Hi, all: the guys in the teams wear fins when they do 'insertion' swimming like what is being taught by the instructor in this video you provided. This class you show is at the BUDS in San Diego - Basic Underwater Demolition School. They have a 45m (or so) pool that they use for swim training (yes, to keep the base from ever hosting a swim meet!!) The reason they teach and require SEALs to execute underwater arm recovery is for tactical reasons, not fast swimming. By this I mean that SEALs cannot take above-water freestyle-type strokes because this is quite visible to observers from a distance, even at night in some waters because of bioluminescence. With fins, these fit guys zoom right along yet are plenty stealthy - although in the real world they are generally dragging a big pig of nasty stuff along with them as they swim. My perspective on this is personal: I am now retired from the Navy and a swimmer, but in the past I have served the SEALs as a diving medical officer and swim training consultant (1997 SEAL Physical Fitness Manual chapter author 'swim training'). Cheers! John Hughes
Hi, all: the guys in the teams wear fins when they do 'insertion' swimming like what is being taught by the instructor in this video you provided. This class you show is at the BUDS in San Diego - Basic Underwater Demolition School. They have a 45m (or so) pool that they use for swim training (yes, to keep the base from ever hosting a swim meet!!) The reason they teach and require SEALs to execute underwater arm recovery is for tactical reasons, not fast swimming. By this I mean that SEALs cannot take above-water freestyle-type strokes because this is quite visible to observers from a distance, even at night in some waters because of bioluminescence. With fins, these fit guys zoom right along yet are plenty stealthy - although in the real world they are generally dragging a big pig of nasty stuff along with them as they swim. My perspective on this is personal: I am now retired from the Navy and a swimmer, but in the past I have served the SEALs as a diving medical officer and swim training consultant (1997 SEAL Physical Fitness Manual chapter author 'swim training'). Cheers! John Hughes
