Navy diver fitness test

[NudeDiver]

Remember the goal of the school is to make you quit.

I don't think that's really true. I think it's a lot more precise to say that "the goal of the school is to make quitters quit".

If they wanted to make everyone quit, they would just put you in an empty room with no windows and pure white walls, a bathroom, and a pile of MREs and leave you in there however long is necessary to make you bored enough to say, "OK, I've had enough".

 

[Gary D.]

Well, I stood there in ranks on two different occasions when the instructors gave their open and welcoming speeches to the class on day one.

They flat out told us they were going to do everything they could to make us quit. It was summed up with two groups in the military will die if they quit on an operation. They are the pilots and divers and they, the instructors were going to do everything they could to make us quit.

But like you said; Make the quitters quit. They did a good job of it because we lost over 90% of the classes.

Today it is gentler and less humiliating but still very tough if you’re not prepared.

Gary D.

 

[Noboundaries]

Eric, although you aren't interested in becoming a Navy Seal, go rent or buy The Military Channel's six-part production of "Navy Seals: BUDS Class 234." For someone possibly about to enter a military school it gives a great perspective of both sides of the student-instructor relationship. You get a good glimpse of the roles the students and instructors are expected to fulfill, which is very different than how they are when they are being mere humans. Instructors do in fact want you to succeed, but they won't compromise their standards for that to happen. You have to rise to or exceed their expectations. When that happens, you'll both feel confident entrusting your lives to each other because that's what the military is all about; living or dying while doing your job as part of a team. Want to know the loneliest person in the military? It's the person nobody trusts with their life. He or she is avoided like the plague.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

I'll second that. The moment you mention you're a rec diver, they will paint you as someone who thinks they know it all and ride your ass the rest of the time you're there. "Special treatment" in the military is rarely a good thing.

If you do make it to the divers, act like you've never, ever, ever seen any diving equipment in your life.

That's a pretty sad state of affairs, I'd say. Are you sure you wanna join that club of ***wits?

 

[Thalassamania]

I dunno about Navy - but when I was at Air Force basic, they had the "Pararescue" (PJ) tryout day, I think it was around week 4 or so. There was one guy in my flight who joined up strictly to be a PJ. It was all he talked about. It was all he wanted to do. I don't remember what all he had to do - run, swim, situps, pushups, etc. All I remember is that for one of the tests (I think MAYBE it was swim), he just barely missed whatever the standard was by a very small margin. Didn't make it into PJs. When the list of random assignments came out, he ended up being assigned as a groundskeeper. Long way to spend a 4 year enlistment.

We had another guy who wanted to be a F-15 mechanic - he ended up being a groundskeeper too. Unlike the PJ-wannabe though, this guy was a complete moron and frankly, I think keeping the grass cut may have been more than he could handle. Even so - rough way to spend his 4 year enlistment.

Hint: the smart ones get their job assigned and guaranteed (as much as you can trust the government anyway) BEFORE they enlist. Doubt you can do that with the specialties like PJ, Navy Diver, etc. though. If you really want to go in, you might want to get a good job guaranteed, and then try out for the divers. That way, if you don't make it, you're not completely boned.

Good luck!
AKDiver

PJ is to Air Force as SEAL is to Navy and Green Beret is to Army. There are many sorts of Navy divers that have nothing to do with SEALs, who are spec war operatives first and divers second.

 

[AggieDad]

I would recommend reading "Lone Survivor" by Marcus Lutrell to get an idea of the mental toughness it takes to be a Navy Seal. I believe that translates into other fields as well. Make your own luck and be over prepared and go in with a mind set of others have done this and there is no reason I can't either.

PS. I recommend that book for everyone. We grow some great people in this country.

 

[Gary D.]

That's a pretty sad state of affairs, I'd say. Are you sure you wanna join that club of ***wits?

I was a diver before I went to training but I never said a word about it and never questioned anything that was contradictory. Back then they were much closer together. Today they are worlds apart.

I was NAUI before I went into the Navy but wasn’t able to dive after I joined. Then I went to SCUBA School in Hawaii because that was all my command would allow. Even though I went to the Navy SCUBA School which was the first four weeks of 2nd Class School, mine was 6 weeks, when I got to go 2nd Class training in San Diego a few months later I was the punching bag. Once that first 4 weeks was over I blended right in for the next 12 weeks.

You need to look at it from the schools perspective. The Navy has only a short period of time to take snotty nose kids and turn them into well tuned safe divers. You put someone in there that keeps questioning everything they are trying to teach because they are teaching something a different way than NAUI or who ever did takes a lot of time that just isn’t there.

A couple of prior divers that were in my 2nd Class group only lasted a few days because of cocky attitudes about being great divers already. They did this or that better and they wanted this or that changed just didn’t cut it and took a lot of time away from the training we needed. The Navy needs to focus on their program and not spend time defending itself from the hand holding civilian counterpart.

Most know how little time it takes or took to get AOW. Compare that to the 4 weeks of SCUBA training that was 6 days a week 10 to 12 hours a day and you might realize how much more intense the training is.

The best thing to do is keep the bragging trap shut and learn what the Navy or what ever service wants you to learn. Once you're done brag all you want.

Gary D.

 

[Noboundaries]

Gary D, perfect explanation. Same thing happened in Navy flight school for guys with civilian flight hours.

In the Navy Seals video whenever a student would openly demonstrate an attitude, cockiness, or premature confidence that he would succeed in the program, the instructors would rain hell on his parade. Then they'd say in a concerned way "you don't want to bring that kind of attention to yourself." There was one guy who was almost booted at the end of the school for such an attitude. He could do the program, but trust was the issue.

Anyone going to a challenging military school must have supreme confidence they will succeed to make it all the way through the program. But it better be a quiet, respectful confidence where the focus is to do EXACTLY as you are taught.

 

[Gary D.]

Are you sure you wanna join that club of ***wits?

Now that I have thought about that statement for a while I’d like to add a little bit to it.

Those in your words “***wits”, I’m assuming that is “Nitwits”, are some of the finest divers in the world. How many Rec divers do you think could change several hundred zinc’s, change a ship’s screw, seal the ships bottom well enough so valves and machinery could be removed from inside with confidence? How many Rec divers could weld in a new hull plate, repack a shaft seal, use explosives underwater as a tool and not a destructive device? A lot of the above could be done in open water far from a dock, pier or safe harbor. How many Rec divers could perform those and hundreds of other tasks? How many even want to work on a ship when someone takes a dump and flushes a Brown Trout into your forehead?

How many Rec divers can recover artifacts from a very deep sunken Civil War vessel in open-ocean? How many would it take to rescue the crew from a sunken submarine and then raise that submarine and put it back into service?

And guess what, they can also swim around looking at and taking pictures of pretty fish even though they are not trained to do so. Is this a major PADI violation?

If you haven’t noticed I have taken you calling us “***Wits” a bit personal. On the same note I have not called you anything other than a Rec Diver which your profile indicates you are.

Lastly I'd like to say those "***Wits" a part of the armed forces protecting your freedom. If you think you can do a better job go for it. I was and am very proud to have been one of them.

Have a nice day!

Gary D.

 

[NudeDiver]

Now that I have thought about that statement for a while I’d like to add a little bit to it....

I don't think anyone has said this particular collection of ***Wits doesn't have impressive skills.