The difficult path to become a Royal Thai Navy SEAL

[QuotaMan]

(hard core like their American counterparts)

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/06/04/national/national_30104335.php

 

At the halfway stage of final training for Royal Thai Navy Seals (sea, air, land commandos), well over 50 per cent of the candidates have dropped out, victims of the toughest military training course in Thailand.

 

At week 15 of the 31week course, 40 of the 78 recruits have been forced to quit by injury or exhaustion. The toughest week is the 10th, also known as hell week, in which trainees endured gruelling physical tasks over a period 120 hours without sleep.

 

Over the past 36 years of Seals training there have been several deaths, and severe injuries such as damage to eardrums and lungs are common.

 

While hell week is the toughest, the most dangerous is week 15, when underwater training demands recruits descend to 30 metres in a free swimming exercise without the aid of breathing apparatus. Returning to the surface, they must hold their breath for one minute - exhaling means certain death as their lungs will explode due to the sudden change in pressure.

 

Recruits on the Royal Thai Navy Seals' course go through the hardest specialwarfare training available in the Thai military, he adds. The number of graduates is never greater than 30 per cent of the original intake.

 

Most drop out during the sleepless 120 hours of hauling heavy backpacks and other objects for hell week. "Anyone who can't continue can quit by simply ringing a bell. That's it, their ordeal is over," says Daokien.

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/200610/the-bravest-of-the-brave

 

Over these few weeks, they will endure a punishing regimen; they will be abandoned, starved, humiliated and tortured in the name of creating a world-class, rapid-response force willing, ready and able to protect the kingdom and its people.

 

 

This is one of the toughest training programmes for special operations forces in the world. Already 56 of their classmates have dropped out; those who remain are nearing the end of a series of rigorous sessions that take more than a year to complete.

 

group began in basic underwater demolition Seal (Bud/s) school, with graduates moving on to Seal qualification training (SQT) to strengthen their basic skills and teach them more advanced warfare techniques. Further classes skilled them in special reconnaissance and direct-action tasks such as surviving naval gunfire, ambushes and combat swimming attacks.

 

Then the would-be Seals went through ''Hell Week'', which includes immediate action training, land warfare, water combat and hostage-situation and guerrilla fighting techniques.

 

The final phase features sea combat, jungle warfare and hostage rescues.

 

Only after all that will these 36 trainees be able to call themselves Seals. For their superhuman efforts, once they are stationed in their units, the non-commissioned officers will receive 11,000 baht extra a month. Commissioned officers will receive an additional 14,600 baht.

 

An 18-hour hostage rescue practice starts at midnight. While on a routine patrol, the Seals are attacked by their instructors, who hold them at gunpoint and threaten them with explosions. Once the Seals surrender their weapons, they are blindfolded, stripped, tied up and left until dawn.

 

In an effort to get them to divulge military secrets, they are whipped, burnt with cigarette lighters, submerged in water and forced to crawl naked through the woods. When they refuse to speak, they are burnt with joss sticks and hot wax from dripping candles.

 

But the worst is still to come.

 

The trainees are tied to a cart or canoe and dragged naked along a gravel path until they nearly lose consciousness. Their skin is ripped and bruised, but they still won't divulge their secrets. ''I can tell you this: I would never want to put myself in that situation ever again,'' said 26-year-old Petty Officer 1st Class Praiwan Taengmanee.

 

''In 18 hours of continuous, painful torture, I thought I would die. We trained and trained until the pain became less painful. Every part of my body ached and then felt numb. The more we suffered, the tougher we became. I knew I must tolerate it until my fellow soldiers came to rescue me or I could escape or was killed.

 

''If we were to enter a war now, and if I am captured, I am ready. Just bring it on!''

 

PUNISHING: With a cut on his forehead, a trainee and his peers, looking extremely exhausted, await an assignment from their instructors.

HUMILIATED: Left, forced to crawl naked in the woods.

PREPARED: Above and right, Seals practise small unit tactics and weapon combat.

Edited April 10, 2011 by LonelyMan

[Tomj]

Why would you be doing that to yourself, when you can sit in Soi 8 drinking beers and chatting with TGs?

[tonyacat]

were these SM programs?

 

they seem quite enjoy :Circle_Sharks:

[benny31]

same same

 

[Millard]

I am clearly not qualified to be a Thai Navy SEAL.

[Frank La Rue]

You want to make smug comments about this?

 

Remember - these are people who choose to go through suffering to uphold, defend and project the value system they stand for.

 

We have some counterparts in the west.

 

We clearly have some conterparts in the muslim world - 550 of them escaped earlier today.

 

You want us to prevail our way of life - support our guys and the Thai Guys.

[talia17]

You want to make smug comments about this?

 

Remember - these are people who choose to go through suffering to uphold, defend and project the value system they stand for.

 

We have some counterparts in the west.

 

We clearly have some conterparts in the muslim world - 550 of them escaped earlier today.

 

You want us to prevail our way of life - support our guys and the Thai Guys.

 

 

Sorry, but I have to laugh.. "Prevail your way of life" You sound very much like a war monger...but without any clue as to how the world actually is run..and who runs it.

 

Just send in the marines hey!...or in this case the navy seals. Kill them all...who? doesn't matter..why? because apparently they want to stop Us living our lives they way we do!!!!

jeez...no wonder the real elites running the world are laughing with people like you around their job just gets easier and easier.

[pallmall]

You want to make smug comments about this?

 

Remember - these are people who choose to go through suffering to uphold, defend and project the value system they stand for.

 

We have some counterparts in the west.

 

We clearly have some conterparts in the muslim world - 550 of them escaped earlier today.

 

You want us to prevail our way of life - support our guys and the Thai Guys.

 

 

I wondered what George W Bush was up to. How are you doing George?

[talia17]

I wondered what George W Bush was up to. How are you doing George?

 

Spot on! :Bravo1:

[soi]

While hell week is the toughest, the most dangerous is week 15, when underwater training demands recruits descend to 30 metres in a free swimming exercise without the aid of breathing apparatus. Returning to the surface, they must hold their breath for one minute - exhaling means certain death as their lungs will explode due to the sudden change in pressure.

 

this statement isn't true and this photo looks photoshopped

 

Edited April 25, 2011 by soi

[Millard]

Guys, I'm not going to remove any posts so far, but let's not hijack this thread by turning it into a political argument. Thanks in advance.

[kopite]

How do they compare to the British Royal Marines? A good mate of mine was in the Marines and was training in Gibraltar. He said the US Navy SEALS trained with them a few times and they always struggled to keep up.