LOS ANGELES (AP) – The training death of an aspiring Navy SEAL, 21-year-old Seaman James Derek Lovelace, has been ruled a homicide by the San Diego County Medical Examiner – a highly unusual move. Lovelace, in his first week of training, was struggling to tread water in a giant pool when his instructor pushed him underwater at least twice. An autopsy found he drowned. Here’s a look at the grueling six-month training program that only 25 percent of trainees on average successfully complete.
BUD/S
The training program is known as BUD/S, for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training. Before it even begins, trainees go through a five-week pre-training and “indoctrination” process, according to the Navy SEALS website. Then the three-phases of harsh training begin.
PHASE 1: PHYSICAL CONDITIONING
This first and toughest of the phases, and the one in which Lovelace died, lasts eight weeks. It includes swimming up to two miles with fins in the ocean, running four miles in boots against the clock, enduring wet, cold and exhaustion in many forms and sleeping only four hours per night. The peak of the first phase is known as “Hell Week,” and is the time at which many drop out of the program.