DIVERS SCHOOL
The course takes slightly less than five weeks. In the first week there are fast 2-mile (3.2-km) runs, conditioning in the pool and instruction in dive equipment and procedures. In the second week there is "ditching and donning," which involves entering the pool, swimming underwater to the 15 ft (4.6 m) deep end, removing the face mask, snorkel, and fins and descending to two air tanks left on the bottom underneath a weight belt. Here the candidate takes one breath of compressed air, surfaces and breathes, goes down once again, puts on the weight belt and other equipment, and starts breathing compressed air. Another exercise is the "harassment dive," in which the candidate enters the water and swims around the edge at the bottom of the pool for one hour, all the while being "harassed"by instructors, who pull at his face mask, remove his fins and air tanks, etc. Failing A
Students involved in the Basic Underwater Demoiition/SEAL (BUD/S) course,
wearing night gear, exchange during the second phase of their training.
either of these exercises results in discharge from the course. There is also a 1,640-ft (500-m) navigation dive evaluation.
In the third week there are a number of diving tests by day and night, and a 4,920-ft (1,500-m) navigation dive evaluation. The fourth week is punctuated by more night dives, a team swim, and a 9,840-ft (3,000-m) navigation dive evaluation. This marks the end of the course, and successful candidates graduate. Graduates then proceed to more intensive technical and operational training, including dealing with dangerous marine life, specialized physical conditioning, oxygen tolerance and chamber pressure test, diving physiology and injuries, antiswimmer systems, decompression, regulator repair, tides, waves and currents, altitude diving, use of dry suit, use of open-circuit equipment and buddy breathing, specialized water work and equipment, buoyant ascent, submarine lock-in/lock-out procedures, underwater searches, waterproofing and bundle rigging, ship bottom search, and infiltration techniques.
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Basic Crewman Training (BCT) studen ts jump from a dive platform during a
training session at the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, California.
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A second-phase Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL(BUD/S) candidate checks
his underwater breathing apparatus for ventilation and safety before diving.