I don't post on here very often... but I had one awesome trip to San Diego a few days ago.... so I thought I'd make a post about it, maybe somebody will find enjoyment out of it!
(if any of you navy people out there disagree with anything I say, please tell me so I can correct myself... i'm only a depper so I go by what navy friends and recruiters tell me (who have a bad reputation... but anyways haha).
On thursday I dropped by BUD/S. Don't know what it is? Basic Underwater Demolitions / Seal Training. Anyways, its where the future Navy Seals train to become Navy Seals.
Wait, I don't think anybody knows this.. but I joined the navy, hahaha.
Anyways, the only people who are supposed to go to this place are people in NSW (naval special warface).. which I am NOT. lol.
An Ex-seal and a NSW recruiter took a select group of SEAL/SWCC recruits (NSW) from Los Angeles down to check it out (most of them are wannabe SEALs). So where do I fit in? I'm not going into NSW... mainly cause I don't feel like being shot at and sneaking around and such... I joined up as a "navy diver" which has nothing to do with NSW... diver is NSO (naval special operations)... and the NSW recruiter is also NSO... so he took me.
I know nobody cares about the background and everything.. haha I just felt really lucky I got to go since I had nothing to do with it (and legally i'm not part of that community).. and I hope people even understood what I wrote.
Anyways, onto the pictures.
At Naval Base San Diego
Started off with a simple fitness test to see if you make the minimum qualifications to try out for SEAL/SWCC... pullups/pushups/situps.. whoever passed.. got to ride on a SWCC boat (RIB). I passed.
Driver's seat.
Passengers' seats. Not really seats. You stand up, and hold onto a bar infront of you... and lean against a small pad... nothing to really hold you in.
Big gun mounted behind where I was standing, on the back of the gun (SWCC teams ride super fast boats with bigass guns and shoot people...)
After being on that boat-thingie (RIB)... I must say... it was funner than any rollercoaster ever created... funner than driving my NSX... it was fcuking sick... Something about going that freaking fast on water, bouncing up and down, with super sharp handling (seemed to handled better than my NSX), can stop on a freaking dime (literally)..... BEST RIDE OF MY LIFE.
Navy personell do not EVER get to ride these. My navy friends were super jealous, as were the recruiters. A lot of SWCC don't even get to ride these particular boats.
^Some pictures I snapped when we were coasting back ashore... i could NOT take pictures when we were going full speed and they were showing off the boats... I almost fell out numerous times.. If I had a camera in my had and not holding the bar, I'd be a goner.
---------------
Next, we headed to BUD/S... the main part of the trip. Apparently, our ex-SEAL guy got premission from the NSW command down there for us to go, but we were under strict orders to NOT talk to ANY SEAL students. They didn't even know we were coming. We must have looked weird to them, haha.
We first got there, and immediately some SEAL instructors rushed over to us wanting to know why we were there... I guess nobody told them we were coming. So our "NSW/NSO mentors" explained to them what was up... and they said they've never seen a group of recruits come visit.. and were jealous they didn't get to visit before they went originally... normally the first and last time you see the place is when you're in class there (or if you're an instructor).
A kid who was medically rolled back for fracturing his leg showed us around... Here's some pictures.
Main muster location for the students. You can see "frog" prints on the floor... symbolizing what the SEALs used to be called, "frogmen" or whatever.
Here you can see, ever-so-slightly, a HUGE row of green helmets along the back wall. There is a bell on the left-edge of the row of helmets. When somebody wants to quit training, they go and ring the bell, and place their helmet along the row, and leave. There was like 60 helmets there! They said the class started with like 120 students, and probably only 20 will graduate. They were around hellweek when we were there (3rd week) and already that many people quit...
CLOSE UP kinda.
Then we went onto the beach where they do crazy training, rafting, and log carrying.
Next, we went to the SEAL Obsticle Course.... This was freaking hard...
Some of the obsticles I could barely do. I am so sore from spending an hour "playing" on this adult-style-jungle-gym. It took me 20 minutes to do the thing where you swing on a rope up onto a small log.. some people couldn't even do it (20 minutes in a line of 20 people.. so it took awhile).
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...412&spn=0.001718,0.002489&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr
Obsticle course can be seen here.
After this, we ran to the huge-freaking-swimming-pool like a mile away. Got to swim in there (where SEALs learn to scuba), no pictures, left phone with my clothes.
All in all.. this was an unforgettable experience... mostly because I am NOT going to be a Navy SEAL/SWCC so there is no chance in hell I'm ever going to see this place, and have an experience like this ever again.
Okay I'm done with my rant now... haha. Thanks for listening. Oh yeah, I leave may 22st to the navy.
(yeah pictures suck, I didn't know if we were allowed to take pictures, so I tried to be sneaky..... I later found out we could take pictures! grr.)
Hopefully I didn't agitate people who don't like long posts (seems some people got a bit riled up over John@Microsoft hahahahaha)
(if any of you navy people out there disagree with anything I say, please tell me so I can correct myself... i'm only a depper so I go by what navy friends and recruiters tell me (who have a bad reputation... but anyways haha).
On thursday I dropped by BUD/S. Don't know what it is? Basic Underwater Demolitions / Seal Training. Anyways, its where the future Navy Seals train to become Navy Seals.
Wait, I don't think anybody knows this.. but I joined the navy, hahaha.
Anyways, the only people who are supposed to go to this place are people in NSW (naval special warface).. which I am NOT. lol.
An Ex-seal and a NSW recruiter took a select group of SEAL/SWCC recruits (NSW) from Los Angeles down to check it out (most of them are wannabe SEALs). So where do I fit in? I'm not going into NSW... mainly cause I don't feel like being shot at and sneaking around and such... I joined up as a "navy diver" which has nothing to do with NSW... diver is NSO (naval special operations)... and the NSW recruiter is also NSO... so he took me.
I know nobody cares about the background and everything.. haha I just felt really lucky I got to go since I had nothing to do with it (and legally i'm not part of that community).. and I hope people even understood what I wrote.
Anyways, onto the pictures.
At Naval Base San Diego
Started off with a simple fitness test to see if you make the minimum qualifications to try out for SEAL/SWCC... pullups/pushups/situps.. whoever passed.. got to ride on a SWCC boat (RIB). I passed.
Driver's seat.
Passengers' seats. Not really seats. You stand up, and hold onto a bar infront of you... and lean against a small pad... nothing to really hold you in.
Big gun mounted behind where I was standing, on the back of the gun (SWCC teams ride super fast boats with bigass guns and shoot people...)
After being on that boat-thingie (RIB)... I must say... it was funner than any rollercoaster ever created... funner than driving my NSX... it was fcuking sick... Something about going that freaking fast on water, bouncing up and down, with super sharp handling (seemed to handled better than my NSX), can stop on a freaking dime (literally)..... BEST RIDE OF MY LIFE.
Navy personell do not EVER get to ride these. My navy friends were super jealous, as were the recruiters. A lot of SWCC don't even get to ride these particular boats.
^Some pictures I snapped when we were coasting back ashore... i could NOT take pictures when we were going full speed and they were showing off the boats... I almost fell out numerous times.. If I had a camera in my had and not holding the bar, I'd be a goner.
---------------
Next, we headed to BUD/S... the main part of the trip. Apparently, our ex-SEAL guy got premission from the NSW command down there for us to go, but we were under strict orders to NOT talk to ANY SEAL students. They didn't even know we were coming. We must have looked weird to them, haha.
We first got there, and immediately some SEAL instructors rushed over to us wanting to know why we were there... I guess nobody told them we were coming. So our "NSW/NSO mentors" explained to them what was up... and they said they've never seen a group of recruits come visit.. and were jealous they didn't get to visit before they went originally... normally the first and last time you see the place is when you're in class there (or if you're an instructor).
A kid who was medically rolled back for fracturing his leg showed us around... Here's some pictures.
Main muster location for the students. You can see "frog" prints on the floor... symbolizing what the SEALs used to be called, "frogmen" or whatever.
Here you can see, ever-so-slightly, a HUGE row of green helmets along the back wall. There is a bell on the left-edge of the row of helmets. When somebody wants to quit training, they go and ring the bell, and place their helmet along the row, and leave. There was like 60 helmets there! They said the class started with like 120 students, and probably only 20 will graduate. They were around hellweek when we were there (3rd week) and already that many people quit...
CLOSE UP kinda.
Then we went onto the beach where they do crazy training, rafting, and log carrying.
Next, we went to the SEAL Obsticle Course.... This was freaking hard...
Some of the obsticles I could barely do. I am so sore from spending an hour "playing" on this adult-style-jungle-gym. It took me 20 minutes to do the thing where you swing on a rope up onto a small log.. some people couldn't even do it (20 minutes in a line of 20 people.. so it took awhile).
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...412&spn=0.001718,0.002489&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr
Obsticle course can be seen here.
After this, we ran to the huge-freaking-swimming-pool like a mile away. Got to swim in there (where SEALs learn to scuba), no pictures, left phone with my clothes.
All in all.. this was an unforgettable experience... mostly because I am NOT going to be a Navy SEAL/SWCC so there is no chance in hell I'm ever going to see this place, and have an experience like this ever again.
Okay I'm done with my rant now... haha. Thanks for listening. Oh yeah, I leave may 22st to the navy.
(yeah pictures suck, I didn't know if we were allowed to take pictures, so I tried to be sneaky..... I later found out we could take pictures! grr.)
Hopefully I didn't agitate people who don't like long posts (seems some people got a bit riled up over John@Microsoft hahahahaha)
