Length of a carrer in SEALs

jakeUSNA9

5-Year Member
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Mar 7, 2010
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How long would a Naval Officer be allowed to be runnign active ops. Is it inevitable to end up doing planing and not carrying out missions. Is it smarter to enlist after college or go NROTC and become a naval officer then seal officer
 
The smartest option is a to pick a career path that makes you happy outside the NAVSPECWAR community. As you know, the SEAL community itself is extremely selective, and while you may believe in your heart of hearts that you are unstoppable and will become a SEAL, that's not how the smart money is betting. You need to find a job and community that you enjoy within the Navy, and then do your best to become a SEAL. Statistically speaking, you won't be a SEAL.

As for planning and leadership in the SEALs, you would spend longer on a detachment as an enlisted SEAL than as an officer. Both are extremely rewarding in their own ways, and in both cases you'd end up doing a variety of non-operational assignments.
 
As for planning and leadership in the SEALs, you would spend longer on a detachment as an enlisted SEAL than as an officer. Both are extremely rewarding in their own ways, and in both cases you'd end up doing a variety of non-operational assignments.

Please heed what Scout just stated. You need to realize that even as a SEAL you will have a second job when you are not deployed, and that is paper pushing in some form or another. You will not spend 100% of your time training or deploying.

Our neighbor when we were with the 82nd was a SEAL, actually awarded the Navy Cross for his involvement in the Somalia invasion (Black Hawk Down). They lived next to us for 2 yrs. He was only deployed about 1/3 of the time, the rest of it he was training at Bragg, but he was also the DO so he was doing a lot of paper pushing.

As it has been stated multiple times keep the dream, go 1000% for it, but don't confuse the dream with reality. To me, it seems that you are more wrapped up in being a SEAL and their missions and not realizing that is only a fraction of what your life will be like. '

Want to know how to have the longest operational SEAL career as an officer? Besides, not getting injured, accept the fact that you will be pushing paper and leaving the SEAL team for career progression. Our friend who was the SEAL, also attended every PME in residence before arriving to Bragg (that is @3 different schools, for a total of 3 yrs by the time he had 14 yrs in). When Bullet went to CGSC, he had SEALS in his class. They not only were in the class for a yr, but the majority of them went onto the Pentagon. They knew the only way to get back operationally was to earn rank and come back in a command position. In other words, they pushed paper for a total of 6 yrs out of their 20 (3 yrs school, 3 yrs desk).

If you want to be a SEAL and only a SEAL, never push paper, than you probably need to think about enlisting. If you enlist, than you need to ask yourself if you will be mentally/emotionally fulfilled on that track. Neither track is right or wrong or better from a big picture standpoint, the only difference is one is going to be right for you and one is going to be wrong. None of us knows what is driving your heart. If you can say I only want to be a SEAL, regardless of rank, than maybe NROTC is not the route for you and enlisted is. If you only want to lead, preferably SEALS, than NROTC is a fit.
 
How long would a Naval Officer be allowed to be runnign active ops. Is it inevitable to end up doing planing and not carrying out missions. Is it smarter to enlist after college or go NROTC and become a naval officer then seal officer

The answer to this varies but I'll assume that by "running active ops" you mean time in a platoon at a SEAL Team. As an officer you will have two or three platoon tours. As enlisted you would have on average five or six platoons. Each platoon tour has a ton of training and a deployment of on average seven months. Much of the platoon training is out of town.

If your primary goal is to be a SEAL with the most platoons possible then I would suggest you get your college degree first and pay for it yourself. Then enlist and go to BUD/S. Don't quit! After you've successfully completed your first couple of platoons and maybe platoon as an LPO, then look into becoming an officer. At that point you'd get two more platoons as an officer.

It's important to get your degree first since you will be extremely limited on time and energy to work on a degree once you are in the Teams. If you go the NROTC route you will be competing for the few slots available and if you don't get one you will need to go to the Fleet as an Officer first. To do a lateral transfer to BUD/S from the Fleet is difficult and timing is important. You will almost certainly lose the time for at least one of your platoons if that happens. I believe they only take Ensigns and JG's as a lateral transfer.
 
Yes this is my dream but i also know the ramifications. I just want to be able to do what i become trained to do. I know i am not always deployed but i want to use the learned skills to the fullets. I know it is hard but someone will have to kill me to get me to quit
 
Yes this is my dream but i also know the ramifications. I just want to be able to do what i become trained to do. I know i am not always deployed but i want to use the learned skills to the fullets. I know it is hard but someone will have to kill me to get me to quit

:rolleyes: Easy to say when you're warm and dry.

Have a plan.
 
That is so true but im the type of guy that can do it. I just want to have the most op time i can get whether i have to enlist or be an officer. I want to lead and have a long operational carrerr
 
That is so true but im the type of guy that can do it. I just want to have the most op time i can get whether i have to enlist or be an officer. I want to lead and have a long operational carrerr

What is the type of guy who would make it, would you say?
 
A confident never say die no quiter get the job done type of guy and i think that is just one of the few types the are others that will do it but i assure you i will become a SEAL
 
Now I may not be an expert on the topic of SEALs (I'm an AROTC scholarship cadet, hopefully commisioning into MI), but I do know that between all SF admission processes, 90% of the guys there will have the exact same thought in their heads. They will all feel that they were born to be a SEAL/Green Beret/Parajumper/Marine Recon and very few of them actually make it. You should never (ever!) burn down all other bridges and commit yourself to pursuing one goal or profession, you could easily injure yourself in training or just get chewed up and spit out by the buerocracy (It nearly happened to me more than once). What I'm trying to say is that you should plan for the best and worst case scenario.
 
Mbeary,

You are correct, however, many times they also have the belief of "I am not like the others", thus, they do burn many bridges along the way.

Additionally, Jake has yet to experience the Navy, he maybe like a ton of other cadets and get bitten by a different bug. Our close friend has a DS at USNA, their son entered saying subs all the way, C3C and it was SWO all the way, now as a C2C it is pilot school all the way. Those summer training sessions can change a young man's mind very quickly. :wink:

Jake, you may get it, but before you walk down that road, open both eyes and stop watching anything that comes out of Hollywood believing it is the real military.
 
I understand and i am keeping all options open this is what i wnat to do but i am keeping all other options open ic=ncluding aviation and standard ground infantry. But as of now this is what i want to do
 
Have a plan. Make sure you are above and beyond the requirements for all the testing to become a SEAL. I don't doubt you will become a seal if you are set upon it and are fully prepared. Good luck!!

Scoutpilot why are your posts cocky and conceited. I get the impression from your posts that you seem to think that your opinion is the right one all the time. No disrespect meant towards you, just saying... :smile:
 
Have a plan. Make sure you are above and beyond the requirements for all the testing to become a SEAL. I don't doubt you will become a seal if you are set upon it and are fully prepared. Good luck!!

Scoutpilot why are your posts cocky and conceited. I get the impression from your posts that you seem to think that your opinion is the right one all the time. No disrespect meant towards you, just saying... :smile:

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your input, as you have offered so much constructive input in general. I am sure you have much to offer me in the way of experience in the special operations community. Thank you so, so much for your astute insights. Please, tell me more!

You may not like my opinions, and it always your right to reject intelligence at every opportunity, but my opinions are based on a thing I like to call experience, which is often in short supply.

Take it or leave it, but don't cry about it.
 
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I gotta chime in here.....

Jake, I do appreciate drive on this, and to reitterate the obvious, be confident but don't burn bridges. NEVER QUIT!!!

USA, you better grow thicker skin or stay with the Air Force cause it sounds like the Army would only mess your world up. Scoutpilot definately holds weight here. Until you've BTDT I suggest you keep to what you know. Are you/ have you even been enlisted in ANY branch or are you some college-op?
 
I gotta chime in here.....

Jake, I do appreciate drive on this, and to reitterate the obvious, be confident but don't burn bridges. NEVER QUIT!!!

USA, you better grow thicker skin or stay with the Air Force cause it sounds like the Army would only mess your world up. Scoutpilot definately holds weight here. Until you've BTDT I suggest you keep to what you know. Are you/ have you even been enlisted in ANY branch or are you some college-op?

Ol' army dog gettin' fired up! I like it! No worries though. People get boo-boo lipped on the internet all the time. USA's complaints don't worry me none :thumb:
 
Folks lets try to keep this on target and not call each other out with a "whose is bigger" approach ok?
 
Folks lets try to keep this on target and not call each other out with a "whose is bigger" approach ok?

You got it, boss. I think the discussion has been exhausted, really. There's not much more to be offered in terms of defined "length" of operational tours in the NAVSPECWAR community than has already been offered. The reality is that a career is unpredictable, and with the increasing level of education and training of NCOs in highly technical aspects of advanced special operations (that's the heading we use in the Army, the Navy likely calls it something similar), NCOs are being pulled to fill interesting and difficult billets in all sorts of non-traditional and "non-operational" assignments.

In the end, your career is 50% luck...just like everyone else's.
 
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