Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Russian agency: Russia will conduct a nuclear test if the US does
Al-Nakhalah: We are the rightful owners, and we must fight to retrieve our rights
Al-Nakhalah: The enemy and its allies must know that we can never surrender to their terms and diktats after all the sacrifices made
Al-Nakhalah: The prisoner exchange clause can be completed in the next few days, and thus we will have pulled the [explosion] fuse and removed the enemy's justifications for aggression
Al-Nakhalah: The Resistance has expressed its willingness to negotiate on the basis that there are items that can be dealt with positively, the first of which is the prisoner exchange item
Al-Nakhalah: Trump's plan entails the Palestinian people's declaration of complete surrender to the enemy
PIJ Secretary-General, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, in an address aired on Al Mayadeen: The Resistance is engaging in a fierce negotiating battle under the so-called Trump plan
Russian Federation Council approves joint military cooperation agreement with Cuba
Al-Nunu: Today, the lists of prisoners required to be released, the agreed-upon criteria and numbers, were exchanged
Al-Nunu from Sharm el-Sheikh: Negotiations focused on mechanisms for implementing an end to the war, the withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, and the exchange of prisoners

US SEAL training: Living example of brutality, cheating & drug culture

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 31 Aug 2022 12:13
  • 2 Shares
5 Min Read

Few get it through the elite force's selection training, and many of those who do turn to illegal measures.

  • x
  • Death in Navy SEAL training exposes a culture of brutality and cheating.
    Death of SEAL exposes the US navy culture of brutality and cheating.

On the California coast, young men get ready for the Navy SEALs' punishing selection course, known as Hell Week. During Hell Week, 24-year-old Kyle Mullen was exposed to horrendous physical and mental hardship, sleep deprivation, and hypothermia. Mullen ended up with exhaustion, an infection, and coughing up blood. 

The course started with 210 men. By the middle of Hell Week, 189 people had quit or been injured. Mullen, on the other hand, continued to slog for days, spewing blood the entire time. The instructors and medics leading the training did not stop him, possibly because they admired his tenacity.

When he stumbled out of the freezing sea at the end of Hell Week, SEAL leaders shook his hand, handed him a pizza, and ordered him to relax. He then returned to his barracks and collapsed on the floor. His heart stopped beating a few hours later, and he died.

That same afternoon, another man who survived Hell Week had to be intubated. Two more were hospitalized that evening.

Read next: US Troops Suicide Rate Spiked in 2020

The SEAL teams have faced criticism for decades, both from outsiders and their own Navy leadership, that their selection course, known as Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, or BUD/S, is too difficult, too brutal, and too often causes concussions, broken bones, dangerous infections, and near-drownings. Since 1953, at least 11 men have died.

For just as long, the SEAL teams, who perform some of the military’s most difficult missions, including lighting-fast hostage rescues and the killing of high-level terrorists, have insisted that having a bare-knuckle rite of passage is vital for producing the kind of unflinching fighters the teams need. Without BUD/S, they argue, there could be no SEALs.

Privately, they talk of training casualties as a cost of doing business.

“They killed him,” his mother, Regina Mullen, who is a registered nurse, said in an interview. “They say it’s training, but it’s torture. And then they didn’t even give them the proper medical care. They treat these guys worse than they are allowed to treat prisoners of war.”

A SEAL's magic 

Related News

Russia ratifies military deal with Cuba amid US escalation

Araghchi denies any contact with US envoy Witkoff over nuclear talks

The Navy discovered needles and performance-enhancing substances in Mullen's car when they went through his possessions. The captain in charge of BUD/S immediately initiated an investigation into 40 candidates who had either tested positive for steroids or admitted to taking them in violation of Navy regulations.

The Navy has made no connection between the sailor's death and narcotics. In the fall, the service is anticipated to disclose reports on the training death and drug use. A Navy official declined to comment on Mullen's death or allegations of widespread drug usage, stating that it would be inappropriate to do so until the investigations were public and Mullen's family was briefed on their conclusions.

Nonetheless, the prevalence of narcotics during BUD/S has some SEALs at the top concerned.

Suicide rates among #US troops rose by 15% in 2020, according to a #Pentagon report that the Defense Secretary described as “troubling". pic.twitter.com/OCBfozm465

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 6, 2021

The instructors forced candidates through a gantlet of running, crawling, situps, and pushups on the hot sand on the first day of training, according to Mullen's mother. He collapsed late in the afternoon while racing in teams, carrying 170-pound inflatable boats above their heads.

A short while later, he called his mother from an ambulance, explaining that he hadn't had a drop of water all day. When he fell, a teacher insulted his limp body and told him to get up, he informed her. When he did not answer, physicians took his temperature, which was 104 degrees, and admitted him to the hospital for heatstroke.

Mullen was assigned to an internal recovery unit and given four months to heal before attempting BUD/S again.

'No other choice'

Mullen began speaking to his mother about performance-enhancing medications during his four-month wait, according to his mother.

He told her that men he met in the recovery unit were using steroids and human growth hormones and that he was thinking about doing the same. He told her he'd have to buy a used car to put the drugs in.

“In all his years playing sports, he had never touched that stuff,” she said. “I told him not to do it. But he ended up getting the car and sharing it with a bunch of guys.”

According to Benjamin Milligan, a former enlisted SEAL who recently released a history of the force, "Water Beneath the Walls," the drug problem during BUD/S is a logical consequence of the attitude the SEALs aim to foster.

In an interview, he stated that the SEALs seek operators who can identify unusual ways to get an advantage over the enemy. “You want guys who can solve problems in war, guys who know how to play dirty because war is a dirty game,” he said.

  • United States
  • Navy SEAL

Most Read

Tucker Carlson speaks at a memorial for Charlie Kirk, Sunday, September 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (AP)

Tucker Carlson: Israeli officers gave orders on Iran inside Pentagon

  • Politics
  • 2 Oct 2025
A Hamas fighter in combat fatigues stands before the ceremony for the handover of Israeli captives to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, February 22, 2025 (AP)

Hamas responds to Trump plan, backs Gaza withdrawal, exchange

  • Politics
  • 3 Oct 2025
ap

'Israel' pays influencers $7K per post to whitewash Gaza genocide

  • Politics
  • 1 Oct 2025
Mossad’s secret role in Aldo Moro’s 1978 murder revealed

Mossad’s secret role in Aldo Moro’s 1978 murder exposed

  • Politics
  • 5 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Retired Israeli General Brik says Israel has reached point of no return.
Politics

Retired Israeli General Brik: 'Israel has reached point of no return'

Depleted by foreign wars, US seeks to re-arm for another confrontation
Politics

Depleted by foreign wars, US seeks to re-arm for another confrontation

Gaza’s newborns gasp for life as hospitals collapse amid Israeli war
Health

Gaza newborns gasp for life, share oxygen masks amid collapsed system

UK arms exports to 'Israel' reach record high despite ban calls
Politics

UK arms exports to 'Israel' reach record high despite ban calls

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS