What is 'Hell Week'? Navy SEAL candidate DEAD after brutal training in San Diego
One Navy SEAL candidate died and another was hospitalized in San Diego after completing 'Hell Week'. The SEAL candidate's name is being withheld for now. He was taken to Sharp Coronado Hospital in Coronado, California, after displaying 'symptoms' following the brutal training. His exact cause of death has not been disclosed.
Another candidate, whose name has not been disclosed either, was hospitalized in San Diego at the Navy Medical Center. "The Sailors were not actively training when they reported symptoms and were transported to receive emergency care," the Navy said in a press release. The symptoms the pair displayed are not clear.
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The two Navy SEAL candidates had reportedly completed Hell Week, which generally takes place during the fourth week of part of Phase 1 of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training. The exhausting training is a "'five-and-a-half days of cold, wet, brutally difficult operational training on fewer than four hours of sleep,' the Navy says, and candidates 'run more than 200 miles and do physical training for more than 20 hours per day."
What is 'Hell Week'?
The Navy produces around 200 to 250 SEALs a year. SEAL candidates are required to go through 24 weeks of training throughout five phases, which include a physical training test, obstacle courses, extensive swimming and running, combat diving, land warfare training and other tests that a physically very difficult. A number of candidates are unable to even get past Phase 1, also called Stage 3, and a 'significant' number start dropping out. "Hell Week is the ultimate test of a man’s will and the class’s teamwork," the Navy said.
According to the website of Navy SEALS, "Hell Week tests physical endurance, mental toughness, pain and cold tolerance, teamwork, attitude, and your ability to perform work under high physical and mental stress, and sleep deprivation. Above all, it tests determination and desire. On average, only 25% of SEAL candidates make it through Hell Week, the toughest training in the U.S. Military."
"Trainees are constantly in motion; running, swimming, paddling, carrying boats on their heads, doing log PT, sit-ups, push-ups, rolling in the sand, slogging through mud, paddling boats and doing surf passage. Being still can be just as challenging, when you’re standing interminably in formation, soaking wet on the beach, or up to your waist in the water, with the cold ocean wind cutting through you. Mud covers uniforms, hands, faces – everything but the eyes," the website says. "The sand chafes raw skin and the salt water makes cuts burn. Students perform evolutions that require them to think, lead, make sound decisions, and functionally operate when they are extremely sleep-deprived, approaching hypothermia, and even hallucinating. While trainees get plenty to eat, some are so fatigued that they fall asleep in their food. Others fall asleep while paddling boats and have to be pulled out of the water by teammates." The website adds that "Safety is always adhered to" during the training.
Other cases
The Navy SEALS currently comprises 10 Seal Teams. It was all men until 2021 when the first woman completed the training. SEAL Team 6 is known to have killed Osama Bin Laden. It is known as the most highly trained force in the US military.
A well-known case is that of Derek Lovelace, who drowned during the pool exercise in 2016. Lovelace, who was struggling to tread water in full gear, was pushed underwater at least twice, following which he lost consciousness and died. He was the fifth candidate to lose consciousness in the pool exercise back at the time.
The San Diego Medical Examiner ruled Lovelace's death a homicide, but after the Navy later decided not to pursue criminal charges. Back at the time, an autopsy result showed he had an enlarged heart and an abnormal coronary artery, which could have been factors that contributed to his death. The abnormal artery was associated with sudden cardiac death.
Recently, a Navy SEAL commander died after he was critically injured training in Virginia. 43-year-old Brian Bourgeois lost his life after he fast-roped down from a helicopter.