, almost all of which are mental attributes.
Most Important Traits (in order of importance according to the study)
Teamwork: The ability to work with others as part of a team, to anticipate what others want or need, and to cooperate.
Stamina: The ability to maintain physical activity over prolonged periods of time.
Problem Solving: The ability to perceive small details and “size-up” situations quickly and accurately, and then respond with an appropriate course of action.
Reaction Time: The speed with which a single motor response can be made following the onset of a single stimulus.
Assertiveness: The ability to bring a problem or important information to the attention of another crew member in a timely fashion.
Strength: The amount of muscular force that can be exerted.
Navy SEAL Mental Toughness Page 2