SOT

iskekeirhtj

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Good evening all,

I am a current candidate for the class of 2027 and my ultimate goal is to commission as SEAL officer. I may be planning ahead a bit too far but I am wondering what the tryout process is for SOT and what other alternatives are out there to prepare me to compete for a SEAL billet. Can any current or former mids attest to the screening process for SOT and how I can prepare myself to eventually try out for the team?

Thanks
 
There is a SEAL screener each year at USNA which does a good job at showing everyone how hard it is to even get a shot at six months of fun in Coronado. The dropout rate for just the screener at USNA is huge, but you can certainly give it a go if you get there. I'm just a Dad of a former MIDN, but I watched parts of that screener over the years and hoo boy, it is tough and lasts a long time, with no sleep. If you can even make it to the end of that screener (not many do), then you just may get a chance at BUD/S.

Maybe just concentrate on getting into the academy first. It's a process.
 
I’ve been on the Yard the weekend of the SEAL screener and got to see bits and pieces as the many — many! — aspiring SEALs passed me or I passed them during a very long walk that I took. It definitely looked a step or two more than standard training. And DD reported that at the end of the weekend, many shipmates decided they’d had enough. Some wanted it even more.

So the attrition rate is high even at that early and preliminary stage. Therefore, hold on to your goal, but also be resolved to be a naval or Marine officer first and foremost. Once at USNA, the more you learn about yourself and the opportunities ahead, the more you’ll consider other equally if different rewarding paths.
 
SOT is different from the screener, and for many it is a great way to prepare for it. I can't speak to the tryout process (or even if there are tryouts), but you can join SOT as a Plebe in lieu of playing a sport. The training that SOT does is intended to prepare one for the screener and beyond, but joining SOT is not required to be selected for a SEAL spot. I don't have the statistics, but many successful SEAL applicants do things other than SOT

Are underclassmen allowed to participate in this screener?

No, only second class are eligible for the screener. It's done during fall and spring, thought the fall screener is the primary one. The spring screener is typically for people who might have been sick or injured in the fall, or for those who want to improve their performance.

Training to be successful in the screener, and later at SOAS, is much more dependent on individual commitment and effort over a long period of time than on which group you join to do your training.

As mentioned above, there is plenty of time to figure this out later, first and foremost is getting an Appointment

best of luck
 
Last year, they experimented with moving the SEAL selection process up a year by allowing select 3/C to do the screener. 10 3/C started and 3 finished it. SOT try outs are conducted every fall, and its usually a week long process in early September consisting of morning workouts.
 
Son said he saw them doing the screener a few weeks ago. Said they started with something like 3 PRTs back to back to back. Sounds like fun!! :p
 
Good insights and advice above.

If you are not a confident and comfortable swimmer, that is something to work on. There are swim quals at USNA, and you will want to pass those with no strain and avoid any remedial swim (eats into previous time). SEALs are confident and capable swimmers.

Run, run and run some more - good overall prep for either an SA or ROTC. Run when it’s cold or rainy or uncomfortable or muddy or goshawful early to know that you mentally can get yourself through discomfort, fatigue and aching whatever. That mental grit doesn’t magically appear.

Google and search YouTube for “Navy SEAL plyometrics” and SEAL workouts. Have some fun and challenge yourself. You should be doing your normal everyday fitness work for health, your sport, ongoing prep for whatever pre-comm program you land in, but if you haven’t done grinder-style workouts before, do ease into them with conditioning and don’t injure yourself!

Look for Stew Smith’s website and YouTube videos. He’s a USNA grad, former SEAL, now a fitness professional. Still very connected to USNA.

One thing at a time. Focus on what you can control as you pursue an appointment. It’s a narrow, rugged path to SEAL (with even steeper terrain awaiting at BUDS), but a handful of people get there every year. If you get into USNA, there will be plenty of briefings, opportunities to talk with upperclass on that path. You always have a shot until you don’t.

Be prudent and be sure there is some other officer community(s) that you would be interested in serving, including Marine.

Don’t look so far ahead you don’t pause and enjoy friends, family and your last year of HS. If things work out for you at USNA, you will report in at the end of June, and for the next 9+ years after that, get home for too-short visits.
 
Good insights and advice above.

If you are not a confident and comfortable swimmer, that is something to work on. There are swim quals at USNA, and you will want to pass those with no strain and avoid any remedial swim (eats into previous time). SEALs are confident and capable swimmers.

Run, run and run some more - good overall prep for either an SA or ROTC. Run when it’s cold or rainy or uncomfortable or muddy or goshawful early to know that you mentally can get yourself through discomfort, fatigue and aching whatever. That mental grit doesn’t magically appear.

Google and search YouTube for “Navy SEAL plyometrics” and SEAL workouts. Have some fun and challenge yourself. You should be doing your normal everyday fitness work for health, your sport, ongoing prep for whatever pre-comm program you land in, but if you haven’t done grinder-style workouts before, do ease into them with conditioning and don’t injure yourself!

Look for Stew Smith’s website and YouTube videos. He’s a USNA grad, former SEAL, now a fitness professional. Still very connected to USNA.

One thing at a time. Focus on what you can control as you pursue an appointment. It’s a narrow, rugged path to SEAL (with even steeper terrain awaiting at BUDS), but a handful of people get there every year. If you get into USNA, there will be plenty of briefings, opportunities to talk with upperclass on that path. You always have a shot until you don’t.

Be prudent and be sure there is some other officer community(s) that you would be interested in serving, including Marine.

Don’t look so far ahead you don’t pause and enjoy friends, family and your last year of HS. If things work out for you at USNA, you will report in at the end of June, and for the next 9+ years after that, get home for too-short visits.
Previous = precious. 🙄
 
DS's roomie and his plebe year roomie both did the screener a few weeks ago. DS was assigned a watch to observe and, be available to call medics if needed. One roomie dropped partway through and, said, "no, no, no, no." The other made it and said, "I'm tired but it wasn't too bad". DS said it looked awful and he couldn't fathom how bone-chillingly cold they must have been.
 
Thank you all for this plethora of incredibly useful information. It is definitely important to find a balance during senior year and I’m still improving in that aspect while maintaining my focus on self improvement. If I don’t make SOT (I have no clue if there’s an attrition aspect with SOT) what are some other activities I should participate in to help me prepare for the SEAL screener? I am notably much weaker in the swimming aspect of the PST so is there anything I could do at USNA to improve that? The CSS form is quite hard to perfect.
 
Thank you all for this plethora of incredibly useful information. It is definitely important to find a balance during senior year and I’m still improving in that aspect while maintaining my focus on self improvement. If I don’t make SOT (I have no clue if there’s an attrition aspect with SOT) what are some other activities I should participate in to help me prepare for the SEAL screener? I am notably much weaker in the swimming aspect of the PST so is there anything I could do at USNA to improve that? The CSS form is quite hard to perfect.
Believe me when I say USNA will make sure you become a competent swimmer. It's required. You will have tons of hours in the pool. Even if you are an 'aqua rock', you will be trained to swim until you pass each swim class.
 
Thank you all for this plethora of incredibly useful information. It is definitely important to find a balance during senior year and I’m still improving in that aspect while maintaining my focus on self improvement. If I don’t make SOT (I have no clue if there’s an attrition aspect with SOT) what are some other activities I should participate in to help me prepare for the SEAL screener? I am notably much weaker in the swimming aspect of the PST so is there anything I could do at USNA to improve that? The CSS form is quite hard to perfect.
 
I saw a lot of the EOD and SEAL hopefuls in the pool during their own time. Swim classes at Navy are designed to teach you how to survive in the water. The course will not prep you for the screeners or BUD/S. The best advice I could personally give is to seek out one of SEALs on the Yard and they could point you in the right direction. I bet SOT will also do some pool stuff. If memory serves me correctly, SOT was a self-attrition thing. If you show up every day wanting to be there, then you should be fine. I just think they want to prevent people from using it solely to workout if that makes sense.
 
Every year only ~4 plebes make SOT and the try out process for that is a week of getting beat down every morning and afternoon. I’m not sure if tryouts are open to 3/C, like IST(Infantry skills club, also very physically demanding), but a lot of people tryout so you have to thrive not just survive. The seal screener is only open to 2/C (used to be open to 3/C) and is supposed to be just over 24 hours long but they can and will run it longer if there are to many people.
 
Every year only ~4 plebes make SOT and the try out process for that is a week of getting beat down every morning and afternoon. I’m not sure if tryouts are open to 3/C, like IST(Infantry skills club, also very physically demanding), but a lot of people tryout so you have to thrive not just survive. The seal screener is only open to 2/C (used to be open to 3/C) and is supposed to be just over 24 hours long but they can and will run it longer if there are to many people.
Are there any particular physical metrics I should be aiming for or is it more of a mental toughness tryout?
 
Are there any particular physical metrics I should be aiming for or is it more of a mental toughness tryout?
Obviously you have to be good at the basics like running, push-ups, and pull-ups. I’m not on the the team nor did I tryout but I know 4 who are. I’d assume if you’re physically fit enough to even think you can do it then it’s all a mental battle from there. Be prepared to do a lot of bear crawls(I mean a lot), exercises with sand babies (35ish pound weights) like shoulder presses, over head Carry’s, bear crawling with them, and just really long and repetitive physical evaluations like sets of 10 pull-ups, 25 push-ups, bearcrawls, and burpees for an hour straight.

Again I’m not on the team but this is just what I’ve gathered from talking to those on the team, seeing their workouts, and doing a few other club screeners.
 
I have friends on SOT and friends who secured the SEAL screener.

Neither is easy and most people self select before the SOT tryout/SEAL screener even begins.

SOT tryouts are intense and really early in the morning. You will bear crawl all over the place, need to be a good runner, be a good swimmer, and be mentally tough to not quit. You also get interviewed and may be rejected then. Google "devils mile workout". One day of tryouts a few years ago was back-to-back devil's miles (tryouts are a week long).

The screener is generally taken your 2/C (junior) year. If you're a real stud, I know a guy who got a spot as a 3/C (sophomore). He was medically dropped (symptoms of hypothermia/inability to adapt), spent a whole year working out and gaining a ton of weight (to stay warmer...think XC runner build to something more like a football safety), and secured this year as a 2/C. This year's screener went nearly continuously from 1500 Friday to 2300 Saturday. Most drops occur before the sun comes up - you go all night. The first thing you do is a PST. If you don't pass, you don't go on. You then spend the rest of the night doing pass/fail swim tests, getting in the Severn River, getting sandy, crawling around on Hospital Point, and doing a bunch of exercises with an unwieldy block of taped sand called a "sand baby". It is very hard.

A lot of people in SOT do well on the screener, but many wash out too. You can do extremely well on the screener without being in SOT. Some of the highest performers I have heard of were on the Triathlon Team and the Endurance Team. From your plebe year to your 2/C fall, when you'll likely take the screener for the first time, you can go from decent shape to screener god if you are truly committed. A former company mate of mine was middle of the pack PT during plebe summer, scored near the top on the EOD screener 2/C year, and just selected EOD. This person absolutely went beast mode for the better part of two years, though, and you will almost certainly not understand the level of commitment this takes until you are doing the work. A key to success is finding an upper-class to mentor you.

This is getting long, but one last thing. If you secure (finish) the screener, you are ranked against everyone else who secured. The top x number of people (determined by Big Navy/USNA summer training dept.) get an opportunity to go to SOAS over the summer, which is the actual tryout to become a SEAL. In a sense, the USNA screener is a screener for a screener for SEALs. More people wash out at SOAS. After SOAS, the USNA SEAL community will select x number out of the top performers from SOAS to become SEAL officers upon graduating. After you graduate, you go to BUD/S, where USNA people tend to do much better than people from other places, but some still wash out. If you pass BUD/S, you're finally a SEAL.

Being a SEAL is a great goal to have, but know that you're about to undertake the most difficult training of your life. Nothing will compare. All of this is done on top of other academy things like academics, which if neglected, will result in not being selected (your whole record is taken into account).

Source: Former roommate was just selected for SEALs, former company mate was just selected for EOD, 2/C in one of my classes just secured the SEAL screener.
 
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I have friends on SOT and friends who secured the SEAL screener.

Neither is easy and most people self select before the SOT tryout/SEAL screener even begins.

SOT tryouts are intense and really early in the morning. You will bear crawl all over the place, need to be a good runner, be a good swimmer, and be mentally tough to not quit. You also get interviewed and may be rejected then. Google "devils mile workout". One day of tryouts a few years ago was back-to-back devil's miles (tryouts are a week long).

The screener is generally taken your 2/C (junior) year. If you're a real stud, I know a guy who got a spot as a 3/C (sophomore). He was medically dropped (symptoms of hypothermia/inability to adapt), spent a whole year working out and gaining a ton of weight (to stay warmer...think XC runner build to something more like a football safety), and secured this year as a 2/C. This year's screener went nearly continuously from 1500 Friday to 2300 Saturday. Most drops occur before the sun comes up - you go all night. The first thing you do is a PST. If you don't pass, you don't go on. You then spend the rest of the night doing pass/fail swim tests, getting in the Severn River, getting sandy, crawling around on Hospital Point, and doing a bunch of exercises with an unwieldy block of taped sand called a "sand baby". It is very hard.

A lot of people in SOT do well on the screener, but many wash out too. You can do extremely well on the screener without being in SOT. Some of the highest performers I have heard of were on the Triathlon Team and the Endurance Team. From your plebe year to your 2/C fall, when you'll likely take the screener for the first time, you can go from decent shape to screener god if you are truly committed. A former company mate of mine was middle of the pack PT during plebe summer, scored near the top on the EOD screener 2/C year, and just selected EOD. This person absolutely went beast mode for the better part of two years, though, and you will almost certainly not understand the level of commitment this takes until you are doing the work. A key to success is finding an upper-class to mentor you.

This is getting long, but one last thing. If you secure (finish) the screener, you are ranked against everyone else who secured. The top x number of people (determined by Big Navy/USNA summer training dept.) get an opportunity to go to SOAS over the summer, which is the actual tryout to become a SEAL. In a sense, the USNA screener is a screener for a screener for SEALs. More people wash out at SOAS. After SOAS, the USNA SEAL community will select x number out of the top performers from SOAS to become SEAL officers upon graduating. After you graduate, you go to BUD/S, where USNA people tend to do much better than people from other places, but some still wash out. If you pass BUD/S, you're finally a SEAL.

Being a SEAL is a great goal to have, but know that you're about to undertake the most difficult training of your life. Nothing will compare. All of this is done on top of other academy things like academics, which if neglected, will result in not being selected (your whole record is taken into account).

Source: Former roommate was just selected for SEALs, former company mate was just selected for EOD, 2/C in one of my classes just secured the SEAL screener.
Thanks for all the information on SOT and the SEAL screener. Do you know how many people try out for it and make it their plebe year? Also what are some alternatives to SOT to help me prepare?

Also I see that you’re a bear shark. That was my company that I was assigned to for my CVW so perhaps we may have met. Ironically one of the plebes in your company solidified my interest in serving as a SEAL. He was a prior nuke and is an absolute PT stud while also being one of the most intelligent people I have met.
 
Thanks for all the information on SOT and the SEAL screener. Do you know how many people try out for it and make it their plebe year? Also what are some alternatives to SOT to help me prepare?

Also I see that you’re a bear shark. That was my company that I was assigned to for my CVW so perhaps we may have met. Ironically one of the plebes in your company solidified my interest in serving as a SEAL. He was a prior nuke and is an absolute PT stud while also being one of the most intelligent people I have met.
25 is the place to be ;)

The amount trying out for SOT varies from year-to-year. There's tryouts in the fall and spring. They don't take a ton of plebes. I'm not on SOT but the consensus among people I've asked is around 4 per tryout give or take a few. If it's what you want, please don't worry about the numbers and give it your best shot. Start trying to get into great running and swimming shape now. The mental stuff is all about how bad you want it - and you have got to want it bad.

The mids on the triathlon team scare me. These people are in such good shape that they stick out like sore thumbs at a school where everyone is pretty fit. Their tryouts are pretty brutal too - you have to be a great swimmer, runner, and cyclist (i.e. a triathlete). They work out in the mornings, over lunch, and often after school. If you are on that team, you will have the requisite endurance to complete the screener, so it boils down to the mental aspect and some of the more esoteric pool-skills types of things for them (though they're all comfortable in the water, the pool portion of the screener is not like swimming a triathlon).

Another great option is the endurance team. They are a larger team than the tri-guys and gals and I think they're a lot more open to taking plebes than either of the other two mentioned. In fact, they're known for being easier to make plebe year and much harder to make for upper-class. They workout for hours after school each day doing various hard activities for nothing other than personal satisfaction. They crawl around, run far, and ruck a bit too. They enter random competitions throughout the school year like goruck and ultra-marathons. They're a really great group of people and are completely nuts. If you get a great deal of satisfaction from doing insane workouts, these guys might be a great fit. A lot of them tend to do well on the screener because of their mentality towards "crappy" workouts like bear crawling and getting wet and cold. They embrace those types of things.

Regardless what club you join, you will need to spend time in the pool learning things by yourself. This is where you need an upper-class to teach you and possibly find a workout buddy to keep you honest. Go to Sunday night swims during the ac year. A huge group of upper-class teach sidestroke, pool skills, treading, etc. It's where you want to look to find a mentor.
 
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