The Navy Seals, like those who carried out the operation to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, are truly movie soldiers. Men made of a different material, really tough... But not so much, not always.
This is what the leaders in charge of training the elite military believe regarding the increase in desertions. The fault does not lie in the fact that they are subjected to dangerous, even deadly situations that lead to exhaustion, without supervision and with poor medical care, which leads them to throw in the towel or turn to drug use . No, the bad results are due to the fact that the current generation is "too soft", according to those responsible for the practices.
All the conclusions are part of a report of almost 200 pages very critical of those responsible for the education and training of the body. In the document, the basic underwater demolition course of the Navy Seals, a program known as BUD/S, is characterized as an "almost perfect storm", a name that is more than illustrative.
"The investigation revealed a degree of complacency and insufficient attention to a wide range of important elements intended to maintain the safety of students," the editorial notes.
This course has already left several injured and one dead. It was precisely the death in February 2022 of sailor Kyle Mullen, aspiring navy seal, that set off the alarms.
The dropout rate is between 70 and 85% of applicants per class. The course takes place on the beach at the base of Coronado, in San Diego, in Southern California.
Candidates are subject to limited rest time, long periods submerged in freezing water, punches and kicks, or constant physical exercise and combat training, without receiving health care unless they drop out of the course. The students explained that doctors regularly do not intervene and sometimes participate in the abuse.
Kyle Mullen suffered from pneumonia and other ailments during the days of the most grueling section, which is known as "hell week", six days in which they are allowed only four hours of sleep.
The official website explains that "candidates are endlessly in training, soaked on the beach or waist-deep in water with the cold ocean wind".
The researchers determined that health care was "poorly organized, poorly integrated and poorly directed." They conclude that these are "factors that probably have the most direct impact on the health and well-being of students".
Mullen, who completed the “hell week”, did not receive significant attention from the instructors or from the medical staff. When the physical condition visibly worsened when he showed difficulty breathing, the medical officers in charge twice warned the participants not to call 911 because it would interfere with the training, the report said.
According to navy commands, ten people identified in the report, including two high-ranking ones, face possible charges.
