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The Institute of International Sociology of Gorizia is a non-profit cultural institution founded in 1968.
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Structural and relational dynamics that determine the effectiveness and efficiency of cross-border cooperation
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Update (11:39 P.M. ET): After a slew of criticism, Twitter has decided not to change the way block works. "We never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe," writes VP of Product Michael Sippey on the Twitter blog. The rest of this post is now irrelevant.
Twitter has redefined the word "blocked." Traditionally, to "block someone" on social media is to cut all digital ties. You no longer see their activity and they no longer see yours. However, that's always been tricky on Twitter because so much of what is published there is public. Even if you were blocked by a fellow user, you could still see their tweets if their account wasn't a private one. Twitter has decided to cease the farce of "the block" for public accounts.
From now on, a blocked user can still follow, retweet, and favorite a public user who blocked them, and won't be informed, as they have in the past, that they've been blocked. The blocker though won't see the RTing, faving, or any mentions by that person show up in their notification stream, and won't see them in their follower list.
Blocking someone on Twitter now actually means you're just muting them. It's the digital equivalent of plugging your ears; they can shout but you won't hear them. Sorry, Mediabistro, but you're going to have to come up with a new digital "junkpunch."
Twitter has updated its help page with the new rules for blocking and rolled out the change. A few Twitter users have already noticed it.
"I wasn't able to follow/RT people who blocked me as recently as a couple weeks ago. Now I can, they just won't know," tweeted Brian Stuart. "Block on twitter is basically now just used on yourself. You block your own access, not the person harassing you."
It's the "what you don't know won't hurt you" approach to combating harassment. Twitter spokesperson Jim Prosser says Twitter made the change because it thinks it will cut down on the vitriol, anger, and resentful Jezebel articles that result from knowing you've been blocked. "Now when you block a user, they cannot tell that you've blocked them," tweeted Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. "It was a longstanding request from users of block."
"We saw antagonistic behavior where people would see they were blocked and be mad," says Prosser. He also says "block" doesn't really make sense when the content is still visible. "Twitter is public, we want to reinforce that content published in a public profile is viewable by the world."
Blocking will still work in the traditional way for private accounts. Someone who is blocked will lose their ability to follow that person, but again they won't be informed.
Here's the old version of blocking:
Blocked users cannot:
- Add your Twitter account to their lists.
- Have their @replies or mentions show in your mentions tab (although these Tweets may still appear in search).
- Follow you.
- See your profile picture on their profile page or in their timeline.
Privacy note: If your Tweets are public (i.e., not protected), they will still be visible on your public profile page to anyone, regardless of whether they have a Twitter account or not.
And here's the new version. Notice the subtle change from what blocked users "can't do" to what you "won't see" after blocking someone.
What happens when a user is blocked?
If you block another user, you will no longer see:
- The user in your follower list
- Any updates from that user in your Home timeline, including any of their Tweets that were retweeted by accounts you follow
- Their @replies or mentions in your Connect tab
- Any interactions with that user's Tweets or account (i.e., favorites, follows or Retweets) in your Interactions or Activity tabs
You will, however, still see this user's Tweets appear in Search and if you navigate to their profile page.Note: If your account is public, blocking a user does not prevent that user from following you, interacting with your Tweets, or receiving your updates in their timeline. If your Tweets are protected, blocking the user will cause them to unfollow you.
People will inevitably be upset by this, either because they think it makes things easier for harassers or because the harassers hate the idea of being "shadow-blocked," i.e., blocked without knowing it. But it's the tricky part about moderating public forums. Twitter just moved itself out of the role of controlling what users do on the site, putting the onus instead on users and telling them not to look at what they don't want to see.

subset: commoncrawl


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Amicus Cloud works on any platform with a modern browser. PC's and Macs of course. And it has been optimized for tablets like the iPad. Which means you work with your live data anywhere you go. Freedom to work the way you want to.
Amicus Cloud has simply amazing email integration. Not just a link or sync – the total fusion of your vital email with your practice management. No extra steps – work naturally, and Amicus Cloud takes care of it.
There's more: it makes your smartphone and other devices the natural extension of your practice. Native apps contain the same information as Amicus Cloud. Use one or the other – whatever you like – with Amicus Cloud it is all one seamless system. The same thing goes for Outlook – it's not a link, it's live! The way it should be.
Amicus Cloud has all the features you would expect in the professional side of practice management: Matter management, Calendaring, Task management, Contacts, Phone Call management, Document management, global full-text searches and reports.
Amicus takes care of things on the time & billing side too: Time entries, expense tracking,integrated Billing (or the ability to work with most desktop billing systems) and Trust management.
It also has some special extra tools like a date calculator, time entry assistant, collections assistant and conflicts checker. Plus much more.
One of the key ingredients to the magic in Amicus Cloud is that Microsoft® Exchange® has been built right into it. So all the advantages of this world-leading system become just a part of your solution.
Amicus Cloud is built on the most advanced, secure and reliable cloud hosting platform in the world: Microsoft® Azure®. You can have confidence that your data is being maintained by the best. And when it comes to you across the Internet, it is 256-bit encrypted – bank-grade security.


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We left the lovely ARANWA hotel to catch the 07:10 from Cuzco to Puno.
Again PeruRail have excelled themselves again. All the carriages are a confection of 1920's mahogany and brass. The chairs in each are wing backed and roomy, four to a table and two to a table on the other side of the carriage's central aisle.
Each table has a brass lamp and vase of red alstroemerias. The staff are delightfully attentive and even this early in the morning we look forward to our three-course lunch with wine and our afternoon tea; all as befits a ten-hour journey.
|Telegraph poles march across the land
We lumber along through the countryside. People are working in the fields, villages of low buildings some in bright pink or blue. On hillsides there are ruined settlements. Telegraph poles march across the land. Often we are close to a swollen river and then, all of a sudden; mountains crowd in on either side of the track. These peaks then yield to wide plains with small pastures.
This is an enthralling landscape making it hard to look anywhere else but out of our carriage window for the entire three hundred and fifty kilometres.
About half way through the ten and half hour journey we stop at La Raya, little more than a halt comprising a small church and an area crammed with high benches on which the local people display handicraft work for sale. Fellow passengers get off the train, take photographs, and poke around the goods on offer and then re-board, just in time for luncheon, having bought little.
|La Raya, small church and a place for the local people to display handicraft
We finish this wonderful train ride in Puno a city on the edge of Lake Titicaca. Tomorrow we journey on the world's highest navigable lake. It was dark when we stepped off the train with its usual confusion of people and luggage, outside the station the inevitable line of tour buses. It started to rain, heavily, adding to the gloom. We were soon cheered up by a new tour guide; Tour Guide Sindy.


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Blue Prism is not responsible for the content of external websites referenced by this help system.
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Return to: Schools & Departments
ISE's doctoral program prepares students to pursue advanced work—in academia, industry, or government—within ISE's core intellectual areas. The program provides foundational training in industrial and systems engineering, including the development and application of advanced methods in mathematics, computation, and systems engineering. This work is accompanied by further study and research in an area of specialization determined through close consultation with the student's faculty adviser. Graduates of the ISE doctoral program receive a Ph.D. degree in Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems and have gone on to careers at leading universities, government organizations, private labs, and industry.
The program requires that a minimum number of approved credit hours be completed prior to graduation, along with ISYE 6900 (Seminar in ISYE research). Students must satisfy minimum overall GPA requirements as set forth by the Office of Graduate Education and continue to make satisfactory progress in their studies in order to remain in the program. Related institute-level policies and procedures are detailed in the Rensselaer Catalog.
For students entering with an M.S., a minimum of 48 total credit hours are required.
For students entering without an M.S., a minimum of 72 total credit hours are required beyond the bachelor's degree.
Students who successfully complete the Ph.D. in Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems will be able to demonstrate:
In the first year of doctoral study, students are introduced to the research environment, identify their prospective research adviser, undertake initial coursework, and prepare a preliminary proposal or report on their dissertation research as part of the Doctoral Qualifying Exam, as discussed below.
Specific requirements related to coursework are as follows:
Other requirements (e.g., Plan of Doctoral Study) are set forth in the Rensselaer Catalog.
The ISE Doctoral Qualifying Exam (DQE) is a written report, typically in the form of a preliminary research proposal or report. The DQE is submitted to the Ph.D. Program Director on May 15 of the academic year in which a student begins doctoral study. The DQE is developed in close cooperation with a faculty adviser, and is evaluated by ISE faculty other than the student's faculty adviser and, potentially, faculty outside of the department when appropriate.
Students who pass the DQE are formally admitted into the Ph.D. program. Students who fail the DQE may be provided the opportunity to retake the exam in fall of the following academic year. A second failure will result in dismissal from the program.
An oral candidacy examination must be taken after passing the DQE (specific requirements regarding the timing of this exam are given in the Rensselaer Catalog). This examination tests the student's background for the proposed doctoral research, the appropriateness of the proposed research, and the ability of the candidate to complete it successfully. The oral candidacy exam is based on a written dissertation proposal, submitted to the members of the student's doctoral committee. Requirements regarding the composition and responsibilities of the doctoral committee are given in the Rensselaer Catalog.
Doctoral study concludes with the presentation and successful public defense of the student's doctoral thesis, later submitted with appropriate documentation to the Office of Graduate Education. Specific requirements for the doctoral dissertation and defense are given in the Rensselaer Catalog.


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Over the past month, many Bitcoin exchanges, startups and experts weighed in on the debate between Segregated Witness (SegWit) and Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) supporters.
The main claim of SegWit supports is that nearly 60 percent of nodes within the Bitcoin network are supporting the activation of SegWit. According to 21 Inc's Bitnodes, approximately 56 percent of all Bitcoin nodes are in support of Bitcoin Core 0.13.0 and the other two minor updates of Bitcoin Core which includes SegWit support on testnet.
What is the debate about exactly?
In comparison, BU supporters and developers, including prominent angel investor and Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver, claimed that Bitcoin miners are showing increasing support of SegWit. A chart called "Mining Pool Support by Proposal" provided by Coin Dance and shared by Ver, demonstrated that 17.3 percent of miners support BU while the other 16.67 percent supported the activation of SegWit.
Samson Mow, COO of the world's longest running Bitcoin exchange BTCC, and Alistair Milne, Bitcoin investor at Atlanta Digital Currency Fund, expressed their support for SegWit stating that SegWit's transaction malleability solution opens the door for Lightning, a micropayment solution, that is ultimately beneficial for the long-term growth of Bitcoin.
Milne further emphasized the majority support of Bitcoin nodes for SegWit, requesting Bitcoin miners to start listening to its users.
"Betrayal" to the mining community?
In response, Gang Wu, HaoBTC CEO, offered his strong stance against SegWit, describing the Bitcoin Core development team's efforts in pushing SegWit development instead of a 2MB hardfork which they previously agreed on at the Hong Kong consensus conference as a "betrayal" to the mining community.
Although HaoBTC later published a follow-up statement to explain their neutral attitude towards BU and SegWit, the exchange firmly reaffirmed that it intends to support the Hong Kong agreement that the organization signed.
Opportunities for two-layer solutions
In mid last month, Bitcoin and security expert Andreas Antonopoulos published a blog post in response to Tuur Demeester's article entitled "Bitcoin: digital gold or digital cash? Both." In it, Antonopoulos stated that organizations or people that are objecting to Lightning are pushing for off-chain trusted third party custodial or centralized platforms based on trust.
Antonopoulos later acknowledged that he supports SegWit, not necessarily because of its scaling solution but because it provides opportunities for two-layer solutions like Lightning or TumbleBit to enter.
"I'm for SegWit, not because of scaling, but because it offers solutions to many technical issues in Bitcoin," said Antonopoulos.
Efficient scaling solution
Still, Bitcoin developers like Lightning co-author Thaddeus Dryja firmly believe SegWit can be described as an efficient scaling solution, as it increases Bitcoin block size to at least 2.1MB. On testest, Dryja was able to find 3.7MB blocks, a size 3.7x larger than the current block size.
"I have a script that will spam testnet and make 3.7MB blocks. It's not an 800KB regular block with txids and output scripts, and a 2.9MB witness block with just a bunch of signatures. It's a single block, that looks pretty much the same as old blocks with a few extra requirements, that's 3.7MB," said Dryja.
Necessary for the long-term growth of Bitcoin
While BU supporters including Ver and Justus Ranvier, lead architect at Stash Crypto, all believe that the elimination of transaction malleability and the entrance of two-layer solutions are necessary for the long-term growth of Bitcoin, they don't believe SegWit is the best method of doing so.
Ver told Cointelegraph:
"I think ending transaction malleability is great for Bitcoin. The current SegWit soft fork is just one of many many ways that transaction malleability can be ended, but there are many other proposals on the table that may work as well as, or even better than SegWit."
"BU is not even remotely an option"
In response to Ver's preference of other solutions, Alex Bergeron from Blockstream stated that other solutions like Tom Zander's "Flexible Transactions" aren't viable alternatives, as they aren't backward compatible, received little to no peer review and aren't technically sound.
BTCC COO Samson Mow gave Cointelegraph a similar statement:
"The Bitcoin Core contributors, the entire technical community, wallet developers, many mining pools and major exchanges all believe a SegWit soft-fork is the path forward to end transaction malleability and for a safe yet quick way to increase the block size. Flexible Transactions from BU is not even remotely an option as the concept has already been dismissed by the technical community, and more importantly, there is no functioning code available - it's vaporware."
The lack of peer review has also proven to be an issue for Bitcoin Unlimited, as the Bitcoin Unlimited team recently found buggy codes within the software. The lack of peer review ultimately caused the loss of 13 BTC for Bitcoin unlimited miners.
SegWit - the best alternative so far
At this stage of Bitcoin development, it is of utmost importance to the Bitcoin development community, users, companies and mining community to push for the activation of a safer alternative. Considering Bitcoin Unlimited's lack of peer review and software which isn't ready for deployment, SegWit seems to be the best alternative so far.
Industry leaders and large-scale Bitcoin companies like Coinbase and Blockchain have already expressed their support for SegWit. The Blockchain is listed as "SegWit ready" in the SegWit Adoption list of the Bitcoin Core development team.


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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
In honor of Thanksgiving, let's look at the Mayflower. And the Pilgrims. Oh, and Plymouths from all over Kansas City!
When you think of the Pilgrims, you probably have an image of a bunch of guys in big, dopey buckle hats eating cranberry sauce around a lavishly set picnic table and taking corn planting lessons from smiling Indians.
People enjoying a picnic isn't all that big of a deal in and of itself, but, you know, they had to sail there in a stinky, wooden ship. It took 66 days. 45 of the 102 passengers died. Pretty much everybody got scurvy, which is way worse than H1N1. They earned that turkey dinner.
After the whole settling of North America thing, the Mayflower was sailed back home to England, where it was supposedly torn apart and made into a Quaker barn. Hopefully they sprayed some Lysol on the boards before they built the barn to get rid of all those sick germs.
Over the years, Plymouth proved to b e very successful. During the Great Depression, the Plymouth brand likely kept Chrysler Corporation afloat (get it—afloat? Pilgrims, Mayflower, aflo—nevermind) by providing more affordable vehicles to cash-strapped Americans. Throughout the 1940s and '50s, Plymouth was generally the third best-selling brand behind Chevy and Ford, and occasionally, it would even nudge out Ford for number two.
By the mid- to-late '50s, Plymouths, along with all the other Chrysler Corporation brands, benefitted from renowned stylist Virgil Exner and his "Forward Look" designs. Sweeping lines and radical fins modernized Plymouths right into the space age. Powerful engines, such as the ubiquitous "Hemi" didn't hurt brand image either.
When people think about late 1960s/early 1970s Plymouths, they usually have muscle cars in mind. Cars like the Barracuda/'Cuda and the Road Runner perfected the art of stuffing gargantic engines into chintzy, light vehicles. These cars may actually be more popular today than they were when they were new.
At various times in history, including at the end, Plymouth's logo featured an image of the Mayflower. That logo represented a 73-year voyage that flourished during times of calm and survived many tidal waves. But in the end, all that's left is an old Quaker barn full of memories.
Pass the candied yams!
The slideshow below contains photos of all sorts of Plymouths taken mostly at car shows around Kansas City. There are a handful that I shot at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Michigan, but most of them are local. So if you had a Plymouth in a car show this year (or if you parked by one), you may just see your car in here!
Posted by Craig Hover at 4:36 PM
Labels: Car Shows, History, Holidays, Plymouth, Thanksgiving
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There is a custom is to wear white clothing, or more specifically, a white robe-like garment called a kittel, on Yom Kippur.
In many communities, the kittel is worn exclusively on Yom Kippur. In some traditions, the custom is to wear white on Rosh Hashanah and other occasions. Others have the custom that only the chazzan wears white on Rosh Hashanah.
Here are the classic reasons for this ancient custom.
On Yom Kippur We Are Like Angels
On Yom Kippur, we rise above our physical bodily needs. We refrain from eating and drinking, and instead focus on returning to our spiritual and pure essence. Thus, we resemble the angels, and so we wear a white kittel to reflect this purity.1 For this reason, some prefer a linen kittel, since the prophets Ezekiel2 and Daniel3 describe the angels as wearing linen.4
According to many commentaries, this is the main reason for wearing a kittel. This would explain why many communities, including Chabad, only wear a kittel on Yom Kippur, the day we resemble the angels.5
It Reminds Us of Death
Others explain that since Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a day dedicated to introspection and repentance, we wear a kittel, which resembles a burial shroud. (In fact, in Yiddish, kittel can also mean "burial shroud." This is another reason some wear a kittel made of linen, since burial shrouds are preferably made of linen.) Wearing it on Yom Kippur humbles our hearts, reminding us of our mortality and the need for repentance.6
We Are as Pure as Snow
Rabbi David ibn Zimra, known as the Radbaz (1479-1589), explains that we wear white on Yom Kippur based on the verse "If your sins prove to be like crimson, they will become white as snow; if they prove to be as red as crimson dye, they shall become as wool."7 8
The Kittel is Like the Garments of the High Priest
Ordinarily, during the year, the high priest (Kohen Gadol) would wear a set of eight colorful and ornate garments while serving in the Holy Temple. The Yom Kippur service, however, was performed in simple garments of white. To relive this, we wear white garments on Yom Kippur.9
We Honor the Day With a Special Garment
The Talmud describes how the Exilarch once asked Rav Hamnuna: "What is the meaning of the verse 'The holy of G‑d is honored?'10" Rav Hamnuna replied that it is a reference to the holy day of Yom Kippur, when there is no eating or drinking, and the Torah enjoins us to honor it with a clean (white11) garment.12
Now, we must honor every Shabbat or holiday with special, clean garments. Yet the commentaries explain that Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, is especially deserving of special garments,13 which some explain to be the kittel.14
The Daughters of Jerusalem Wore White
The Mishnah states, "Never were there more joyous festivals in Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur, when the maidens of Jerusalem used to go out dressed in white garments. They used borrowed garments in order not to embarrass those who did not have their own."15
Why were the maidens dancing on Yom Kippur?
The Talmud explains that Yom Kippur is considered a festive day, for it is the day that G‑d forgave the Jews for the sin of the golden calf and Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the second set of Luchot (Tablets). Therefore, G‑d established Yom Kippur as a day of forgiveness.16 17
Thus, the kittel is reflective of the white dresses worn on this day many years ago.
We Show That We Are Confident
Some explain that the custom18 is based on the Midrash that states, "What nation is like this nation! Generally, when a person must appear before the court, he wears black clothing, covers himself in black, and lets his hair grow wild, for he does not know the outcome of the judgment. But not so Israel, who wear white [clothing], robe themselves in white, cut their hair, and eat and drink and are joyful, knowing that G‑d, blessed be He, performs miracles for them."19
May we all celebrate this Yom Kippur, assured that we will have a sweet new year!


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Client: Northern Ireland Environment Agency & SportNI (Strategic Partners)
The Challenge
To develop and launch new website dedicated to providing people all over Northern Ireland with detailed information and interactive mapping on the country's outdoor trails, community walking paths and outdoor venues – see OutMoreNI.com
The Role
We undertook:
- The design and development of a 'one stop shop' for information on outdoor recreation in Northern Ireland for users of all abilities and backgrounds including complete beginners through to serious enthusiasts. Its goal is to help people discover what trails and outdoor facilities are on their doorstep or waiting for them in another part of Northern Ireland – including walking, cycling, canoeing and mountain biking trails as well as forests, parks, beaches and nature reserves.
- The population of the website with almost 500 walking trails, 200 cycling, canoeing and mountain bike trails and over 200 outdoor places which have all been individually mapped to show the important information needed when planning an outdoor adventure. This includes trail distances, information on parking facilities, admission charges, guidelines on bringing dogs and much more.
Project Partners
- Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI)
Project Funders
- Northern Ireland Environment Agency
- Sport Northern Ireland


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Articles tagged with: wondrous Wilanów Palace
KukBuk: a Polish culinary success story
KukBuk grew out of a 'a pure love of cooking, eating and communicating round food.' The intention was to merge cultural, culinary and lifestyle elements. We meet editor Agata Michalak and publisher Daria Pawlewskaat at the Warsaw offices of the award-winning magazine who share the story of KukBuk's unexpected, unprecedented success. Then we visit Wilanów Palace.


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|Elite & Special Forces Main Page
|US Elite & Special Forces Main Page
Last Updated: 28 March, 2016
This article is organised as follows:
- Part 01: Background
- Part 02: Entry Standards and Applications
- Part 03: Outline of the US Navy SEAL Selection and Training Process
- Part 04: Post-Graduation and Advanced Training
- Part 05: Miscellaneous
1.0 Introduction
This article provides an overview of the recruitment, selection and training process for the United States (US) Navy SEALs.
US Navy SEALs (SEa, Air, Land), officially known as Special Warfare Operators (SO), are Tier 1 forces (i.e. undertake direct action) and are trained at the US Navy's Naval Special Warfare Centre (NSWCEN).
These Naval Commandos form the Special Forces (SF) element of the US Naval Special Warfare Command (NSW or NAVSPECWARCOM) Special Operations Forces (SOF) community, which is the naval component of the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
Each year approximately 1,000 candidates (mainly US Navy Sailors) are given the opportunity to attend US Navy SEAL training. Although numbers vary, approximately 200-250 will succeed and join the approximately 2,500 active duty US Navy SEALs.
The role of a US Navy SEAL is sea-duty intensive, with approximately 70% of their time spent in operational roles and 30% in shore/instructional/staff-related roles.
From boot camp to first deployment, a US Navy SEAL may undertake (up to) two and a half years of training, approximately one and a half years from boot camp to joining a SEAL Team and another year for additional training as a probationary member of a SEAL Team.
The US Navy SEAL training process prepares candidates for the missions they may undertake as a qualified SEAL. US Navy SEALs are responsible for training and preparation for execution of special operations in a variety of environments, including maritime, urban, desert, jungle, arctic and mountain. US Navy SEALs are experts in:
- Special operations tactics and technical knowledge;
- Mission planning;
- Cultural awareness;
- Small-unit leadership;
- Operational risk management;
- Tactical, operational and strategic thinking;
- Tactical communications;
- Tactical air control/terminal guidance;
- Combat diving;
- Para-drop operations;
- Small boat operations;
- Tactical ground mobility;
- Small arms and crew-served weapons;
- Fast roping and rappelling;
- Demolitions/explosive breaching;
- Trauma care;
- Intelligence gathering and interpretation;
- Transportation and logistics; and
- Chemical/biological/radiological/nuclear defence measures.
In times of armed conflict and war US Navy SEAL personnel are required to operate in small parties in enemy controlled territory. Operations of this nature require individuals of courage and high morale who are self-disciplined, intelligent, reliable, determined and physically fit, and who possess mental, moral and physical stamina. These units will operate in support of conventional forces or independently. Principle roles are:
- Surveillance Reconnaissance (SR), including information reporting and target acquisition;
- Offensive Action (OA), including direction of air, artillery and naval gunfire;
- Designation for precision guided munitions, use of integral weapons and demolitions; and
- Support and Influence (SI), including overseas training tasks.
The US Navy SEALs as part of the US military's SOF community provide the USs immediate response Military Counter Terrorism (CT) and Maritime Counter Terrorism (MCT) teams. During peacetime, overseas deployments for training are frequent though usually of (relatively) short duration; this is balanced by greater stability for families who are able to remain in locally situated Service accommodation.
It must be emphasised that a candidate must be physically fit at the beginning of the US Navy SEAL training process if they are to stand any chance of success. The course requires far greater expenditure of physical energy than is normally required in other peace time training. It is essential that candidates arrive fully fit, carrying no injuries and with a sound grasp of basic navigational techniques and swimming techniques.
1.1 Aim
The aim of this article is to describe the fundamental entry requirements, selection process and training for personnel seeking to serve as a US Naval Special Warfare Operator, aka US Navy SEAL.
1.2 Women and the US Navy SEALs
From January 2016, in accordance with current US Federal Government policy on the employment of women in the US military, service in the US Navy SEALs is open to both male and female volunteers (Pellerin, 2015).
1.3 Selection and Training for the US Navy SEALs
Special Forces are characterised by the determination of each individual to carry through with the mission even if they be the last one standing.
There is a presumption that personnel volunteering for US Navy SEAL training will become very good team players, and as a result SEAL training courses are far more team-orientated in contrast to the UKSF Selection process.
Emphasis is on endurance and long hours undertaking team-based arduous tasks. The instructors provide lots of negative encouragement and attempt to demotivate aspirants (on certain phases of the overall course).
Assessment continues long after candidates graduate from BUD/S, as personnel are expected to improve in the job. Remaining in a SF unit can be more difficult than getting there in the first place!
SF selection and training is designed to test personal motivation to the point where actual operations present challenges that candidates have already overcome. The argument being that there is no point in suffering doubts at 0300 hours, in the silence of a tactical operation, after a helicopter has dropped you off 200 miles behind enemy lines.
Unlike most training courses in the US military, US Navy SEAL training (the BUD/S course) has a 'select out' policy rather the norm of 'train in'.
1.4 Factors for Increasing the Likelihood of Success
The US Navy suggests there are a number of factors that may increase a candidate's successful completion of US Navy SEAL training, which include:
- Candidates who have played in competitive sports such as water polo, rugby, lacrosse, swimming, wrestling and boxing;
- Candidates who have high academic achievements;
- Candidates who have the ability to learn quickly;
- Candidates with two- or four-year degrees are almost twice as likely to succeed at BUD/S as compared to those without a degree.
- Candidates traditionally have an Armed Forces Qualification Test (Section 2.8) score of 78 or better.
- Candidates with a higher score on the C-SORT (Section 2.9) have a higher probability of success.
- Candidates who have Physical Screening Test (Section 2.10) scores below 800 are three times more likely to succeed than those candidates who only meet the minimum requirements.
1.5 Brief History
The US Navy SEALs were created by Presidential Order on 08 January 1962 by then President John F. Kennedy, a formal naval officer.
The SEALs (original) intended purpose was to conduct military operations in maritime and riverine environments, the staple role of naval frogmen and Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) since World War II.
The original members of SEAL Teams One and Two were recruited from the UDTs, a branch which continued to exist for another two decades.
US Navy SEALs fought in the Vietnam War from 1966 to 1973.
The catastrophic result of a failed hostage rescue in Iran in 1980 during Operation Desert One, compounded by the mixed outcome of special operations missions during the invasion of Grenada under Operation Urgent Fury in 1983, brought about a re-evaluation of commando operations across the US military.
On 01 May 1983, all remaining UDTs were re-designated as SEAL Teams or Swimmer Delivery Vehicle Teams (SDVTs). The SDVTs have since been re-designated as SEAL Delivery Vehicle Teams (though still abbreviated SDVTs).
In an effort to repair the conventional weaknesses so cruelly exposed in operations in and around the Southeast Asia area, the US military created a separate branch for its elite units.
On 16 April 1987, the same day as USSOCOM was established, the US Navy formed the Naval Special Warfare Command. The US Naval Special Warfare Command is the naval component of USSOCOM.
The five principal mission categories for US Navy SEALs are:
- Unconventional warfare;
- Direct action;
- Special reconnaissance;
- Foreign internal defence; and
- Combating terrorism.
Additional mission tasks include security assistance, anti-terrorism (now a priority), counter-drug, personnel recovery and special activities.
However, because of the growing demands on US military forces during the well-known, and often referred to, 'Global War on Terrorism', Naval Special Warfare forces are typically tasked with multi-component missions which are not necessarily associated with their original purpose of operating in riverine and maritime environments.
The SO rate was created in 2006. Prior to this, personnel maintained a source rating (i.e. a mechanic was still a mechanic), although operators were expected to maintain SOF focus.
Information regarding the basic requirements for enlistment or commissioning in the US Navy can be found by clicking on the links, which the reader is advised to read if not already familiar.
2.0 Eligibility
Unlike the UK model of SF, the US Navy accepts direct entry applicants, i.e. civilians with no prior military experience. As a result, volunteers for US Navy SEAL Selection may be accepted from both US civilians and US military personnel (both officer and enlisted) from any branch of military service to serve with the US Navy's SEAL Teams.
Consequently, there are three recognised pathways to becoming a US Navy SEAL:
- Enlist as a civilian;
- Enlist while in the US Navy and apply for a transfer; or
- Enlist from another Branch of Military Service.
There are also a number of pre-requisite tests that candidates must pass (discussed in Sections 2.5 to 2.11 below) in order to progress their application.
The US Navy SEAL recruiting process is overseen by two SEAL and SWCC Scout Teams, West Coast Team which is based out of San Diego, California, and the East Coast Team which is based out of Little Creek, Virginia. The SEAL and SWCC Scout Team is commanded by the Director, a US Navy Captain (OF-5) (McNatt, 2014).
2.1 Enlist as a Civilian
Table 1 provides an outline of the enlistment process for civilians.
|Table 1: Enlist as a Civilian
|Visit Local US Navy Recruiter
|Get a US Navy Contract
|Get a US Navy SEAL Contract
2.2 Enlist While in the US Navy and Apply for a Transfer
Table 2 provides an overview of the enlistment process for Active Duty US Navy personnel wishing to transfer to the US Navy SEALs. US Navy Reservists are not eligible to apply for US Navy SEAL training.
|Table 2: Enlist While in the US Navy and Apply for a Transfer
|Notify Your Command
|Notify Naval Special Warfare Command
|Pass a PST
|Apply (if pass PST)
|Prepare for the Naval Special Warfare Preparatory Course
For precise criteria, candidates should consult 'MILPERSMAN 1220-300: Special Warfare Operator (SO) Rating, Change 47, 01 April 2014' located in the Useful Documents section at the end.
2.3 Enlist from another Branch of Military Service
Table 3 provides an overview of the enlistment process for US military personnel from another branch of military service wishing to transfer to the US Navy SEALs.
|Table 3: Enlist from another Branch of Military Service
|Visit Local US Navy Recruiter
|Separate from Current Branch of Service
|Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS)
|Take a PST
|Get a US Navy SEAL Contract
2.4 US Navy SEAL Officer Candidates
In order to become a US Navy SEAL Officer, also known as a Naval Special Warfare (NSW) officer, a candidate must first be commissioned through one of three pathways:
- The United States Naval Academy (USNA);
- US Navy Officer Candidate School (OCS); or
- US Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).
The US Naval Special Warfare Command also accepts a limited number of in-fleet transfers and officers from other services.
To be considered for an officer slot at BUD/S, candidates must prepare an application package for submission to a board of US Navy SEAL officers. The board consists of one US Navy SEAL Captain (OF-5) and at least three other US Navy SEAL officers in the rank of Lieutenant (OF-2) through Commander (OF-4).
In selecting officer candidates, the board utilises a holistic approach and looks for:
- Leadership potential;
- Honour and integrity;
- The highest levels of physical fitness;
- Academic achievement;
- Foreign language skills (such as Arabic, Farsi, Pashtu, Dari, French etc);
- Regional expertise;
- Cultural knowledge and experience are highly valued.
- Letters of recommendation are also important, especially those written by US Navy SEAL officers (it is appreciated that officer candidates may not have access to this).
Successful officer candidates will be invited to attend the 2-week SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection (SOAS) course, which is held annually at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, San Diego in California. Officer candidates will attend one of four SOAS courses held during May through August.
USNA and ROTC officer candidates may also serve an additional week at the Naval Special Warfare Command as part of their summer cruise, although this is not part of SOAS.
The SOAS course is a high stress physical, mental, behavioural and psychological evaluation programme which is designed to identify officer candidates who embody the attributes considered requisite for successful employment as a US Navy SEAL officer. Officer candidates, like enlisted candidates, should be:
- Able to run in soft sand for long periods carrying significant weight; and
- Comfortable in the water and be able to swim for long distances on the surface and underwater in a pool and in the ocean, sometimes in full clothing with shoes or boots.
The SOAS course includes:
- An arduous physical screening regimen;
- Psychological evaluations;
- Behavioural assessments;
- Intellectual and cognitive challenges;
- Communication and leadership challenges;
- Team orientated activities in a competitive environment; and
- Assessment of competency in the water.
Each year, approximately 70 to 90 officer candidates are selected to attend US Navy SEAL training, as a result competition for places is extremely intense. There are typically 30 slots allocated to UNSA officer candidates.
As well as the training identified in Part Three, officer candidates must also complete the 5-week Junior Officer Training Course after graduating from BUD/S.
2.5 US Navy SEAL Entry Standards
In addition to meeting the basic requirements for enlistment or commissioning in the US Navy, candidates for US Navy SEAL training must also meet rigorous physical and mental requirements.
A potential US Navy SEAL candidate is assessed through:
- Pre-enlistment medical screening.
- Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB): used to assess a candidate's mental sharpness and ability to learn.
- Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT): used to assess a candidate's mental sharpness and ability to learn.
- Computerised-Special Operations Resilience Test (C-SORT): used to screen a candidate's maturity and mental resilience.
- SEAL Physical Screening Test (PST).
2.6 Pre-Enlistment Medical Screening
As well as the general physical examination requirements (scroll down to Section 5.2) required by the US Navy, there are also additional steps to be undertaken by US Navy SEAL candidates.
These steps can be seen in Table 2, Step 4, above.
2.7 Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery
Detailed information on the ASVAB can be found here (scroll down to Section 5.1).
The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is used to assess a candidate's mental sharpness and ability to learn, and is typically conducted at a Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS). The standard ASVAB contains the following subtests:
- Word Knowledge (WK)
- Arithmetic Reasoning (AR)
- Mechanical Comprehension (MC)
- Shop Information (SI)
- Automotive Information (AI)
- Electronics Information (EI)
- Mathematics Knowledge (MK)
- General Science (GS)
- Paragraph Comprehension (PC)
- Assembling Objects (AO)
- Verbal Expression (VE) – a scaled combination of WK+PC
An additional line score, Coding Speed (CS), should be requested at MEPS, and the score can be included in the calculation to determine eligibility for the US Navy SEAL programme. If the CS line score is not taken, only one set of line scores can be used to determine eligibility.
A candidate must score one of the following on the ASVAB:
- GS + MC + EI: a minimum score of 170; or
- VE + MK + MC + CS: a minimum score of 220; or
- VE + AR: a minimum score of 110; and MC: a minimum score of 50.
If a candidate does not achieve the minimum score, they will:
If not in the US Navy: complete more studying and re-take the test.
- If in the US Navy: The US Navy College offer ASVAB preparation courses which can be taken prior to a re-test.
If a candidate's score is close to the minimum and they are considered a particularly strong candidate, they may be eligible for a waiver (although not if their MC score is more than 5 points below the minimum). It must be noted that waivers are granted on a case-by-case basis. A candidate's PST scores and the strength of their overall application package will be assessed in order to decide on eligibility.
2.8 Armed Forces Qualification Test
Detailed information on the AFQT can be found here (scroll down to Section 5.1).
Four of the ASVAB subtests are combined to form the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). It measures general cognitive ability and is composed of verbal and mathematics subtests.
AFQT results are returned as percentiles from 1-99. A score of a 50 would mean a candidate was in the 50th percentile, or have an average score. The US Navy requires an AFQT score of at least 35. Candidates who succeed at BUD/S traditionally have AFQT scores of 78 or better.
2.9 Computerised-Special Operations Resilience Test
The Computerised-Special Operations Resilience Test (C-SORT) is used to screen a candidate's maturity and mental resilience (aka mental toughness), and can only be taken once.
The C-SORT includes multiple sections designed to assess a prospective candidate's abilities in three areas:
- Performance strategies: test for capabilities such as an individual's goal-setting, self-talk and emotional control.
- Psychological resilience: focuses on assessing several other areas like an individual's acceptance of life situations and the ability to deal with cognitive challenges and threats.
- Personality traits.
The scores on each section of C-SORT are combined into a band score on a scale of one to four, with four indicating highest level of mental resilience and one being the lowest level of mental resilience.
To determine eligibility for the US Navy SEAL programme, the C-SORT band score is combined with the candidate's PST run and swim times. Individuals who have low C-SORT and slow combined run and swim times are not offered US Navy SEAL contracts.
Although candidates cannot retake C-SORT, they can retake their delayed entry programme qualifying PST and demonstrate their motivation by improving their PST score (in particular the run and swim times). Individuals improving their PST score may then increase their C-SORT band, and thus qualify for a US Navy SEAL contract.
2.10 US Navy SEAL Physical Screening Test
To receive a US Navy SEAL contract, or even be remotely considered, a candidate must achieve a minimum pass in the US Navy SEAL Physical Screening Test (PST), as outlined in Table 4 below.
|Table 4: US Navy SEAL Physical Screening Test
|Minimum Pass
|Optimum Pass
|Time Limit
|Rest Period
|500 Yard Swim
|10 minutes
|2 minutes
|2 minutes
|2 minutes
|2 minutes
|2 minutes
|10 minutes
|1.5 Mile Run
|PST Score
For details on swim technique (Combat Side Stroke) see the Useful Documents Section at the end of the article.
The qualifying PST must be administered by a Naval Special Warfare coordinator or mentor. Prospective candidates can increase their chances of being selected for BUD/S and succeeding in training by having optimum PST scores or better.
Candidates with a PST score of 827 or less are much more likely to be selected for a US Navy SEAL contract, and consequently more likely to successfully complete US Navy SEAL training. Further, candidates with a PST below 800 are three times more likely to succeed than those candidates who only achieve the minimum PST score.
"In fiscal year 2014, the average in-fleet SEAL or SWCC candidate who was selected did more than 22 pullups [heaves] in his PST, said NSW recruiting directorate commanding officer Capt. Duncan Smith last year," (Myers, 2015).
2.11 Other Requirements
- Age:
- Candidates must be from 17 to 28 years old.
- Waivers for individuals aged 29 and 30 are available for highly qualified candidates.
- Individuals with prior enlisted service as US Navy SEALs who are seeking to become NSW Officers can request waivers to age 33.
- Vision:
- Must be correctable to 20/25.
- Uncorrected vision must be at least 20/70 in the worst eye and 20/40 in the best.
- Colour blindness is disqualifying.
- Citizenship:
- Candidates must be US citizens.
- Security Clearance:
- Applicants must be able to obtain a secret security clearance.
"Despite the bare minimum requirements, applicants in each monthly pool compete against each other for a limited number of spots, so the selection ends up with a curve. Of hundreds of thousands who contact NSW recruiting every year, maybe 10,000 work with a recruiter to prepare, and less than 700 will end up cleared for training, Smith said." (Myers, 2015).
3.0 US Navy SEAL Selection and Training Phases
Special Warfare Operator selection, aka US Navy SEAL training pipeline, is the selection and training process for candidates wishing to join the US Navy's SEAL community.
Once (Phase 1) recruit training has been successfully completed, and other (Phase 2) training for in-fleet and in-service transfers, all US Navy SEAL candidates will undertake six distinct stages of training.
During this training candidates are taught the fundamentals of naval special warfare through a combination of formal US Navy schooling and on the job training. The six stages of training include:
- Stage 1: Special Warfare Operator Preparatory Course.
- Stage 2: Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Orientation.
- Stage 3: BUD/S First Phase: Basic Conditioning.
- Stage 4: BUD/S Second Phase: Combat Diving.
- Stage 5: BUD/S Third Phase: Land Warfare Training.
- Stage 6: SEAL Qualification Training (SQT).
Stages 1 to 5 provide a candidate with their basic SEAL skills and stage 6 (Section 3.7) consists of intermediate SEAL skills. Advanced SEAL skills (Part Four) are attained and developed on the job with a SEAL Team.
The SEAL training programme has undergone a number of iterations. For example, as noted by Bahmanyar (2005) in 2003/04 the US Navy SEAL training programme consisted of:
- Indoctrination: 5-weeks;
- Basic conditioning: 8-weeks;
- Diving: 8-weeks;
- Land warfare: 9-weeks;
- Basic parachute training: 3-weeks;
- Special Operations Technician Training: 2-weeks at the US Naval Special Warfare Centre;
- Followed by 18-D, an intense course of instruction in medical skills (hospital corpsmen only);
- Assignment to a SEAL team for 6-12 months of on-the-job training; then receive NSW classification, a SEAL Naval Enlisted Classification (NEC) code.
Candidates during the following stages of training: Pre-training/pre-trainee; indoctrination; and BUD/S First Phase until the successful completion of Hell Week, are known as White Shirts. Post Hell Week candidates are known as Brown shirts.
Table 5 provides a guide only on the approximate percentages of personnel completing each stage of selection and training, from initial recruitment to final graduation.
|Table 5: Guide to percentages of personnel completing each stage of selection and training
|Stage of Selection/Training
|Average Pass Rate (2007)
|2 Year Average Attrition Rate (2008)
|Signed Enlistment
|Completed US Navy Recruit Training
|Completed SEAL Pre-Indoctrination
|Completed SEAL Indoctrination
|Completed BUD/S Phase 1
|32% (pre-Hell Week)
12% (Hell Week)
1% (post-Hell Week)
|Completed BUD/S Phase 2
|Completed BUD/S Phase 3
|Completed Airborne School
|Completed SQT
|Source: Navy Times, 2007
|Source: NSO NWS Mentor, 2008
3.1 Annual SEAL Invitational
The Annual SEAL Invitational competition was established in 2010 with the purpose of enabling high school students to visit the Naval Special Warfare Centre, specifically the obstacle course, and compete against each other in many of the same physical activities that SEAL candidates are required to perform (Black, 2014).
The Annual SEAL Invitational is not part of the selection and training process.
3.2 Stage 1: Special Warfare Operator Preparatory Course
The Special Warfare Operator Preparatory Course (NSW Prep) is delivered by the Naval Special Warfare Preparatory School located at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois. This stage of training is/has also been known as BUD/S Prep, Pre-BUD/S and Pre-Indoctrination. The course is led by the Officer in Charge (OIC), a Master Chief Petty Officer (OR-9).
The NSW Prep course was officially established on 07 February 2008 (SOCNET, 2007; ShadowSpear, 2008), having been piloted the previous summer, and was designed to increase the chances of candidates during the training process. Of the 250 candidates who started before the course was officially established, 33 left (ShadowSpear, 2008).
This course is between 5 and 9 weeks in duration and covers the physical and psychological preparation for BUD/S training. Essentially, this phase of training acts as a link between basic training and the BUD/S course, as many individuals will suffer from detraining as a consequence of the naval basic training process.
NSW Prep can be divided into three distinct elements:
- Check-in: conducted in week 1 and includes administration, physical/medical assessments and course introduction.
- Conditioning: conducted over 4-8 weeks and includes group physical training (determined by ability level), daily academic instruction and progress tracking.
- Testing and transfers which includes exit standards, PST, review board and ship to BUD/S.
This phase of training starts with a PST, as described above, and ends with a modified PST, as outlined in Table 6 below.
|Table 6: Modified US Navy SEAL Physical Screening Test
|Minimum Pass
|Time Limit
|1000 Yard Swim (with fins)
|20 minutes or less
|20 minutes
|2 minutes
|2 minutes
|2 minutes
|4 mile rune (with shoes and pants)
|31 minutes or less
|31 minutes
Candidates who do not pass the longer, more intense test are removed from training and reclassified to other jobs in the US Navy, or maybe moved to another class.
Instruction involves a variety of teaching methods including group instruction, classroom-based and practical. The School utilises US Navy Recruit Training Command pools, indoor and outdoor tracks and other facilities in and around Naval Station Great Lakes. The School's staff and curriculum are under the Naval Special Warfare Centre.
The curriculum reinforces the US Navy's core values and is divided into three streams:
- Physical training which includes:
- Swimming (basic swimming techniques).
- Running (principles of running and running fundamentals).
- Strength and conditioning (plyometrics).
- Basic underwater skills.
- Group calisthenics.
- Academic training which includes:
- SEAL ethos.
- Core values (military heritage (aircraft, ships, honours and courtesies) and sexual assault, harassment, fraternisation and discrimination training).
- Exercise science (injury prevention, stretching, rest and recovery, hypothermia related injuries and heat related injuries).
- Nutrition (supplements).
- Mental toughness.
- Military training which includes:
- Basic military training (knot tying and operational risk management).
- Berthing (military pay system, military rights and responsibilities, and moral, welfare and recreation).
- Personnel inspections.
- Phased liberty (leave and liberty policies).
- Professional development (principles of team building, cycle of achievement, goal setting and alcohol and its effects).
3.3 Stage 2: Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Orientation
The Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Orientation, also known NSW Orientation, is delivered by the US Naval Special Warfare Centre located at Coronado, California. This stage of training is also known as BUD/S Indoctrination or just Indoctrination.
This course is 3 weeks in duration and covers the physical and psychological preparation for BUD/S training. This training involves becoming 'familiar' with the obstacle course, swimming practice and teamwork.
Instruction involves a variety of teaching methods including group instruction, classroom-based and practical. NSW Orientation is delivered in three elements:
- Week 1: This week involves administration and check-in, including equipment issue and administrative indoctrination. Candidates will undertake two initial runs and two initial obstacle courses run-throughs.
- Week 2: This is known as orientation week and involves learning the routine, skills and standards required, practicing the skills required for BUD/S entry, and also 'safe student' learning and practical of high-risk evolutions.
- Week 3: Known as test week, it involves:
- BUD/S Entry Standards: standard PST; 4-mile timed run (33 minutes); 1.5-nautical mile Bay swim (65 minutes); and obstacle course (15 minutes).
- Additional skills for Student 'Self-gauging': survival swim; knot tying; drown-proofing; and 25 metre underwater swim.
The Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) course or 'A' School is delivered by the US Naval Special Warfare Centre located at Coronado, California.
Although the length of the course has varied over the years, the subjects covered have essentially remained the same, and include:
- Physical conditioning;
- Small boat handling;
- Diving physics;
- Basic diving techniques for open and closed circuit scuba;
- Land warfare;
- Weapons;
- Demolitions;
- Communications; and
- Hydrographic reconnaissance.
The BUD/S course is delivered in three distinct phases:
- BUD/S First Phase: Basic Conditioning;
- BUD/S Second Phase: Combat Diving; and
- BUD/S Third Phase: Land Warfare Training.
The overall attrition rate during BUD/S is approximately 75% to 80%.
3.4 Stage 3: BUD/S First Phase: Basic Conditioning
The BUD/S First Phase of training, the basic conditioning phase, is 7-weeks in duration and develops candidates in physical training, water competency and mental tenacity while continuing to develop teamwork.
The first day of First Phase is known as Phase Up/Class Up and is the official class start (Bahmanyar, 2005).
During these 7-weeks, candidates are expected to do more running, swimming and calisthenics than the week before, and each candidate's performance is measured by a 4-mile timed run, a timed obstacle course, and a 2-mile timed swim.
Candidates will endure team focused physical training with telephone pole sized logs, surf torture and mud sessions. In addition to physical training, candidates also learn how to conduct hydrographic survey operations and small boat seamanship.
The fourth week of BUD/S First Phase is known as Hell Week. In this gruelling five-and-a-half day stretch, each candidate sleeps only about four total hours but runs more than 200 miles and does physical training for more than 20 hours per day. Because of the particularly challenging requirements of this phase of training, a significant number of candidates will decide to quit by ringing the bell (Section 3.7). Table 7 provides an outline of BUD/S First Phase training.
|Table 7: Outline of BUD/S First Phase training
|Conditioning and Physical Training (PT)
|Hell Week
|Recovery Week/Skills Week
|Hydrographic Reconnaissance and Underwater Skills Test Week
For those candidates, with families, who successfully complete Hell Week, BUD/S will process orders authorising candidates to move their family to San Diego at US Navy expense.
"With 25 percent staying after the first three, four weeks at BUD/S, you've got to be prepared mentally and physically for that." (Myers, 2015).
3.5 Stage 4: BUD/S Second Phase: Combat Diving
The BUD/S Second Phase of training, the combat diving phase, is 7-weeks in duration and introduces underwater skills that are unique to the US Navy SEALs. Table 8 provides an outline of training during BUD/S Second Phase.
|Table 8: Outline of BUD/S Second Phase training
|Dive Physics and Medicine (pass/fail written test for each).
|SCUBA Charging, Dive Safety and Diving Skills.
|Open Circuit: Qualification and Competency (pass/fail).
|Open Circuit: Open Water Diving.
|Closed Circuit Qualification and Competency (pass/fail).
|Closed Circuit Combat Swimmer Skills: Proficiency.
|Combat Swimmer Final Training Exercise.
Within the training outlined in Table 8, candidates:
- Become basic combat swimmers, with an emphasis on long distance underwater dives imitating movement from the launch point to objective.
- Conduct SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) training, initially delivered in the training pool, which consists of:
- Open circuit: compressed air; and
- Closed circuit: 100% oxygen.
- Receive 'drown proofing' training: trainees will have their arms and legs tied.
- Receive 'combative drowning victim' training: A BUD/S instructor will 'attack' a trainee in the pool to simulate a combative drowning victim.
- Must complete:
- A 3.5-nautical mile swim (pass/fail).
- A 5-nautical mile swim (pass/fail).
- 4-mile timed run in 31 minutes.
- 2-mile Ocean swim in 80 minutes.
- Obstacle course in 11 minutes and then 10.30 minutes.
The US Navy suggests that successful Second Phase candidates demonstrate a high level of comfort in the water and the ability to perform in stressful and often uncomfortable environments.
3.6 Stage 5: BUD/S Third Phase: Land Warfare Training
This BUD/S Third Phase of training, the land warfare training phase, is 7-weeks in duration and involves basic weapons, tactics, basic field craft, demolitions, land navigation (individual and group), patrolling (group), rappelling, and marksmanship and small-unit tactics.
The second half of this phase of training is on San Clemente Island, about 60 miles from Coronado. On the island, candidates practice the skills they learned in the first half of BUD/S Third Phase, via a practical tactical exercise. This may include an over the beach sub-exercise and patrolling sub-exercise. Table 9 provides an outline of BUD/S Third Phase training.
|Table 9: Outline of BUD/S Third Phase training
|Introduction to Land Warfare and Land Navigation (pass/fail and written test).
|Rope Insertion Training and Transit to SCI.
|Pistol Training and Qualification (pass/fail).
|Demolitions Training (written test).
Small Unit Field Training Exercises (from mid-week).
Small Unit Tactics (Raids and Immediate Action Drills) (pass/fail for officers).
|Long Rifle (pass/fail) and Machine Gun Training and Qualification.
Demolitions Practical (pass/fail).
Small Unit Field Training Exercises.
|Small Unit Field Training Exercises.
Administration and Graduation from BUD/S.
Candidates will also need to complete:
- 4-mile timed run in 30 minutes;
- 2-mile Ocean swim in 75 minutes; and
- Obstacle course in 10 minutes.
Candidates who successfully complete BUD/S Third Phase graduate BUD/S as Special Warfare Operators, but still have further training to undertake before pinning on a Trident (the badge of a qualified SEAL) and therefore becoming a fully-qualified US Navy SEAL.
At this point successful candidates will be awarded the SEAL Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) 5320.
3.7 Stage 6: SEAL Qualification Training
SEAL Qualification Training (SQT) is designed to provide candidates with the core tactical knowledge and skills they will need to join a SEAL platoon, and is delivered at a variety of US locations. SQT is 26-weeks in duration and includes:
- Weapons training;
- Small unit tactics;
- Land navigation;
- Demolitions;
- Combat engineering;
- Cold weather training, delivered at Kodiak in Alaska;
- Advanced combat first aid or medical skills; and
- Maritime operations.
During SQT candidates will also undertake parachute training which covers the basic skills required for military parachuting. The Navy Parachute Course is 4-weeks in duration and includes:
- Static-line parachute operations.
- Free-fall parachute operations:
- High Altitude-Low Opening (HALO).
- High Altitude-High Opening (HAHO).
To complete the course, candidates must pass through a series of jump progressions, from basic static line to accelerated free fall to combat equipment – ultimately completing night descents with combat equipment from a minimum altitude of approximately 9,500 feet.
Finally, before graduation candidates will also attend SERE (survival, evasion, resistance and escape) training. It is the intermediate skills course that prepares candidates for the advanced training they will receive once they arrive at a SEAL team. The course is 10-days in duration and covers the full spectrum of SERE training.
3.8 Ringing the Bell
If a candidate wishes to quit (known as Drop on Request or DOR) they must 'Ring Out.' The tradition of DOR consists of candidates dropping their helmet liner next to a pole with a brass ship's bell attached to it and ringing the bell three times.
Candidates who do not complete BUD/S training will be reclassified to another US Navy rate (i.e. job) and given orders to an assignment within that rating. Candidates may reapply to BUD/S after a two-year fleet assignment.
3.9 Graduation
Just prior to graduation, candidates will sit what is known as a Trident Board. The board is an oral interview which has no set length of time, to challenge basic knowledge before being awarded the Trident.
Upon completing these (not inconsiderable) requirements, trainees receive their SEAL Trident, designating them as qualified US Navy SEALs. They are subsequently assigned to a SEAL team to begin preparing for their first deployment.
At this point successful candidates will be awarded the SEAL Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) 5326.
Obligated Service, Return of Service in the UK vernacular, is 51 months from class graduation date and awarding of the 5326 NEC or until completion of previous obligated service, whichever is greater.
3.10 SEAL Navy Enlisted Classifications
Enlisted SEAL personnel are designated by Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) codes per their qualifications:
- NEC 5320: Basic Special Warfare Operator (Student);
- NEC 5323: Seal Delivery Vehicle (SDV) Pilot/Navigator/Dry Deck Shelter (DDS) Operator (SEAL);
- NEC 5326: Special Warfare Operator/SEAL; and
- NEC 5392: Naval Special Warfare Medic.
Refer to NAVPERS 18068F Volume II in the Useful Documents Section at the end for further details on NEC codes.
4.0 Introduction
Following graduation, candidates are assigned to a SEAL Platoon, within a SEAL Team, to conduct advanced or work-up training, which can be divided into three distinct streams:
- Individual Specialty Training;
- Unit Level Training; and
- Task Group Level Training.
4.1 Individual Specialty Training
Individual Specialty Training can last up to 6-months and is based upon the individual operator, in partnership with the needs of the platoon. Individuals, with others, will attend a number of US military formal/informal schools and courses which lead to qualifications that collectively enable a SEAL platoon to perform as an operational combat team. Examples of qualifications/courses include:
- Sniper or Scout/Sniper;
- Advanced Close Quarter Combat/Breacher (Barrier Penetration/Methods of Entry);
- Surreptitious Entry (Mechanical and Electronic Bypass);
- Naval Special Warfare Combat Fighting Course;
- Advanced Special Operations;
- Technical Surveillance Operations;
- Advanced Driving Skills (Defensive, Rally and Protective Security);
- Climbing/Rope Skills;
- Advanced Air Operations: e.g. Jumpmaster or Parachute Rigger;
- Diving Supervisor or Diving Maintenance-Repair;
- Range Safety Officer;
- Advanced Demolition;
- High Threat Protective Security: US/Foreign Heads of State or High Value Persons of Interest;
- Instructor School and Master Training Specialist;
- Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Operator;
- Language School; and/or
- Joint SOF and Service Professional Military Education.
4.2 Unit Level Training
Unit Level Training (ULT) can last up to 6-months and is based upon the SEAL Troop/Platoon. Training is run by the respective group (NSWG1/NSWG2) training detachment and is based on the core mission area skills: small unit tactics; land warfare; close quarters combat; urban warfare; hostile maritime interdiction (VBSS/GOPLATS); combat swimming; long range target interdiction; rotary and fixed wing air operations; and special reconnaissance.
4.3 Task Group Level Training
Task Group Level Training can last up to 6-months and is based upon the SEAL Team/Squadron. This is advanced training conducted with the supporting elements of a SEAL Squadron, including Special Boat Teams (SWCC), intelligence, communications, medical and EOD.
A final Certification Exercise (CERTEX) is conducted with the entire SEAL Squadron to synchronise Troop operations under the Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF) umbrella. Following CERTEX, a SEAL Team becomes a SEAL Squadron and is certified for deployment.
Once certified, a SEAL Team/Squadron will deploy to a Joint Special Operations Task Force or Area of Responsibility (AO or AOR) to become a Special Operations Task Force (SOTF), combine with a Joint Task Force (JTF) or Task Force (TF) in support of other National Objectives.
Once assigned, the Troops will be given an AOR where they will either work as a centralised/intact Troop or task organise into decentralised elements to conduct operations, ranging in size from 60 to over 200 personnel.
A SEAL Team/Squadron deployment is approximately 6 months, with the entire cycle being 12 to 24 months in duration.
5.0 Summary
US Navy SEAL training is open to all male and female officers and enlisted personnel of the US military. US Navy SEAL training seeks to attract determined, highly-motivated, intelligent, reliable and physically fit individuals to serve with the US Navy's SEAL Teams. This article provides the basic information to allow individuals to make an informed judgement before applying for US Navy SEAL training.
5.1 TV Documentaries
First aired in October 2000, 'Navy SEALs: BUDS Class 234' was a 6-part series for the Discovery Channel that followed 83 candidates of Class 234 in their efforts to become US Navy SEALS. After 6-months of training only 25 students graduated, 17 of the original 83 and 8 roll-ins (students from previous classes).
A fascinating insight, and eye-opening experience, into the selection and training process for one of the US military's Special Forces units. You WILL feel the pain after watching the physical and mental challenges these candidates are faced with.
5.2 Useful Documents
The following documents can be found within the various websites listed in the Useful Links Section below.
- The US Navy Enlisted Occupational Classifications System (NEOCS):
- NAVPERS 18068F, Manual of Navy Enlisted Manpower and Personnel Classifications and Occupational Standards, Volume I, Navy Enlisted Occupational Standards. October 2015.
- NAVPERS 18068F, Manual of Navy Enlisted Manpower and Personnel Classifications and Occupational Standards, Volume II, Navy Enlisted Classifications. October 2015.
- US Navy Recruiting Manual – Enlisted, COMNAVCRUITCOMINST 1130.8J, Volume II – Eligibility Requirements. Change 8, 27 May 2011.
- Manual of the Medical Department (MANMED). NAVMED P-117, Chapter 15, Article 15-105. Change 139, 24 January 2012.
- US Navy Diving Manual. Revision 6, 15 April 2008.
- OPNAV Instruction 1160.8A, Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB) Programme. 30 January 2007.
- BUPERS Instruction 1430.16F, Advancement Manual for Enlisted Personnel of the US Navy and US Navy Reserve. 02 November 2007.
- OPNAV Instruction 5350.4D, Navy Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention and Control. 04 June 2009.
- US Navy Defence Joint Military Pay System (DJMS) Procedures Training Guide (PTG) (Offline). 18 December 2015.
- Available from World Wide Web: https://dfas4dod.dfas.mil/systems/djms/djms2/index.htm. [Accessed: 02 February, 2016].
- MILPERSMAN 1220-100: Navy Diver (ND) Rating, Change 43, 30 May 2013.
- MILPERSMAN 1220-200: Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Rating, Change 45, 14-11-2013.
- MILPERSMAN 1220-300: Special Warfare Operator (SO) Rating, Change 47, 01 April 2014.
- MILPERSMAN 1220-400: Special Warfare Boat Operator (SB) Rating, Change 32, 02 August 2010.
- MILPERSMAN 1220-410: SEAL/EOD/SWCC/DIVER/AIRR Physical Screening Test Standards & Procedures, Change 42, 06 January 2013.
- Naval Special Warfare Combat Side Stroke (CSS) Guide (2014-03).
- NAVPERS 1306-92 – Special Programmes Screening.
5.3 Useful Books and Magazines
Bahmanyar, M. (2005) Elite 113 – US Navy SEALs. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
Darby, M.J. (2004) Mind Games. All Hands: Magazine of the U.S. Navy. August 2004, pp.14-23. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/department_arch2004.html. [Accessed: 08 February, 2016].
Ethos: Magazine of US Naval Special Warfare: http://www.sealswcc.com/navy-seals-ethos-magazine.html#.VriYOFh4aM8
Liptak, E. (2014) Elite 203: World War II Navy Special Warfare Units. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
McNab, C. (2013) America's Elite: US Special Forces from the American Revolution to the Present Day. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
5.4 Useful Links
- MacDill Air Force Base: http://www.macdill.af.mil/
- US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM): http://www.socom.mil/
- Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM):
- NSW Family:
- New website: https://www.nswwarriorandfamily.org/Pages/default.aspx
- Former website: https://www.nswfamily.org/
- US Navy SEALs and SWCC:
- US Navy Personnel Command:
- Enlisted Community Managers: http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/enlisted/community/specwarops/Pages/default.aspx
- Enlisted Detailing: http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/enlisted/detailing/seal/Pages/default2.aspx
- Officer Community Managers: http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/officer/communitymanagers/Unrestricted/nsw/Pages/default.aspx
- Officer Detailing: http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/officer/Detailing/specwar/Pages/default.aspx
- US Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School (NAVSCIATTS): http://www.public.navy.mil/nsw/NAVSCIATTS/html/index.html
- John C Stennis Space Centre (SSC): http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/home/
- US Navy Careers: http://www.navy.com/careers/special-operations/
- Navy SEAL Foundation: http://www.navysealfoundation.org/
- Coronado: http://www.welcometocoronado.com/coronados-navy/navy-seals/
- US Navy SEAL Museum: http://www.navysealmuseum.org/
- SEAL-NSW Family Foundation: http://www.sealnswff.org/
- Naval Special Warfare Unit 2: https://www.soceur.eucom.mil/Pages/Nsw2
- Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC): http://www.nrotc.navy.mil/special_warfare.html
- Military Academies:
- United States Naval Academy (USNA): http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/Career-Opportunities/Special-Operations-and-Special-Warfare.php
- United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA): https://www.usmma.edu/academics/departments/naval-special-warfare
- Navy Installations Command (CNIC):
- Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC): https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrsw/installations/navbase_coronado.html
- Naval Station Great Lakes: http://www.cnic.navy.mil/GreatLakes/
5.5 References
Black, T.M. (2014) Diversity: Finding the Right People for an Uncompromising Standard. Ethos: Magazine of Naval Special Warfare. Issue 27, October-December 2014, p.22-23.
Feickert, A. (2013) U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress. CRS Report for Congress. Washington: Congressional Research Service
McNatt, A. (2014) NSW Recruits at Army-Navy Football Game. Ethos: Magazine of Naval Special Warfare. Issue 27, October-December 2014, p.5.
Myers, M. (2015) Navy SEALs Won't Change Standards for Women, Admiral Says. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2015/12/17/navy-seals-wont-change-standards-women-admiral-says/77417136/. [Accessed: 08 February, 2016].
Navy Times (2007) Navy Steps Up Search for New SEALs. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/04/navy_sealrecruiting_training_070408w/. [Accessed: 22 October, 2015].
NSO NSW Mentor (2008) SEAL Timetable. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.nsonswmentor.com/Becoming_a_SEAL_Timetable.ppt. [Accessed: 08 February, 2016].
Pellerin, C. (2015) SecDef Opens all Military Occupations to Women. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.therecruiterjournal.com/secdef-opens-all-military-occupations-to-women.html. [Accessed: 04 December, 2015].
ShadowSpear (2008) BUD/S Prep School SWCPC at RTC. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.shadowspear.com/vb/threads/bud-s-prep-school-swcpc-at-rtc.2553/. [Accessed: 08 February, 2016].
SOCNET (2007) New Program Before BUD/S. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.socnet.com/showthread.php?t=74440. [Accessed: 08 February, 2016].
US Navy (2015a) NSW: Naval Special Warfare Command. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.public.navy.mil/nsw/Pages/Default.aspx. [Accessed: 05 January, 2016].
US Navy (2015b) Special Warfare/Special Operations. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.navy.com/careers/special-operations/. [Accessed: 05 January, 2016].
USSOCOM (US Special Operations Command) (2016) 2016 Fact Book United States Special Operations Command. MacDill Air Force Base, Florida: USSOCOM.


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Having lived in both Central Toronto and Vaughan, Joshua has authentic expertise across the GTA. With a background in residential home construction and an approachable outgoing personality, real estate was a natural career choice.
Joshua works with a wide range of clientele in both the residential and commercial sectors, all with unique individual needs. From working with first-time homebuyers to luxury real estate offerings, and from new investors to large commercial corporations, Joshua and his team pride themselves on offering unique strategies for every client and scenario. Joshua is always successful in facilitating his client's real estate needs in a professional and diligent manner.
Having earned several awards and acknowledgments to date, Joshua attributes his success to being extremely service-oriented, strong negotiating, and simplifying the buying and selling process for his clients. Joshua continues to exceed client's expectations with unparalleled success.


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Todd & Erin
Steel Your Nerves EP
When we first set our ears on Todd & Erin last year, they appeared to arrive fully formed. Despite having met just months before, the Santa Barbara duo had already locked down a vision; their songs were bright, perfectly polished pop jams; their aesthetic was similarly crisp, if stylishly grunge-y around the edges. On Steel Your Nerves, the pair continues to crank out pumped-up pop anthems clearly aimed for the dance floor. And as on their debut, the tracks here are tightly knit affairs with strong hooks and big, bright melodies. Lyrically, though, Steel Your Nerves is hit-and-miss, often relying on grand-scale production tricks in place of actual content. Case in point: "All I Can Think About Is You," which would carry the weight of Ellie Goulding's boldest torch song if only someone had bothered to continue writing after they named the thing. As such, Nerves' strongest offering also ends up being its sore-thumb moment, the mid-album highlight "Hate." With Erin in lead-vocal mode against a gently plucked acoustic, this backward-looking little love song boasts some of the EP's most complex and skillfully delivered vocal melodies, perhaps suggesting that scaling back may be the thing that propels these two forward.


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Does your butt need extra moisture? Probably not. If you were to ask dermatologists and beauty editors or anyone that's ever waited on a stinky, sweaty subway platform to do a need-based ranking of "essential" beauty products, butt moisturizer would probably rank in the last quartile, somewhere above kale nail polish but below mermaid hair dye. Your butt doesn't need special moisturizer. Its dry-skin needs are the same as the rest of your body. But what it probably would benefit from is something that smells really, really great.
That's where the Brazilian beauty company Sol de Janeiro succeeds, creating Bum Bum Cream, a butt cream that smells so great that it's become Sephora's best-selling body product, and has celebrities like Hilary Duff telling the New York Times that it simply "smells so good." Even Shawn Mendes tweeted (without being an #ad or in violation of FTC regulations), that it was the "best smelling cream in the world." One hyperbolic YouTuber even proclaimed that it smelled so good that she was confident she could spread it on her vagina and have it "regrow her hymen." Over 400 Sephora users mention its smell as a reason they bought the product (there are over 1,000 reviews on the product, period).
Indeed, the Bum Bum cream does smell pretty fantastic. In perfume-y nerd speak, Bum Bum smells like a gourmand fragrance. In non-nerd speak, it smells like something you would want to eat — a creamy, warm dessert made from scratch and like a mix of pistachio, buttery caramel, and nuts, with the key word being delicious (unless you have a nut allergy). It also smells like musk, so picture that dessert mixed with a little bit of warm laundry scent. In a world where lots of body beauty products smell either sort of fig-y, fake coconut-y, citrus-y, or terrible versions of vanilla, it's a uniquely yummy scent.
Despite being named Bum Bum cream, which is more smart marketing than anything else, the cream is also obviously usable as an all-over body lotion. As a lotion, it does a pretty good job, with a thick but silky cream containing a little glittery mica, coconut oil, cupuaçu butter, and açaí, that easily glides onto the skin and acts as a nice moisture barrier. A touch of guaraná, an Amazonian plant that contains potent caffeine, is also in the formula and purportedly helps tighten your skin. But really, it's all about the smell.


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Less Traveled
In the movies, farmhouse doomsday lunatics always have a store room or cellar crammed with canned goods and preserving jars filled to the brim with fruit and vegetables brined or sugared into oblivion, their glass jars caloric bombs waiting to be unsealed and lining orderly if dusty shelves. The farmhouse I found myself in now had no such stores. A few items in the sparse pantry were usable, but the house had long since succumbed to the madness of it's occupant. The shooter, whose screams were mercifully short, had been devoured in moments by the undead horde. The ghouls had moved on after their meal following whatever ruined mental compass seemed to propel their aimless shambling between hunts, Finn and I erased from their corroded minds as quickly as we had become the focus of it.
We had survived, this boy of mine and I, though I couldn't tell why or to what end. I had no guesses as to how long we would be able to continue. There was no sense of victory here, or despair. All of it seemed to flatten out as the tasks piled up before me. My wife, asphyxiated in a silo just a few dozen yards from the shattered, blood stained hovel I found myself in; my son, small and hungry and distressingly quiet tied with rags to my chest. Food, transportation, shelter, all at crisis. In the years to come, upon reflection, searching for a moment of decision, the closest I would recall was now, swaying with exhaustion and fear in a broken farmhouse amid the vast agricultural wilderness of middle America. There was no conscious decision to press on. That was the great revelation. Survival bypasses the mind. It's a catharsis of the body; a stubborn physical refusal to die.
There was precious little to salvage. A .308 rifle, covered in gore, cleaned as best I could in a short time, a small ammo can of loose and annoyingly heavy ammunition, a few ancient looking cans of stewed tomatoes, a can of sweetened condensed milk, a passably sharp kitchen knife, and a gallon of water pumped from a decidedly sketchy red water pump found near a wash basin. I tore sheets from the bed and reslung Finn, tore the rest for rags and diapers and shoved all but the rifle into an old newspaperboy's sack I found hanging in the garage. I wet my fingers with the sweetened milk and fed Finn the syrupy goo, hoping it's calories would get him through the day, wondering abstractly what would get me through.
I walked outside, marveling at the overwhelming liar's cheerfulness of the afternoon sky, it's bright light and cloudless sky belying the lurking, lumbering reality on the ground. It always struck me as incongruous, this difference between the external and internal environment. I stood for a long moment just outside the battered front door doing nothing but breathing. This house had been a source only of danger and misery, yet I found myself oddly reluctant to leave it. Despite its congealing mess upstairs and the appalling lack of even the most remedial resources, it was still a house and therefore a tiny piece of a familiar world, with walls and rooms that made sense. Walking away from it felt terribly exposed. There were, of course, no other options.
Shouldering the newspaper bag, checking Finn, and grasping the rifle, I lumbered out into the day, turning down the long grassy drive, listening and watching for any movement, any sign of the undead. It wasn't long before the grassy drive forked. I paused for only a second to decide. I took the one less traveled by, hoping that would make all the difference.


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Find Long Bed Utility Cart rentals at Rockland Golf Carts for your next project near Rockland, NY.
Rockland Golf Carts offers the best Long Bed Utility Cart in Rockland, NY. Renting, picking up, and returning equipment has never been easier than with Rockland Golf Carts. Book now to lock in your rental, create an account to monitor and make changes to your booking, and pay online.


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This should not be used as a means to relocate a database. The recommended way to move a database is to backup all cases via FTK, reinstall the database at the desired location, and restore your case backups.
Introduction: If the database folders have been moved, renamed, or the database junction links have otherwise been broken, FTK will fail to connect to PostgreSQL even if the PostgreSQL service starts successfully. The following steps will help you repair the PostgreSQL junction links.
- Stop the PostgreSQL service.
- Download and extract the attached ListSymLinks.zip
- Run the extracted ListSymLinks.cmd script to list your current junction links to see if any of them are broken
- If the script reports that they are broken, take note of the path(s) indicated to be missing
- Find each missing path in the TXT file that opens at the end of the script, and take note of its associated "JUNCTION" number (it's the number after "pg_tblspc/" on the line before the broken "Substitute Name" path).
- For each missing path found in step 4, take note of the last folder name in the path, and search your PC for that folder, taking note of its new location. For example, if the broken path was "D:\pgData93\ad\ADG\adg_adg510_ts" you'd look for a folder named "adg_adg510_ts".
- Navigate to the "[pgData]\pg_tblspc" folder (within the "pgdata" folder) and delete the broken junction link(s) found in from step 5.
- Open a Command Prompt (as Administrator)
- Change the Command Prompt's directory (CD) to the extracted "ListSymLinks" folder
- For each broken junction link, run the following command to create a new junction point pointing to the destination found in step 10:
junction.exe [path_to_pgdata]\pg_tblspc\[number_from_step_5] [path_from_step_6]
Example: if my pgdata folder is at "D:\pgdata", the broken junction link number was "17273", and I want it to point to "C:\ADG_ADG510_TS", the command would be as follows:
junction.exe "D:\pgdata\pg_tblspc\17273" "C:\ADG_ADG510_TS"
- After performing step 10 for every broken junction link, start the PostgreSQL service.
- Open FTK and verify correct functionality.


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Last Updated 11/4/2021 at 3:00 PM
Jerusalem, Neve Yaakov: "I feel personally victimized…. by this government! This obviously anti-religious bill attacks me personally!" lamented Yisroel M, a 20-year-old yeshiva student, describing his feelings about the new tax on disposable plasticware. "If the Yeshiva wanted us to do dishes, they should have put dishwashers in our dorm rooms, but all they gave us was a 'negel vasser' sink in the middle of the kitchenette."
"When my sister Shevy in Sanhedriya heard the news she tore keriya." Yisroel explained. "As a mom with seven small children, how does anyone expect her to wash dishes? Between her unlicensed gan that she runs out of her house and her cash-only sheitel washing business, she doesn't have time. With this extra expense, she's looking for another job….. a few of her neighbors approached her to join their shady MLM."
We wanted to speak with Shevy but Yisroel warned us not to. "She's just going to pester you about when you're going to America next and if you can bring her back some plastic plates in your luggage." he admonished. "Our aunt just visited and half her suitcase was filled with American toilet paper! What's wrong with Shevy? Can't she just order it on Amazon like everyone else?"
Yisroel offered us a cup of grainy instant coffee from his yeshiva lounge as we discussed his distrust of coercive government. "They tax stuff we really need …because they're telling us what to do! I'm an independent thinker, nobody tells me what to do…. except for my Rosh Yeshiva."
As we left, Yisroel noted that he was afraid the government would impose taxes on other things that he loved in order to try to make him buy less of them. "What if they taxed black pants that don't reach my ankles? Or buying cholent Thursday night? Or imagine if they put a tax …. on our cigarettes!"


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EBRD Supports CTP's Green Eurobond Issue
By Olga Aristeidou
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invested €42.5 million (US$50.79million) in a €500 million green Eurobond issue by real estate company CTP NV to support its portfolio expansion, thereby increasing the supply of green real-estate stock across the EBRD's regions.
CTP is the largest full service industrial and logistics property owner-developer in central and eastern Europe, with a portfolio of 100 industrial parks in key hubs.
The proceeds from the Bank's investment will be used to finance the development and acquisition of sustainable industrial parks in Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and the Slovak Republic. Newly built assets will be certified as "Very Good" or better, and older buildings will be upgraded to "Very Good", in line with BREEAM, the world's leading sustainability assessment method for buildings, and will be managed in line with best practice environmental and energy management standards.
As part of the EBRD's investment, CTP is committing to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chain. It will also further enhance its climate governance and disclosure practices, which will directly influence its operations and development activities in these five countries, and address sustainability and climate change issues.
In addition, and with EBRD support, the company is expected to increase access to training and employment opportunities for young people through policy dialogue and private sector skills committees. The goal is to upgrade skills standards and policies in green industrial real estate management, logistics and engineering.
CTP will introduce a high quality, nationally accredited dual-learning and on-the-job training programme, implemented in partnership with local technical vocational schools. After a successful pilot in Romania, the scheme is to be replicated in other countries.
EBRD Director, Property and Tourism, Vlaho Kojakovic said: "Boosting the development of green industrial real estate is a priority for the EBRD. We are very proud to be supporting the expansion plans of our long-standing partner CTP, helping it to narrow gaps in sectoral skills, youth employment opportunities as well as to reach ambitious climate-related targets. The investment addresses challenges related to supply chains and logistic infrastructure in the EBRD's regions, by supporting CTP's continuous development of the logistics sector."
CTP's Head of Funding and Investor Relations, Jan-Evert Post commented: "We regard this cooperation with the EBRD as a win-win-win. First, the EBRD's involvement in CTP's bonds contributes to the EBRD's economic and social development objectives for the region, while proceeds from our green bonds are used to support CTP's development activities. And second, through this cooperation with the EBRD, CTP further enhances its local community activities, aimed at improving education in the regions in which we operate." The EBRD is a leading investor in the property sector in the 38 economies in which it currently invests. Through its involvement in this and related markets, the Bank aims to redress the fundamental undersupply of modern, high-quality, energy efficient commercial, logistics and residential real estate. To date, the EBRD has invested over €3.5 billion in the property and tourism sectors across


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New Zealand's biggest role-playing convention, held in the Kapital over Wellington Anniversary weekend each year.
Get in early for your choice of first round games!
Table-top role-playing for players from the ages of 5 years and up and their parents and guardians. Join Adventure Squad now!
We're always trying to encourage people to run games for us! Why not give it a try?
Visit the KapCon Archive if you're interested in seeing what we've got up to in previous years!
Past entries of the KapCon Scenario Design Contest.
Want to find out about other New Zealand role-playing conventions, or hook up with gamers in New Zealand? Check out RPG.ORG.NZ!
Engine Heart is a game about little robots. When the humans were around, nobody paid any attention to them, but now that the humans are gone, the robots are on their own in a world that's falling apart.
All trademarks used are properties of their respective ownersCopyright 2000-2014. All rights reserved.


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Escape game delivered - you will receive an unmarked briefcase taken from a suspected criminal mastermind. Likewise, custom made spy gadgetry and additional reports from a Secret Service Agency will be delivered to your doorsteps. The goal is to get through multiple layers of the case and obtain the information inside. For an at-home game, you will have a video link to headquarters, along with a zoom meeting connection to a game master.
You will enter a world of secrets and puzzles when you attempt to go through the briefcase. As the team progresses and uncover more secrets, and your time drains, a surprise is in store.
Escape game deliveries now include multiple cities in the San Francisco Bay Area East Bay region. On Thursday and Saturday, we are aiming to serve Berkley, Oakland, Emeryville, Alameda, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, Hayward, Union City, Fremont, Newark, Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin, San Ramon,
On Fridays and Sundays, we are providing our services to Concord, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro, Hayward, and Castro Valley.