Six unexpected things to know about the U.S. Navy

Unless you have a friend or family member in the military, you probably don’t know much about the process of becoming a Navy Seal or what goes on during operations.

Although much of what they do is kept behind closed doors, there are a handful of amazing facts that everyone should know about the U.S. Navy, what they do, how they succeed, and how they protect themselves during missions.

Special equipment

As you can imagine, there is an array of special equipment in use every day. You may expect them to use protective clothing and more. However, did you know their weapons need special protection too? Waterproof electrical enclosures are used by the military to keep their equipment safe when submerged underwater. Using a variety of surface, underwater or onshore infrastructure, they require specific hardware to prevent water ingress and corrosion. 

Submariners

There’s no doubt about it that submariners are some of the most skilled, knowledgeable, and hard-working members of the U.S. Military. You’d think their paycheck would be through the roof when actually they are volunteers! It is certainly intense work, but submariners do it for the love of the job.

Psychological training

During their training processes, the Navy Seals undergo intense psychological training to ensure they are mentally strong enough for the job. They learn specific behavioral therapies that allow them to reduce their stress levels significantly. Therefore, they are able to process emotions in their brains differently.

Women in the U.S. Navy

The number of women working in the U.S. Navy is growing significantly by the year, but at the moment they count for around 20%. The number of female members in the Navy as it stands is getting close to 60,000.

Specialty language

If you were to overhear a conversation between a collection of U.S. Navy members today, you may not understand what was going on. There is a huge list of terms to familiarize yourself with when you become a Navy Seal, each of which has a very interesting history behind it. A popular Navy phrase that you might already be aware of is “Ahoy!” which is a Navy Seal’s call for attention.

Navy dogs

The U.S. Navy doesn’t just comprise of brave women and men. There are dogs too! There are plenty of trained war dogs that are responsible for sniffing out enemies and weapons. In fact, there is a famous dog known as Cairo. Cairo was instrumental in helping the military to take out Osama bin Laden. As expected, the dogs undergo intense training before they are taken out on the field. 

Some of these facts might come as a shock to you, and others may be common knowledge. What we can say for sure is that U.S. Navy seals, submariners, engineers, and military personnel should have respect for everything they carry out for their country.