Adam Schwarze is a longtime US Navy SEAL with a background in the US Marines. With a strong work ethic and commanding experience in missions, Adam Schwarze has in-depth knowledge of what it takes to join an elite Armed Forces division.

As described in a Special Operations Forces Report (SOFREP) article, one of the defining elements of First Phase BUD/S training is water skills. Over the decades, this has been developed to reflect the experiences of underwater demolition team (UDT) members who pioneered the SEALs ethos during World War Two. Tasked with covertly swimming to shore before troop landings, equipped only with mask, snorkel, fins, explosives, and demo knife, UDT personnel identified and exploded obstacles that threatened the US military’s flat-bottomed craft.

The underwater demolition skills training includes breath-hold without tanks and long ocean swims of 50 meters, completely underwater. Other elements are designed to replicate survival scenarios, such as being tossed into a dive tank with feet tied together and hands tied behind the back. The challenge is to “survive” a full hour while completing specific exercises such as diving down and retrieving objects from the pool bottom with one’s mouth.

Another test element is underwater knot tying, which requires a series of five knots to be tied in sequence. Quick breaths at the surface are allowed only after completing a knot and having it rigorously inspected, and given a thumbs up by an instructor who is also underwater. The cumulative effect of these training elements is to prepare the prospective SEAL for any challenge that can potentially come his way, both on land and at sea.