thedrifter
03-15-07, 02:56 PM
Seals training to be the best
By KIM SCHMIDT, Hub Staff Writer
03/15/2007
Updated 03/15/2007 11:53:27 AM CDT
KEARNEY — Being one of the few and the proud isn’t good enough for Scott Seals of Kearney. The U.S. Marine reserve wants to be a Special Forces reconnaissance member.
“I have a chance to be the best of the best,” Seals said. “The Marines are the few, the proud, but the Force Reconnaissance is even fewer and prouder.”
For the last six months, Seals, 25, of Kearney has been vigorously training for the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company, 4th Marine Division, in Mobile, Ala., a Special Forces Reserve unit. He trains two to four hours a day, six days a week at the Kearney Family YMCA.
“I want to work with Marines who are more dedicated and take their job seriously. I want to jump out of planes,” Seals said, laughing.
Equivalent to the U.S. Navy Seals and the U.S. Army Rangers, Special Forces units conduct amphibious reconnaissance, surveillance, deep ground reconnaissance, battle/space shaping, and limited-scale raids.
A 2000 Kearney High School graduate, Seals is a U.S. Marine sergeant with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines based in Des Moines, Iowa. He was deployed on seven months of active duty in Iraq in 2004-2005.
Seals attended the University of Nebraska at Kearney for two years and enlisted in the Marines following Sept. 11. He is the youngest son of Bobbie and Carol Seals of Kearney.
To train for Special Forces, Seals lifts weights four days a week, swims 500 to 1,000 yards five days a week, and runs six days a week — once a week wearing his military boots and a backpack weighed down with 60 to 70 pounds of quick-mix concrete and free weights.
Seal stands 6 feet 4 inches and weighs 210 pounds; his strict training has him in the best shape of his life.
“I keep motivated with the thought knowing I could do something better and more prestigious in the military. Knowing I’m so close keeps me motivated,” he said.
To qualify for the Special Forces unit, Seals must be able to swim 500 yards in 14 minutes wearing his camouflage uniform, minus the boots. The uniform weighs about 10 pounds in the water.
He must tread water for one-half hour and recover a rifle from the bottom of a pool, also in uniform; swim 25 yards on one breath underwater; do a minimum of 16 pull-ups; perform 100 crunch sit-ups in two minutes; finish a three-mile run in 21½ minutes; and complete a five-mile run in one hour wearing his military boots and a 50-pound backpack.
“I think of it as a type of triathlon,” he said.
Seals tested for the unit in February and passed all of the standards with the exception of the 500-yard swim. A week before he tested, the Marines changed their swim time standards from 16 minutes to 14 minutes. Seals swam in 15 minutes.
“So now I am training to swim 500 yards in 14 minutes,” he said.
Seals has also had to learn the breaststroke, which is preferred by the military. He hopes to retest in May.
If he qualifies for the Special Forces unit, part of his basic training would include scuba diving, jumping out of airplanes, and survival and escape training. He would also like to become a sniper and eventually to have a career in the military.
“I take pride in my ability to shoot. I know the effect a sniper can have on the battlefield, especially in this day and age in Iraq, where they are very feared,” he said. “Just the idea of a sniper on the battlefield has a mental defeat over that enemy.”
e-mail to:
kim.schmidt@kearneyhub.com
Ellie
By KIM SCHMIDT, Hub Staff Writer
03/15/2007
Updated 03/15/2007 11:53:27 AM CDT
KEARNEY — Being one of the few and the proud isn’t good enough for Scott Seals of Kearney. The U.S. Marine reserve wants to be a Special Forces reconnaissance member.
“I have a chance to be the best of the best,” Seals said. “The Marines are the few, the proud, but the Force Reconnaissance is even fewer and prouder.”
For the last six months, Seals, 25, of Kearney has been vigorously training for the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company, 4th Marine Division, in Mobile, Ala., a Special Forces Reserve unit. He trains two to four hours a day, six days a week at the Kearney Family YMCA.
“I want to work with Marines who are more dedicated and take their job seriously. I want to jump out of planes,” Seals said, laughing.
Equivalent to the U.S. Navy Seals and the U.S. Army Rangers, Special Forces units conduct amphibious reconnaissance, surveillance, deep ground reconnaissance, battle/space shaping, and limited-scale raids.
A 2000 Kearney High School graduate, Seals is a U.S. Marine sergeant with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines based in Des Moines, Iowa. He was deployed on seven months of active duty in Iraq in 2004-2005.
Seals attended the University of Nebraska at Kearney for two years and enlisted in the Marines following Sept. 11. He is the youngest son of Bobbie and Carol Seals of Kearney.
To train for Special Forces, Seals lifts weights four days a week, swims 500 to 1,000 yards five days a week, and runs six days a week — once a week wearing his military boots and a backpack weighed down with 60 to 70 pounds of quick-mix concrete and free weights.
Seal stands 6 feet 4 inches and weighs 210 pounds; his strict training has him in the best shape of his life.
“I keep motivated with the thought knowing I could do something better and more prestigious in the military. Knowing I’m so close keeps me motivated,” he said.
To qualify for the Special Forces unit, Seals must be able to swim 500 yards in 14 minutes wearing his camouflage uniform, minus the boots. The uniform weighs about 10 pounds in the water.
He must tread water for one-half hour and recover a rifle from the bottom of a pool, also in uniform; swim 25 yards on one breath underwater; do a minimum of 16 pull-ups; perform 100 crunch sit-ups in two minutes; finish a three-mile run in 21½ minutes; and complete a five-mile run in one hour wearing his military boots and a 50-pound backpack.
“I think of it as a type of triathlon,” he said.
Seals tested for the unit in February and passed all of the standards with the exception of the 500-yard swim. A week before he tested, the Marines changed their swim time standards from 16 minutes to 14 minutes. Seals swam in 15 minutes.
“So now I am training to swim 500 yards in 14 minutes,” he said.
Seals has also had to learn the breaststroke, which is preferred by the military. He hopes to retest in May.
If he qualifies for the Special Forces unit, part of his basic training would include scuba diving, jumping out of airplanes, and survival and escape training. He would also like to become a sniper and eventually to have a career in the military.
“I take pride in my ability to shoot. I know the effect a sniper can have on the battlefield, especially in this day and age in Iraq, where they are very feared,” he said. “Just the idea of a sniper on the battlefield has a mental defeat over that enemy.”
e-mail to:
kim.schmidt@kearneyhub.com
Ellie