These Remarkable Photos Take You Inside the Navy SEALs' Grueling 'Hell Week'

THE U.S. NAVY'S Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL school, or BUD/S, is considered by many to be the most selective and grueling training of any military service around the world—and that’s not just a boast. According to the service’s own stats, 73 percent off all SEAL candidates wash out of the 24-week BUD/S despite an entire Naval unit devoted to finding the fittest men alive to try out.

But despite the nearly two-and-a-half-year training before a SEAL ever performs his first mission, it’s the first four weeks of BUD/S, which culminate in the aptly titled “Hell Week,” that boast the highest attrition. Its mix of grueling conditioning, near drowning, and critical problem solving continues to fascinate servicemen and civilians alike, as it has for generations.

Few men know the rigors of SEAL life and its selection process as intimately as Darren McBurnett, a 24-year veteran of the program and the first SEAL to document BUD/S. His photo book, Uncommon Grit, follows those notorious first four weeks, placing the observer so close that you can feel the burn of the sand, the chill of the salt water, and the blistering of skin. “Physically you can do it,” McBurnett, 50, says, “but between your ears, that’s where the real hardship comes.”