Credits: Social Media
Navy SEAL trainee ‘almost drowned’ but that wasn’t what left his instructor speechless
Despite not knowing how to swim, a Navy SEAL hopeful shocked his instructor by walking on the bottom of the pool, but that’s not where the story ends.
TikTok might be the land of prison cooking videos and questionable dating tactics, but it’s also home to genuinely heart-warming videos that can inspire you to be a better you. A recent example could be the yoga technique for naturally plumper lips.
The Navy SEAL trainee could have died
While appearing on the Jocko Podcast hosted by Jocko Willink (@jocko_willink), retired Navy SEAL commander Rich Diviney spoke to a story often shared with new recruits. Prepare to be inspired.
“This kid shows up and he wants to be a SEAL, and they basically say you need to swim, you know, 50 meters,” he recalled. “The kid jumps in the pool and sinks right to the bottom.”
Unable to swim, the recruit walked the entire length of the pool and back again before surfacing for air. He was “gasping for air” and “nearly drowning”, but did not let that stop him.
When the instructor inquired about the display he had just witnessed, the “kid” admitted to his lack of swimming experience. The instructor’s response was allegedly, “We can teach you how to swim.”
“It’s because the instructor knew if this kid had the attributes, the balls, to show up to Navy SEAL training not knowing how to swim, teaching him how to swim, the skill, was going to be the easiest part,” Rich added.
Essentially, the kid already had the Navy SEAL attitude down, he just needed to learn the skill that many other applicants already had. In contrast, many of those recruits could never learn what that recruit already possessed.
‘I would bet money he became a seal’
Most TikTok users were shocked to hear the story, though some questioned how he made it through BootCamp without being called out on his lack of swimming skills.
“Almost the same thing happened when I was in the ranger indoctrination program. The guy jumped off the high dive and could not swim but ran across the bottom,” one person wrote.
A third said: “It’s that kind of no-quit mentality, a willingness to keep going when everything an everyone else would quit, that’s what makes a navy seal.”
