My Dream!

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
~Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. never got to see his dream become a reality but the things that he did helped to bring about a change in this country that was unheard of up to that point in history.

Everyone has a dream from the little kids running around pretending they are a super hero to that old man in the nursing home. Some dreams are simple and may come true the very next day while others dreams are complex and take training, time, and money before they come to fruition.

I have a dream!

There is two jobs that I have always wanted to do but thought I could not. The first job that I wanted to do that due to the fact that I am required to wear corrective lenses I will never be able to do is fly a fighter jet. The second job that I thought I could not do until very recently was be a Seal.

*Claps fins together excitedly*  Arw! Arw!

What? Not that kind of seal!

A Navy Seal!

I thought that because I was fat I would never be able to be a navy seal, but while I was looking at the different jobs that I could do in the military I got bored and decided to look up the requirements to enter Seal Training or BUD/S as it is known in the navy. This is what I found

By law, only men are eligible to apply for the SEAL program. Upon joining the Navy, you must:

Meet specific eyesight requirements: 20/40 best eye; 20/70 worst eye; correctable to 20/25 with no color blindness

Meet the minimum Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) score:
GS+MC+EI=170
or
VE+MK+MC+CS=220
or
VE+AR=110 MC=50

Be 28 years of age or younger

Pass a physical examination required for divers

Be a U.S. citizen and eligible for security clearance

The chart below highlights the current minimum Navy Physical Screening Test (PST) requirements for Navy Challenge Programs.

Physical Screening Test
SEAL
Swim 500 yards (450 M) – breaststroke or sidestroke
[in minutes] 12:30
Push-ups [in 2 minutes] 50
Sit-ups [in 2 minutes] 50
Pull-ups [in 2 minutes] 10
Run 1.5 miles [in minutes] 10:30

This was taken from the Navy Seals page and then modified to only include the requirements for the Seals

Going through each individual requirement I will explain why I feel that I can make it as a Seal and then discuss the mental aspect of BUD/S.

For the eyesight requirement I am not 100% sure I am will pass this portion as I do not remember what my eyes tested at last time I had them tested but I am hopeful that they do not fail me.

I have not taken the ASVAB since high school but the last time I took it was told by the recruiter that I could do any job I wanted based purely on my score. I have learned a lot since high school and I believe that I can do even better now.

I am 27 now so I have 1 year and 9 months until I do not meet this requirement.

I was born and raised in Arizona and as far as I know I have never done anything that would keep me from getting a security clearance.

The physical testing requirements are the hard part for me...

In my current condition 216 lbs I do not qualify to get into the military at all let alone into BUD/S

I am capable of doing 25 push-up comfortably and I can push myself to do 35 before I collapse on the floor. As a much younger person I could do a good quantity of push-ups I do not remember the exact number but it was more then 50.

While I was attending Metro Tech High School my PE teacher administered a physical test similar to this in which we had to do sit-ups and I rocked that test. We had to do as many sit-ups as possible in a minute and I was able to do more then 100. At the moment I am capable of doing 15 but with constant work on my abs and back I will get back to that point.

Pull-ups are my kryptonite, I hate pull-ups and they hate me but I can do 1 pull up now so I just need to build up the strength to surpass the minimum and I will be fine.

I am a certified scuba diver so obviously I love the water and I love to swim given endurance training and weight loss I will eventually be able to swim 500 yards in LESS THAN 12:30 minutes.

Running, {sigh}
I love to run! At my current weight I can run I have done it for paintball but I am scared of running in long intervals and causing my self to become injured and be unable to go into the military at all...
I am going to keep walking around the apartment complex parking lot until I stop hurting and then I will begin to run around the 2 mile radius that is by my apartment. hopefully it does not get to hot to fast or it is going to be a very miserable summer. My goal is not to run 1.5 miles in 10:30 but to run 2 miles in less than 10 minutes. For timing this I am going to have to find a large park or use a treadmill as the current route I plan on taking has a lot of areas I may have to stop.

My goals are not quite as easy as the ones set fourth by the Navy. I would like to be able to do 200 push-ups in 2 minutes, 100 sit-ups per minute, 20 pull-ups in 2 minutes, swim 500 yards in less than 10 minutes, and run 2 miles in less than 10 minutes.

I am striving to be able to be able to meet all of my goal numbers without a time limit by the beginning of June and then compressing the number into the time from June to August

My best friend has agreed to help me train for the military by pushing me to work hard at the gym. I just hope we can get enough coordinated free time to be able to go at least three times a week. I do not quite know if he knows what he has agreed to but we will see tomorrow 04/06/2014.

The excerpt of the Martin Luther King Jr. speech above was taken from the website
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm on the 5th of April 2014. and is the copyrighted property of American Rhetoric as of 2001