The most trying time of the BUD/S training is the Hell Week and this is the time when SEAL’s are born! 5.5 days of continuous training without any sleep will probably make any man cry! But when “you gotta be a SEAL, you gotta go through Hell Week!”

The training takes place at the Coronado Naval Amphibious Base in San Diego, California. The Navy SEAL training is so tough that on the first day of the Hell Week, the instructor makes it a point to tell the recruits one thing: “If you quit now you could go get a room at one of those luxury hotels down the beach and do nothing but sleep for an entire day!” In fact, Navy SEAL instructors keep repeating the fact that recruits can use the “Drop-On-Request” (DOR) at any time during the training.

The Hell Week training requires recruits to be constantly in motion, whether they are running, paddling, swimming, carrying their boats on their heads, logging PT’s, doing push-ups, slogging through mud, rolling in the sand, paddling their boats or conducting surf passage. The most common drills include recruits standing soaking wet on the beach, standing in freezing cold water up to their waist, completely covered in mud except the eyes and still be ready for their next challenge.

When the recruits are the most tired, when they are suffering from sleep deprivation, when they are closer to hypothermia and hallucination – that is the time when they should also be able to operate functionally. This is what makes the Navy SEAL different from any of the other US Military or world force!