Mr. Ballen Opens Up About His NAVY SEAL Past

began thinking about the military mostly because a lot of my buddies had had left high school I graduated in '06 and a lot of them joined the Marines and went immediately overseas to the Middle East and like there's a part of me that just felt like a calling to go serve and so I began thinking about it and it was around this time that my mom uh she was like hey you should talk to her best friend's two brothers I knew they were in the military and my mom was like you should talk to them

they were both Navy Seals and I'm like what like friends yeah that's not like a common thing like when someone says they're in the military you you don't like and so they were retiring and so I'm not going to give their names but they were like very very big deal Navy Seals that served on you know SEAL Team Six like the most big big time like big time what is SEAL Team Six I was never on Team Six which is an important distinction for the people that understand how the teams work I was on what's

called a whide team so all Navy Seals go through there's Navy boot camp there's a prep school there's like effectively seal boot camp which is another 6 months there's all this Advanced Training it takes about 2 years and then you become a seal but you're a whide Navy SEAL and after you do one or sometimes two rotations so work up and deployment uh you can have an opportunity to basically go through a whole new screening process uh to potentially go to Team Six and again I've never done it but from the people that I have

very close friends that have gone over there that are there now that are there now it is like Navy SEAL boot camp times infinity because now you're you're literally competing against other Navy Seals who likely have combat experience who know what they're doing and on Team Six it's a bigger deal than even I think most people even fully understand like when America needs to do stuff those the people you ask to do it and you can't [ __ ] it up you are like 100% successful otherwise you're not allowed to be on that team they

took out Osama correct oh yeah that was Team Six yeah basically the like the highest profile the highest stake stuff goes to that team and so the the screening process is otherworldly like if you are not basically perfect you don't get to be a part of the team and so those dudes are like superheroes is that something that they have to dedicate their life too like I'd imagine having a family and like trying to raise kids it would be almost impossible going through that sort of training with that just being on call I'd imagine 247

yeah uh I mean again I since I I've not done it myself this is very secondary but what I understand uh they literally have like you know beepers or something and they're on they're on call effectively I don't know if it's literally beepers but that is the idea I mean when there are operations that kick off that are super duper serious a lot of times they're not necessarily known until very last minute and so these these operators are like constantly needing to be ready to execute insane stuff how many people are on that I actually

don't know uh it's a very small number it's probably if I'm in a ball Park it's probably less than 100 you know they're actually operators that's a complete madeup guess I'm probably wrong but it's not much more I'm probably off but it's it's a small number of people and if you think about it like I think that in total at any given time I want to say there's like either 2,000 or like 2500 active duty Navy Seals across all teams that includes the wh side teams so I mean it's a small number of people not

many I thought it would be way more yeah I mean it's it's a small community I mean every year the out in Coronado California they do the initial training to become a seal they run five classes a year unless that's changed and even though each class will graduate something like 50 people um which virtually all of them will go on to become seals a lot of them are actually from other classes that they got rolled out of for injury for failing something and so it's not like those 50 people started with their class and finished

it's like over the course of the year you have all these people that get hurt along the way that keep getting rolled or pushed around and so like the true number of like new recruits that get through is is relatively small each year it's like couple hundred people each year that that get through it and when you meet Navy Seals is there a certain like even if you haven't met them in person like a certain like eye contact or a bond that you immediately have now I'm not comparing this to something that I've done but

I did run cross country in high school okay and when people tell me on the bowling league true that's true when people tell me they've ran cross country I'm like okay so you've pushed yourself to a limit not like the limit cuz you guys are like the limit but a certain limit where you're like okay you're you're you're dying on in a run and then you push yourself even further you know like I feel like there's a certain like Brotherhood there but obviously nothing not even 1% of what you experience I'm guessing with other I

think that actually you're you're really not that far off I understand that like there's this even I just did it talking about Team Six like you're constantly trying to make sure nobody thinks you're trying to misconstrue things here yeah um but I think ultimately all it is like when you become a Navy SEAL really what you've done what you've demonstrated is you're able to do what you just described like hit barriers mental physical whatever and then keep going and really I do believe that virtually anyone can do that but few people will do that and

so what you're describing is really the same phenomenon that like if you have if you're someone that has pushed your Beyond a certain boundary and you you see somebody else that you know in virtue of being a CrossCountry runner at a fairly high level they've done the same thing there's going to be a kinship there there's going to be a connection um but definitely with Navy SEAL specifically I mean it's actually funny I I'll go to airports and I'll literally spot one like cuz their seals are kind of all over the place they're traveling a

bunch and I remember I was like at the airport in Atlanta and I like spotted a dude from like that's so crowded super crowded terminal and like across the heads of all these people it was a quick glance never met this guy in my life but I knew immediately he was an abvc I don't even know but there's definitely like a it's got to be a posture of body language there definitely something there there's also did you talk to him oh yeah it's funny I walked up to him and it wasn't like are you it

was like hey dude what team are you on he's like well I'm on this team like cool man good to see you there's no way I swear to God did he know who you were just he could tell that I also was a seal not that he there this certain perception there's something that's like trained I feel like in the back of your brain while you're going through the academy where you're like so perceptive of being in like public settings I'm I'm guessing also this translates to like okay like is this a good guy bad

guy like what's going on like you know you're walking through a grocery store and you're constantly like looking around and is that a thing that that you have hyper vigilance yes you have this oh yes so as you walked into this house by the way shout out to Caleb Hammer this is his house thank you for letting St Caleb were you like looking around and like being hyper observant of all of like everything in the house I mean I'm not going to say I walked in and like literally identified every exit but I definitely took

the time to like poke my head around the corner and look around is that is that a trained thing or have you always been somewhat like that I definitely was not always like that that that's definitely more not not even trained it's more like yeah I guess I guess trained is the word then because is definitely in training your instructor to be super attentive to detail in fact that would be if I were to try to like sum up what your instructors through Navy SEAL training really try to emphasize it's this whole it's not hey

push yourself beyond your Borders or whatever it's attention to detail in all things like it doesn't matter how tired you are doesn't matter how complicated how stressed you are you must pay attention to details like you must and even the slightest infraction will get you kicked out of training not literally every time but that's the stakes they're playing what is training like it's described as the best time you never want to have again uh because in many ways when I look back at the uh the six-month long course you so it's you go to boot

camp this is the this the pipeline for the enlisted side anyway so not to get complicated but the bulk of people who become Navy Seals they enlist so they they're not commissioned officers they're like the sled dogs they're the the workers of of the team uh you got to go through boot camp which is just typical Navy boot camp that's two months long it's in Chicago um I don't know if it's changed but when when I went through there was a a mandatory preparatory school that you go to immediately after boot camp where for two

more months you stay in Chicago and you train with like literally professional athletes and coaches and Olympic athletes who have been brought in by the Navy to not like beat you up but to like actually build up your strength build up your confidence because that your your next phase is actual like Navy SEAL boot camp um so you wrap up your two two months in in the prep school and then they send you to Coronado California which is it's so funny it's like the most be have you ever been to Coronado California it's like the

most stunningly beautiful place ever and like in this like iconic like idyllic place there's like the most treacherous military training like ever taking place and it's very public you can like watch it but you go out there and then you go through a few weeks of like what's called indoctrination which is a few weeks of like you're not technically in uh the training yet but loads of people quit because you're actually working with navy seel instructors and it's very intense you know you're being treated really like what's intense about it well one you're you're there

you're at like this story compound where like by the way where you train in Coronado is also where the West Coast SEAL Teams are and so you're like this pathetic like have done nothing and you wear you wear a white shirt with your name stencl on it that like signifies you're you're a recruit you're nothing and when you go to training it's like you're literally surrounded by actual like active duty Navy Seals that they just Haze you and it's like so it's an intense place to be what's The Hazing like it's it's mostly just like

you know goofing around with you like they'll grab you and like make you come over and like give a speech to like the like they'll literally hey come over here talk to these guys and it's like 10 active duty Navy Seals and like yeah introduce yourself and like you start talking and they start like cutting you off and making fun of you it's like stupid stuff but so it's an intense place to be and then I mean just the the actual training is is in incredibly difficult um physically you know it's like the it's famous

ly it's famously challenging that's the whole point they want it to be borderline impossible to do so that if you are able to complete the training you've demonstrated that you can kind of push Beyond you know what most people would consider an impossible limit um so anyways you do six months in in cornado it's called basic underwater demolition SL seal school or buds for short um and uh if you get through that you're virtually guaranteed to become a seal like the attrition rate Falls to near zero at that point but you have another 6 months

of Advanced Training and then you go on to um like we went to language school no way no I can't I can see that's the line I say I was just about to say like you know I can only gosh no so but you you go to like a follow on school and then you uh you go to your team and then you go through a whole workup again so but in terms of like the actual training um sleep deprivation is horrible it's so bad what does that feel like I mean you lose your mind

like really you actually become an insane person that's that's the gist there's there's one week of training early on in actual buds so so the six months are broken up into three phases the first phase is called first phase and it's the gut check uh it's a lot of soft sand running and laying in the ocean when it's freezing cold at night and doing like a billion sit-ups and jumping jacks um you carry around this thing called an IBS it's an inflatable inflatable boat but it weighs like 200 200 someone pounds and you and your

boat crew uh have to carry it on your head and it's not that heavy it isn't like you put it on your head and you're like wow that's that's so heavy but you run everywhere with this boat either by your side or on your head think about this running on Sand it's uneven and the boat's jostling around and it hits the top of your head so often that you actually develop a bald spot on your head um guys like will break bones just from the compression of this boat on their head like if you fall

when you're in the middle of a run this boat just comes colliding down on you it's gnarly like it's a it's a early thing so yeah but I'd say that the worst part is sleep deprivation um and then there's a week early on in first phase called hell week where you don't sleep for five and well you sleep for a total of like four hours broken up into little naps over the span of like five and a half days oh my gosh um yeah so anyways it's just it's a it's a very physically grueling I

am so curious like are how well are they compensated afterwards as a Navy SEAL CU going through that training I mean to be like the top 0.001% I'd imagine it's like it's got to be like a high pay or do people do it just because they they love it if you look at like the entirety of like the enlisted ranks in the Navy so all jobs Navy Seals CBS you know whatever um you are the most well compensated for sure but you're not well compensated you you can look it up I think guys make uh

like 50,000 gross maybe 60,000 when they get to a team which amongst like typical enlisted folks that go into a if if you show up to your your first command as like an an E2 or an E3 it's it's like an enlisted rank the junior enlisted rank you're making like I don't even know it's probably 20 or $30,000 a year um and you have you obviously get like health benefits and all that stuff but within the confines of what the Navy is actually able to give you they pay seals let's say the best but it's

not like you're not making a lot of money you're not you're not at all um but then when you deploy uh they pay you a whole bunch of money but that's not really and and that's relative it's not a ton of money but for the military it's a good amount you'll make like an extra I don't even know I mean a couple hundred bucks Grand shout out to my my manager Nick whiters who's up screen he's a combat vet as well ni um yeah so you you get paid for deployments and so if you deploy

a bunch you get more money but yeah it's not it's definitely not something you would do for pay um I think that you know I I think that a lot of people ultimately decide to be seals uh be because of the challenge of of becoming a seal it's you know it's I tell people that when I ultimately made the decision to want to be a seal you know it was it was shortly after I my mom had said hey why don't you meet why don't you go meet up with our family friends here the the

Navy Seals and I met with them uh it's a funny story actually how I met with them uh I went to this place in New Hampshire where we were going to meet um and my mom's best friend uh whose brothers these were she has this camp New Hampshire that's for kids it's like an art camp and it's beautiful there's like little cabins there's like a little Lake and it's so it's this nice little area uh and just up the road there's this gravel access road that uh it leads up to this like ramshackle like plywood

Hut that's like not in any way like permited it's a crappy like Hut uh and when I was told to meet with these two guys they were doing like training uh out of this Hut so this is like the secret like Backwoods training center for like tier one operators and so I like go to to this camp and I like go say hi to Susan my mom's friend at like the camp the kids are all running around like having their barbecues and coloring and then I walk up the road like by myself uh to this

to this Shack and it's shut I can hear inside like the sound of like you know intense alpha males like having some conversation like and I just like open the door and walk in it's all these dudes that are like covered in tattoos like super jacked all sitting on like upturned buckets and this like it's just like dirt on the ground there's like no furniture or anything and they're just like in a circle bullshitting with each other and I walk in and they immediately go silent and all of them just turn and they're like who

the [ __ ] are you like I'm John I'm the I'm here to meet you guys but it was incredible getting to it all Navy Seals and these like active dudes who were like in between their rotation Cycles what was impressed upon me from all of them is this notion that Navy SEAL training offers you this great chance to kind of like reset who you are because whoever you were before you became a seal gets replaced with the person who becomes a seal no one's going to be like oh there's John like you know the

guy who who flunked out of college it's going to be there's John the guy who became a Navy SEAL and I loved this idea of you know SEAL training is such a meritocracy it's it's actually open to lots of people as long as you're an American citizen and you're in decent enough health I mean there's there's more to it than that but a lot just about anybody just about anybody can go try out and that's whoever is at the end is is a Navy SEAL and and I love the idea of not only serving because

I wanted to serve but I love the idea that the challenge and then the kind of great reset that would Happ happened if I became a seal all my stupidity with college and and just kind of being a general like flunky would be replaced with something that was honorable and I could be proud of and I also fundamentally believed that if I could get through the training itself that I would literally evolve and well not literally evolve but become the best version of myself and I do think in many ways that was true and so

you know Mission success do you think there's a personality trait that's that gravitates towards that more than others and think is it's not so much a personality trait as it's lots of people that show up to training have the same story roughly that I did yeah I kind of screwed around didn't really do anything out of high school you know screwed up College got kicked out didn't have a job you know no one in my family has a history of being in the military just seemed cool decided I'd go try out like that's like the

bulk of people who make it through are that and I will say that there's loads of people that go to Seal training that are like super intimidating people like when I was in my class there was a dude who I had like played with in Madden like he was a professional football player I'm like dude I've played with you like on a video game that's like huge hulking like linebacker or there's like professional swimmers and professional rugby players and like really incredibly accomplished people but they wash out really really quickly and I I think and

it's something that a lot of people agree with that the folks that come in that are like I've done nothing with my life and this is what I want to do I'm going to reinvent myself they got nothing to lose because they've never done anything they if they don't make it through training no one's going to be surprised they're going to say yeah John's a ding-dong he didn't get through training that's not surprising but if you're the professional swimmer the professional rugby the professional football player people expect you to become an Navy SEAL and as

soon as it gets hard the instructors Focus really intensely on the dudes that are really successful before coming in and they remind them that this doesn't matter it doesn't matter what you did before it only matters what you're doing now and it's like a lot of people can't handle that and and also the people that have been massively successful before becoming seals they're not used to failing I'm generalizing but a lot of people like to become a professional baseball player pretty good chance when you were younger you were way better than everybody else and it

wasn't even close and then in high school was the same and then in college you were probably one of the best people on your team I mean even the people that get drafted last in like the MLB draft are incredible baseball players that were way better than everybody else and so imagine if your whole life you've been the guy you're always the best to what you did and then you get to training and you're like you [ __ ] suck you are pathetic and you're not going to make it through the training the guys that

have nothing to lose are like well that's probably true I do suck I'll just keep on going though but the guys that are used to success they they do not handle it well like consistently drop out really quickly