Operational Training

Those that have made it through the gauntlet of BUD/S and SQT and have the desire to be SEAL medics will be sent to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina for an additional six months of advance medical training known as 18D (pronounced "delta").  This course provides in-depth training in conventional and unconventional medical skills ranging from diagnosis and treatment of nearly every known condition, to advance emergency medicine and battlefield trauma life support.  

This is not your standard school book training, much of what is learned in the classroom is practiced in the field under realistic conditions of war on each other.  By the time SEALs are ready to graduate 18D they can start an IV in the smallest of veins with one arm tied behind their back, blindfolded.  One important thing to remember is that every SEAL is a warrior, and in war the best preventative medicine is superior fire power.  18D SEALs are shooters first, medics second.

18D is a joint SOF course where the student and instructor staff is made up of Army SF, Marine Corps Recon, Air Force PJs, and Navy SEALs.

SDV - SEAL Delivery Vehicle

SEAL Delivery Vehicle School: BUD/S graduates who receive orders to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE in Hawaii or TWO in Little Creek, Va. must attend the three month SDV School in Coronado, Ca.

This course teaches the students how to dive the MK-16 mixed gas dive rig and to pilot and navigate the MK-VIII SEAL Delivery Vehicle. The SDV is a "wet" submersible, which SEALs use to conduct 100 percent long-range submerged missions; they also use it to secretly deliver SEALs and other agents onto enemy territory from a submarine or other vessel at sea. It takes a formidable amount of training to be able to pilot and navigate the SDV well, and the best SDVers usually stay at an SDV Team for the bulk of their SEAL careers. We discuss the SDV more in the equipment section of this site.