We have gone through BUD/S, survived Hell Week, and trudged through SQT. What happens next for the SEAL? It will then be the time for more advanced training, in an effort to equip the SEAL with even more knowledge and skill that will prove to be very useful when they are out in the field.

SEALs who would like to be medics can proceed to 18D (eighteen-delta) Medic Training in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The 18D training is another six months’ worth of advanced medical training, where SEALs will learn both conventional as well as unconventional medical skills. Trainees will learn how to diagnose and treat practically every known condition, in both ideal and difficult circumstances. They will also be learning skills that will enable them to perform advanced emergency medicine as well as battlefield trauma life support. They will have the ability to start an IV using the smallest of veins, all the while blindfolded and with one hand tied behind their back.

18D training is composed of instructors and students who belong to all SOF – Army Special Forces, Marine Corps recon, Air Force PJs and Navy SEALs.

SEALs destined to man the SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One in Hawaii or Team Two in Little Creek, Virginia, will need to complete a three-month SDV Course in Coronado, California. The SDV is no easy vessel to pilot and requires extensive training. It is for this reason that the best SDV SEALs may well find themselves deployed to SDV teams for the duration of their SEAL service. As featured on our earlier posts on the SDV, these teams will be tasked with the delivery of SEALs and equipment from submarines or any other sea vessel into enemy territory.

Since SEALs do not only stay submerged underwater but can also take to the skies, Airborne training is not surprisingly part of their regimen. Basic Airborne training can progress to military free-fall training, which we featured in a previous post.