US Navy SEAL Candidates Sickened by Training in Sewage-Laced Ocean Water

[C0RI0LANUS]

US Navy SEAL candidates participate in Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training at Coronado, CA, 23 Jan 2018. (Petty Officer 1st Class Abe McNatt/US Navy photo)

Navy SEAL candidates in California are often training in water filled with bacteria that cause illnesses, a Department of Defense watchdog report found, and the service's special warfare command does not have a formal policy for monitoring water quality and relocating training.

The DoD inspector general's findings said candidates at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado would often train in the water even when local San Diego beaches nearby were closed to the public due to high levels of "fecal indicator bacteria."



Between January 2019 and May 2023 alone, the Naval Special Warfare Center reported 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illnesses with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea among SEALs and candidates.

A notable 39% of those cases, or 457 people, were diagnosed with those illnesses within a week of being in ocean water that surpassed the state's limits for contamination.
Water contamination has been a long-standing issue in Coronado due in part to pollution from the Tijuana River Valley in Mexico, which flows to area beaches and causes significant closures to the shoreline.

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In my nearly three decades of military service, I never heard of a SECDEF being booed nor have I heard of USN SEAL candidates being sickened by bacteria-infected ocean water. I worked with a former USN SEAL years ago and of he never told me a story like this and he had great stories. What a world we live in now.

Source:

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/02/13/navy-seal-candidates-sickened-training-sewage-laced-ocean-water-pentagon-watchdog-finds.html

[RockRaven]

1. They don't even have a formal policy about how to decide to go in the poop water or not.

Gee, I wonder why people keep getting sick...

[C0RI0LANUS]

2. Weird right? Most likely the training schedules can't be altered. I wonder if this problem existed before?

[pfitz59]

3. The Tijuana River is an open sewer.

It crosses the border and empties into the ocean at Imperial Beach. Especially bad during heavy rains and flooding. The Navy could test for fecal coliform. Or move training up the coast.

[Emile]

4. Trump could rename the Tijuana River to San Diego River

and that would take care of it.

[C0RI0LANUS]

5. Thanks Navy! I knew a squid could help with this one. "Move training up the coast." D'Oh! Why didn't they think of that?

[C0RI0LANUS]

6. San Francisco dumps millions of gallons of sewage into the Pacific Ocean during powerful storms.

You can't make this $hit up.



Source:

https://www.kqed.org/science/1996145/sf-dumps-millions-of-gallons-of-sewage-during-big-storms-surfers-say-that-needs-to-stop