 Life is about constant evolution. Always better today than we were yesterday. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of The Only Easy Day was Yesterday. I'm your host Scott Williams and today we have Andrew Dow with us to discuss the topic of So As. This is part two in our series and the first part we talked about just what is So As and Andrew explained that pretty well to us. Now we're going to talk about how to prepare for So As and this is the seal officer assessment and selection process. So Andrew welcome. Thanks. Let's get right into it. So let's talk about the application process itself. How do I apply if I want to be a seal officer? How do I apply for So As? What are some of the dates that things have to be done and prerequisites? Just talk to us about that. The So As application is very straightforward. All of it can be found on the CLOCM webpage and you can get to the CLOCM webpage through the Sealswik.com. There's different application process for different accession sources. So I'll first address the OCS, officer candidate school, the civilians who want to become seal officers. So the So As application before we even start anything, in order to be an officer in the military, an officer in the Navy, every candidate has to have their four year degree. They have to have their bachelor's degree. Whether you have your degree already or if you're just about to apply, you should start the summer prior to the applications due. So applications happen once a year. They're due to the CLOCM end of February. Every year it's the same. They're due to the CLOCM end of February. So if you're an OCS applicant, you should start this application in the summer. So July, August you go to an officer recruiter, start the OCS application and work on the So As application. If you're NRRTC and if you haven't let your chain of command know early, you start during the summer of your rising junior year. You start the So As application. No matter what the applications do to the CLOCM end of February. Once the application for any accession source is submitted, the Seal OCM Officer Community Manager conducts a down select. This down select determines if you'll receive an invitation to So As or not. This happens usually the end of March, early April and then from there they'll have the list of who will be attending So As. You'll be notified early April, middle of April if you've been invited to So As. After you've received your invitation, you'll attend So As, whether it's in June, July or August. After you complete So As, there's a seal selection panel which happens every September where the Naval Special Warfare senior leader will sit down with a bunch of community officers and determine who will be selected to go to Buds. This happens in September. Candidates will be notified if they're going to Buds, usually in October. And then from there it's, if you're an ROTC midshipman, that October is your senior year. So you'll finish your year, you'll graduate, you'll get commissioned, then you'll go to Buds. If you attend OCS, you will usually attend OCS a month after receiving the selection. So you'll probably attend OCS sometime between November and April, and then you'll go to Buds late spring to early summer. So the So As application, for an individual, there's different accession sources for So As to become SEAL officers. I'm strictly going to talk first on the Officer Candidate School, the OCS candidate, the civilians who want to become SEAL officers. Before they can even apply and become, start the So As application, they have to have their four-year degree. And that goes for any aspiring officer in the military, whether you're going to become a naval officer, army officer, you have to have your four-year degree. So the first step they have to do is they go down to their officer recruiter at any naval station in their hometown or whatever is local to them, and they go in and talk to our officer recruiter and say I want to be a SEAL officer through the OCS pipeline. The officer recruiter will then start their application process, but concurrently and independently, but concurrently they have to their So As application, their SEAL officer assessment application. This application can be found on the SEAL OCM webpage. If anyone has issues getting to that webpage because they have just changed the format of it, it can be very confusing to navigate, they can reach out to me. I will provide my contact information to Scott, so if anyone has questions on how to get there. Yeah, just shoot us an email at info at SEALswick.com, and we'll get that question answered. Or they could go to the SEALswick website and there's a link to get to the SEAL OCM webpage with the So As application. OCM stands for? Officer Community Manager. The SEAL Officer Community Manager is the one who receives all the So As applications. So an OCS candidate, they talk to their officer recruiter and at the same time they can utilize me and I will help them with their So As application. So the So As application for an OCS candidate starts with them going to their officer recruiter. The officer recruiter will handle different components of that application, but concurrently and independently they're going to do their So As application. The So As application for an OCS candidate includes, one, they have to have their four year degree. They have to have a PST score, the physical screening test score, that can be done by their officer recruiter who can proctor it. They have to have a resume. The resume is basically a brag sheet about the individual, right? What have you done prior to applying to So As, right? And this can be a wide range of things. Their leadership experience, their athletic background, their GPA, what majors they studied, do they speak any languages. This is the time that they get to brag about themselves. Check your modesty at the door. You want to basically tell on this resume everything great about yourself. And is that the kind of stuff that NSW is looking for? Yes. During the So As application we want to see, because they're looking for the individuals with athletic backgrounds, the ones with strong GPAs or bilingual, or have leadership experience in the real world that they'll be able to utilize in the SEAL community. So on there, one of the components of the So As application is that resume. So that's, like I said, is your brag sheet. After you have the resume, you have your letter of references. You usually get two of those. And it's given to someone who knows you, who can write about, talk about you, right? Your leadership, your character, what have you done in life up to this point? And for them to basically talk about it. So in the past, I've told candidates some good people to write letter of references are, you know, high school coaches, high school teachers, college teachers, college coaches. Some of your mentors that, you know, that you've looked up to in the past. So it doesn't have to be, you know, your local senator, for instance. Like it would be for if you're applying to the Naval Academy and you're getting a senator to write a letter of recommendation or some admiral somewhere, it really has more to do with how well does that person know you so that they can evaluate you as someone that is well known versus. The whole point of letter of references is not about the signature at the bottom. It's about the individual, the candidate, right? The person writing these LORs should know this person and be able to write good things about them. And just like you said, you're not looking for a senator. Hey, if you know a senator and he knows you since you were born, by all means, utilize that individual. Or if you know a four star admiral, a four star general who knows you and your family by first name, yeah, you can utilize those. But if you're just in passing and you see this four star who you had the chance to say hello and then you ask, can you write a letter of reference for me? That's probably not a good idea because the selection panel sees these all the time and it's frowned upon because they don't know you. You want to find someone who knows you. That's the most important thing for these letter of references. Along with the LORs, you have the OCD, which is the officer candidate data card. It's basically a snapshot of the individual. The officer community manager can provide this to you and it's basically just filling in all the important highlights of your resume, of your GPA, of your leadership background, of your athletic background. It also included is a headshot of the candidate. So each candidate is also going to be required to provide a headshot in business casual. Don't be taking a picture in board shorts and t-shirt and flip flops. Look professional because this is an interview. So it's kind of like a baseball card in a way. Right, right. It has your personal stats on it and what you look like and your major accomplishments. It's going to say the degree, the four-year degree you got. If you have a master's degree, it will say that. It will say what you did in college, what you did in the real world of your jobs you've held and any languages you've spoken. How important is the degree or the school that you got it from? Like I get the question all the time, what should I get a degree in or does it matter if I go to Stanford or Timbuktu University? Tell me. So that's a great question and so my opinion on this and what I've seen over the last few years on applications is your major doesn't matter. What I tell all candidates is take a major that you enjoy, take a major that you feel you'll do well in and a major that you can see yourself doing in the real world. Don't take something because it looks good on paper. You want to have a backup plan because if this whole becoming a seal officer falls through, you want to be able to do something in the real world that you enjoy. So if you're an art major and you enjoy that, do it. What's important is that if you're doing it, make sure you do well in it because the selection panel and the down select panel is not going to... If you're an econ major and you have a 2.0, that's going to show something that you didn't really care about it. But if you're a physics major and you have a 3.0, we know physics is a challenging degree and to get a 3.0 or above is amazing. So what I tell candidates is major doesn't matter as long as it's something you enjoy and it's a backup plan for you, do well in it. Don't just pick a major because it's hard because that's going to show that you didn't put effort in it if you have a low GPA. School-wise is important, but not everyone can afford to go to Stanford. Not everyone can get a scholarship to Notre Dame. So you do the best you can with what you have. That's what I tell applicants because at the end of the day, you're going to prove yourself at SOAS. That's where the rubber meets the road for applicants trying to become seal officers. Just as long as it's an accredited school and not Joe's fly-by-night online university kind of thing. Not that online degrees are bad as long as the school is accredited. Absolutely. So you got your four-year degree, you got your letter of references, you have your resume, your brag sheet, you have your PST score. In addition, there is medical documentation that you'll need. Once you do your OCS application, you'll receive medical documentation that you will be required to submit with your SOAS application. These are your DD-2807 and your DD-2808 that your officer recruiter will know what these are and he or she will be able to help you get those paperwork and submit it with your SOAS application. So the application process for OCS candidates, there's two of them. You got your OCS application and your SOAS application. I'm here for you all to answer any questions about the SOAS application and help guide you through that. Now, that's OCS and a not show. The other accession sources, Naval Academy, ROTC, their process a little different. Naval Academy has their own machine. If you could get to the Naval Academy, once you get there, they'll walk you through the process. Let's talk about ROTC, the NROTC, the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps. Basically, you go to a regular college and some colleges have NROTC and that is an opportunity for you to be exposed to the military lifestyle but also go to a regular college. And it's a scholarship. Yes and no. So not every NROTC individual gets a scholarship. Usually around their second or third year, they'll get the opportunity, if they did well in school, since then to get the rest paid for. But the fundamentals of ROTC for any service is that you're committing to service as an officer in that military. Yes, yeah. The NROTC process is everything that's required for the SOA's application. Like we said, it can be found on the SEAL officer community webpage. But for ROTC, for you to become a SEAL officer, you need to start your freshman year. You need to let your chain of command of your NROTC unit know that, hey, my focus and my goals is to become a SEAL officer. So I'm going to work towards that. Because NROTC, historically, candidates are STEM focused. They're looking at mathematics and sciences and mechanical engineer and systems engineer. Because they're trying to build officers for the nuclear navy or to be pilots or to be surface warfare officers. Because the SEAL community is so tiny, it's such a small community in the Navy that it's not a focal point at NROTC. So it is imperative that you let your chain of command know right away what your intentions are. Once you make them aware of what it is, it can strive hard while you're at school to seek leadership positions in the NROTC. You can be a squad leader, you can be a training sergeant. You want to get as many leadership opportunities you can while you're at NROTC. And it can start your freshman year, right? You can be a leader as a freshman or a fourth class in the NROTC ranks. And that you want to be able to write down on your brag sheet, on your resume, which is one of the requirements for the SOAS application. The other thing I want to instill and drive home, when you're at an NROTC unit, that shouldn't be the only thing you're doing. You should be striving to, if you played sports in high school, you should be playing sports in college, even if you're doing NROTC. Because that's not full time. You should be able to make time to play a sport. I'm not saying go walk on the varsity, Notre Dame football team. What I am saying is they have club sports, they have intramural sports, stay active, stay busy. Because these are more things you can add to your resume, your application, and to brag about yourself. It also opens up different leadership positions, right? You can be a captain, you can be a treasurer, you can be, hold a leadership position on any of these athletic teams. And is this because the board is looking at the whole man concept? Yes, yes. The whole man concept is one of the major things this selection panel is looking at, right? We don't want to see just the person who goes to school, does good grades, and workouts in their room. We want to see the ones who are reaching out to their communities, you know, striving on the athletic field, who are also working in their NROTC units. We want to see individuals who do it all, not just single lined straight to the, I'm going college, ROTC, SEAL. No, we want to see people reaching out and doing those extra clerical activities. Like they could even be part of a student body, student government organization. They could be involved in a fraternity and do community service, things like this. Right, and you know, a lot of applicants that we've seen specifically from NROTC aren't just NROTC, right? They're playing some sort of sport. And it doesn't have to be, like I said, division one. It can be club, but they're staying busy. They're not just focused on school and ROTC. They're doing other things. And this helps them in the end. Roger. Something I want to talk about for NROTC machinima specifically is, you know, you let your chain of command know that you want to go SEAL officer early on as early as possible, right? Make them involved in your decision. If you go to SOAS, right? You apply your second class year and you go to SOAS during your rising senior summer. If you're not selected, or if you are, if you're not selected, it's not the end of the world. There's still other ways to still become a SEAL officer. You're gonna have to, the easiest way is to lateral transfer. Put in for a surface warfare position. Do your time, earn your warfare insignia and lateral transfer from there. So it's not the end of the day. So you could still become a SEAL officer. It's just a little bit longer of a road. For those who want to become SEAL officers and don't learn about until their junior year or sophomore year, it's okay. I mean, most, a lot of candidates know they want to do it right away, but we do get the candidates who just didn't know. Maybe their unit wasn't aware of SOAS. As long as they get their application or the, as long as they reach out to me prior to their junior year or during their junior year before the applications are due, I can help guide them through the application process. So don't feel like if you're a junior or a sophomore that it's too late. You can start this process as a junior. Okay, so we kind of covered OCS and NROTC. So let me just hit on NROTC real quick. So where it really is important is when they become a second class, right? That's when the application should be submitted. So they let their chain of command know I'm submitting an application. They get it all together. They route it up to their chain of command and then their chain of command will submit it to the SEAL OCM. That's their junior year. That's their junior year. They will attend SOAS their rising senior summer. Okay. So that's NROTC and OCS we've talked about. The other applicants that we see, right? We have our lateral transfers who are active duty sailors already. Though they already have, their process a little different. They have to get their chain of command approval. They have to submit a lateral transfer paperwork but they don't actually lateral transfer until if they are selected for BUDS. But they have to get approval from their chain of command before they can apply in. Their application process, everything the ROTC, everything the OCS has to provide, a lateral transfer has to provide. As does the inner service transfers, right? We are Marine Corps, our Army, our Coast Guard, our Air Force. They all have to do the same application requirements which is on the SEAL OCM webpage and submit it to the SEAL OCM. And any of those applicants who are already in the military coming from a different community, whether they're a lateral transfer from the supply corps or an inner service transfer from the Marine Corps or inner service academy transfer from the Air Force. If they should not make it through the SOAS selection process, they are returning to their original source, right? You're gonna go back and be an Army major like you were or whatever. You're not transferred into the Navy as a general and designated something. Correct, correct. So it's almost, it's not a freebie, but you get to try out for SOAS if you do well and you go to the selection panel and they select you for BUDS, then you'll complete the inner service or lateral transfer and then you go to BUDS. If it doesn't work out and you're not selected, you'll go back to the community you just came from. Okay, so we talked a little bit about some tips for having a strong application. Those being, you know, making sure that your letter of referral or letter of recommendation is coming from the right source. We talked about how as a student in college, you wanna be involved in many different things and I think that probably applies to all the applicants, right? Since they're looking for a whole man or whole woman concept, they wanna see people who are well-rounded, not just I'm an A-set athletics or I'm a total egghead, but they wanna see people well-rounded out, people who can demonstrate some leadership, some commitment to teamwork, things like this. Yes, yeah. And it's fortunate our lateral transfers are inner service, right? They're coming from communities where they served as leaders already, right? You got your O1s, your ensigns, the lieutenants, second lieutenants, your first lieutenants, your lieutenant JGs, right? You have all these individuals who have leadership experience. So these are important roles that the selection panel is looking for. It's the whole man concept or woman concept, like you said. So I know that a lot of people are probably wondering, this sounds really interesting. Gosh, I wanna do that. How do I train for SOAS? So there's a miss, I wanna say that a lot of people believe that if I can just train for the PST, I will crush SOAS. That is completely false. You should train for the PST to do well on the PST, but when you're training for SOAS, you need to be focused on lots of running, lots of swimming, lots of calisthenics, and lots of body weight lifts. And if you're looking for a specific guide, one I'll mention is the PTG, the physical training guide. You can be found on the Sealswik website. It is 26 weeks of training from start to finish. And it's a good preparation tool to get you ready for SOAS. Cause SOAS in a nutshell is buds without all the buds craziness of instructors yelling at your face. You're gonna do log PT. You're gonna have boats on your heads. You're gonna do four-mile time runs. You're gonna do rucksack runs, right? So this physical training guide will get you ready for that. And what I tell individuals is that, you train for the PST to do well on the PST, but when you're training for SOAS, it's you shouldn't be training like you're a bodybuilder, right? You shouldn't be trying to be doing a 500 pound bench press. You should be doing body weight lifts, high reps, lightweight, long distance. Like you wanna be training as if you're a half marathoner. Endurance training. Endurance training, exactly. So that is a good starting point to get you ready for SOAS. But like that PTG, the physical training guide on the SEAL SWIC, that's what I direct a lot of candidates to because it's a good starting point for them to get ready for SOAS. Well, I've heard the expression that buds is a running man's game, but also the swim is very important too. And if you don't know how to do a combat side stroke, you may be at a disadvantage. For those who don't know the combat side stroke, you could just YouTube it, right? The SEAL SWIC website has some videos or it can show you the proper form. In the instruction for the PST, you can do breast stroke. That's one of the strokes that everyone should know, curl stroke or freestyle, breast stroke, back stroke, all those different strokes. Combat side stroke that the PST, you do the combat side stroke during the PST. You can also do the breast stroke, but the combat side stroke is occupationally relevant. It's important because it has a lot of, a lot of importance in the SEAL teams, right? It's low, low signature. You save a lot of energy using it. And let's just look at the PST. What are you gonna do right after the swim? You're gonna do your pull-ups, your push-ups and sit-ups. If you're doing the breast stroke, you're gonna be burning out those chest muscles and arm muscles. The combat side stroke helps you spread out the conditioning of the entire stroke, right? So you won't be as fatigued when you're doing those evolutions, those exercises, excuse me. But it also, it has important value within the community in the teams, right? The combat side stroke allows you, if you're injured, right? You're still able to propel yourself with one arm or with one leg. You're able to pull your buddy if he's injured, he or she is injured. You're able to get them out of a bad situation. Also allows you to move your gear silently so there's less splash in the water. That's why we try to instill in the candidates to learn the combat side stroke early. So that's what you're going with because that's what you're gonna use in Buds and in the teams. So I think it's important to point out that, when it comes to physical conditioning, learning how to train for so-as, what should I do? Probably the best things you can do is just use the free resources on sealswik.com. You don't need to pay for an expensive gem membership or follow some guy's routine, pay for his subscription to do whatever. You don't need to pay for anything and you don't need to get caught up in various fitness trends. Candidates today have the luxury of the internet and there's a ton of free stuff. I mean, I had to look up manuals and figure out, oh, what do you have to do at Buds? How do I get ready, right? But with these resources, totally utilize them because they will get you ready, right? The seal community is an active lifestyle. So find things that can get you ready for so-as. Utilize the sealswik webpage and whatever else is out there, you just wanna be physically ready for so-as because it is very challenging. It's not Buds, but it's definitely a step to Buds and it is very challenging. Okay, so last question. So we're gonna talk about, if I'm thinking about coming to so-as, let's say I put an application, I got accepted. Now, how do I get there? I live in Missouri, let's say. And so-as is conducted out here in Coronado, West Coast, San Diego. How do I get myself from Missouri to San Diego? Do I have to pay for that ticket? Do they pay for me? What am I gonna eat? How am I gonna eat? Where am I gonna stay? Tell me a little bit about that, the logistics of it. Okay, every seal candidate, right? They submit their application, there's a down-select panel that the CLO's officer community manager conducts and from there, individuals will receive either an invitation or not. They're either going to so-as or not. At that point, they'll start working with me, the so-as program manager, to figure out how they get here and I'll help them, I'll walk them through the steps of how they get to so-as. We'll determine which block you'll attend, whether it's June, July, or August, but you will, everything will be handled for you. If it's an ROTC, your chain of command will get your orders set up, which block you'll attend and they will fly you or drop your POV privately owned vehicle or government vehicle, get you to so-as. For OCS, you'll work with me, we'll get you airfare, we'll get you to so-as. Lateral transfers is a different case, right? If your chain of command's on board of if you lateral transferring, maybe they'll pay for your flights. If not, you'll have to pay out of pocket. The big thing is getting to so-as. Once you get there, everything else is handled for you. Meals will be provided, lodging is provided, everything is done in-house, so you won't have to worry about finding a hotel out in town or where am I gonna go eat at lunch? Everything is handled because everything is on a schedule, from the day you show up to the day you leave. And you mentioned that first day when they arrive, they're gonna get checked in and they're gonna get issued all the clothing and gear that they're going to need during so-as. Yeah, so once everyone arrives, if you're arriving at the airport, Naval Special Warfare Center, the assessment team for so-as will get you a shuttle from the airport or pick you up at the front gate of NAB Coronado and get you to your lodging, your barracks, where you'll be staying. Once all the candidates for that so-as block gets there, you will go and get gear issued, where you'll get everything you'll need for so-as. Prior to coming to so-as, you'll receive a warning order, we call it a worn-o, that will provide a gear list of things you will be required to bring, like your toiletries, sleeping bag, pillow, change of clothes from running shoes, just things that we will not be able to provide you. Once everyone gets here, we'll go get your gear issue, your uniforms, your boots, your fins, your wetsuits, your canteens, everything you'll need for so-as will be provided to you on that first day you check in. That actually brings up a nice side question, I get asked a lot. When I go to so-as, can I bring my medications or my vitamins or my shoe insoles? On this warning order, it will tell you everything you need to do. If there's a prescription that you're required to take, just like in anything, you'll check it into our medical department and they'll issue it as needed. Supplements are not authorized at so-as, right? If you're taking creatine or power, whey protein or anything, you should stop that before coming to so-as, that's not authorized, that's not authorized at Buds, it's not authorized at so-as. Insoles, that's a great question. Something I suggest to all candidates before they come to so-as is, and what I'm always asked is, are boots gonna be issued? I tell all candidates, buy your own boots, spend the 150, $180 on boots because you wanna come to so-as with a pair of boots broken in because if you come and they'll issue you boots, but you're gonna be running with bloody feet because the shoes are not broken in and by the time they're broken in, you're gonna be heading home. So, get your own pair of boots. Right now, Buds is issuing the Nike SFB generation two, all black, non Gore-Tex boot. I would highly suggest you go and get that. I would highly suggest you do this early on. Once you receive an invitation, get them and start breaking them in because you wanna come to so-as with broken in boots. Insoles, when I went through Buds, we would, every person that went before me said, get insoles, insoles are so important. Depending on what foot, what size foot or what type of foot you have, if you have flat foot or arch foot, there's tons of different insoles in there. I highly suggest you purchase a nice insole that you can put in your boot and make sure you work out in it prior to coming to so-as because the thing you're gonna be utilizing the most at Buds and so-as is your feet. And if your feet get destroyed, you're gonna fail. Hey, Andrew, that sounds great. I appreciate you coming in here today and talking to us about the so-as application process. And so-as is really important for anyone who wants to be a SEAL officer. So we will continue this series about so-as. Next, we will talk about the actual so-as experience, what you can expect during that two weeks here at Coronado on the grinders of Buds and the sand dunes of Coronado. That's it for today. I'm Scott Williams and we'll see you next time on the Only Easy Day was yesterday. There is nowhere to hide in Hell with Jets. If you've been skating through Buds so far, you will not do so any longer. Exactly, all right. That's what we're looking for. Get your butt down.