IT'S the grueling training known worldwide for recruiting US soldiers into the most elite military unit.
But Hell Week hit the headlines for the wrong reasons this week following the death of a SEAL candidate just hours after he completed the brutal tests.
Seaman Kyle Mullen died at a San Diego area hospital on Friday after he and another trainee reported experiencing symptoms of an unknown illness, the Navy said.
Mullen, 24, had just successfully completed the test that ends the first phase of assessment and selection for the elite Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) class.
The New Jersey native had joined the military just last year before reporting to SEAL training in Coronado in July, the Union-Tribune said.
Known as Hell Week, SEAL candidates are assessed with the hope of being selected for training within the Naval Special Warfare Basic Training Command.
The brutal program has been known to leave recruits "psychologically tortured", according to one candidate who took part.
Recruits are pushed to the limit with tests of their physical and psychological strength along with water competency and leadership skills.
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More than half are not expected to complete Hell Week. The Navy has said only about one in five actually make it through to become a SEAL.
Training begins with a 26-week workout program.
“Each week of progressively harder workouts is designed to help you develop the strength and endurance to withstand the rigors of Navy SEAL," reads the SEAL website.
By Hell Week trainees are expected to complete high-intensity training while getting very little sleep and they experience hunger, thirst, and hallucinations.
One of the recruits to have completed Hell Week – which comes in the fourth week of training – has described being kept up for five days and nights.
Brandon Webb wrote: "The physical punishment wasn’t the worst of it. It was the psychological torture that broke so many of us.
"The whole five days were designed to throw us off balance and keep us off balance, and it worked."
Completing Hell Week means recruits can continue with their training.
Eric Oehlerich, a retired SEAL told ABC: "SEAL training takes you beyond your personal limits.
"It's designed to push you beyond your perception of what's possible, breaking glass ceilings of what you're capable of both mentally and physically."
MORE DEATHS
Mullen's death is not the first to be reported following the training.
In 2016, Seaman James Derek Lovelace, 21, became the last SEAL candidate to die during the assessment phase.
He was struggling to tread water in full gear in a giant pool when his instructor pushed him underwater at least twice. He lost consciousness and died.
His death was initially ruled a homicide by the San Diego County Medical Examiner.
A year later, after an investigation, the Navy said it would not pursue criminal charges in Lovelace’s drowning.
An autopsy revealed he had an enlarged heart that contributed to his death, and that he also had an abnormal coronary artery, which has been associated with sudden cardiac death, especially in athletes.
It was unclear from the autopsy report how much Lovelace’s heart abnormalities contributed to his death.
UNDER INVESTIGATION
The latest death also comes just two months after a Navy SEAL commander died from injuries he suffered during a training accident in Virginia.
Cmdr. Brian Bourgeois, 43, fell while fast-roping down from a helicopter, and he died several days later.
The Navy said neither of this week's casualties had experienced an accident or unusual incident during the five-and-a-half-day Hell Week.
Mullen's cause of death is unknown and under investigation.
The other sailor, whose name has not been released, was hospitalized in stable condition, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Sunday.
Rear Adm. H.W. Howard III, the commander of Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, California, offered his sympathies to Mullen’s family in a statement.
“We are extending every form of support we can to the Mullen family and Kyle’s BUD/S classmates,” Howard said.
The Sun has contacted the US Navy for comment.
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