Jess Hardiman
A video shows just what Navy SEALs have to go through during ‘Hell Week’, a series of brutal training exercises spanning several days that test recruits mentally as much as they do physically.
For Hell Week, candidates hoping to join the SEALs take on a series of high-intensity training exercises over the course of five-and-a-half days – all while battling cold, wet conditions, hunger and very little sleep.
According to NavySeals.com, the ‘brutally difficult operational training’ is the ‘defining event’ of the course, designed to test ‘physical endurance, mental toughness, pain and cold tolerance, teamwork, attitude, and your ability to perform work under high physical and mental stress, and sleep deprivation’.
A video on YouTube channel The U.S Military, which shares video content ‘from all of the US military branches’, shows what Hell Week training involves – from running, swimming and paddling to hauling giant logs, carrying boats into the sea and slogging through mud.
The footage has racked up more than four million views since it was shared back in 2015, along with thousands of comments.
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One person wrote: “The people who go through this program have my respect.”
Another said: “Some of them look destroyed, damn it, so much respect for the ones who stay until the end of the hell week. I've read so much about this and I'm fascinated. It's interesting how much the human body can endure with lots of commitment and perseveration.”
On average, between 200 and 250 candidates pass the training and become fully fledged Navy SEALs each year.
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However, according to NBC News, as many as 17 SEAL candidates have died in training accidents during the past couple of decades.
Earlier this year, Kyle Mullen died of pneumonia after completing Hell Week, with an autopsy stating he had completed Hell Week and 'was being looked after by non-medical personnel to help him tend to his basic needs'.
It describes how the 24-year-old 'was in a wheelchair most of the time' as he was 'unable to stand and walk on his own'.
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Mullen had also reportedly been coughing up large amounts of 'red-tinged fluid', which got to such large amounts that it 'nearly filled a 36 oz. sports drink bottle'.
Having now read his official autopsy report, his mum Regina said she feels 'horrified' at the way he was treated.
Speaking to Stripes, she said: "He called me that day when he [completed] Hell Week, and I heard it on the phone. I was yelling at him to FaceTime me. ‘You don’t sound good,’ I said. ‘What’s wrong’.
“He goes, ‘No, mom, I’m good. I love you’ and he hung up the phone.”
Regina now wants the individuals in charge during her son’s death to be disciplined, and for the Hell Week training to have permanent oversight.
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“Kyle was happy-go-lucky. He loved to exercise and be competitive," she said of her son, adding: "We’re horrified at how he was treated. It’s disgusting. It’s a disgrace to the country.”
Rear Admiral H.W. Howard III, commander, Naval Special Warfare Command previously said in a statement: “We extend our deepest sympathies to Seaman Mullen’s family for their loss. We are extending every form of support we can to the Mullen family and Kyle’s classmates.”
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677