The Brutal Reality Of Navy SEAL Training MrBallen ~ Chris Williamson

of Hell Week and training for you? Pain, discomfort, whatever. Was there a particular moment that

you went through that was the

worst?

You know, I think looking back, I can say that overall, the worst part was actually just the collective sleep deprivation. You know, Hell Week was, you know, five and a half days of no sleep. But actually, in reality, that was less of a... The sleep deprivation was so expected with Hell Week that it wasn't really the main thing that you're worried about. It was just staying healthy. But in the weeks leading up to Hell Week, I mean, you're working from sunup to sundown and you're just getting destroyed. And then you have all these extra things you have to do after the day ends. You have to fill up the instructor's cars with gas. You got to set up the coffee machine in the instructor's office so that when they walk in, they just hit a button and it goes. Everyone in your class, you have to have at least one comic who makes a comic about the instructors every day. So when they go in, they have to have a comic ready, like along with their donut and coffee. It's all these kind of extra chores that take a bunch of time. You got to shine your shoes, your boots at the end of the night. You got to prep your gear. And so you're done, let's say, at six o'clock at night. And I lived off campus because I was married or off base because I was married. That's the only way you can live off base. And so I drive, you know, 40 minutes to get back to my house, get back at like seven. I'd eat a burrito, you know, California burritos are awesome. Get a burrito. And then it's like I would do extra stuff at my house, shining booths, sharpening my knife. And before long, it's like, you know, 10 o'clock, which is not that late. But it's a Monday, it's 10 o'clock and I have to be back at Bud's at like 3.30 in the morning. So you're perpetually genuine, like for real, you have not gotten enough sleep. Chronic, protracted sleep deprivation. What does that feel like? You have no motivation. Motivation goes out the door. And so that is what they're talking about. Instructors are talking about when they say, you really got to want to be here. Because it's like when your motivation is gone, what does your core want? Do you really want to be a SEAL or is it just exciting at the idea of calling yourself a SEAL? And there really is a difference because ultimately SEALs, what you're being trained to do is just withstand an enormous amount of misery because a lot of SEAL missions require it. I mean, we did a mission in Afghanistan on Christmas day in 2013 that for real, I've never been colder. And I went through SEAL training, like the mission itself was so cold in Afghanistan. I had every layer on you could imagine, but you also need to be ready to use your weapon. You can't have like mittens on, you can't use your, unless you're shooting like a rocket launcher or something, but you need dexterity. And so I remember we, I'm not going to tell this whole story, but we walked on target and And it's this long, long infill and it's Christmas day. And I'm thinking like, we're going to be here for 24 hours. I think that there was at least 24 hours. And by