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SEALs are certainly experts at water-borne combat missions above or below the surface, but they are also specialists in land warfare operations, especially adept at small-unit infantry tactics. Proficiency in the use of infantry-type combat arms and jungle, desert and mountain tactics are essential elements in their training. This is because SEALs may be called upon to infiltrate well beyond the beaches, deep behind enemy lines, for reconnaissance, surveillance, or intelligence-gathering. And though a mission of this type may begin with an assault from the surface or beneath the sea or a parachute jump from fixed or rotary winged aircraft, once on land, the SEALs transform from frogmen or paratroopers into an elite infantry unit capable of carrying out a high-risk, land-based mission quickly, efficiently and thoroughly.

SEAL land warfare training covers combat weapons familiarization and marksmanship, combat first aid, land navigation, fire movement and maneuvering, patrolling, ambush and counter ambush techniques, river and stream crossings, mountaineering, demolitions, radio field communications, setting up base camps, and preparation of drop and landing zones for helicopter support.

An instructor from Team Two's training cadre keeps a close eye on a live-fire drill during a simulated casualty extraction. To keep these exercises as realistic as possible, the "wounded" wear hidden pouches filled with fake blood and act as if they are actually injured.

The land warfare training has a standard curriculum used by all SEAL teams. Although each team has its own specific mission and area of responsibility, the land tactical warfare curriculum is adaptable to any type of terrain or climate, ranging from heat-seared desert and boulder-strewn mountains to the steaming jungle and bone-chilling Arctic. Teams may add other training that is specifically applicable to their particular mission and the type of terrain in which they will be operating.

SEAL team members are first introduced to land warfare during their training at the Basic Underwater Demolition School at Coronado, Calif. The intent at BUDS is to familiarize the trainee with basic land warfare techniques. It isn't until the BUDS graduate is assigned to an actual SEAL team that these techniques are polished and augmented by additional skills.

This polishing of skills also applies to SEAL veterans who have served with other teams. Upon their transfer from one team to another, they have to learn some of the SOP variations of their new unit. "I've been in other teams over a period of three or four years," said one SEAL, "and there are always new techniques to learn, since each team has its own way of doing things."

The tactical portion of land warfare training is geared to honing those combat skills, which, when used in combination with the proper timing and imagination borne of experience, will ensure a successful mission behind enemy lines. Through unremitting practice and drill, each man builds up his proficiency. With proficiency comes confidence and unerring trust in one's own abilities. But it requires the blending together of the professional skills of each man to make an effective combat unit.

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