Episode 43: PODCAST: Episode 43 | What is 'SOAS'? | SEALSWCC.COM

02/28/23 • 23 min

Introduction: Life is about constant evolution. Always better today than we were yesterday.
Scott: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday.
I’m your host Scott Williams and today I have with me Andrew Dow who is going to school us on the topic of, what we call around here, SOAS. What is SOAS, Andrew?
Andrew: Thanks Scott. So, thanks for having me. It is always great to come by and discuss with you all. Again, my name is Andrew Dow. I am a retired SEAL Officer. I have been the SOAS, which stands for SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection, I am the program manager for this program, and I've been doing it since 2016 and it's come a long way.
Scott: Yeah, tell me a little bit about when SOAS began and why it's required if you want to become a SEAL Officer?
Andrew: So SOAS was instilled I think in 2014 and in 2014 is when it started building itself into what it is today. So, 2014 to 2016 was candidates from the Naval Academy, Officer Candidate School, ROTC would get an invitation to come to SOAS and basically train for 2 to 3 weeks and from that they would get some kind of score that would follow them with their application which would later determine if they become selected for SEAL Officer and in turn go to BUD/S
Probably around 2017 is when we really started seeing a change in the SOAS format and inviting every accession source cause SOAS.... Well let’s just talk about SOAS first before I dive into the timeline where we are.
Scott: So, what is SOAS?
Andrew: The SEAL Officer Assessment Selection is designed to assess aspiring SEAL candidate officers who want to go to BUD/S and become SEAL Officers you get Naval Academy candidates. You get Naval Academy candidates. You get ROTC candidates. You get Officer Community OCS candidates. You get inter-service transfers which is your Marine Corps officers, your Army officers, to Air Force officers. You get inter-service academy transfers which is your WestPoints, your Air Force academies, Coast Guard academies. You also get lateral transfer, lateral transfers being an individual that's already active duty and is in the surface Navy. They could be... we mostly see lateral transfers being surface warfare officers that do their time in the fleet and decide hey I want to submit an application to become a SEAL officer.
Scott: That could be an Intel Officer. That could be Aviation Officer, Supply Officer.
Andrew: It can be. We do not see a lot of pilots or back seaters or Weapon Officers or Pilots. I haven't seen many Intel Officers come through. It’s mostly just surface warfare. Because Submariner Sub Officers, they have so much schooling they have to go through... unless they undesignated ... they won't apply. Because in order to apply for a lateral transfer you have to have your warfare insignia right, your Surface Warfare pin. If you are a pilot, you have to have your pin for you can even apply but that timeline is just so far that we only ever see SWOS. SWOS, lateral transfers and they we will also see OCS (Officer Candidate School), active-duty enlisted sailors who want to become SEAL Officers. That’s a very, and I tell a lot of candidates this, that is a very difficult course to go. And it’s one of the ... the reason it’s most difficult is your competing against active-duty SEAL enlisted who want to become officers. These individuals don't have to go to SOAS, they don't have to go to BUD/S. So those individuals, it’s an uphill battle to even go to SOAS and then from there to even be selected to go to BUD/S.
Scott: Talk a little bit about who has to go to SOAS, why its required. Who doesn’t have to go to SOAS?
Andrew: So, guys and gals who don’t have to go to SOAS are those who are already trident wearers, those who are active duty or reserve who are SEALs already, don’t have to attend SOAS.
Scott: Enlisted?
Andrew: Enlisted, yes.
SOAS is strictly for candidates who want to become SEAL Officers. The enlisted SEALs that apply to become SEAL officers, they submit an application like everyone else to the SEAL Officer Community Manager and then their application will go right to the selection panel in September. That is run by the Admiral, two-star Admiral, who will determine who gets the selection to BUD/S. So, everyone who goes to SOAS, who makes it through SOAS, their application and SOAS score will go to the selection panel which happens after SOAS, as well as any others that don’t have to attend SOAS -- those SEALs, and it will be determined who will go to BUD/S from there.
Scott: The only enlisted applicants for SOAS are going to be trident wearers?
Andrew: Yes, trident wearers. But it’s also other ratings in the Navy right. You can have your machinist’s mates, your ITs, your ETs, all of them. They do have to go to SOAS, but the SEALs do not. Another thing that may not be known is the SBs or Special (Warfare) Boat (Operator) crewman, or SWCCs, have to go to ...

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Episode 42: PODCAST: Episode 42 | How do I become a SEAL Officer? | SEALSWCC.COM

SEAL/SWCC Podcast 2022

Episode 42

Title: How do I become a SEAL Officer?

Subtitle: The How-To guide for candidates

Description: We dive into the mailbag and answer your questions about SEAL Officer programs with our guest, Andrew Dow.

(Host) Scott: Welcome to The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday, the official Navy SEAL and SWCC podcast. I'm Scott Williams, your host, and today we have with us, Andrew Dow, who's a retired SEAL, and also our officer programs expert. And we thought, well, today we’d just take a look inside the mailbag. We get a lot of questions about officer accession programs, and in particular, about what we call SOAS which is the SEAL Officer Accession and Selection. And maybe Andrew, you can just start by giving us kind of a synopsis of what SOAS is.

(Guest) Andrew: Sure, well, first of all, thanks for having me again, guys. SOAS, the SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection, was developed in 2014 and it has now become an official program for the Navy, prerequisite for BUD/S, Basic Underwater Demolition SEALS. It's a two-week long course where we assess officer candidates, whether they're coming from the Naval Academy, ROTC, OCS candidates, lateral transfers, some candidates from the big Navy active duty. It’s a two-week course of instruction during the summer where we will assess specifically four attributes that we're looking at: one being their cognitive abilities, their character, which is a real important one, their leadership and their ‘team-ability’. That's what we're looking at with those four main attributes. They will go through a week of physical and mental assessment evolutions, where we will be testing them through their physical capabilities, as well as presenting them with some mental challenges that they'll be faced with. One being, it could be, you know, some evolutions they'll see as similar to what they'll see in BUD/S more, it's log PT, or boats on their heads. But they'll also be introduced to new types of evolutions that specifically are assessed there, those four big traits. And then the second week being interview week, where they will sit down with an officer and a senior enlisted SEAL in the community, and they will sit down – and note it's a business interview, where there will be asked questions and regarding the community, regarding where they stand and how they were raised, challenges they faced, and to get a good idea of what the individual, who the individual is. And all this gets thrown together and goes to the selection panel, which happens after SOAS.

Scott: And just to be clear, this is not for enlisted candidates; it's for officer candidates only. And when does SOAS occur during the assessment pathway?

Andrew: SOAS happens during the summer, and it happens, like I said, two weeks, in June, two weeks in July, two weeks in August, and this happens after applications have been submitted to the SEAL Officer Community Manager. And correct, like you said, it's only for SEAL officer candidates; the enlisted side is completely separate. Those applications are due in February to the SEAL OCM, and from there it's a – they find out if they receive an invitation to SOAS, they complete SOAS, then the SEAL selection panel, which is a panel of O-5 and O-6 SEAL officers that determines who will receive orders to BUD/S. After that, pretty much a month, two months after that, depending on which accession source, you will head off to BUD/S.

Scott: Okay, so it's definitely pre BUD/S.

Andrew: Yes.

Scott: And it's after the application piece. You get a notification; if you're invited you come here during the summer, and then you get notified if you're going to attend BUD/S. And that notification usually comes when?

Andrew: So, selection panel is in September. Most candidates, specifically OCS, will be notified late October. ROTC and Naval Academy, since they're rising seniors, they won't find out until about December timeframe, because they won't actually go to BUD/S until the summer of graduation. But OCS candidates can leave anytime between November to April, where they would first have to attend OCS in Newport, Rhode Island, for 12 weeks and then a month after that they will report to BUD/S. So, they could get to BUD/S as early as January-February after the selection panel and be at BUD/S getting after it.

Scott: So, we're talking about a good year, year and a half process from deadline of application to actually showing up for BUD/S, if you're selected.

Andrew: Easily, yeah. Most candidates, it's about a two-year cycle. OCS, it's a little sooner because they already have their degree, right? To become a Naval Officer or any officer, you have to have at least a four-year degree to earn your commission. So, it's usually about two years.

Scott: So, much longer timeline than a guy going for an enlisted contract?

Andrew: Absolutely.

Scott: Good. I mean, (an ...

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Episode 44: PODCAST: Episode 44 | How to Prepare for SOAS | SEALSWCC.COM

You can’t fake it to make it. We tell you how to navigate the application process and what you need on your resume.

Scott Williams:

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Only Easy Day Was Yesterday. I'm your host, Scott Williams, and today we have Andrew Dow with us to discuss the topic of SOAS. This is Part 2 in our series. In the first part, we talked about what SOAS is, and Andrew explained that pretty well to us. Now we're going to talk about how to prepare for SOAS, and this is the SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection process. So, Andrew, welcome. Let's get right into it. Let's talk about the application process itself. How do I apply if I want to be a SEAL officer? How do I apply for SOAS? What are some of the dates and things that have to be done and prerequisites? Just talk to us about that.

Andrew Dow:

The SOAS application is very straightforward; all of it can be found on the SEAL OCM web page, and you can get to the SEAL OCM web page through SEALSWCC.COM. There are different application processes for different accession sources, so I'll first address the OCS, Officer Candidate School, or the civilians who want to become SEAL Officers.

So, the SOAS application – before we even start anything, to be an officer in the military, an officer in the Navy, every candidate has to have their four-year degree. They have to have their bachelor's degree; whether you have your degree already or if you're just about to apply, you should start the summer prior to the application due date. Applications happen once a year. They're due to the SEAL OCM at the end of February, and every year it's the same. They are due to the SEAL OCM end of February. So, if you're an OCS applicant, you should start this application in the summer. So, in July or August, you go to an Officer Recruiter, start the OCS application, and work on the SOAS application.

If you're NROTC and haven't let your chain of command know early, you start during the summer of your rising junior year. You start the SOAS application, and no matter what, the applications are due to the SEAL OCM end of February.

Once the application for any accession source is submitted, the SEAL OCM – Officer Community Manager – conducts a ‘down-select’. This down-select determines if you'll receive an invitation to SOAS or not. This happens usually at the end of March or early April, and then from there, they'll have the list of who will be attending SOAS, and you'll be notified in early April or the middle of April if you've been invited to SOAS. After you've received your invitation, you'll attend SOAS, whether it's in June, July, or August. After you complete SOAS, there's a SEAL selection panel that happens every September, where the Naval Special Warfare senior leader will sit down with a bunch of community officers and determine who will be selected to go to BUD/S. This happens in September. Candidates will be notified if they're going to BUD/S, usually in October, and then from there it's...if you're a ROTC midshipman, that October is your senior year, so you'll finish your year, you'll graduate, you'll get commissioned then you'll go to BUD/S. For OCS, you will usually attend OCS a month after receiving the selection, so you'll probably attend OCS sometime between November and April, and then you'll go to BUD/S late spring to early summer.

So, the SOAS application is...there are different accession sources for SOAS to become SEAL officers. I'm strictly going to talk first about the Officer Candidate School, the OCS candidate – the civilians who want to become SEAL Officers. Before they can even apply and become, start the SOAS application, they have to have their four-year degree, and that goes for any aspiring officer in the military. Whether you're going to become a Naval Officer or an Army Officer, you have to have your four-year degree.

So, the first step they have to do is they go down to their Officer Recruiter at any Navy Naval Station in their hometown or whatever is local to them, and they go in and talk to our Officer Recruiter and say, “I want to be a SEAL Officer through the OCS pipeline.” The Officer Recruiter will then start their application process, but concurrently and independently, they have to do their SOAS application and their SEAL Officer assessment application. This application can be found on the SEAL OCM web page. If anyone has issues getting to that web page because they have just changed the format of it, it can be very confusing to navigate. They can reach out to me. I will provide my contact information to Scott so if anyone has questions on how to get there.

Scott Williams

Yeah, just shoot us an email at [email protected], and we'll get that question answered.

Andrew Dow

Or they could go to the SEALSWCC.COM website, and there's a link to get to the SEAL OCM web page with the SO...