The Navy SEALs are the elite of the elite forces of the US Navy. Because of the exclusivity and the prestige that comes with being a Navy SEAL, it is not surprising for young men who join the Navy to at least try for the SEALs. Qualifying for the SEALs is often seen as a notch up the ladder in the military career of those who join the Navy.

Still, it is not easy to qualify for the Navy SEALs. You do not just walk up to a SEALs recruiter and say that you want to join their ranks. Before you are even able to do that, you need to meet their requirements and prepare yourself for the rigorous training that you will receive when you qualify for the SEALs.

What are these requirements that you need to meet before you can join the Navy SEALs? Here are the six requirements that you must have in order to join the Navy and to become a candidate for the Navy SEAL training.

1. ASVAB. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) exams are a must for anyone who will join the navy or start a career in the military. Under the ASVAB, your skills and knowledge on the following subject areas will be tested: Arithmetic Reasoning, Auto and Shop Information, Coding Speed, Electronic Information, General Science, Mathematical Knowledge, Mechanical Comprehension, Numerical Operations, Paragraph Comprehension, and Word Knowledge. In order to qualify for enlistment with the Navy SEALs, your ASVAB scores must either be GS+MC+EI=165 or VE+MK+MC+CS=220.

2. PST. The PST or physical screening test is what makes enlistment with the Navy SEALs hard. You need to prepare for this at least 26 weeks before you enlist. The PST involves timed running and swimming, as well as performing a number of sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups within a given time limit.

3. Vision. It is a must for you to have good eyesight if you want to join the Navy SEALs. Uncorrected, your vision should be not any worse than 20/200. However, the Navy can give you a waiver for the vision requirement if you undergo photorefractive keratectomy surgery or LASIK surgery to correct your vision. When corrected, your vision should be 20/20.

4. Age. You need to be between 18 to 28 years old to join the Navy SEALs. However, it is possible for you to get a waiver if you are already 29 or 30 years old. If you are 17 or younger, you would need to provide written parental consent before you can enlist.

5. Gender. The Navy SEALs does not accept women in its ranks at the moment. This is a policy passed by both Congress and the Department of Defense, where women cannot be involved in direct ground combat assignments in the military. Nonetheless, there are other options available for women who want to join the Navy.

6. Citizenship. Enlistment to the Navy SEALs – or to any branch of the military – is open only to citizens of the United States or legal, green card-holding residents of the United States. If you intend to join the Navy with the goal of getting commissioned as an officer, you need to be a native-born or naturalized citizen of the United States.

As you can see from these requirements, enlisting with the Navy SEALs is a serious matter. It is something that you need to be totally committed to if you really want to join the Navy and become part of the SEALs.

This Article is written by James Kara Murat