# Navy SEAL training--do they really drown them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670 "2005-09-02T01:32:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/41 "2012-04-03T00:40:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I think the drown-proofing test is where you have to enter the water fully clothed, then remove your shoes (and probably tie them together by their laces and put them about your neck), then remove your trousers and convert them into a flotation device. This was one of the skills I learned for life saving merit badge when I was a Boy Scout ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/42 "2012-04-03T01:27:29Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > That’s not what the Marine’s Hymn says: > > We fight our country’s battles > In the air, on land, **and sea** ; > > 😃 Yeah, but it still says ‘IN air, ON land and sea.’ So actually, not fighting in the water…but walking on it. ---
**Author:** ![jcv151](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@jcv151](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcv151)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/43 "2012-04-03T03:32:06Z")
I was in class 225 ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/44 "2012-04-03T05:00:43Z")
I suspect that the training in terms of swimming and diving for Navy/Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers and Air Force Pararescue Jumpers matches that of SEAL teams, not so much for killing people/breaking things. ---
**Author:** ![jcv151](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@jcv151](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcv151)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/45 "2012-04-03T05:07:59Z")
I’m not sure what the rescue swimmers do, but they most likely use free style stokes a whole lot more. In BUD/s you use what is call a combat side stroke, which is just a side stroke that allows you to stay low pro. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/46 "2012-04-03T05:35:08Z")
> [@jcv151](#): > > I was in class 225 And your Graduation Day was the last day of indoc for class…? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/47 "2012-04-03T05:42:41Z")
The answer to the thread: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9UfHUxIw-4) Fast forward to 4:45. ---
**Author:** ![jcv151](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@jcv151](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcv151)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/48 "2012-04-03T05:56:56Z")
for class 229 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/49 "2012-04-03T06:07:15Z")
> [@jcv151](#): > > for class 229 I believe it was 228, but close enough. ---
**Author:** ![jcv151](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@jcv151](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcv151)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/50 "2012-04-03T06:15:09Z")
I think you are right, now that I look back. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/51 "2012-04-03T11:18:14Z")
> [@Cerowyn](#): > > Drown-proofing does not include drowning the person, although that’s a pretty amusing concept. [HowStuffWorks](http://science.howstuffworks.com/navy-seal6.htm) has a useful description of what it involves. I know this is a zombie, but this link made me chuckle: > [@](#): > > Another evolution is **surf torture** , also called **“cold water conditioning.”** The water temperatures usually hover around 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 C), and never go above 68 degrees F (20 C). In England, we call this a “beach holiday”. ---
**Author:** ![pthibault1984](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8c91f0/32.png) [@pthibault1984](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pthibault1984)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/52 "2016-01-20T16:36:25Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > A coworker told me that Navy SEAL trainees are actually drowned, then revived, as part of their training. Her source: a former coworker (who quit working there before I started) whose daughter is dating a SEAL. > > Well, so she would know, right? > > I could not believe this. In my lexicon, drowned in water means dead (as opposed to drowning your sorrows, which does not much to eliminate said sorrows permanently). If you can resuscitate a person then you say they _nearly_ drowned. So I went to Google and ultimately ended up on [this](http://www.navyseals.com/community/navyseals/navysealworkout_main.cfm) site, where it gives the following physical evolution (hey, that’s what it says–my mind tries to make that “evaluation”) where the first three items are: > > It’s that last that gives me pause, or maybe it’s the phrasing. Pass, you don’t drown, fail = ??? The others, not so much. Underwater swim, you come up for air before the 50-meter mark, you fail; knot tying, pretty self-explanatory. But could somebody please explain what’s involved in drown-proofing, or a drown-proofing test? Just out of curiosity, you may not know but was your friend’s daughter’s boyfriend named Kyle? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/53 "2016-01-20T17:29:03Z")
Having read multiple biographies of seals, one test they do is an underwater swim where the distance is so long that many seals pass out underwater and need to be revived. But that is the goal, to see how far the soldiers will take things even if it means passing out underwater. That could be what is being referenced. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/54 "2016-01-20T18:58:53Z")
We had to choose names for our teams in the Golf league I was in last year. We were “The Seals.” We told people it was because some of us were kind of blubbery, but really the name was chosen so that after the summer when the league ended we could tell everybody that we “used to be Seals.” No drown proofing was required, but I might have gotten my foot wet retrieving a ball from a water hazard once or twice. we figured real Navy Seals wouldn’t mind (and might wish to join once they saw how much beer we drank,). It was meant in good fun and as a way that we could poke fun at all the stolen valor types. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670/55 "2016-01-20T19:25:23Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I think the drown-proofing test is where you have to enter the water fully clothed, then remove your shoes (and probably tie them together by their laces and put them about your neck), then remove your trousers and convert them into a flotation device. Oh… what they used to make you do for the “Lifesaving” merit badge? I figure it has to be much more serious than that in SEAL training. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seal-training-do-they-really-drown-them/319670.md?page=2)