Being a Navy SEAL was a man’s game until this summer. For the first time in history, a woman applied to become a Navy SEAL.
The woman enlisted as the first female candidate to join the Navy’s special operations team in June.
“The candidates’ identities and training progress are confidential to protect their personal security and ‘career viability as future special operator,'” Naval Special Warefare Command spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Mark Walton told CNN.
This is a huge deal as women weren’t even allowed to serve in combat roles until January 2016. There had been no female applicants for the SEALs program for 18 months until June.
Though 1,000 SEALs apply to start training annually, only about 200 to 250 make it through the notoriously rigorous training. Officers first attend a three-week long program in Coronado that serves as an introduction to SEAL life and allows applicants to see if they want to continue to SEAL officer selection panel.
They must also pass a physical screening.
Those who are chosen by the panel get to proceed to the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training where they undergo basic conditioning, combat diving, and land warfare training.
One of these weeks of training is known as “Hell Week” and to be “the ultimate test of a man’s will.” Looks like that website is going to have to change that to a “person’s will.”
Unfortunately, the female candidate who applied to the SEAL’s in June ended up voluntarily withdrawing from the program halfway through the assessment process.
There aren’t any other female applicants currently enrolled to apply to become a SEAL.
However, there is a female who is training to become a Naval Special Warfare Combatant Crew Member, which is another area of the military that had been previously off limits for women. In addition, there is a woman who is attempting the Marine Corps infantry officer course, which is also known to be physically rigorous process.
If she completes the program, she would be the first woman to pass the 12-week course to become an infantry platoon commander. There have been 30 others who have tried and failed according to the LA Times.
Since their decision, the military has been slowing integrating women into roles previously only occupied by men.
You can learn more about the history of women in the U.S. military below.
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