Wednesday night, the thought of "quit" crossed Irving's mind for the first time.
The instructor asked the students to row the inflatable boat to the lighthouse 220 meters away, then row back to the shore, then run 800 meters, put the oar on a truck, then enter the sea to form a "human centipede", and paddle 500 meters with their hands.
, ran another 660 meters, retrieved the oar, formed a "human centipede" in the water again, paddled 500 meters, retrieved the inflatable boat, rowed to the lighthouse, and then turned back.
After such torment, all the students experienced secondary hypothermia.---The body was shaking violently, the consciousness was mildly confused, and the speech was incoherent.
Owen felt like he was going to die soon. He didn't know how he survived, and he didn't know why he didn't give up at that time.
His symptoms at that time were obviously different from others. He had reached grade three hypothermia - his body temperature was less than 36 degrees, his body stopped shaking, and he started talking nonsense like a fool.
The "higher level" is death. The instructor monitors the air and water temperatures to examine the trainees' cold tolerance limits while ensuring that permanent frostbite does not occur.
Owen's symptoms of grade three hypothermia caught the attention of Instructor Lamb, who handed Owen a cup of hot chocolate and said, "Ring that bell and it'll be over."
Owen almost knocked it. He glanced at the bell and then at the steaming chocolate: Give up, it's that simple, but...
He tried hard to catch his wandering thoughts, and after a minute, he slowly regained consciousness. "Oh, no," he returned the hot chocolate to the instructor.
Instructor Lamb did not have any surprises. Now that Owen has made his choice, he will not receive any preferential treatment in the following training. In his heart, he hopes that this young man can persist until the end, but his physical condition is very poor, and an accident will
It might cost him his life.
During the conversation between Owen and Instructor Lamb, people kept leaving, and the bells rang one after another. It felt like a fire. The door of the ambulance was open, and it was filled with students who chose to give up.
They were wrapped in blankets and drinking hot chocolate. For those still soaking in the sea, it was heaven, but it was also hell because they gave up their dream of becoming seals.
Owen felt that returning the chocolate cup to the instructor was the most difficult decision he had ever made in his life. At the beginning of the training, his group had 6 members, and at the end only he and Mike were left.
The remaining time of "Hell Week" was broken down into minutes and seconds, and each training task was torn into pieces. Only in this way can Owen feel that life is continuing.
There seems to be a clock in his body that only counts the present and not the future.
High-intensity training, exercise beyond physical limits, no rest, not even mental comfort.
My body has long since fallen apart, and the only thing that supports me is faith: I believe that I can complete the task and survive "Hell Week." In psychology, this is called "self-hypnosis": Even if the task seems impossible, the power of faith can make it possible.
Success becomes possible.
During "Hell Week", the inflatable boat became their portable tool. They carried it with them wherever they went. They completed almost all their runs with the inflatable boat on their backs.
The trainees were required to run, swim, cross obstacles, row boats, and land on various swamps and beaches to establish beachheads.
They are divided into small teams by boat. These inflatable boats must be "always ready for the sea." The trainees must always maintain perfect combat readiness. Despite their best efforts, the instructors will always find that someone's life jacket strap is tied crookedly or someone's pocket is not buttoned.
Go up, then it’s practice, endless practice.
By Wednesday, they had not slept for three days in a row. Everyone was sleepy as hell. This was one of the reasons why some people kept giving up. As long as you rang the bell, you could rest and have a good time in the ambulance.
Get some sleep.
Only constant exercise can keep you from falling asleep. If someone falls, they are likely to start snoring in a few seconds.
They eat 4 meals a day, with only 2-3 minutes of eating time for each meal. They are not allowed to chat or nap, but there are always extremely sleepy students who bury their faces in oatmeal, and then there is practice again.
I feel really sleepy, because everyone is groggy all day long due to lack of sleep, as if they are still training in a dream, or dreaming while training.
At this time, the perverted instructor will deliberately omit part of a certain command, or ask a disgusting math problem, and the sober-minded student will give the correct response, and then receive a reward and be allowed to take a short rest.
He will always be in hell.
People kept quitting. Many people quit every day, more than ever before. Irving could withstand the hypothermia, but the lack of sleep was really driving him crazy.
Once the thought of giving up arose, it would linger in his mind all the time. He wanted to ring the bell several times. If the comrades around him hadn't slapped him in time, he might have also rang the bell.
During "Hell Week", the instructors will also start a training called "Underwater Drowning Prevention" for them to prepare for the second stage of underwater training.
The students had their hands and feet tied, jumped into a 2.74-meter-deep pool, floated up and down for 5 minutes, floated for 5 minutes, swam 100 meters forward, flipped back and forth, swam to the bottom of the pool, picked up something in their mouths, and then returned to the surface.
During this process, if you are not careful, you may drown. The purpose of this training program is to improve the team members' ability to prevent drowning. After all, the SEALs are naval special forces, and the training requirements for aquatic subjects will be more stringent.
In addition to these, the breakout training was also particularly difficult. Live ammunition from the M-60 machine gun flew over the heads of each team member, and they could be hit if they were not careful.
But they haven't slept a wink for several days and nights, and their movements are wandering. But if they make a mistake, the price they pay is not just abandonment, but their lives.
The instructors don't want anyone to be beaten to death, but they will only curse and remind loudly from the sidelines, but they will never show mercy. What the SEALs want is an elite warrior, someone who can still complete the role physically and mentally under any extreme circumstances.
Super weapon.
The last stage of Hell Week is the "Global Cruise". A group of 6 to 8 people carry a rubber boat and run from the base to the swamp 2 kilometers away, then launch the boat through the port area to the designated spot in Swick Bay, and then follow the boat.
We paddled to the beach of San Diego with the current, and finally picked up the rubber boat and ran back to the base from the beach. The journey was 5 kilometers and 16 nautical miles, and the sea was never calm.
When the instructor announced that "Hell Week is over", those who made it to the end had only one action left except giving themselves a smile, lying on the beach and having a good sleep. They never wanted to move a finger again.
,too tired.
"Hell Week" finally eliminated some people, and the remaining ones were qualified to become SEALs. Many of the team members who survived it lamented: "The only good life was yesterday."
Throughout Hell Week, their combined sleep time was no more than 4 hours and they ran more than 320 kilometers.
During this period, the whole body was kept soaked, and the training was all conducted in water, mud, cold, smoke, and explosion drills. And they would carry their inflatable boats on their heads everywhere they went, just like students carrying them to school.
Same as the textbook.
The last event of the "Global Sailing" is to complete a 30-kilometer Pacific Kayak Race and a 5-kilometer run at night, and at the same time fight against wind and waves. By the time most people reach this point, they are already at their limit. It is difficult to persevere.
Very awesome.
Owen feels that after experiencing all this, no difficulty can defeat him anymore, and that human potential can exceed imagination.