USNA and beyond

Not all leadership is tied to rank or position held. Look up formal leadership & informal leadership. Research your path and choose what best suites your desire. There is many ways to lead and they involve personality and style. No one way is correct all the time and just because it worked at one place does not mean it will work in another. You must be willing to continue to learn and adapt to your environment. Be fluid... Understand whom you are trying to influence. Leading a team of strong-minded individuals is much different from attempting to influence those that lack aspiration. In my opinion, a good leader allows his people to think and make decisions within his guidelines. A good leader only needs to make minor adjustments when his team is operating smoothly. The only constant is change. Knowledge is power.
 
Hey Kid, I think that your question has technically been answered.

Here's all I have to say.

Don't ever let ANYONE ruin your dreams by discouraging you. If you want to become a SEAL, then go for it. If you want to become an officer in the Navy and attend the US Naval Academy. Go for it. Believe me the Navy Seals will have room for you, if you can pass their requirements.

It's been said 98% of people live their lives without fulfilling their dreams. Don't be one of them by not letting others discourage you from the beginning.

Key here is come up with a idea on where you want to end up in life, work your way backwards from that goal and come up with a battle plan to get you there. Along the way it will probably be hard, but if you end up doing what you love, then it isn't really work, is it?

Trust me it can be done with hard work and perseverance.
 
Mallard Duck said:
Believe me the Navy Seals will have room for you, if you can pass their requirements.
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This is simply not true, unfortunately. NSW has 30-35ish slots out of USNA per year. The year I graduated, I believe about 50 mids had successfully completed all the screeners. There was a 1/C who was originally picked by NSW, but the Nuke community was behind on its quota and after a SARB, he was redesignated to Nuke. It's a reminder that even if you do all the right things, nothing is guaranteed.

The only way to somewhat "guarantee" BUD/S is to either enlist with a SEAL contract, or if one wants to be an officer, apply to SOAS and then if successful there to attend OCS with a SEAL contract.
 
Mallard Duck said:
Hey Kid, I think that your question has technically been answered.

Here's all I have to say.

Don't ever let ANYONE ruin your dreams by discouraging you. If you want to become a SEAL, then go for it. If you want to become an officer in the Navy and attend the US Naval Academy. Go for it. Believe me the Navy Seals will have room for you, if you can pass their requirements.

It's been said 98% of people live their lives without fulfilling their dreams. Don't be one of them by not letting others discourage you from the beginning.

Key here is come up with a idea on where you want to end up in life, work your way backwards from that goal and come up with a battle plan to get you there. Along the way it will probably be hard, but if you end up doing what you love, then it isn't really work, is it?

Trust me it can be done with hard work and perseverance.
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Thank you for the encouragement.
 
Thank everybody else for their amazing help and response I will be sure to keep you all updated through my journey.
 
Man, nothing against the SEALs, but I can't see myself going that path. Mad respect to you and those SEALs out there.
 
Kierkegaard said:
This is simply not true, unfortunately. NSW has 30-35ish slots out of USNA per year. The year I graduated, I believe about 50 mids had successfully completed all the screeners. There was a 1/C who was originally picked by NSW, but the Nuke community was behind on its quota and after a SARB, he was redesignated to Nuke. It's a reminder that even if you do all the right things, nothing is guaranteed.

The only way to somewhat "guarantee" BUD/S is to either enlist with a SEAL contract, or if one wants to be an officer, apply to SOAS and then if successful there to attend OCS with a SEAL contract.
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In addition to this great real world experience advising you, consider that just because a Mid is selected for SEALS or EOD doesn’t mean they achieve the end game goal. Many hurdles to clear post that. Not all achieve their desired end game.

And that is true of any service assignment whether enlisted or commissioned.
 
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Tear_gas said:
That is fair. I do not know how I will accomplish it, but I will find a way.
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It starts with research. There are lots of ways to educate yourself on the Spec Ops pipeline. Follow Stew Smith on social media. He is a USNA grad and former SEAL. He runs a program preparing hopefuls for selection. He has written many books on selection. He does Q&As, training tips, etc. Reddit has a SEAL community. It’s brutal there. Listen and read, well before you post. But there are lots of boards on there that no one bothers to read and just wants to be spoon fed. Don’t be that guy. There is a similar site like this for Spec Ops. Google will lead you there. I haven’t been by there in a long time, but same thing, it’s brutal. But it’s moderated by those in the community. Listen and read and then repeat. If you have a question it should be thoroughly researched. Turn your excitement and dream into an action plan.

Being a door kicker sounds great and it is fun. But it’s not all glamorous. It is hard on the mind, body and soul. I was a young officer in Iraq and Afghanistan. Physically it’s a young person’s game. Mentally it’s not that. I think in some regards I was so young, I was dumb to a lot of the emotions. I would never trade my experiences, but they are not for the faint of heart. They will change your life, not always for the better. You could spend years perfecting your craft and never do it ‘for real.’ Also remember SEALs and many other spec ops have a big mission set to train foreign militaries. You could possibly do more of that than anything else.

As to officer or enlisted, only you can determine that. The only guaranteed path is enlisted. Even being enlisted doesn’t mean you will spend your life door kicking. One, the higher you go, your role changes. Everyone takes turns rotating between operational roles and shore tours. That could be at various school houses or other things. Two, there is always paperwork. As an officer you not only ensure your team is ready and prepared, but your job is to push paper. That paper is intel briefs, ops briefs and orders, awards for your team (this places promotions), evals (impacts promotions), after action reports, and a million other things. Do you want to be the officer who fails to update resdinsss reports and your team can’t deploy? That is a failure on an officer. A missing eval you were late on and someone on your team doesn’t get selected for promotion? That is on you. Do your research, listen, learn. Create a plan.
 
Tear_gas said:
That is fair. I do not know how I will accomplish it, but I will find a way.
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I'm not going to try to influence you regarding spec ops but if you're serious about this and I mean really serious, ask yourself if you're the MOST fit person in your high school with the greatest endurance of any of your peers. If you are not, then you need to change it up NOW, not next week, next month or next year. The SEALS that I've served with and known were exactly what I just described for many years BEFORE applying to be a SEAL.
Oh, and as has been said before - swimming. . . you need to be the BEST which is not necessarily the fastest swimmer but the one who can swim and swim and swim (for hours). This does not happen in a day so if you aren't that person NOW then start becoming that person NOW.
 
Speaking of swimming…



And from USNA grad, former SEAL, now fitness pro Stew Smith (he’s been mentioned above, for website, YouTube, etc.):


Not just swim like a fish, but a warrior fish.
 
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The original people kicking around thoughts in Hawaii about who were the most badazz athletes that came up with the inaugural Ironman race came from the Navy. ;)

And, having that sort of background and skill (multipsort endurance athletes) will serve someone well who wants to pursue the S.E.A.L. dream.
 
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