CORONADO, Calif. — Mario Romero was in the middle of training to be a Navy SEAL when he heard about it: the largest loss of life in a single mission in the 40-year history of the elite force of Navy commandos.
Eleven SEALs had died in Afghanistan -- three were part of a Special Forces unit that disappeared June 28 in the mountains of Afghanistan, and eight were aboard a helicopter shot down by Taliban guerrillas while attempting to rescue the unit.
The most SEALs killed in a single incident in Vietnam was five.
"We were all feeling anger and sadness," said Romero, 22. "But it also inspired us, made us motivated, driven to get over there."
That motivation paid off Friday as Romero and 34 other enlisted sailors finished the 50-week training course and were each awarded the coveted Trident insignia.
It was the first graduation at the SEAL training school here since the loss in Afghanistan. Although there was no direct reference to the 11 deaths by the SEAL brass who addressed the graduates and their family members, it was difficult not to hear references embedded in their official comments.
Vice Adm. Eric T. Olson, a SEAL and deputy commander of the U.S. Special Forces Command, said the graduates had "crossed a bed of hot coals" to graduate but that the rigor of being a SEAL had just begun.
"You will earn your Trident every day as a SEAL," he said. "You have to prove yourself every day."
Class 253 began a year ago with 166 would-be SEALs. The washout rate was 79%, about average for a SEAL class.
Each of the graduates had run 1,310 miles in the sand with their boots on, swum 150 miles in the ocean, completed a grueling half-mile obstacle course 39 times, spent 57 hours submerged in cold water, and performed five parachute jumps. Collectively, they fired 850,000 rounds and detonated 5,500 pounds of explosives.
The SEALs are one of the military's smallest groups, numbering about 2,400 SEALs, 600 combat crewmen and 2,000 support personnel.
The graduation of Class 253 was the first since the writing of the SEAL Ethos, which was read aloud by a senior enlisted SEAL.
Its conclusion reads, "Brave men have fought and died building the proud tradition and feared reputation that I am bound to uphold.... I will not fail."
SEAL Capt. Garry Bonnelli, a reservist and Vietnam veteran, said he was not surprised that Afghanistan and the loss of the 11 SEALs were not mentioned directly. It didn't have to be, he said in a telephone interview.
