Physical and mental health is important to the recruiting process for SPECWAR candidates. We spoke with an expert at the Navy's Recruit Training Command to find out how Navy SEAL and SWCC candidates can stay on top of their game. For more info check out www.sealswcc.com.

Sound ups:
"You have to pay attention to detail and you have to give it your maximum effort"
"Division, attention!…"

Daniel Fletcher: Welcome to "The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday," the official Navy SEAL podcast.

00:15
DF: Mental and physical health is essential to a successful trip through Navy Boot Camp, even more so for NSW candidates. I'm Daniel Fletcher. As we continue our boot camp series from Great Lakes, Illinois, we sit down with medical liaison for crew training command, Chief Hospital Corpsman Jeff Ramirez. We answer some common questions about recruit medical history, mental health, medications, and preventative care. Listen up.

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00:44
DF: Thanks for sitting down with us for one, and if you could just briefly talk about what you do here that would be a great start.

00:49
JR: I deal with all medical related issues, in terms of recruit appointments, any injuries that we have here going to network hospitals, to the federal healthcare center, outsourced down to Chicago. Any questionable areas that the doctors have that they need to liaison with the RDCs here in terms of missed appointments or recruits not eating enough, or even if they feel like they're getting too much exercise, because there's instances where we start breaking some recruits down that are couch potatoes, and then they get over here, and they learn right away that it's a little different here.

01:21
DF: What types of tests or any type of screening do you administer, or is that not part of your position?

1:28
JR: So, that's not part of my position here. So, I deal with the docs, and it's going to range from mental health to your physical therapy, your preventative meds and then general, sick hall, but it's every illness or injury or anything medical related between RTC and the providers.

01:46
DF: Okay. Are there any ailments or injuries that you see specifically for the 800 guys that are coming through the pipeline here?

01:51
JR: 800 guys... I would say the biggest injuries that I see would be shin splints, stress fractures and not getting enough nutrients. Rhabdo, Rhabdomyolysis. We'll see that. They didn't train for the pipeline before they got here. So, when they're doing the DIVEMO PT, their body is breaking it down. (DF: Pretty severe.) Their muscles are breaking it down pretty severe, yes.

02:13
DF: I guess that is kind of a form of a failed test so to speak, if someone's put in a position physically where their body is not holding up. Are there any other specific medical tests that are given periodically or on a routine basis that you see NSW candidates having issues with?

02:30
JR: Special physicals. They'll go to special physicals. They'll answer the questionnaires there, go through their overall history to see if there's anything that raises any red flags. In terms of anything periodic, that doesn't happen unless they, they choose to go to sick hall. You know, if they're having some issues that RDCs say they see, any 800, any recruit really walking around with limps or looking distressed or sick, we're going to send them to sick hall regardless. You'll get your labs drawn over there, or if you've got to go to bone density scan or X-rays. A lot of 800s, you know, they really want to be here most of them, so it's kind of hard to get them to go to medical sometimes. So it's, you know, its our responsibility, and I get a lot of phone calls about that, "Hey, I have a recruit that's kind of been limping around. He says he's okay, but, however, my spidey senses are telling me he probably needs to get seen." Then we'll go ahead and send him in there and usually find out something else.

03:22
DF: If there'(continued)