They kept guns pointed out to sea and diverted parts of two Iraqi divisions to reinforce coastal defenses. There also are Naval Special Warfare Reserve Units in 17 cities. The legacy of that early Hell Week testing remains in place today. The intense physical training at Coronado has spawned a host of television documentaries, movies, and books about Hell Week, showing candidates being pushed to their physical and mental limits, with a cumulative total of four hours sleep. In seven-man teams, seal candidates endure a battery of carefully planned, excruciatingly demanding exercises, which reinforce the importance of teamwork and the ability of the mind to overcome physical misery to accomplish a goal.
Instructors frequently vary the schedule to keep the class off-balance.
They paddle an IBS through the surf zone, then go a mile up the coast to make a rock-jetty landing in front of the Hotel del Coronado, and they may have to repeat this six or seven times in a row. Hell Week is regarded as the most rigorous testing period in the U.S. military. Following assignment to this team and a six-month probationary period, personnel are qualified to wear the distinctive seal trident on uniforms. Everybody who starts this training has passed all the physical requirements to get here and has the ability to succeed. Thousands of candidates have already been eliminated.