Taiwanese marine Captain Yu Kuei-lin (
Yu, 28, graduated with honors and earned his bachelor's degree from the Republic of China Military Academy (
PHOTO: MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE
"Yu has been working very hard ever since he joined us and he has always been outstanding," said Colonel Lo Chih-kang (
Yu was the only foreigner among a total of 11 to matriculate from the course from 123 who signed up for the special BUD/S training. The BUD/S course is the basic training program for a potential SEAL. Yu is not the first Taiwanese military officer to have attended the BUD/S course, but he is the first officer to have completed the program in winter.
Yu's rank as a marine captain was also recognized at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in San Diego, California, where Yu was trained.
"All 123 of us were volunteers. That means, nobody would force you to go through the training and you may quit at anytime. But nobody left during the process except those who were washed out," Yu said.
Prior to his going through the US Navy SEAL BUD/S course, Yu had completed all the training programs of the Taiwanese marines and is a recognized and qualified marine frogman.
The Taiwanese marine captain comes from a single-parent family in Hualien. According to him, his 82-year-old father Yu Ker-tsan (
"My father retired as an air force master sergeant. If I had anything good in me, I must have gotten it from him," Yu Kuei-lin said.
Regarding the BUD/S training, Yu Kuei-lin said that the "hell week" and close-circuit scuba diving in cold water impressed him the most.
The "hell week" is a 112-hour non-stop physical regimen which takes place during the first week of the program. Some 85 trainees failed to pass this first round. Usually, the SEAL's "hell week" starts with "break out" on a Sunday night, a simulated combat experience where absolute chaos reigns. After this, the boat crews begin a series of well-choreographed training events that pit boat crew against boat crew, trainees against trainees and the individual against himself. The true enemy becomes the cold. Trainees are kept wet, cold and exhausted every minute of each day -- the only respite coming in the warmth of the canteen where each trainee will consume a total of about 5,000 calories a day.
A defining moment
The cold makes the weak quit and the determined seek strength through teamwork and helping their fellow trainees. "Hell week" is a defining moment in the life of every SEAL because it makes them confident that they can endure and accomplish far more than they had thought possible.
Some of the training involves night portage over rocks, a paddle around Coronado Island after three nights without sleep; timed runs and swims; obstacle course running and a trip down the beach (running with boats on heads) for an afternoon of low crawling over mud flats, and crossing other obstacles.
Finally, on the last day, a bleary-eyed, torn, blistered, sunburned and scabby-headed class -- a fraction of the original size -- is secured from "hell week" for a weekend of rest before resuming training on the following Monday for hydrographic reconnaissance training.
Yu Kuei-lin said that close-circuit scuba diving is a crucial and useful skill for a special forces diver because the enemy will not be able to locate a diver when he is approaching unlike when the diver is using normal scuba diving equipment.
"Lots of bubbles will surface during normal scuba diving but that will not happen during a close-circuit dive. So, divers will not be located and that is the bottom line for our mission," Yu Kuei-lin said.
WWII origins
The SEALs trace their history to the first group of volunteers selected from the US Naval Construction Battalions (Sea Bees) in the spring of 1943. These volunteers were organized into special teams called US Navy Combat Demolition Units. The units were tasked with reconnoitering and clearing beach obstacles for troops going ashore during amphibious landings and evolved into Combat Swimmer Reconnaissance Units.
The Navy Combat Demolition Units distinguished themselves during World War II in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. In 1947, the US Navy organized its first underwater offensive strike units. During the Korean Conflict, these Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) took part in the landing at Inchon as well as other missions including demolition raids on bridges and tunnels accessible from the water. They also conducted limited minesweeping operations in harbors and rivers.
During the 1960s, each branch of the armed forces formed its own counterinsurgency force. The US Navy utilized UDT personnel to form two separate SEAL units in the Pacific Fleet and in the Atlantic Fleet. They were developed to conduct unconventional warfare, counter-guerilla warfare and clandestine operations in both blue and brown water environments.
The official US Navy SEAL team was established and named in 1983. Hydrographic reconnaissance and underwater demolition became SEAL tasks.
The US Naval Special Warfare Command was commissioned on April 16, 1987, at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in San Diego. Its mission is to prepare US Naval Special Warfare forces to carry out their assigned missions and to develop special operation strategies, doctrine and tactics.
The US Navy SEALs go through what is considered by some to be the toughest military training in the world. The BUD/S is conducted at the Coronado base and trainees encounter obstacles that develop and test their stamina, leadership and ability to work as a team.
Only for the fittest
The basic physical training of the BUD/S course consists of two mile (3km) and three mile (5km) timed runs, one (1.5km) to two mile ocean swims with fins and a gut-burning obstacle course. The minimum times required to pass become increasingly difficult for the timed evolutions, as does the intensity and difficulty of the physical training and soft sand runs. During the first five weeks, trainees learn life-saving, knot trying, underwater knot trying, basic first aid and surf passage in small inflatable boats. Underwater swims of 50 yards (45m) must be accomplished and trainee often have to be revived after passing out.
One part of the training, "drownproofing," came into being after a tragic accident in the late 1960s when a SEAL whose hands and feet were tied to simulate being a prisoner was being transported in a small Vietnamese-style sampan. The boat rocked, tipped, filled with water and the occupants were dumped overboard. The water was only a few feet deep, which could be similar to the canals and waterways in Vietnam, but the man whose hands and feet were bound was tragically drowned. It was determined that this situation should never be repeated and the concept of drownproofing was created as a solution, teaching the trainees to stay afloat and to be able to swim without the use of their hands or feet.
During the BUD/S training, the trainee is wet and sandy for most of the six months. Even classroom sessions often include a trip to the surf zone to facilitate an alert posture during the class. Basically, the entire class must wade into the surf zone to their waste line, then sit down with arms linked, and this when the waters around San Diego never get above 20C during summer months and 14C during the winter. Yu Kuei-lin said this was the biggest problem for him since he was used to work in the heat during his service in Kaohsiung.
After completing all the basic physical training, a SEAL must go through more training courses depending on different needs, such as underwater demolition courses, sniper courses, parachute training, etc. Most US Navy sailors see SEALs as simply the best of the best among them.
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