Tips on boot camp and dive prep?
 

Hey, I'm new to this forum. I got my Navy Diver contract back in February, and my ship date is June 9th. I've been working out diligently with my friend who's shipping the same day as me (he also has a Navy diver contract). I just ordered rocket fins, dive boots, and a snorkel. So I'll definitely be working on water comfort and treading, along with calisthenics and running.

I wanted to see if anyone on this forum has been through an 800 Division at boot camp and is in or has completed dive prep, and if they can provide me with some tips that can be utilized.

Thanks, and it's wonderful being on these forums!

Boot camp was easy, even in an 800 div. you'll get up early and do some extra pt, mostly stroke development and running. Use the pipes in the laundry drying room to do pull ups at night. Buy a 25 lb plate and tread while holding it to your chest, you'll do that a good bit in prep. Just spend a lot of time in the water, get super comfortable... And then spend more time in there. Once in prep start practicing your IWPs, that is what gets most people. We had 21 in our class, 1 med drop and 12 failures. The 8 people who made it to dive school all graduated, prep is where they weed people out.

Okay. I've heard about the 25lb tread in prep, how long do you have to do it for? Two minutes? And as for IWPs, how can I get to that level? I know doing a ton of flutter kicks with rocket fins helps, and doing different treads like hands out with head above the water for ten minutes with fins, and different stuff with weight. I can do a tread for five minutes with a ten pound diving block over my head, though my head is leaned back in the water.

Tread, tread, and tread some more. Tread with that 25 lb weight, if you don't you will regret it. I did a lot of work with the 10 lb block and it doesn't cut it at all. You will get a sheet with iwp instructions when you first get to prep, we would do dry runs in our rooms with each other to get everything down, they have to be 100% perfect. What got most of us who didn't make it is the treading and just getting flustered with what to do. 95% of the ones who didn't make it failed iwp. Just relax, the more you practice the more natural it becomes.

Okay, I will make sure to take a 25lb plate with me to the pool each day and work my ass off treading with that and fins. Is there any specific pass/fail test related to treading without fins as well? And if so, what is that like?

Also, I've just bought a snorkel and such. I know there are gonna be specific water evolutions like mask clearing, snorkeling, and underwaters. Tell me about those if you can.

Thanks!

hi, my son is in diver prep school right now & just wondering if there is any special way to practice treading with holding a 25 lbs. plate.... how long does he have to do this in order to pass treading?
thanks.

Just hold it on your chest with both arms crossed on top of it, shoot for 4-5 mins. If he's already at dive prep it won't be long till he starts doing it. I'm sure the guys from the classes ahead of him can help him out if he asks.

He has been in prep school since 7/9/14...they started with 29 & now, down to 18... my son worries the most is that treading with holding a 25 lbs. plate... i don't think he can lasts as long as 4 to 5 minutes...

if he doesn't go for 4 to 5 minutes, do you think they will drop him from the program?
either tomorrow or monday, they are planning on doing a full blown PT & he worries that the instructors are going to drop him because of this issue...

They have already lost 11 people after only a week and haven't even done a full pt session yet?!?! That's crazy, we had only lost 4 up until the last week.

The first time we did weighted treads with the plates we were all put in 5 lines in the pool and were just treading. The first person in each line would swim up and grab the weight and tread for a minute then woul go to the end of the line. This would continue to rotate through until everybody went through 5-6 times depending on how we did. Everyone is treading the entire time either with or without the weight. The next time we did this we would tread with weight for 1:30, then 2 mins, it would kind of go like that. If he can't tread for the full time yet he has some chances to work on it. Make sure he is in the pool on his off time too, we would go fairly regularly on our own time.

yeah...it's crazy...

he said that they did about 5 rounds of treading every time they do this... i just hope that he has some free time to do practice on his own... they give 6 to 8 daily, computer-based assignments that they have to complete & they take test on these materials... the other day, one guy didn't pass the re-take & got dropped... so he says it's tough enviornment out there...
i hope his inner strength will kick in & endure the training until the end...

Great thread. Does this apply to SO as well? I don't think Prep gets many guys in the SO pipeline but I could be wrong. Definitely going to buy some weights to practice this stuff too.

Ya the BECC courses he is doing in the computer are horrible... Long, boring days of clicking through the computer. He should have plenty of free time still, we were done at around 1630 and off on weekends. Dive prep is designed to weed out people and it's tough for a reason. It has about a 40% passing rate. Good news is that very few people fail out of dive school after making it there.

SO prep does their own thing. We shared a barracks with them but that was about all. They don't do the computer classes or anything, their classes are mostly fitness and nutrition related. The majority of people who don't make it through BUD/s prep are med dropped, injuries and all that. But the weeding out process for SO takes place after prep.

thanks for the informaiton; i will let him know to practice & i am sure he is trying his best to stay with the school & not quit...

Yea, it is surprising that they fly everyone out to Coronado before making cuts though. Good thing about BUD/s is all you have to do is survive three weeks a long day and you are through Hell Week and into the "Training phase" instead of "selection phase".

You got any good tips for treading water? Is it more about practice or technique? I've done some treading with arms out of the water but I need to get better.

Pretty sure Phase 1 is still 8 weeks long...
And you're just as able to be dropped on day 1 as you are the day before you get that pin. So your idea that once you pass hell week that your "in" is entirely not true.

CCT1SW, If you make it through HW you won't quit so you are probably going to get pinned. Side note, how come you don't put in a BUD/s package? 20 spots for fleet guys per BUD/s class, if you fail out you go back to your old rate.

There are definitely people who quit or get dropped after Hell week.

Thank you, I heard that's only turds who the instructors want out. That's what it says in "Breaking BUD/s". Those people still have street cred though for making it through Hell Week.

CTT1***
SW is a warfare qual. As far as after HW, it's just more likely that you will; nothing is guaranteed.

And why would I want to put a BUDS package in? I love my job and I get to work more spooky stuff than NSW gets to anyway.

It's people who are physically and mentally strong enough to pass the tests, but don't have the personality that fits the team dynamics... too passive, too aggressive, know-it-all, not team players, etc. You can't just pass the tests and make it... your instructors and teammates need to accept you or you're getting hounded into dropping.

Street cred? I don't think you realize that most active duty Sailors regard SO's for the most part as just another Sailor in a highly-trained rate. The Hollywood glamorization of SEALs is largely a civilian phenomenon. There are a lot of guys who graduated BUDS and dropped/got dropped and are in the fleet... harps don't chime when they enter a room. So a DEPper telling a First Class Cryptologic Technician that he should try to go SO is, honestly, just laughable from our standpoint. I've only joked with CTT1 about going Aircrew because that's a billet he can fill as a CT, and we're both rated active duty Sailors.

Gonna go ahead and close this thread.