Neoprene diving suits under the camouflage uniforms, air tanks with 95% oxygen that recycle the air so that no bubbles will give away their position, mines tied to their backs and gloves with cuts in the fingers for better feeling of the trigger. Something between dolphins and spidermen, the Greek Navy SEAL are getting ready for a training dive and they do not stop, not even for a moment, to smile and sing.

It is 11:00 a.m and I just got in the Greek Navy SEAL’s camp. The main building is decorated with pieces of diving equipment and parts of the walls are covered with camouflage ropes. In the administrator’s office, a large Greek flag stands in the wall, written under it is the date 1996 and the description “raised flag in the Imia rocks in their guarding mission”.

The garden and training areas look like battlefields. Mines, small submarines and rockets, frame a monument in the memory of SEAL who didn’t make it through the basic training, which isn’t as “basic” as the word suggests. At the moment there are two hundred active SEAL that form 6 teams, the so-called “groups of unorthodox warfare” or “O.A.P”.

Their bodies look like they are made of porcelain and their muscular power appears unlimited. “This is the result of devotion, hard training and intense muscle fatigue. Come on I’ll show you,” says John – whose real name is classified, as are those of the other SEAL. He takes me to the “running battle” to show me one of the parts of the basic training. It takes us half an hour to walk through the obstacles that they need to overcome in 9 minutes. Tree trunks that have to be carried, barbed wire that they need to crawl under, towers that have to be climbed, a swimming pool that has to be crossed by air, on a rope, and many more other ordeals that partially explain the six-pack bodies of the SEAL and why they are able to carry boats while running in the mountain without major difficulty – boats that I tried to lift just a little bit and didn’t even manage to move them an inch.

The Greek Navy SEAL have a very strong bonding among them, they always work in pairs and they refer to each other as family. This is the major difference between Greek and U.S. SEAL. “In the U.S. SEAL the competition is extremely hard” says the commander of the Greek SEAL who has been trained in both Greek and US SEAL. “You only care to be the best one, in the Greek SEAL you don’t care to have the best time, you want to help the others make it through the training too”.

Seeing our personal heroes training and spending time in the camp, I couldn’t help but wonder what it feels like when you get past the basic and final training and finally become a SEAL? “At first it feels like you have conquered the world, then you realize that the concept of limits is a lie, there are no limits we always evolve and become better”. The answer I got was the same from three different SEAL laughing and agreeing with each other as they were getting the boats ready for their coming dive.

The engines are on, the smell of gasoline and oil burning in them fills the atmosphere and we are ready to go destroy a frigate – unfortunately they will destroy it and I only get to watch, but that’s the life of a journalist. That is all part of their training and the frigate has nothing to worry about, since the mines that will be used are made of wood. While heading to the yards in Salamina, John tells me about the “devil’s week,” the toughest part of the basic training. “It is the fifth week of phase one of the basic training. It lasts six days and we only get to sleep for thirty minutes in total. We are training non-stop and that is the week that you realize if you really want to be a SEAL. The majority of people that give up do it during this week.” And they must be a lot since according to their commander only 15% of the people that go enroll to the SEAL manage to finally become SEAL.

And so we are in the yards and the divers are ready to hit the water, “if my wife calls, get me out,” says Chris, a SEAL since 2007 and father to be in the next couple of days, and disappears underwater. Even though they are not deeper than six meters and I imagine which their position should be, there is no way for human eye to identify that there are divers underwater. The dive lasted twenty minutes, two pairs placed the wooden mines in the frigate’s propeller and got back on the boats. The only female SEAL was in the boat all the time “This lady over there has saved dozens of lives, even my partner. She is an amazing doctor,” says the diving trainer while helping a SEAL back on the boat.

Getting back on the camp, I can smell BBQ and listen to music. Some SEAL are enjoying the sky turning orange and the sun disappearing in the sea, while the “school”, which is how they refer to the future SEAL that are still going through their training, are in the water, practicing and two commando-dogs are swimming in circles around them. How can these people undertake the toughest training among all the special forces and yet smile all the time? “First of all, there has to be something wrong with you to come here in the first place,” says John, laughing. Chris adds, ” plus we learn how to never lose our spirit.”

11:00 p.m and I feel exhausted just by observing what the SEAL did during they day. The camp is quiet, the lights are off and the moonlight glitters on the sea. I could get used to this.
7:00 a.m. Male voices wake me up. I go to the window and watch the school running and screaming slogans. An hour of gymnastics later, they are training in the swimming pool, learning how to dive. Trainers and SEAL are talking about some nice dives that they did in their free time, motorcycles and e-bay. John is bored and climbs the rope above the swimming pool to show me the exact way that this should be done. I am still trying to wake up, carrying around a cup of coffee. I was wrong, I couldn’t get used to this.

10:00 a.m and I’m the basement where the SEAL keep their equipment. “This is the best make-up ever,” says John. “It comes in different colors, doesn’t come off with water and when you are wearing it no one can tell you apart from the rest of the forest.” The camouflage make-up, a survival kit with food for a day and some medicines, plus the guns and magazines are all the things that have to fit in the SEAL’s jackets that weight about 14kg. Wearing them is hard enough, but the SEAL run for 30 miles with them and in boots.

11:00 a.m and it is about time for me to leave. I look around and observe for the last time the training obstacles, the dogs that run by the school and the monument of the people that died trying to be our heroes. I listen to the SEAL singing while walking fast towards their destination and smell gasoline and oil. Some team must be going for a dive. “Too bad you didn’t get to come a day earlier,” says John. “You would have seen us jump from the helicopters.” Well… the next time I’ll make sure I wont miss that. After all, I know that they can dive, hide, destroy and survive, I should also find out if they can fly.