Special Forces

SEALs are a special forces unit for the Navy. The Army has the Green Berets as the Special Forces, in addition to Rangers and Delta. To be eligible for Green Beret training as an officer, you have to be at least an O-3. So SEALs after WP, no. At USNA, a select few are eligible for seal training straight out of the academy, but that is a VERY small percentage of graduates.
 
1017225 said:
SEALs are a special forces unit for the Navy. The Army has the Green Berets as the Special Forces, in addition to Rangers and Delta. To be eligible for Green Beret training as an officer, you have to be at least an O-3. So SEALs after WP, no. At USNA, a select few are eligible for seal training straight out of the academy, but that is a VERY small percentage of graduates.
Click to expand...

Not entirely true.. You can do an inter-service academy transfer (cross commission) into the navy and go SEALS. Very few people do this, but it is possible.

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-n...cted/eodocm/Pages/InterServiceCommission.aspx
 
Possible, but ludicrously unlikely. Cross-commissions are ones and twos per school, and you a: need a damn good reason and b: are unlikely to get a career path that's not "common." Considering how tough it is to go SEALs from USNA, going SEALs from USMA would be virtually impossible.
 
Actually it is possible in a technical sense but in reality it would probably never happen. At any academy you can interservice select in to any other armed service branch. Just getting a chance to select another service branch though is very rare but selecting another service special forces and actually getting the opportunity is pretty much unheard of. So my personal suggestion would be if you really want to do SEALs and are not interested in any other special force units like the Green Berets or Rangers then I would say do not go to West Point. Try to go to the Naval Academy instead and if I couldn't get in to the academy I would go the NROTC route because the chance of you getting Navy Special forces out of USMA is pretty much impossible. If you went NROTC you would have a lot better chance of getting SEALs then at USMA. If you wanted to know the numbers for interservice selection I only have USNAs but I am sure it is a similar case at USMA but either way in the class of 2008 only two individuals got chosen for Army interservice selection from USNA and they both happened to be female. As you can see its kind of a long shot since only 8 all together (including other services besides Army) out of 1047 midshipman interservice selected. So your best shot is to find another career that is in the Army that you like if you are wanting to go to West Point (I would suggest checking out the Green Berets and Rangers if you haven't already because they are pretty similar to and special forces just like SEALs). If you can not find any job in the Army that you think would be for you then I would not recommend going to West Point but that is just my honest opinion and I hope I could help.
 
I was just merely pointing out that it is possible. True, very unlikely.

I agree with csmeeks though, if there is no job in the branch that correlates to the academy you want to go to, then you might want to rethink your options. Also, I have a good buddy of mine who graduated from usna and went the SEAL route. One of the questions his BGO asked him was: "What's more important to you, becoming an officer, or becoming a SEAL?"
If you are more set on becoming a SEAL than an officer, then the easier route would be to enlist. If you care more about being a leader and becoming an officer, then go to an academy or a form of ROTC.
 
SEALs are not Special Forces.
75th Ranger Regiment is not Special Forces.
Delta is not Special Forces.
They are Special Operations Forces (SOF).
Only the U.S Army Special Forces are Special Forces. (Or what y'all call Green Berets)
The names are not interchangable.

Highly unlikely to get into BUD/S as a USMA grad, let alone a Navy commissioning source.
 
-Bull- said:
SEALs are not Special Forces.
75th Ranger Regiment is not Special Forces.
Delta is not Special Forces.
They are Special Operations Forces (SOF).
Only the U.S Army Special Forces are Special Forces. (Or what y'all call Green Berets)
The names are not interchangable.

Highly unlikely to get into BUD/S as a USMA grad, let alone a Navy commissioning source.
Click to expand...

While you're busy correcting, make sure you know what you're talking about.

Why is it called Delta? Because it's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta. 1st SFOD-D.
 
I do know this. I should have clarified better. Thanks
 
Bull, while I can appreciate the distinction in naming the various special operations forces, I think I and most the other poster left it out since it was largely irrelevant to this thread. The original post asked about one branches special operations force and I responded using the shortened and more vernacular term "special forces." However, I will concede I didn't use the official terminology on a forum board discussion. For that, I'll apologize. Crazyhorse, hope we managed to answer you questions!
 
Thank you all for your comments..
I am 110% committed to attending West Point.. I feel it is the best school in the world.
SEALS (BUD'S) traing was something that came up at the dinner table So I decided to look into it. And to see if it was even possible..
From what I gather it IS possible but very very difficult..
A chalenge I might just take on..

Thanks again
 
I won't discourage you from taking a challenge... but keep in mind it's not "very very difficult". It is very very very very VERY difficult... I wouldn't go to WP counting on it. But that's just MY opinion.
 
there were 30 USNA midshipmen commissioned into SEALs in the past graduating class. I wonder how many made it through BUD/S... how many did last year?
 
Crazyhorse, can you possibly give some insight as to why you want SEALs over SF, Rangers, Delta, etc? If you are going to West Point, realize that it is the academy for the Army, not the navy. USNA is an awesome institution, and if you are set on SEALs, then why not go to the Naval Academy? It seems like common sense to me.

Plus, SEAL training is a very arduous process (to say the least) and the likelihood of even getting in to the training programs is VERY low. Getting into it out of WP is infinitely harder and less likely. Figure out why you are going to the academy, whether its for one career path or if you will be able to be happy in another career path the Army offers or even Navy.

Again, if you want a Navy career, go to the Naval academy

If you want an Army career, go to West Point.

Going to one for te education but not for the respective career afterwards isn't a good choice if you want the other service.
 
Like I said.
West Point is my one and only choice.

BUD'S is/was an afterthought.. "dinner table" discussion.

I just cant help it sometimes.. when I here "no it can be done" or "its virtually impossible" Something inside me makes me want to try it..

That being said.
My one and only Goal is to become an Army Officer.
I will stay my course..

Thank you for all your comments.. They've been really helpfull.
 
if you're even remotley considering going to SEALs, i'd reccomend looking very carefully into a pre-ranger course as one of your summer training events. the task and intensity of the training for pre-ranger is about as close as you can get to what you'll face in BUD/S. there is a show that was done on discovery i think. "Two Weeks in Hell" is the title. it goes over various challenges that you face during SF Selection. it might even go over different training that the different SOCOM people go though.

But i think that if you can keep your spirit and motivation during your time at west point, from what officers in my unit have told me (nothing but how much i'll hate life when i'm there), you will begin to develop the intrinsic motivation to succeed at basically anything you decide to acheive in the army.
 
dunninla said:
there were 30 USNA midshipmen commissioned into SEALs in the past graduating class. I wonder how many made it through BUD/S... how many did last year?
Click to expand...
At the NASS they told us that on average 80% of mids who go through BUD/s pass it it and become SEALS.
 
Not sure how it would be out of West Point, but I know the process out of USAFA is very difficult. We had a senior this year who absolutely rocked his his PAST test. 111 push ups in two minutes, 109 sit ups, 7:50 on his mile and a half run, 20 dead hang pull ups, and I believe his 500 meter swim time was around 8:30. He went out to Coronado, had his interview, and was not selected to go to BUD/S. Found out the day his cross commissioning packet was being sent off. As this was the only job he wanted in the Navy, he pulled his packet. Had he not found out that day and pulled his packet he would have been stuck doing a job in the Navy he didn't want. He got picked up to be a Special Tactics Officer in the Air Force, one of our special forces branches. Just saying know the risk you take of going to West Point, putting in for your cross commission, with the potential of not getting picked up. Your best bet in my opinion would be to go to USNA if you're set on SEALs. If not, go to USMA, commission into the Army, and then reassess if SF is really what you want to do a few years into your active duty career.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top