Jaco is buds the right filter for the kind of people you want in the SEAL
Teams does it filter out good people and let in the bad so buds is the basic
underwater demolition and SEAL training and it does a decent job and I'm not
gonna say that everybody that makes it through buds is a guy that you want to
work with or even a guy that you want on your team because one thing that happens
in buds is that punishment is dealt out right I mean it's just suffering it's
just hard work it's you know putting a boat on your head and being cold and wet
and all this stuff and you either embrace that and crush it that's one way
to get through that's the way you should get through but there are guys that they
they find a way to get by and to sneak by and to work the system right it does
happen and those guys definitely exists in the teams and the real team guys know
who those guys are but the one thing it's hard it's hard for a civilian to to
know the difference because to a civilian - seals a seal seal you have
your Trident you're a seal you must be a badass so what is it like kind of like
when your coach is saying okay everybody push-ups for you know 60 seconds and
he's looking around and when you see he's not looking at you you just kind of
cruise there's seconds there's all kinds of guys there's all kinds of little
corners that you can cut there's things you can get away with and the weird
thing about buds is and I think life talked about this when he was on the
podcast is or maybe he didn't maybe we just had in conversations but you have a
mentality when you're going through buds is that you're you're a team and you're
trying to help everyone get through and so you don't like rat those guys out
when you see them cutting corners you it very seldom do you wrap one of those
guys out unless it's just an atrocious case most the time guys are you know
like hey man are you okay like oh and instructors coming like they'll help
people skate through right so it's it's it's pretty negative when you get
through buds and you're in the SEAL Teams then then you know everyone says
- a man will say I wish I wouldn't help anyone get through because now they're
in the teams and now we can't count on them and now we got to carry their
weight so so so it is definitely a test of making it through but there's two
ways to make it through you can crush it and survive it or you can sneak through
it and skate through it and it does happen now it's also mainly a physical
test and people talk about no it's mental it's physical right there's a
mental aspect to it no doubt and if and if you're not mentally committed to
making it through then it's gonna be hard for you but it's primarily a
physical test and physicality is actually a small part of being a seal
now of course it's like a baseline factor I mean it is a factor as I see
you you've got to be able to do the job physically but that's the baseline right
and being a good athlete is definitely that does definitely not automatically
make someone a great seal because there's guys that go through buds that
are studs physically and we get the SEAL Teams they're not good they're not good
seals they they might be a bad leader they might be unsafe or they can't
shooter they can't handle the pressure or they can't handle the grind because
you get a guy that's a elite level axe athlete and guess what he's used to Ely
level of food he's used to Ely level of of treatment he's used to an elite level
of rest and you get to the SEAL Teams there's no elite food there's no elite
treatment there's no elite rest there's just grind and you're out the desert and
you're just going on the operation after operation after operation and some of
these high-level athletes there's such a fine-tuned machine it's like we talked
about before they're like a Porsche or a race car and what you want to be is a
4x4 like you can put diesel or biofuel or whatever into that engine it's going
to keep running you have to put the high-octane clean stuff in it's in a
sports car and some of those guys break down on that and and and the reason it's
like I said is because the SEAL Teams is not buds training hmm
and I've said me this before no one in the SEAL Teams cares about butts
training once you've once you've gotten through buds it's like as normal as
brushing your teeth like everyone's done it
no one says hey did you brush your teeth no we all brush our teeth we all went
through buds it's not that big of a deal um one thing that buds does do good
though is it does do a good job of finding people's weaknesses and whether
it's swimming or whether it's running or whether it's the obstacle course or or
whether it's whether it's lack of sleep or being in the water and the water work
that they make you do if you have a weakness of any of those areas it's
gonna it's gonna show it's gonna show but again some guys do find a way to
make it through and they end up in the teams and they end up doing a couple of
seal platoons but again being just being a seal doesn't make you about us that's
just the truth it doesn't make you a great leader it doesn't make you a
tactical expert it just doesn't it means that you made it through the training
and you survived a couple seal platoon that's what it means now there are
plenty of seals that are badass and great leaders and definitely some
tactical experts but it certainly isn't every seal because there's a bell curve
in the SEAL Teams a bell curve just like any other group of people or any other
organization and at the top of the bell curve you've got a bunch of relentless
unstoppable warriors that carry more than their share of the weight in the
teams and these are the guys that have built or are building the reputation
that the SEAL Teams have and then in the middle of the curve that's where you got
the bulk of the guys and these are great guys they're great seals they do the job
and they do it well and they're outstanding professional combat
who get the job done and they get a job they get the job done on time and on
target and those are awesome solid guys that maintain the reputation of the SEAL
Teams they maintain it and then you got the crew at the bottom and these the
guys that slip through the cracks they work the system and while they're
technically classified as seals these aren't guys that are like respected by
other guys in the SEAL Teams and quite honestly these are usually the guys that
talk the most and brag the boast about being a seal and these are the guys that
they don't build the reputation or maintain the reputation of SEAL Teams
these the guys that live off the reputation of the SEAL Teams when in all
likelihood they probably haven't contributed anything themselves to that
reputation leeches but that is what it is and as I always say the team's gave
me everything the good the bad and the ugly and I wouldn't I wouldn't change a
thing I love the SEAL Teams the frogman the aw
gunner in a seal platoon the point man the corpsman a radio man the rear
security the platoon chief and the LPO and the OIC and the a/o I see those guys
those guys in a seal platoon the ones that carry the weight and carry the
torch those guys are in my blood I love those guys always well