My BUD/s experience

BUD/s Class 133 and 141

I left St. Louis Missouri heading west, I had gone home on leave for Christmas and I was driving my Chevy Monte Carlo to Coronado California to start in BUD/s (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training). I got into Tuscan and I could see the weather getting ugly. You could see the snow clouds forming. I got into Flagstaff and the traffic was at a standstill. I was having a hard time stopping my car because, even though I had my breaks on the rear tires kept turning. I ended up having to put it in park when the traffic stopped.  My heater was working fine so I just stayed in my car all night as the traffic creeped down the mountain. In the morning things started to move and the ice was cleared off of the road. It was wild driving along the edge of the mountain looking down and seeing a plane flying below me.

I got to Phoenix and headed west to San Diego. Driving through the mountains I was amazed at how the rocks were formed the way they were. I saw what seemed to be miles and miles of lava and an old volcano. I had been driving a long way and I started talking to myself just to stay awake and I saw this couple in their car laughing at me as I was talking to myself. By the time I got into San Diego it was dark and I got to the 5 freeway and I went south. It was getting really foggy and I saw a sign saying “I 75” and I took the off ramp and it took me up and up into the fog and I knew this must be the Coronado Bridge. I went through the toll booths and I gave them a dollar and asked for directions to the amphibious base. They lady in the toll booth told me to go left at the light and follow it and I had to keep left through town and I would see signs for the amphibious base. She told me to make a right to get on the SEAL side of the base.

I kept on through the fog and I saw a gas station and I pulled in and used the restroom to change into my cracker jacks. I was told that I had to be in uniform when I checked in. I saw the sign and turned right and went passed SEAL Team Three and then Five and I pulled up to the quarter deck for BUD/s training. There was a statue of the creature from the Black Lagoon with a sign around it’s neck that read “So, you want to be a frogman?” I had heard about the statue but I wasn’t sure it was going to be there for real but there it was. I went to the window and the quarter deck watch smiled and checked me in. He was in second phase. Then the OOD came up and started talking to me. He was a senior chief SEAL. He introduced himself as Master Chief Tullis. Then the quarter deck watch said “He is going to be your best friend”. Right that second Senior Chief Tullis snapped at him “Drop down, keep your mouth shut”. Then he turned to me and said “The Master at Arms isn’t in, you will have to sleep with the barracks watch in the first room on the first floor under the stairs. There is no walking across the grinder so jog while you go through the compound” I got out of their quick.

It was really foggy and I could see the shapes of people moving, it was eerie like something out of an old horror movie. I got to the barracks and the door the watches room was open. There were two bunk beds and four lockers. The watch greeted me smiling. He said “Did you see Senior Chief Tullis?” I told him that I did. He looked at me in shock and said “He didn’t make you hit the surf? He always make new guys hit the surf in their uniforms. Then he asked me “Where are your bags?” I told him “There in my car”. He told me “Oh, you have to go back and get your car and park back here and he pointed at the parking lot next to the barracks. As I went to go back he said “Make sure you run across the grinder and turn around and drive behind the quarter deck. I ran across the grinder and scooted through the quarter deck and out the front door as fast as I could and got into my car and drove around. The quarter deck barracks watch was amazed that Senior Chief Tullis didn’t make me hit the surf. He told me he was on roll back status and he had gone through three Hell Weeks already and they were going to make him go through it again. It was already after midnight and I was tied. I got my uniform off and jumped into bed.

The next day I got up and checked in with the Master At Arms and they gave me a check in sheet and a map of the base. I had to check into supply on the main side of the base and the BUD/s side. I had to register my car at the gate. I already had a sticker from Pensacola, I just had to scrape it off and put a new one on for the Amphibious Base. I went to the chow hall and they issued me a chow pass and I got something to eat. They had a lot to choose from. I had a ham and cheese omelet. I went over to the man side BEQ (Bachelors Enlisted Quarters). This fat Filipino first class checked me in. He was giving me a hard time telling me “You aren’t going to make it” You will be back over here during Hell Week. BUD/s side.

My room was on the second floor and the first room on the top of the stairs. There was a guy already in the room. He was a roll back. He was a second Class Petty Officer and he originally went to the Naval Academy but dropped out. He was reading a book called “Mekong”. He told me he would give it to me when he was finished. It was about a Navy SEAL in Vietnam. We got two more roommates, Tim Burgus, Jeff Finch and Jeff Smith. The roll back got switched to another room so I was the senior enlisted in the room. He gave me the book before he left. Everyone had checked in and we formed up with the class. I looked down the stairs and I recognized Robin Harris. He was coming up the stairs and he recognized me right away too. Robin lived right next to my grandparents in South Boardman Michigan. He was a year older than I was. We played on the all-conference soccer team together and we were on the track team together. Robin was all conference mile and two mile racer and I ran the 440 yard dash, 330 low hurdles and mile relay. He was a second class diver. Lt. Station was our class officer. He was the national collegiate light heavyweight boxing champion at the Naval Academy. The class started off with 120 trainees. We all pretty much just marched to and from chow for a couple of days, we had to PT (Physical training) on the beach once a day, led by Lt. Station.

Then we got our proctor. The proctor is one of the instructor cadre but he was supposed to be the good guy instructor. We had a second class Corpsman named Dave Chapman and he had a bad reputation as a hard ass. We all lined up for inspection and because I was short, I was in the back. Instructor Chapman would gig the guys in the front for their boot not being shined, their uniforms not being starched, the buckles not being shined and Tim Moore who was standing next to me was sweating bullets. He was rubbing his boots on the back of his pants leg, trying to polish his buckle and he had tried to cut his own hair the night before and kept getting it uneven and he looked like the Road Warrior Mohawk. He was saying “Oh shit, I am going to die” I was all squared away and as soon as instructor Chapman got done with me and looked at Moore he just shook his head and said “You are a mess, drop down”.

Then he had half of the class go to their rooms and the rest stay in formation. The officers followed instructor Chapman around so he could teach them what to expect. My room was the first room to get inspected and I was senior so I had to stand outside the door and great instructor Chapman. I saluted him and he came in the room and we all stood in front of out lockers at parade rest. We had to snap to attention when instructor Chapman got to us. As soon as I snapped to attention a nasty green cloud escaped out of my ass, right as instructor Chapman bent over behind me. He stood to attention and I said “I’m sorry”. He looked at me and asked “What was that?” Doing everything I could not to bust out laughing I said “Gas”. He yelled “You farted in my face?” Before I could say anything he said “Hit the surf!” I could see the officers’ faces. Some trying to hold back the laughter, other looked mortified. I was laughing all of the way to the beach and back. When I got back the room it was torn apart, my matrices was on the floor and everything in my locker was strewn out onto the floor. Instructor Chapman had all of our combination locks all locked together and he said “Always keep you locks locked, you have four seconds to unlock them, go!” I just stood their dripping while Tim, Jeff and Jeff franticly tried to go through their combinations. When instructor Chapman counted to four he yelled “Hit the surf”. We ran down the stairs and across the beach. Tim Burgus was pissed as he ran passed me he cursed at me and I laughed some more. We fell back into formation dripping wet as we watched everyone else getting yelled at and running to hit the surf. Tim Moore whispered to me “What happened?” I spirted out laughing “I farted”. Then Instructor Chapman leaned over the rail yelled “Everyone Hit the Surf”. Thank God it was Friday.

We all ran to chow soaking wet and the guys in the class were pretty dishearten. I just took it in stride. We had to clean our rooms and put everything back together. I started reading Mekong and it was interesting. The main character in the book also grew upon a hog farm, the same as I did and his platoon chief was a Golden Glove boxer. We had a four mile timed run, I passed but I was amazed at how much faster the rest of the class was compared to me. In Pensacola I was the fastest in the whole command and I was in the bottom third of the class. That was when I first realized that these guys were at a different level. Robin was up at the front of the class.

Then we ran the obstacle course. The obstacles were big and there was a line for the “Dirty Name” This was a couple of logs sideways on top of two other logs in the ground like posts, one was a little above chest high to me and you had to stand on it and jump tree feet onto the other log about chest high while I was standing on the first log and you had to pull yourself over it and jump down. I couldn’t do it but I wasn’t the only one. Those who couldn’t make it had to practice after the end of the day.

During PT the instructors took notice of me, at first instructor Kauber got on me for having the wrong leg out doing hurdler stretches but I was good at push-ups and pull-ups and I yelled the loudest doing PT and any other time. Also I poured it on sprinting as a road guard running to chow. My squad leader was LTJG Farly, he used to be a Marine Drill instructor in Pensacola and he got his degree and went through AOCS himself and because he didn’t have 20/20 vison he couldn’t be a pilot but and NFO (Navigational Flight Officer). He decided that he wanted to be a SEAL and now he was in my class. He wasn’t very good at pull-ups and I chided him while I was in line behind him to do pull-ups. That night he come to my room to have a talk with me about insubordination. I apologized and told him “I was just trying to give you some motivation” He didn’t really feel comfortable having to get after me because he couldn’t do pull-ups.

We had another room inspection and instructor Kauber and instructor Vawter saw my Memphis Golden Gloves jacket and my heavy bag glove in my locker and instructor Vawter said to me “I want you to put on this jacket and these bag gloves and run from room to room yelling ‘I’m a super star mother fucker” So I went at it and when I got through half of the rooms instructor Mayer stopped me and said “I want you to go down on the grinder and shadowbox and hum the theme to Rocky”. I did and I showed out. I was going to show them something they never saw from a white boy.

The instructors got us all in the classroom on Friday and instructor Vawter sat on the desk in front of me and painted war paint on me with shoe polish. Then he got up in front of the class and called me in front of everyone and had me drop down and do 25 pushups. He told the whole class “This guy wants to be a SEAL more than any of you in here .Then he had me stand at attention and he made the whole class do 25 push-ups and say “Whooya Seaman Lowing” Then he asked me “Why do you want to be a SEAL?” These words came out of my mouth all by themselves “I want to be the baddist mother fucker who walks the face of the earth” He drew back and asked me “Why?” I replied without hesitation “I want respect”. That weekend I had duty with Instructor Kauber and he sat down with me and said “As instructors we have to play a role, we might seem like assholes but we really want you to make it but not everyone can do this” I just said to him “You don’t need to worry about me.

I was in the smurf boat crew, we were good at log PT, surf passage and rock portage but we got killed in the races, land portage or long paddles. We had a young kid named Bronson in our boat crew, two officers, Lt Hildalgo from Ecuador, Sam Thompson the only black guy in the class, Don Dougherty, Lt. Hanson as the coxswain. Lt. Hanson was a skinny, blond form seminarian who read an article in Mechanic’s Illustrated and dropped out of seminar and joined the Navy as an officer and went to BUD/s and now he was in my boat crew. The instructors hated him.

I was hanging in there, I was passing the timed runs and swims, I made it through water proofing and I had just figured out how to get over the Dirty Name on the obstacle course. Instructor Chapman saw me running across the grinder one afternoon and he was hitting the heavy bag hanging in the compound. I could tell he wasn’t very skilled at punching the bag. He called me over to hit it. So I showed him how to do it.

We had a week to go before Hell Week and the first phase staff took us down the strand where nobody could see us for a hammer session PT. push-ups, flutter kicks, chase the rabbits….etc. Then they had us doing arm circles, I was good at arm circles, all of the time training with Roy Jones Sr. boxing. It was a break for me. My arms stayed straight out to the side, doing circles forward, then backwards. Everyone else was fading. Master Chief Scarborough came up to me putting his face right in mine and asked me “What planet are you on Lowing”. Instructor Mayer who was leading the PT said “We are going to keep doing arm circles until Lowing gets tired” I just smiled. They finally ended the PT and secured the class for the weekend.

We got ready for Hell Week and sitting in the tent out behind the barracks, on cots Sunday night waiting for it to start. I didn’t have much of an idea what was going to happen. I remember that the officers were mostly concerned about getting an accurate muster. All of a sudden a grenade simulator goes off in our tent and we all get up and run out of the tent into the compound. The instructors were firing automatic weapons and they were all camouflaged and screaming at us. The smoke was so thick that we couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. I remember Brian Cooper have a grenade simulator go off right under his feet. He jumped and started laughing. We get into the compound and they had us in the push up position and instructor Mayer had the bull horn in Lt Station’s face saying “Give me a muster Lt Station, earth to Mr. Station" We all got online and gave a count and we kept coming up short. The instructors went crazy. Finally along comes Bronson. He had snuck back into the barracks and fell asleep.

We spent want seemed like hours with the instructors trying to get Bronson to quit but he wouldn’t give. Finally we all had to pay. The instructors yelled “Hit the surf” We all had to stand in a line, arms locked facing the ocean and march in waist deep, do an about face, lock arms again and sit down in the water with the waves spilling over us. We were all yelling “Hooya” and then the instructors would call us back in, we would march to the beach, then turn around and face the ocean again. Instructor Mayer was yelling in his bull horn “If I get one quitter, we will secure this evolution, just one quitter and we can end this” Nobody quit. So back into the water we went. We did this over and over again for what seemed like all night but nobody quit.

Then they had us don our kapok life jackets and get out boats and paddle down to the jetty behind the Hotel Del Coronado for rock potage. This was the scariest thing I have ever done next to getting shot at but our boat crew did fine. A couple guys quit the class during this evolution. We ended up doing it three times. I was the paddle man.  I had to grab all of the paddles and carry them up the rocks and stow them so they wouldn’t get washed away by the waves. Then I had to get back in the water and help the rest of the boat crew get the boat up over the rocks while getting pounded by the waves.

My biggest fear was breaking my leg, falling in a hole and then getting hit by a wave. I don’t know how I did it but somehow my feet knew where the rocks were. I hit the top of them launching the boats and carrying the paddles up the rocks. We did three runs and the instructors gave us a good critique and we got to sit down. I guess a couple of guys quit during the evolution so they had to reshuffle the boat crews. Mr. Gallerain’s boar popped a tube hitting the rocks so they had to carry a have deflated boat.

We crossed over the strand I am guessing around 3:00 AM. Nobody was on the road. We made our way to the steal piers and they instructors had us put some of our boats in the water as barriers and then we had to get in the water and practice drown proofing, taking our boots off and tying the laces together and hanging them around our next, they taking our pants off and tying the legs of the trousers together and flipping them over our heads to catch air and then use the for flotation. Then we had to get out of the water. Then we had to get out of the water and put our cloths in a pile, stand their naked as the instructors sprayed us with a hose. Then we had to jump back in the water of the bay and tread water for about 20 minutes and then get back out of the water and lay down on the deck of the steal piers separate from each other as we were misted with a hose.

Doc Gibner would walk around with a blanket wrapped around him and a cup of hot chocolate and taunt us “All you have to do is quit and you can get in this blanket and have some hot coco” Even though I was shivering I just looked at him and said “Get away from me” About 14 guys quit at the steal piers. Then as the sun was coming up we went to breakfast in the galley. It was nice to be in the warm chow hall and to get something to eat. The Filipino girls serving us looked at us in shock. We were soaking wet. As long as we kept eating the instructors would leave us alone.

After chow we went down behind the Enlisted Club and the instructors had us file into the bay and they told us “If you need to relieve yourselves do it now” So we all did, floating turds passed by and then instructor Vawter had us submerge and hold our breath for 20 seconds. Then Mr. Gallerain picked up a turd and held it up and said “Isn’t this a pretty one and instructor Vawter said “Pass it down so everyone can look at it” so we all passed it down the line and then he had us pass it back.

Now it was time for the base tour. Instructor Vawter would lead the way carrying a bull horn and going all over the Amphibious base pointing out all of the buildings and we had to keep up with the boats on our heads and touching the bow of the boats to the stern of the boat in from of us, “Nut to butt”. The Instructors kept yelling at us “Nut to butt”. Instructor Vawter would run faster and cause an accordion effect. We were the last boat crew because we were the shortest and when everyone else took off we had a gap to make up. The instructors were like dogs nipping at our flanks but I would rather it have been dogs.

Once we finished with the base tour we complete the base tour back at the Enlisted Club we had to paddle the boats over to Delta Beach. This was thick muddy clay. We had to soften it up. The instructors had us form two lines facing each other and stomp on the on the clay and mush it up. Then we were to have a clay fight, we were standing three feet away from the guy across from us and we had to throw muddy clay at each other. Not only was it muddy it smelled bad and it was heavy, it felt like you were getting punched in the face when it hit you.  After about ten minutes we were told to stop and then make mud angles. Just like snow angles except in the mud. Then we had to lay on our bellies and do the same thing until we were complete covered in silty, thick muddy clay, it was in our hair, our eyes, ears, up our nostrils and in our mouths. Now it was time for whistle drills. When the instructor blew the whistle we had to drop on our bellies and we had to crawl toward the instructor blowing the whistle. Then the made us race with our boats on our backs crawling on our bellies. We could see if we were winning or losing or even where we were going. This was exhausting.

Then it was lunch time. We lined up our boats and sat in rows in front of them and they instructors passed out box lunches. We were freezing and our hands were coated with silty, nasty stinking mud. The contents of the box lunches were fried chicken, hard boiled eggs and an apple. They also had packets of salt and pepper. You couldn’t take a bit of anything, except the apple without getting gritty, sandy mud in your mouth. You could feel the granules crunching between your teeth. The hardboiled egg was prefect until you got the shell off and touched it with your fingers. The groves of our finger prints had granules of silty dirt all in them. But we were hungry and we just ate the food silty dirt and all.

After we ate lunch we launched the boats in the San Diego bay and paddled to the south end of the bay, crossed under I-75 through a tunnel and then we put the boats in the ocean and paddled down to the obstacle course. There we had to run the obstacle course as a boat crew with our boats inflated, taking it over all of the obstacles, the wall, the Tarzan, the sky scraper, the slide for life, the weaver, all the way through the obstacle course. Then we did it all over again with the boats deflated, then again without the boats but as a boat crew.

Then it was time for log PT. The did all kinds of exercises with a log, jumping jacks, lifting it over our heads from one shoulder to the other, sit-ups, pushing it up while we laid on our backs and pressed it up, racing with the log between our leg and racing to the beach to wash off the log and hit the surf ourselves….etc. Everything was a race and the losers got punished. We did pretty well except for the race with carrying the log between our legs. After we won a race the rest of the class had to hit the surf but instructor Chapman decided that we were going to play helicopter and spin around with our arms extended. We got so dizzy we crashed into the sand. The instructors laughed their butts off.

After log PT we marched to chow and back to the south end of the strand for a stealth problem. The instructors had a bonfire and we had to crawl about a half a mile without being detected. My swim buddy and I crawled along the beach and there was a stump and I made the mistake of leaning up against the stump and I had to hit the surf. After that we all got surf tortured. After surf torcher we all stood by the bonfire and told stories. The next thing I know Master Chief Scarborough grabbed a hold of me and called for the corpsman “Lowing doesn’t have any pupils” I looked at him in surprise and said “Really”. They put me in the back of the ambulance and warmed me up. Then they let me out just in time for more surf torture. They had us make a lean to with our boats and paddles and I was shaking and shivering so hard that my while boat crew laid on top of me trying to get me warm. They nearly crushed me. Then the next thing I know the instructors were digging me out from under the pile and put me back in the ambulance to warm up.

As the sun was coming up they let me get back with my boat crew and we marched off to breakfast. We went on another base tour and across the strand and they had us doing surf passage and we lost a race and our boat crew had to do surf passage with our boats upside down. Ensign Hansen was all gung ho and without any preparation just headed toward the surf. I stopped, I was going to quit. I was pissed that I had to be subject to Ensign Hansen whom I thought was an idiot. Instructor Vawter told me “You’re not going to quit”. So my boat crew came back and as we went through the surf with our boats upside down I told Ensign Hansen “You better start paying attention, I am sick of losing”. Don Dougherty was telling me “Come on Red, you don’t want to quit” I was just getting sick of losing and having to get hammered for stupid things. Threatening to quit was pretty stupid.

After we came back from going through the surf zone on our boat turned upside down instructor Vawter suggested we play football. One of the instructors had a football and they had us choose up sides. Ensign Gallerain and Elliot played football in college. They ran a sweep past me and ran me over for a touchdown. We got a touchdown with a flank pass to Robin Harris. Then instructor Vawter announced that the next touchdown wins and somebody yelled “If you aint cheating you aint trying" I had moved to nose guard over the ball, across from Ensign Gallerrain because I knew I was faster than him but they were still in the huddle and the ball was just sitting there in the sand right in front of my in a four point stance. I picked up the ball and ran across the end zone. We won. Then we all went to chow.

We ended up going back down the strand up and over the berm with the boats on our heads. It sucked, instructor Mayer was leading us up and over the berm. The instructors made the coxswains climb in the boats as we carried them up and over the berms until we got down by the demo pits. We had to build a chow hall out of sand. The instructors let us use a couple of shovels and we used the paddles and our hands. Then instructor Chapman called me “Get over here Lowing. I want you to kick instructor Mayer’s ass" I looked at instructor Mayer, he was big, 6’2” and about 230 lbs. I remember thinking “He is big and I am tire, he is probably going to kick my ass” I looked at instructor Chapman and he said “You have to do it Lowing, I am your proctor” I looked at instructor Mayer and he said “Get away from me Lowing” I thought “I have had my ass kicked before and if I don’t do this I am going to lose face” I turned my hat around backwards and I was maneuvering closer to instructor Mayer where I could punch him over his left shoulder so I could hit him but he couldn’t hit me. He said again “Get away from me Lowing” and I ignored him. Then Instructor Chapman said “Get over here Lowing” I thought “Whew, thank God” and then he kicked me in the chest with a side kick and said “Get out of here”.

We finally built the chow hall and they had us all sit inside the sand walls and they passed out our box lunches and once we all had our boxes in our hands one of the instructors said “There is a sand storm” and they started shoveling sand on us. In our faces, the back of the head, in our ears, on our box lunches. Some of the guys started gathering together in a scrum and giving up their butts and back to be hit with sand. I opened my box lunch and as soon as I did it was full of sand. I crawled over to one of the scrums and waited out the storm. Finally the instructors stopped and let us eat. Fried chicken covered in sand. After we finished eating our sand covered dinner it was more surf torcher.

We then went down to the obstacle course and we got ready for “King of the IBS” We stacked three of the boats, two on the bottom and one on the top and we were going to play “King of the IBS, it was like “King on the mountain” were we would all try and be the last man standing. The rules were that is you got knocked off of the boat you would have to hit the surf. The instructors said “Go” and a bunch of guys rushed the boats and right away I saw Ensign Elliot fighting pretty good and thrashing a bunch of guys so I decided that I was going to target him. I jump up on the top boat and stuck my left forearm down between his kapok lifejacket and his chest and I was punching him in the face and head-butting him. He couldn’t get me off of him because I had a death grip on his life jacket. He finally got me free and picked me up over his head and as he threw me down, I dropped straight down and kicked up and leg and catapulted us both off of the pile. As we were getting up to go hit the surf instructors Kauber and Chapman said “Oh no, you two don’t have to hit the surf. You had a good fight” So Ensign Elliot and I smiled at each other and watched the show. Now it was only Tim Burgus, Robin Harris and Sam Thompson left. They went at each other and the last name standing was Tim Burgus.

Then it was back in the ocean for some more surf torcher. Then we went to chow for mid-rats. I was so cold I just hovered around the coffee machine and the hot chocolate machine but I was shaking so much and the coffee and hot chocolate was so hot I wasn’t getting much down. The instructors had to make me sit down and eat. After chow we went down to the sport field and we had to do a bunch of races. Low crawl with the boats on our backs, head carrying and low carrying races. Then they had us all in line standing with the boats at extended arm carry. Instructor Mayer was yanking us around and Ensign Hansen yelled to instructor Mayer “Leave him alone”. Oh that was a bad move. Instructor Mayer became incensed.  We got piled on by the instructors. We got hammered, yanking our boat around, we had to get on our bellies with the boat on top of us and instructor Mayer was standing on our boat the rest of the night. It was finally sunrise and we got to go to breakfast.

They pulled Ensign Reeves out of the class. He had something wrong with his esophagus. We then went to the base pool and practiced drown proofing and breath holding, racing back and forth in the pool. All kinds of races and jumping from the diving board. We had to perform whatever stunt the instructors asked of us. I was pretty good at doing gainers and flips off of the diving board. Then we went back to the chow hall. Then more boat races in the bay and dinner and finally it was time for the around the world paddle. LtJg Gluff rang the bell. It was his second time through Hell Week. The first time he broke his femur doing rock portage.

That night after getting surf tortured again and standing by the fire Robin Harris quit. He was standing in front of Master Chief Scarborough shivering he said “It is not because I am cold, I know what I am doing, I just don’t want to kill anyone”. Then he rang the bell. He was the last one to quit during Hell Week in Class 133. Right afterwards we headed to breakfast.

After breakfast we went back behind the enlisted club to relieve ourselves and then we paddled all of the way down to the south end of the bay. There was a barge made up like a castle just floating out in the middle of San Diego bay. Someone said it was where they had parties and gambling. The water was very quiet.  We all took our time, away from the instructors. My hands were all blistered and pealing from paddling, the sun and saltwater. My body was beaten down and tired. Just floating in the boat away from the instructors was peaceful. We came around the castle barge and on the backside was a ramp, like a drawbridge but it was pier and instructor Sanborn was standing on it with a walkie-talkie and he was calling in “They are here” He wasn’t happy, I would say disgusted. He said “What took you so long, what were you doing?” Then he gave us a clue for our next point, it was a boat ramp over at 32^nd Street Naval Station. We got there and they sent us back across the bay to sports field on the Amphibious base.  It was chow time again. After lunch we went over to the Oceanside of the strand and did more follow the leader with the boats on our heads, up and over the berm.

Then after evening chow we launched from the end of the Amphibious base from the sports field and we had to paddle down to south end of the bay, cross under I-75 at State Beach and then down to the end of North island at the mouth of the San Diego bay. When we got through the surf on the Oceanside I kept seeing these UPS boxes floating by and I was looking to see if I could read my name on them. Then all of a sudden I saw this big white purse full of money floating by. I was about to jump in after it when I heard all of the guys in my boat crew yelling for me to wake up. I had been dreaming. I wasn’t the only one. Ken Strand who as from Texas hallucinated that his boat crew were paddling through an oil field and while he was ducking under an I-beam his boat crew had to wake him up.

We all finally got to the tip of North Island and we had to run back to the BUD/s compound three miles along the beach. It sucked. We got to the barracks and they had us go through a health and comfort inspection before we marched off to breakfast. We had to march up and over the berm to the Coronado Kayes and back to the obstacle course. Then they put us in the class room and had us write an essay. They turned the heat up and the lights down and if you fell asleep you had to hit the surf. I was shaking so bad. I was writing “This sucks” “I am freezing” “I hate this”…etc. You could hardly read what I was writing, I was shaking so badly.

 Then we marched off to lunch and we went to the pool doing all kinds of races, playing water polo and I was having difficulty breathing. I could only take in shallow breaths. I just bobbed in the pool during water polo. Master Chief Scarborough pulled me out of the pool and had me swim free style back and forth across the pool a bunch of times. They gave us a head break and I was sitting in one of the stalls and the next thing I know, my LPO was kicking in the door and hurrying me out to get dressed and march off to mid-rates. My class mates had to dress me. After mid-rats we marched back to the compound for another health and welfare inspection. I couldn’t keep up and I ended up falling behind my class and straggling by myself back to the compound. The instructors were cursing me, taunting and being hateful and fowl but there was nothing I could do about it be put one foot in front of the other and stagger behind the class.

We got naked and stood in line. I had crapped my pants and instructor Barron grabbed a handful of paper towels came up behind me and wiped the crap stuck to my ass. I got moved up to the front of the line and Doc Gibner put his stethoscope to my chest and told me “Take a deep breath” you could hear the gurgling in my lungs and he said “You have pneumonia” and I replied “I know” he responded “Well then why do you need me?” They pulled me out of the class and put me in one of the classrooms with a bunch of cots.         

I woke up to instructor Mayer picking me up with one arm and tucking me in like a little baby. Then I had to get up and go to the head and instructor Holloway was watching over myself and Ken Strand outside of the class room. He was laughing at me “You look like a demon possessed Cabbage Patch doll” I got to the head and I took a piss and when I looked into the mirror as I washed my hands, my the outside of my eyes were completely bloodshot red. My face was swollen and my scalp was raw and scabbed up. Then I coughed up blood out of my lungs, is was foamy and pink. They took Ken and I to breakfast and we rode around in the back of the ambulance, behind the class as they carried their boats around the base.

Then we pulled up by the obstacle course and they let Ken out to be secured with the class but made me stay in the ambulance. I stayed in the ambulance, I wasn’t part of the ceremony to graduate from Hell Week. I had to get a work up at the medical clinic on base and they gave me a subscription for penicillin and we got the weekend to rest. I had to go to a board to determine whether I would be able to stay with the class and they let me stay but I had to sign a chit.

We were in hydro-recon phase, mostly classroom and we got to wear shower shoes and our UDT shorts. I was chaffed badly between my legs, the skin was worn down to the muscle. It constantly burned. We did administrative perpendicular and parallel recons and then we had to prepare for night combat recons. I was paired up with Lt. Hidalgo as a flank scout. Our job was to swim into the beach, make a sketch and then swim back out to the boat pool where the rest of the class would get in the water and perform the perpendicular recon. Getting to the beach wasn’t a problem but getting back out was. The waves were eight to twelve feet tall and we just couldn’t get through them. We got separated a couple of times which was a safety violation. At one point I realized that we were only in waist deep water and I stood up and watched Lt Hidalgo flaying in the water, he wasn’t going anywhere. By this time the sun had come up and we got called in by the instructors and had to run back to the compound. The whole class got hammered. They must have had us do 400 pushups in our wetsuits. Lt. Hidalgo and I got the worst of it. Instructor Holloway didn’t like the way I was looking at him and came up and demanded that I quit looking at him. He was acting like he wanted to fight and I wanted to oblige him.

As we were getting secured. I was feeling like shit and went to ring the bell. Lt Fitzgerald and a couple of other instructors gathered around and tried to talk me out of it. I was surprised and I figured if they didn’t want me to quit that I shouldn’t and I joined my class to march off to chow. I was boarded again and then we had to do a monster mash to end first phase. It started off running the obstacle course, then a four mile run and a two mile swim, then the obstacle course again ending in the compound where we had to do our maximum push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups. It was the first time I was able to complete the obstacle course.

I had watch the weekend after that and Instructor Chapman got me alone and told “You take yourself too seriously. You are harder on yourself than we could ever be with you”.

We went on to dive phase. We had a lot of pool work, buddy breathing, ditch and don and treading water with twin 72s. This was tough, you had to hold your fingers out of the water, I had to do it three times and I figured out that the higher your tanks were out of the water the easier it was. So I loosened my shoulder straps before I got into the pool and then I passed.

Then we had to do everything with the LAR VI, Dreager. That wasn’t too difficult but then there was pool competency. You had to wear a double hose regulator and as you swam back and forth on the bottom of the pool the instructors would come down with a mask and snorkel and pull off your mask, take away one of your fins or both, shut your air off, tie your hose in knots and you had to undo the knots without going to the surface. You could take your tanks off but you couldn’t go to the surface. I failed the first two times and I had to go to a revue board. Now ever since Hell Week I hadn’t passed a single Four mile timed run, 11 of them but back then, if you failed the four mile timed run in the morning you had to make it up that afternoon or you would be dropped from training. 11 times I failed the four mile timed runs in the morning and I had to run it again after the rest of the class was secured for the day and I would pass. So when I went to the board I had all of these fails in my record too. Then on top of that I failed the diving physics test.

The board was rough but they gave me one more chance. It was a Friday so I could practice over the weekend. Commander Stephens the commanding officer of BUD/s training had me carry a box out to his car and he told me “My instructors are the best in the world and you are not qualified to determine whether you should be here or not. That is their job. You just do the best you can and as long as they determine that you deserve to be here you do. Now you have pool comp Monday and all you have to do is pass”. Monday morning we had and room inspection and Chief Bixler came in our room and inspected my dive knife and said “At least you can do something right Lowing”

Then we had to run the obstacle course before the final attempt for those of us who needed to make it up. I was feeling pretty good because I knew I could finish the obstacle course now. As I was going across the monkey bars on the Tarzan instructor Wilson was sitting on top of the Monkey Bars and as I was going across them he said “Lowing you are a piece of shit, you aren’t going to make it” I was pissed off. I passed the obstacle course that day but that afternoon I drew him as my instructor for pool comp. He ripped my mask off, turned off my air and then he pulled my regulator back and stretched it between my tanks. I tried a couple of times to get it loose and went to the surface, which was the proper procedure. When I got to the surface and said “I feel fine” he said “You took too long, you failed”. I was rolled out of the class.

I was put up on open bay barracks that night and I bought a 5^th of Jack Daniels and drank it crying that night. The next day Tim Moore came to see me and scolded me for doing that. He said “You are never going to be able to come back if you start drinking” I got orders back to Pensacola with Naval Aviation Schools Command as an instructor teaching boxing and physical fitness. I trained every night with Roy Jones Sr. and Roy Jones Jr. I ran the obstacle course two of three times a day and the cross country course twice a day. I reapplied for BUD/s seven times before they let me back in. Mike McDonald my division chief and Navy SEAL recommended me to go back to BUD/s after the way I was training his son in boxing. He guaranteed in writing that I would make it through training. 20 months later I was on my way back to BUD/s I took 30 days leave and went to Michigan and worked out the high school cross country team. I clocked a time of 35 minutes flat for 10K, just before I left for BUD/s class 141. I weighed 128 lbs walking around.

Most of the same instructors were there. I tried to check in the last day possible so I could slide in with the rest of the class but they recognized me right off, instructor Sanborn recognized me right off “Let me see your teeth?” I flipped up my partial and he said “You’re the boxer right?” and I said “Yes”, he asked me “Are you going to make it this time?” Instructor Kauber and Vawter wished me good luck. I had an awesome roommate and swim buddy Syril Galindo. He was Filipino but he lived in Hawaii his whole life. He was a surfer.

LtJg. Wilson was the Class officer and the way he ran things reminded me of a union foreman. He had a deep load voice. He was organizing the class into squads and laying out the agenda. Then Phil Januzzi our proctor came in addressed the class. He was big Italian and he meant business. After we were secured I went up to Mr. Wilson and offered assistance “If you have any question or if you want to know what to expect let me know and I will tell you what to expect” He looked at me funny but thanked me.

Syril and I went to the Safe-way in Coronado to pick up laundry detergent and starch for out hats and I saw a self-hypnosis cassette tape in the checkout line. I had heard about self-hypnosis in my Sports literature class in high school and there was an Aviation Officers Candidate named Steve Clock who went to the All Navy Wrestling Team while he was waiting for flight training and I used to see him take the Navy wrestlers into one of the racquetball courts and they would turn down the lights and he would mentally walk them through their next match. So I bought the tape. I already had a cassette recorder. We plugged it in and listened to it was we fell asleep. It had the sound of waves crashing in the back it had us relax our bodies from our toes, up through our feet, calves, thighs and before you know it I was asleep.

Then next day we had to qualify, we all had to do the BUD/s screen test, maximum push-ups in two minutes, sit-ups, pull-ups and then we had to swim 300 meters using underwater recovery strokes, side stroke or breast stroke and a mile run with our jungle boots and slacks. We had to do this three times over the next couple of days. Some guys couldn’t do it.

Then we got a demonstration of the obstacle course from instructor Vawter and instructor Mayer. Half way through the demonstration instructor Vawter dislocated his shoulder and instructor Mayer had to finish the rest of the demonstration. Then we got to run the course. I ended up finishing second behind Dan Quigley another retread. I was a lot faster than I was in class 141, I used to demonstrate the AOCS obstacle course a couple of times a week when I was an instructor in Pensacola.

We had to go to the pool and swim laps so the instructors could get our times and match us up with our swim buddies. Syril Galindo and I ended up getting matched up together. We were roommates and swim buddies.

Then we had our first conditioning run. Because we were short, Syril and I we in the back of the formation. I knew from previous experience that there would be an accordion effect which would be an issue for those of us in the back of the pack and we should move up the ranks as fast as possible and I let Syril know to do this too. Before you know it things started stretching out and coming back into through the obstacle course I was up right behind the leaders and instructor Kauber was standing there in the middle of the obstacle course and I was sprinting to make the cut off and I was it. He had myself and everyone after me drop for push-ups until the whole class that didn’t make the cut off showed up.

We were going to be introduced to the Goon Squad. This was a hammer session made up or races and it payed to be a winner. If you won and race you would be secured with the rest of the class. The first thing we all had to do was hit the surf. I was the first one into the surf but that wasn’t a race. It was just for punishment. Then the next race was up over the berm and I wasn’t going to lose. I flew up over the berm and got to the top first. Sure enough I was secured and formed up with the rest of the class. Then Syril was right behind me. We ran around the barracks parking lot and then the instructors secured us to get ready for chow. I got in the shower and the water was hot. I never knew that there was hot water in the showers during the day because in class 133 it was always cold, after I got secured from the Goon Squad.

Then that next Monday we had to run the obstacle course first thing in the morning. There was a fog and all of the obstacles were wet with dew. I was second in line behind Quigley, instructor Sanborne yelled “Who has Copenhagen?” I ran out to him standing in the middle of the obstacle course and he said to me “You seem like you have matured quite a bit since you were here last” I told him “I worked out a lot and I worked with a couple of SEALs at my last command” He asked “Who?” and I told him “Master Chief Mike McDonald and Randy Hurd” then he told to get back with my class. As I was standing in line waiting my turn to run the obstacle course behind Dan Quigley I instructor Sanborne yelled “You better beat Quigley Lowing” Then Quigley took off, he was a faster runner than me and he was really smooth over the obstacles. I was right behind him but when we got to the sky scraper he had a better technique because he was taller than me and he could just reach up to the next level and pull himself up. I had to jump and kick off the pole. I was to the top and rolling across the top as fast as I could and I grabbed the wooden slat as I rolled off the top and my legs swung under the top level so I was parallel to the ground and my hands slipped. It was like I was in slow motion as I began to fall. The back of my thighs hit the next level and everyone still standing in line to run the obstacle course were yelling and as I started to fall, everything went silent. I was head to earth now and my shoulders behind my neck hit the next level and my body swung around with my feet down and I landed on my feet. I was trying to decide if I should go back and touch the bottom level when right in front of me was instructor Sanborne and he said “What are you waiting for Lowing?” That was my cue.

I took off, now I was in the lead, I passed Quigley on the way down. I flew through the rest of the obstacle course and finished in eight minutes flat.  That would be the fastest time in the class until we returned from the island. When we got to the room after chow Syril was upset saying “I can beat you running, how can you beat me on the obstacle course?” I just said “You try and manipulate each obstacle, I just throw myself over it”. After that, every night I would think myself through the obstacle course as I listened to the self-hypnosis tape every night while I feel asleep.

Hell Week was coming up, we had knot tying in the tower and I had instructor Sanborne, I tied a square know, then e becket bend, a clove hitch and then a bowline. He looked at the knot over a couple of times and signaled me to head to the surface. He failed me because I tied it backwards.

The biggest guy in the class was Helssel, he was about 6’4” tall and weighed about 240 lbs. He used to be the defensive nose guard for the University of Montana. We were roommates and one day I walked into the room shadowboxing and he put up his hands like he wanted to slap box and I fired four slaps at him fast and hard and he got pissed and started singing away at me and I blocked or ducked all but one and he caught me across the forehead with his wrist watch and scratched me deep across my forehead. I was trying to keep him from knocking me out the second story window before he stopped. We weren’t very friendly towards each other after that. He had instructor Staff in the pool and he wasn’t doing very well. Instructor Staff was yelling at him, dunking him and splashing water in his face. He failed too. 

We had a class meeting to talk about our Hell Week T-shirt and Mr. Wilson asked for suggestions for a class slogan and Greg Ebersole proposed “Big nuts, small butts and lots of guts” and that got the most votes. A bunch of guys whined and complained but I didn’t care because I knew most of them weren’t going to make it through Hell Week anyway. That Friday they opened up the opportunity for guys to quit if they wanted to. Twelve of them got up and rang the bell. One of them was Helsel. Then we got to watch two movies “Uncommon Valor” and “Rocky III” I slept through the first one but I had to watch Rocky III. We were to the room and Helsel was packing. I asked him “Why are you quitting?” He said “I’m not like you, I could kill anyone” I laughed out loud and said “You were the defensive nose guard for the University of Montana, you could maim and cripple someone but you couldn’t kill them?” Then I asked him “So what are you going to do now?” and he said “I think I will join the Peace Corps.” I laughed and wished him good luck.

Syril and I had to go cash our checks so we went to Horton plaza and Syril had to get somethings and I made some phones calls and just as I was about to go looking for him this black guy comes up with a heavy African accent and he asks me for directions to an address he had written down. Then he says, I am here from Africa to pick up food for east Africa and I want to have sex with a white woman. I start laughing and another black guy comes up and so does Syril. I tell Syril what is going on and he doesn’t know where this address is either. Then the other black guy says “That is this building. There used to be a whore house here but they tore it down and build the mall on top of where it used to be” Then the black guy from Africa bulls out a wad of money and shows everyone and he says I want a white woman” The other black guys says “I know where there is a whore house in Logan but I don’t have a car” Then Syril says, we can give you a ride”.

So we go to the parking garage and get in Syril’s rambler the black guy showing us where the whore house is asks us “Are you guys going in?” and we tell him “No”. He tells the African black guy “You don’t want to take that money in there, they will rip you off” Then the African asks us “Will you hold it for me?” Syril and I say “Yeah sure” but then the African says “How do I know you won’t steal my money?” I just laughed and said “You are going to have to trust us” then he suggests “Why don’t I wrap my money in this handkerchief and you give me your money and with it and we will lock it in your trunk?” So we said “Okay” I had about $250.00 and Syril had about $300.00.

The guy wraps the money in the handkerchief, Syril goes with him and locks it in the trunk. Then we were supposed to wait at Wendy’s for an hour. As we are waiting Syril says “I feel funny about this” We waited an hour and they didn’t come back. We go to Syril’s car and open up the trunk and pull out the handkerchief and it is full of newspaper clippings. Needless to say we were pissed off.

The next morning, which was Saturday we had to prep the boats and paddles for Hell Week. We had pump them all up tight, tie handles on them with white tubular nylon and spray paint Roman numerals on them, make sure they all had good paddles and put up the tent we would use for breakout. 

After that we were prepping our personal gear. I was in the cruise lounge watching the USA National boxing competition and there was Vince Phillips my old sparring partner fighting for the All Army boxing team. That just added to my anxiety and frustration of getting ready to go into Hell Week again, getting ripped off for $250.00 I needed and seeing my sparring partner winning the Nationals.

I went out with a lady who was the secretary for the base commander, we would go to movies and out to dinner every once in a while. She was divorced and had an eight year old son. I never meet him. She had snow white skin and deep black hair. She looked like a short Snow White. After we ate dinner we went behind a berm with a blanket on Coronado Beach and made out, no sex just heavy petting and kissing. Then she took me back to the barracks and gave me some encouragement that I was going to make it through Hell Week.

When I got upstairs there was a corpsman named Love who rang the bell on Friday and he was arguing with one of the other guys and I asked “What are you guys arguing about?” The guy who was still with the class said “This guy says that they are watching the beach” I asked “What are they watching” and this guy Love said “Tonight they were watching you” I asked him “Oh what did they see me doing?” He told me that they saw me go out on the beach with this girl behind the berm but they couldn’t see us but they were listening to what we were saying. Then he told me exactly what was saying to this girl. I was pretty unnerved.

I thought “Mike McDonald really has people watching me” Mike had told me “I have friends out there on shore duty, studying for their college degrees and they are going to be watching you and I better her that you are the most motivated SOB in your class and that you are smiling all of the time” I was thinking “Bog Brother is watching me”.

All of this is going through my mind as we get into the tent waiting for beak out. We had to get into the tent at around 6:00 PM and just wait for the instructors to come and get us. I remember thinking “Why am I doing this? What was I thinking?” One of the other guys going through for the first time asked me “Red, what is going to happen?” I just said “it is better that you don’t know” and we waited.

Guys were sneaking a peak through the flaps of the tent reporting on every little movement in the compound. Then it happened. Automatic weapons were going off, a concussion grenade went off inside of the tent and a couple of instructors all camouflaged up lifted the tent flaps and fired blanks on full auto yelling at us. We all ran out of the tent, trying to stay together as a boat crew through the smoke, grey, red, yellow and green smoke all blending together, thick enough that we were breathing the sulfur in, tasting it. A concussion grenade when off right under Brian Cooper and he jumped and laughed without missing a stride. We got into the compound and the instructors asked for a headcount. Was started off counting the instructors tried to grab a couple of guys but we grabbed them and pulled them back. It was like wild animals trying not to get separated from their herd but lions of wolves. We finally got our count and the instructors told us “You have two minutes to go back inside of the tent and turn your uniforms inside out and put you left boot on your right foot and your right boot on your left foot” We all ran inside of the tent and I turn my fatigue shirt inside out and put it back on. Everyone else was trying to get their pants and boots off.  Spenser was yelling at me “Come on Red” he was wanting me to do the same and I just said “Go ahead, knock yourself out”. Then we all ran out of the tent for muster. Then the instructors put us in the pushup position while we were getting out muster. It took longer than they liked so they said “You guys are so screwed up, you are the wort class I have ever seen. We are going to start all over.  Go back in your tent and wait”

So that is what we did. I actually feel asleep waiting this time and it all stated again, smoke, grenades and automatic weapons. We get in the compound and tried to get count and we kept coming up short. They counted a couple of times and finally Joe Phillips comes running out of the barracks. They were on him like stink on shit. He was standing there and they were yelling at him trying to get him to ring the bell, threatening to throw him out and trying to get him to quit but he just kept resisting saying “No instructor”, “I am not quitting”

This took a while and the whole time I am watching instructor Chapman. He was walking around shining his mag-light flash light in everyone’s face. Finally they instructors told us “Go back into your tent and grab you sea bags and get back out here, you have 30 seconds” Of course we didn’t make it. They had us in the pushup position, holding our sea bags and spraying us with a hose. The whole time I am watching instructor Chapman. He is walking over everyone in pushup position, shining his flashlight on them as he is stepping over them and finally he gets to me, sees it’s me, grabs my sea bag and throws it out of the compound. I am thinking “I am the one he was looking for, I’m dead”. Then the instructors get us up and tell us “You are pathetic, you are the worst class we have ever seen, we are going to punish you, line up for surf torcher”

We all head out over the berm and Wheeler, another retread, in my boat crew comes alongside of me and says “Red, I want to be next to you, I know you are going to make it” I didn’t put much stake in that, I was told the same thing in class 131. We line up on the beach, facing the ocean and lock arms. The instructors give us the command over the bull horn “Forward march” We all start walking into the ocean up to my chest and then the command us “About face” we turn around and lock arms again and they then command us “Take seats” and as soon as we did I am thinking “This isn’t very cold” Then Boone gets up, one of the only black guys in the class and slaps the water behind the line. This was his second time in Hell Week, he was rolled back from the previous class.

Then Wheeler tells me “Red, let me go. I am going to ring the bell” I replied “Your kidding right?” and he said “No, I am not like you, I can’t take this” I just said “We are just getting started” He said “I know, I just can’t take this” I told him “Tell Mr. Mitchel” So he yells at Ensign Mitchel “Mr. Mitchell, I am going to ring the bell” Mr. Mitchel yells at me “Lowing, don’t let him go” I yell back “It is better if you let him go” So I let him go and as soon as he gets up 14 other guys get up head toward the bell.   

We were only in and out of the water a couple of times before they pulled us out and had us get ready for rock portage. I was a bowline man this time, I knew I wanted to get out of the boat first and out of the surf. We did really well, we had to do it three times and nobody quit. Then we crossed over the stand for the steal piers. I had worn silk boxer shorts the first time I went through Hell Week in class 133 and I was chaffed terribly. This time I wore triathlon short turned inside out. One of the instructors noticed and just commented “That was a good idea” We had to get in and out of the water a couple of times and do drown proofing and then they had us lay on the steal piers naked as they sprayed us down with a hose. 14 more guys got up and rang the bell.

There was a research team videotaping our Hell Week this one brunet was uncomfortable watching this evolution. Doc Gibner came around with his blanket and hot chocolate, just like he did in class 133. He got the same response, a glare and I told him “Get away from me”.

 After we finished with steal piers we went to the sports field and they had us doing whistle drills and races.  A couple more guys quit. Then the sun was coming up and we had to put the boats on our heads and head off to breakfast and the sole of my Korean jungle boots started coming off. It was just hanging on as we carried our boat off to the chow hall. I was thinking “This isn’t good”.

I had my defective boot on going through the chow line and I was smiling just in case someone was watching me and the pretty research lady was counting us as we went into the chow hall and she was looking distressed until she saw me smiling and that made me smile bigger. The Filipino servers were also looking distressed until they saw me smiling and they smiled and giggled. Instructor Shelton saw me and said “Low Life, I can’t believe you are still here” He didn’t know me so I didn’t care what he thought. After we finished eating they gave us a quick once over and noticed my boot sol was flapping out behind my boot and they issued me another pair of boots and I was good to go.

This class they let us use the restroom in the galley instead of in the bay behind the enlisted club. Also they had us rig for land by tying our leg straps from our kapok lifejackets around our waist when we weren’t rigged for sea. Everything went pretty much the same as it did in class 133. We were standing with our boats on our heads in the compound and instructor Willard one of the black instructors gets right in my face acts like he wants to fight me saying “What are you looking at Lowing? Do you want some of me?” I was just looking at him thinking “If you only knew” Mr. Mitchel and Spenser were saying “Don’t do it Red” I figured he was just trying to bait me.

I knew that once I made it past Wednesday they weren’t going to get me out of there with a gun. So I am asked by Mr. Wilson to guard the boats after I finish eating mid-rats on Wednesday night. So I am standing guard over the boats, out in the parking lot in the middle of the night, in parade rest with a paddle in my hand and a couple of times I wake up, falling over and I catch myself right before I do a face plant on the concrete. Then the class all falls in by their boats waiting for the instructors and Mr. Wilson asks me a question.

“Red, why are you doing this?” I ask him “Why are you doing this?” He says back to me “That doesn’t mean anything, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. There is no way I would have done this had I known what to expect”. Now I was pretty euphoric. I knew I was going to make it at this point so I was pretty positive but I wanted to answer him and I said “I didn’t make it last time. I lived this every day in my mind for 20 months and reapplied seen times before they let me back into training. There was no way I wasn’t going to do this, if I didn’t there would been way I could live with myself. I have to get this monkey off of my back” He seemed to understand.

When the instructors came out they took us to the sports field and it started raining. They had us race around the buoy market in the bay a couple of times and they stripped us down to only whatever we were wearing under our trousers. Greg Ebersole was shaking like a leaf. I remember thinking “This isn’t cold” He was shaking so bad that the instructors had us get dressed and paddle around the buoy again as if that as going to warm us up. I remember instructor Shelnut wearing a Goretex parka and howling up into the sky like a werewolf.

Then the rain died down and we launched our boats in the bay and we hadn’t gone very far and the rain started coming down hard again. It was like paddling into a waterfall. We got passed the base and we could see the other boat crews land portaging in Delta Beach and we tried to get Ensign Mitchell to do the same but he wasn’t going to have it “We are not going to cheat” I had to agree with him. We finally got to the south end of the bay and we saw someone with a flashlight and it was instructor Yowell. He wasn’t happy saying “What took you so long, you are a half hour behind the next boat crew. Go to the tunnel under the strand and go through the surf, you don’t have to dump boat unless you take on water. Then paddle down to the North Island fence.

So we did and we got down to the obstacle course and the rest of the class was in a boat pool waiting for us. When we got there we all paddled to the tip of North Island together. The instructors were pissed. They didn’t award any points for the winning boat crew and they wouldn’t let Schoolmaster quit until we got back to the BUD/s compound. We had a health and comfort inspection, went to breakfast and they made us do another base tour. We were just creeping along. We looked like a bunch of zombies. They had us go to the Schism field and do a bunch of races and then Master Chief Rogers had us go to the officer’s club and sing “Anchor’s away to a retiring SEAL officer” Then it was back over to the Oceanside of the strand.

They had us sit in the classroom and write our essays. They did the same thing they did in class 133, turn the lights down and the heat up and made us wrote an essay. This time I wrote a patriotic essay. I kept dozing off and my pencil would run off at the end of the sentence but I would catch myself and wake up and start another line “I love my country…..” Instructor Staff came by and tried a couple of times to get me to get up and go outside but I was bent on finishing my essay. I told “I am trying to finish” and he said “You are finished, go outside” They had me go outside with a couple of other guys who told me that the rest of the class had fallen asleep. Then the instructors go into the class yelling and banging a trashcan and everyone runs out of the classroom and hit the surf.

Then they had us go to the obstacle course and do some more log PT. I didn’t remember dong log PT this many times in 133. We were all dragging. Then we went back on the other side for chow and then to the poo to play water polo. I had payed water polo three days a week with Jim Liddy the son of G. Gordan Liddy who played on the US water polo team. We had some good players in the class. It was a much more enjoyable time that it was the last time.

Then once it got dark it was time for the treasure hunt. The instructors would give us clues and we had to go to where we thought they meant. Mr. Mitchell was pretty much out of it and he had lost his voice so I took charge. We were doing very well and it was around 4:00 AM and we were heading to the sports field and with Ensign Hickey’s boat crew behind us about 100 yards. Spenser was having issues because his neck was sore and I was pushing him with a stiff arm from behind and he didn’t like it and threatened me “If you don’t stop pushing me, we are going to stop right here and we are going to fight” I said “Let’s go” Mr. Mitchell got us to come to our senses and as we were heading past the galley Todd Fleming pulled the boat to a stop and said “Stop we are going to run over instructor Shelnut’s baby” I looked around and there was nobody there. I realized that Todd was Hallucinating and I said “Todd wake up” and just said “Okay” and we were the first ones to get to the sports field. We waited for the rest of the class to show up. We got to rest a little bit.

We went to breakfast and then we were back on the Oceanside and the instructors really stepped things up, surf passage, up and over the berm, all kinds of races and then we were following inductor Mayer and he went into a pit dug in the middle of the beach, just south of SEAL Beach and we were having a hard time with our boat getting it out of the pit and the instructors started throwing shovels of sand on us and in our boat until it was buried. Then the whole class came over and helped us pull the boat out of the pit. Then instructor Chapman came up and said “What is the matter with you guys? Lowing likes this shit some much he came back to do it again”. I couldn’t believe it, I was getting praise from instructor Chapman. My heart started pounding, I got a surge of energy. I felt like the Grinch whole stole Christmas when he got the Christmas Spirit and his heart grew ten times.

We were doing a bunch of races and I was just going hard and then the instructors were telling us “You better start putting out or we are not going to secure Hell Week until Monday” I was hustling as hard as I could and then they had us hit the surf and then doing whistle drills through the surf, all of the way to the beach and along the beach in the shallows until the back of the BUD/s barracks. Then finally they called us to attention and there was Captain Bailey. Then he gave us a congratulations speech and secured us from Hell Week. We all got in line to shake his hand. I was excited! 28 of us made it through Hell Week.

I was so excited, I called everyone to tell them that I made it, I was too excited to fall asleep. I was in a lot better physical shape after Hell Week than I was in class 133. I maintained 140 lbs all of the way through. Training wasn’t over but I was healthy and I got that monkey off of my back.

At camp Elliot we did land navigation and immediate action drills (IADs) the last day Avon a tall skinny guy who had been in burn accident with scares over 50% of his body had lost a canteen and Mr. Wilson lost a canteen and the instructors found a canteen but it was nether one of theirs. They had them compete in push-ups to decide who they were going to give it to. I said “That isn’t fair, there is no way Avon is going to beat Mr. Wilson in pushups. Can I got do pushups for Avon?” Mr. Mitchel said “Go ahead”. So I run over there and they already started. I asked “Can I do pushups for Avon?” The instructors said “Go ahead” I beat them both to 100 and Avon could only do 98. Mr. Wilson was saying to me “Why are you doing this? It isn’t even your canteen?” I just kept pushing them out and said “It’s not fair, there is no way Avon can bet you in pushups and I kept pushing them out. The instructors were taunting Mr. Wilson saying “Look how effortlessly Lowing is pushing them out? Why don’t you just give up?” That just fueled me on and I cranked out more but Mr. Wilson didn’t quit. Finally Lt. Shibler said “Lowing, he’s not going to quit so you are going to have to be declared the winner via technical decision. I did 300 pushups.

There were other eventful situations like getting boarded for failing the weapons practical test and instead of the being told I was worthless and shouldn’t be there the instructors told me I had been a good trainee and they were routing for me. I passed the retake. The instructors got to know me for being able to do a lot of pushups. I did 500 during a weapons inspection. Instructor Carlock put me down telling me “Lowing push’em out until I get tired” He told me “Recover” and I asked him “Can I do 40 more?” and he let me and when I finished he asked “Why do you want to do 40 more?” I told him “That made it an even 500 During Christmas vacation attempted to max out in pushups and I did 1,700, I was so smoked that I had to use both hands to pick up the soap when I took a shower.

I got the highest scores in my class for diving physics. We were cleaning up after a night dive at the pool and Chief Bixler called me in front of the class and had me stand at parade rest on the dive set up tables. Then he had me turn around and put my nose against the wall. I thought I was in trouble and then he called the whole class in formation and then he told me “Lowing turn around, at ease” He then awarded me a certificate designating me a “Master Training Specialist”. I had no idea I was even put in for it.

Then it was time for Pool Comp. This is where I failed in class 133. I had practiced in Pensacola when I took my PADI dive class. My plan was to get on the bus last so I could get off first and get it over with. So Syril and I took our time and we had to do pushups with the twin 72s on but we had a plan. We go to the main side of the base and off of the cattle car first, lined up along the pool and they started taking the guys from the other end first. We were last. Syril gave me shit the whole time. When we finally got to us I got instructor Almon. He hit me really fast, ripping my face mask off, turning my air off, then he tied my hose in some knots but I got them untangled. Then he ripped my fin off and took off my weight belt and then he got on top on me with his knees in the middle of my tanks and I was face down on the bottom of the pool. I reached back and felt nothing except a solid ball of rubber. I ditched my tanks and I tried to untie the hoses but they wouldn’t budge. I turned the air off and tried to take off the manifold and let the air free flow. I couldn’t turn the wingnut but it still wouldn’t budge. Then everything started getting darker like turning the intensity down on a television set. I decided that I needed to go to the surface. I went down to blow and go. I let my air out but all of a sudden I sucked in and my lungs filed up with water and the next thing I know I was on the surface.

I said “I feel fine” Instructor Shelton had a hold of me and I said “I feel fine” and he said ”Ya sure you do, get over here” and he drug me over to the edge of the pool. I took off my tanks and got out of the pool and Doc Gibner sat next to me on the bleachers and I asked “What happened?” He said “You don’t know, you had a shallow water black out. You face was purple as a grape” Then he put the stethoscope to my chest and said “Take a deep breather” I breathed in and all of a sudden water came out of my mouth and nose like it was coming out of the bathtub faucet. I had to get debriefed by instructor Almon and he said “You were really calm, you just held your breath to long, go do it again”.

I got all jocked up and while I was waiting to do it again Chief Bixler came up to me and said “What happened Master Training Specialist?” I told him “I held my breath to long” He said “I saw, you had a shallow water blackout” He stood me up by the edge of the pool and instructor Gnesda was waiting for me and he asked “Is he a panicker?” and the instructor holding onto me said “No he went for the blackout” Instructor Gnesda said “Hooya, let’s get this done?” I jumped in the pool and he hit me fast, ripping my regulator out of my mouth, tangling up my hose a couple of times but I cleared it and then he ripped the hose part and I grabbed the end which was free flowing and drinking half of the pool while trying to get some air. Then he pulled it away from me and tied it in an overhand knot and I knew I couldn’t get that undone so I ditched my tanks and went to the surface. Instructor Gnesda said “Okay you passed” I said “Thank you” he replied “Get the fuck out of here”.

That was the last difficult revolution next to the 14 mile run but I knew I wasn’t going to have a problem with that. It was a Saturday and we ran to I.B. pier. Then afterwards Syril and I ate at a Chinese buffet. I started getting the chills. They called the OOD instructor Willard. He was really concerned about me and had the watch Al Clark give me a ride to North Island medical and they took forever. Then my chills went away I got a really high fever. Then they finally gave me some medicine and Al took me back to BUD/s and the next morning I was good to go.

Syril and I finished up dive phase and graduation day after all of the speeches Mr. Wilson got up on the podium and said “Gents, in the infamous words of instructor Franko ‘It’s not over until the fat lady sings” and this very large woman got up and sand Amazing Grace. We almost all fell out of our chairs. We were secured and had to parade past the instructors and salute them. Instructor Estes said “You finally made it Lowing” Then I went to the ceremonial bell and rang it so hard, I was trying to break it.      

Looking back on these experiences the differences boil down to being prepared. I got myself both mentally and physically prepared but I also had a solid power base with Mike McDonald, Syril Galindo and the attitude of the instructors toward me after seeing my performance in the class. The outward positive appearance even though a façade until Wednesday of Hell Week when I actually convinced myself. All though I didn’t know the Lord at that time, this is a testimony that we can change once we put in the effort and with the right influences.