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Old 07-21-2017, 11:42 AM
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Arrow How To Become A Navy SEAL: Brutal Military Program Gets First Female Applicants

How To Become A Navy SEAL: Brutal Military Program Gets First Female Applicants
BY DANIELA COBOS ON 07/21/17 AT 1:46 PM
RE: http://www.ibtimes.com/how-become-na...icants-2569074

After 55 years, two women made history as the Navy’s first female candidates in the selection process to join two special operations forces previously not open to women. One woman is in the running to be a Navy SEAL and the other is trying to become a Special Warfare Combatant Crewman (SWCC), Military.com, an independent website, reported Wednesday.

The Navy declined to release the identities of the two women for security reasons, according to NPR. It confirmed that they are the first two to progress as far into the selection process.

Read: Navy SEALS Could Accept Women By August As US Military Brings Gender Balance To Armed Forces

Both women will have to complete the same training male candidates complete. No special treatment will be provided for differences in physical capability. Over two years passed since all combat roles became open to women. Fifty-five years passed since John F. Kennedy began Navy SEAL teams in 1962.

“It’s different for everyone,” Lt. Cmdr. Mark Walton, spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Command, told the Two-Way when asked what makes training so difficult. “It could be the physical stuff, it could be mental, it could be medical. There could be a lot of different reasons.”

(Photo on site only: Female Marine recruits prepare to fire on the rifle range during boot camp February 25, 2013 at MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina. Two women have made history by becoming the first women to have made it so far in the special operations application process. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Military.com listed some basic qualifications necessary to become a Navy SEAL. Some included being 18-28 years old, being a U.S. citizen, being a high school graduate and having both eyes correctable to 20/20 eyesight. Several education aptitude tests concerning science, math and foreign languages are also required to become a Navy SEAL candidate.

Prospective Navy SEAL candidates are required to pass the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALS (BUDS) test after boot camp. However, they are encouraged to enter boot camp already in shape. In the physical screening tests (PST) necessary to have around an 80 percent chance of graduating BUDS, candidates must be able to do 80-100 pushups in 2 minutes, 80-100 situps in 2 minutes and complete a 1.5 mile run in 9-10 minutes, among other physical activities. The difficulty of these qualifications is increased when applying to be a Navy SEAL officer.

One woman was in the boot camp necessary to apply for the Navy’s Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman program, reported Naval Special Warfare Center Deputy Commander Captain Christian Dunbar to members of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service in June. Another woman, a junior in an ROTC program at an undisclosed college, applied for a spot in the SEAL officer selection process for 2018. The process is scheduled to begin Oct. 1 and she will also complete special operations assessment and selection, an early step in the process, later this summer.

“That’s a three-week block of instruction. Then the [prospective SEAL officer] will compete just like everyone else, 160 [applicants] for only 100 spots,” Dunbar said.

Read: Are There Female Snipers? 'Lady Death' And Other Female Snipers

However, despite these women who reached a historic milestone, it is unclear when they will actually join the forces.

“It would be premature to speculate as to when we will see the first woman SEAL or SWCC graduate,” a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Command, Capt. Jason Salata said to Military.com. “Managing expectations is an important part of the deliberate assessment and selection process; it may take months and potentially years.”
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Old 07-21-2017, 02:38 PM
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Arrow Navy Has First Female Applicants for SEAL Officer, Special Boat Units

Navy Has First Female Applicants for SEAL Officer, Special Boat Units
Military.com | 19 Jul 2017 | by Hope Hodge Seck
RE: http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...oat-units.html

Photo on site only: Sailors participating in the Riverine Combat Skills course (RCS) prepare for a field training exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 24, 2012. (U.S. Navy/Specialist Seaman Heather M. Paape)

More than a year after a mandate for the Pentagon opened previously closed ground combat and special operations jobs to women, officials say the Navy has its first female candidates for its most elite special warfare roles.

Two women were in boot camp as candidates for the Navy's all-enlisted Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman program, Naval Special Warfare Center Deputy Commander Capt. Christian Dunbar told members of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service in June.

Another woman, who sources say is a junior in an ROTC program at an unnamed college, has applied for a spot in the SEAL officer selection process for fiscal 2018, which begins Oct. 1, and is set to complete an early step in the pipeline, special operations assessment and selection, later this summer, he said.

"That's a three-week block of instruction," Dunbar said. "Then the [prospective SEAL officer] will compete like everyone else, 160 [applicants] for only 100 spots."
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A spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Command, Capt. Jason Salata, confirmed to Military.com this week that a single female enlisted candidate remained in the training pipeline for Special Warfare Combatant Crewman, or SWCC. The accession pipeline for the job, he added, included several screening evaluations and then recruit training at the Navy's Great Lakes, Illinois boot camp before Basic Underwater Demolition School training.

Salata also confirmed that a female midshipman is set to train with other future Naval officers in the SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection, or SOAS, course this summer.

"[SOAS] is part of the accession pipeline to become a SEAL and the performance of attendees this summer will be a factor for evaluation at the September SEAL Officer Selection Panel," he said.

Because of operational security concerns, Salata said the Navy would not identify the candidates or provide updates on their progress in the selection pipeline. In special operations, where troops often guard their identities closely to keep a low profile on missions, public attention in the training pipeline could affect a candidate's career.

It's possible, however, that the first female member of these elite communities will come not from the outside, but from within. In October, a SWCC petty officer notified their chain-of-command that they identified as being transgender, Salata confirmed to Military.com.

According to Navy policy guidance released last fall, a sailor must receive a doctor's diagnosis of medical necessity and command approval to begin the gender transition process, which can take a variety of different forms, from counseling and hormone therapy to surgery. Sailors must also prove they can pass the physical standards and requirements of the gender to which they are transitioning.

These first female candidates represent a major milestone for the Navy, which has previously allowed women into every career field except the SEALs and SWCC community. A successful candidate would also break ground for military special operations.

Army officials said in January that a woman had graduated Ranger school and was on her way to joining the elite 75th Ranger Regiment, but no female soldier has made it through the selection process to any other Army special operations element. The Air Force and Marine Corps have also seen multiple female candidates for special operations, but have yet to announce a successful accession.

The two women now preparing to enter the Navy's special operations training pipeline will have to overcome some of the most daunting attrition rates in any military training process

Dunbar said the SEALs, which graduate six Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL classes per year, have an average attrition rate of 73 to 75 percent, while the special boat operator community has an average attrition rate of 63 percent. The attrition rate for SEAL officers is significantly lower, though; according to the Navy's 2015 implementation plan for women in special warfare, up to 65 percent of SEAL officer candidates successfully enter the community.

But by the time they make it to that final phase of training, candidates have already been weeded down ruthlessly. Navy officials assess prospective special warfare operators and special boat operators, ranking them by their scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, physical readiness test, special operations resiliency test, and a mental toughness exam. The highest-ranking candidates are then assessed into training, based on how many spots the Navy has available at that point.

"We assess right now that, with the small cohorts of females, we don't really know what's going to happen as far as expected attrition," Dunbar, the Naval Special Warfare Center deputy commander, told DACOWITS in June.

Dunbar did say, however, that Naval Special Warfare Command was considered fully ready for its first female SEALs and SWCC operators, whenever they ultimately arrived. A cadre of female staff members was in place in the training pipeline, and the command regularly held all-hands calls to discuss inclusivity and integration.

"All the barriers have been removed," he said. "Our planning has been completed and is on track."

Salata said the Navy had also completed a thorough review of its curriculum and policies and had evaluated facilities and support capabilities to determine any changes that might need to be made to accommodate women. As a result, he said, minor changes were made to lodging facilities and approved uniform items.

Nonetheless, Salata said, "It would be premature to speculate as to when we will see the first woman SEAL or SWCC graduate. Managing expectations is an important part of the deliberate assessment and selection process; it may take months and potentially years."

Editor's note: This story has been updated in the third paragraph to correct the school the SEAL officer candidate attends. She is a junior in an ROTC program at an unnamed college, not the Naval Academy.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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