BUD/S presupposes that entrants are in tip top physical condition. Trainees are pushed to and beyond their limits of physical and mental endurance. Candidates can voluntarily DOR (Drop on Request) at any time by ringing the bell or they can be dropped for lack of progress. Injuries result in setback until healed and the candidate can join another class. The last week before graduation is aptly termed “Hell Week”. Trainees are lucky to get more than four hours’ sleep during this week. Make it through this week and you graduate from Phase 1.
Phase 2 is U/W Swimmer. You do a lot of swimming both in the pool and in the ocean. More people get dropped here; either DOR or for lack of progress.
Phase 3 is Land Warfare held at San Clemente Island. Exercises are done with live fire after multiple dry runs. Screw up here and you'll be dropped, but there are few DORs and some admin drops.
Bottom line: for a class of 100 prime physical specimens, only 10 or less will make it through to the end of Phase 3. Even then, the newly graduated SEAL still has to prove himself on an operational team deployment. While on deployment with his team, the new member is still probationary and he can be dropped from SEAL Team if his team mates feel he is not up to the job.
I watched a couple of extended reports on “The History Channel” about Ranger training and also Air Force Para-Rescue training. This was before that channel turned into “tattooed men around Las Vegas”.
After watching there was no question in my mind that I could never have passed any of them. Interestingly, I was probably a better athlete than the majority of them. I still hold records set in the 1960s and early 1970s in high school and college.
I am a weak swimmer. I have to get at least 9 hours of sleep or I am worthless. I never could run more than 120 yards before getting totally exhausted. I always had a bad habit of losing my temper and refusing to do something I did not like.
Leave it up to the fantasyland garbage coming out of Follywood. I recently finished watching a six-part series (each about 50 minutes) on YouTube that followed a class from start to graduation.
The class started out with 114. After five weeks of pre-training they were down to 83.
About six months later the graduation class consisted of 25.
While watching the series I tried to imagine a female making it to the end.