Posted on 05/01/2007 6:16:46 AM PDT by RDTF
TAMPA - With orders to add 500 SEALs to its special warfare ranks by 2010, the Navy has retooled its recruiting system to better identify candidates capable of passing the demanding training program, according to Rear Adm. Joe Maguire, the top officer at Naval Special Warfare Command in San Diego.
"We're trying to be smarter about it," Maguire said during an interview Friday at MacDill Air Force Base. "In the past, we just cast the net out and just pulled the damn thing in."
As part of the effort, the Navy has installed former SEALs as mentors in recruiting districts across the country to pinpoint young men with the necessary physical and mental tools, said Maguire, who was in Tampa last week for a series of events marking the 20th anniversary of the formation of U.S. Special Operations Command.
The Navy now administers swimming tests to promising recruits, a step previously disallowed because of liability concerns.
"We [used to] let the lawyers tell us what the heck to do," Maguire said. "It was a safety issue."
The Navy has partnered with YMCAs and other fitness organizations to have water safety instructors on hand while a swim test is administered.
"So, as result of that, before we ship a kid, we make sure he's met the standard," he said.
Navy recruiters are targeting venues most likely to attract potential SEAL candidates, such as collegiate wrestling events and the California Lifeguard Championships, Maguire said.
-snip-
"The demand for special operations forces, and for SEALs in particular, is becoming even greater," Maguire said. "So I've got to grow the force, which we are, but most importantly, I've got to make sure that I maintain the quality of the individuals as we're growing."
(Excerpt) Read more at tbo.com ...
WOW - I know some old school members of The Teams who are not going to like this....
Always happens though.
Women in the academies, etc....
Time marches on..
1. Humans are more important than hardware
2. Quality is better than quantity
3. SOF cannot be mass-produced
4. Competent SOF cannot be created after emergencies arise
Might also be useful to weed out the wantabe’s
500 is not a very large number. There may be a ‘relaxing’ of the requirements to get IN to the SEAL program, but the Darwinian process of culling the best of the best will go on.
Actually, it doesn’t sound like the SEALs are lowering the performance bar in order to raise recruiting levels... just the opposite. The are targeting specific groups of people as likely candidates, those with the requisite physical and mental aptitude needed to succeed and graduate training, not just graduating more recruits to bolster numbers.
Always happens though.
Women in the academies, etc....
How closely did you read the article? It sounds like they are doing some smart things in improving their screening during the recruiting process -- not easing the requirements -- to ensure that they target their recruiting better.
"So I've got to grow the force, which we are, but most importantly, I've got to make sure that I maintain the quality of the individuals as we're growing."
Special Forces are by definition elite forces. They cannot be mass produced.
Doesn't sound like he thinks like a Special Operations guy.
Hot Damn! 'Bout Time!
Get the damn JAGoffs out of the way, those clowns are screwin' our guys good, them and the damn NCIS.
Sending SEALs out to find potential candidates is smart.
How about the School of Infantry? Oh wait, they are recruiting from either the outside or from the Navy. If everyone had gotten their heads together and made the SEALS part of the Marine Corps, they could have opened up the program to a wider base of guys being trained for ground combat and amphibious operations. The rest of the Navy fights with machines from aboard ship or aircraft (granted, Sailors had historically defended ports and facilities, gone ashore to fight in some special circumstances, boarded ships, etc.). The SEALS are a ground combat force, completely different. I understand the frogman/UDT origin of the SEALS, but once they started going ashore, somebody could have said, “hey don’t we have guys on float who go ashore to fight”.
Huh?
no...no....no..... not the SEALs!
[shakes head wondering what the hell is happening to his beloved country]
I don’t get the impression that they are lowering standards at all. They are revising how they screen candidates so that the applicants they take into training more closely match the profile of successful Seals. If they take in a better quality of applicant (both mental and physical) they have a better chance of getting more graduates from the training process.
In other words, SOF force-levels are very in-elastic.
You are correct gentlemen.
I STAND CORRECTED...
Thank you both.
Read the article again.... no lowering of standards...
They are just changing on how to find qualified individuals.
Actually recruiting instead of just looking within...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.