Here is a great motivational story I found from a former Navy SEAL talking about his life and how he made it through the grueling special forces training:
"Ok here is my story of how I made it through BUD/S and I why I decided to become a CrossFit Coach and Seal Mentor. First a brief history, I grew up the child of migrant workers. My father skipped out on us and after my mother who eventually married a young man who joined the Navy and from that point on we travelled extensively from duty station to duty station. You could call my upbringing a one of poverty but we made the best of it and my childhood was typical.
My parents worked, I did chores and when there was money I played organized sports. If money was tight I played every form of street ball there was. I grew up streetwise and with the ability to work hard and I learned to fight at a young age.
I did well in high school till my senior year then like most young adults I stopped giving a **** and basically only cared about fighting, ****ing and drinking. I had athletic ability and had dreams of playing big time football. Sadly the reality was many more people had much more ability than me. I was offered a spot on the football team at a local university who were starting a first year program. I quit halfway into the season because we sucked balls and it was a joke.
I continued wrestling both at school and in a private club but for the most part my athletic career was done. I was working at an amusement park pissed off at the world but my girlfriend was hot so life was good. On Halloween 1992 I like most of my friends went to an awesome party and got loaded. I was hooking up and having fun and then the trouble started. A cat named Rick who liked to think of himself as a gang banger and his crew showed up and you can guess the rest of the story.
I beat Ricky down good that night but unfortunately he wasn't done. He tried to shot me a couple of times over the next few days so I decided it was time to make a change. My best friend Franky told me he was joining the Navy and going to be a Seal. He said I should go with him since they had a buddy program. I was bored and basically becoming a loser so I figured why not.
I walked into the recruiter's office and listened to the speech. I told them I wanted to be a Toad man and of course they laughed at me since I was short, overweight, had a stitches in my face and was dressed like a thug.
Four months later I graduated from Boot Camp, and then a couple of months later Torpedo Mans Mate "A" School. This was a great time in my life. I was in Orlando and there were more Navy girls around than I could dream of. I received my orders to BUD/S Class 194 in December of 1993 and reported for duty January 5th of 1994.
We started our three weeks of pre-training with 174 dudes. Day one was incredible, there was a U of Texas Linebacker in my class, an Olympic swimmer and several other physical freaks of nature. To say I was at the middle to bottom of my class would be an exaggeration. That day we took the screening test again, for me the 4th time. We lost 20 guys right there. They showed up unready and back then that was it, they were haze gray and under way back to the fleet.
Before going to BUD/S I basically trained myself. I ran, swim, and did tons of calisthenics. I arrived in good shape but it could have been way better. I wish they had things like the warning order, SealFit and CrossFit back then, my life would have been much easier.
The three weeks of pre-training were a blur. It was cold and we stayed busy all the time. Friday at 1800 was freedom unless you had duty and I would go out and relax with the boys. Saturday I would do much the same but Sunday was my special day.
Each Sunday I would do a four mile walk down the strand. Nothing crazy just a lazy walk by myself to just be alone and get my mind right before the next week. It was great and I believe it was the secret to my success. It gave me time to clear my thoughts and time to keep my muscles a bit loser. I would get back and stretch, nothing fancy since I didn't know **** about Yoga or stretching. I did the stretches that an old High school coach had taught me, I still do them today and they still work. The stretches focused on the hamstrings, back and calves. In reality that's were most people suffer injuries anyway so without knowing **** about anything they worked.
Day one of First Phase sucked balls bad. By then our class was down to 87, the Friday before we had wrote critiques of our instructors in Pre-Training. Well some of my classmates went overboard and said some things that we had to pay for. We lost 25 guys that day and the next morning. To say it was painful would be sarcasm. Of all the training days, missions, hell-week hours and what not that I have been through, nothing compares to that day.
I began a new ritual for myself that day for when I get depressed or start doubting myself. I still use it today as a matter of fact. I look in my reflection and I simply tell myself that I am the baddest man on earth. I don't say it lightly and I mean it when I say it. That day I learned when others are miserable I thrive. When others were quitting and giving up I got stronger. I began to realize that the only person that can make me quit or succeed is me an me alone. This is the one thing all Seals share with each other. We thrive in other peoples misery. On the battlefield we are more violent than any other force around. In our personal lives we have a 90% divorce rate. We simply do better when we are miserable and we can look around and see someone who is more miserable than us.
Team work is essential in BUD/S but if someone has it in there mind to quit then its best to let them go. I had an I don't give a **** attitude about things and some people confused that for arrogance. It may have been but why wouldn't it be. I was at the premier Special Forces Training in the world and I was surviving when others were quitting. I had convinced myself that nothing was going to stop me and the only reason I wouldn't graduate was because I would die.
I had trained my brain to believe everyday would completely suck, and when it didn't, then I let it pleasantly surprise me. When I was wet, cold and miserable I never complained, this was what I had volunteered for and I loved it. Back then I didn't know much about the warrior spirit or that I was put on earth for a higher calling. I didn't understand it the way I do now. All I knew was that Frogmen were hard, tough men and I wanted to be one.
I continued my Sunday ritual all through BUD/S but I added to it, I told myself I was in prison and instead of getting crazy I stayed cool. We started Hell-week 5 weeks into First Phase with 37 guys we finished with 18. I started in First Phase in Boat crew 15 and finished Hell week in Boat crew 3. So many faces were gone, the Football player, the Olympian the freaks of nature. My class was a tight knit class and I allowed myself a bit of relaxation the last weeks of First phase. I even got laid a few times which I think is great therapy.
I graduated BUD/S with 13 of my original classmates and 7 guys who had rolled in from other classes. I failed only one drown proofing evolution and only got one Safety violation during training. I avoided injury and I believe this was mostly because of my mental and physical preparation but most of all because of my Sunday routine.
Today many years later, with all my travels around the world and tours to the war zone I do my best to keep my ritual. It is much harder now with a wife and kids but I do my best. I understand more than ever that some of us were put here on earth to be warriors.
Being a warrior is not easy, it is a hard life with little gratitude from the people we protect. But ****-em, I didn't do it for them I did it for me. They breath the air I protect because it is there right, I protect it that air because it is my calling, my life's ambition and the gift that god gave me.
I live my life with honor, integrity, courage and commitment. These are not words to me they are my life's code. When I look in the mirror now instead of saying I am the baddest mother****er on earth, I say I want to be the best coach on earth. Not the most knowledgeable, not the guy who can regurgitate passages from a book but the guy who can inspire and help people.
The secret to my success, believe in yourself, take time to ease your mind, take care of your body, and answer your calling. Good luck and be safe."
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Dan Cerrillo