21 men signed up for the Belize Coast Guard Seals training program this year, but only one made it through the grueling four month course. Today that single seals graduate joins a platoon of coast guard seals- an elite squad of military men who operate as the special forces of the Belize Coast Guard. This year’s graduate whose name cannot be revealed for security reasons now joins the squad of elites- whose paramilitary training is enough to measure up to the US Navy Seals. The graduation ceremony this afternoon kicked off in the usual military style as the graduate was joined by members of the B-Sag and the US Navy in simulating a military combat scenario.  

CDR Elton Bennett - Assistant Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
"What you saw here today is culminations of 4 a month’s exercise involving the Belize Coast Guard Seal and we started back in April with 21 potential candidates. During that 4 month period majority of the candidate class dropped out and we are down to one coast guard man who's graduating and be pinned with a coast guard seal trident today. The exercise was very difficult going through different phases of leadership and tactics; land, sea and air operations as you witnessed today so we're very proud of that one individual and it's a programme that we consider to be very important for the coast guard in conducting special operations."

Emanuel Pech
"Over the course of the years that the programme has been running we've noticed a decrease in the number of graduates. Could you tell us why? Is the programme getting more difficult?"

CDR Elton Bennett - Assistant Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
"Not getting more difficult we think it is the same curriculum the same system. You know it’s structured by the United States Navy Seals and they are the one who are really conducting the training for us. So there is no change should the programme we believe that we are preparing our candidates well and we are doing our best to get them prepared for this exercise and training. It's a difficult very difficult course."

Emanuel Pech
"Just give us an idea of what this single person that graduated endured over the course of the 4 months."

CDR Elton Bennett - Assistant Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
"It started off with introduction mainly physical. They would go through different tactical operations. As mentioned it’s more mental than anything so they would be doing long hours during the day but the main event during the training is what we refer to as hell week where that one individual would get somewhere between 3 to 4 hours sleep for the entire week and just a continuous physically demanding pressure on him."

Reporter
"One of the questions that come to mind is how often or have these individuals these high trained operators been activated in any instances thus far?"

CDR Elton Bennett - Assistant Commandant, Belize Coast Guard
"They would go out on special operations. Special operations meaning anything not routine; high risk operations, counter drugs, counter narcotics operations. The frequency of which we would not be able to discuss on air but there involved once we believe the tempo of that operation requires a more specially trained, special equipped group of men then we would launch the coast guard seals into that mission."

The Belize Coast Guard Seals program has been facilitated by the US Navy seals from its inception. But today’s ceremony also marked an end to that program. The bad part is, the Coast Guard Commandant does not yet have the 48 seals that he originally wanted. For that reason according to the assistant commandant, it will now become the job of the past graduates to train the new recruits.