John Allen

speaker

2,188 appearances 4 recordings 3 series first heard Nov 2013 last heard 31 Aug

John Allen’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.

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The MeatEater Podcast · Ep. 924: MrBallen on SEALS, the War in Afghanistan, and a Career in Storytelling · 31 Aug 2026 podcast

You fix your stupid air source, which sometimes might even be where your head's cocked to the side because there's still a knot, but it's a breathable air source where it's there's not a perfect seal.

And so every breath you take requires drinking pool water to get a little breath of air.

And that's like the rest of the test, you'll be tested on that.

So it's like you're looking out across the pool and it's just a sea of chaos, but it's the silence.

And you're like, I'm about to do this for 20 minutes.

And it's just it's the whole

whole test is just you're you're progressively becoming more and more

You're like hyperventilating.

They they they come down to like turn your air off and they watch when your bubbles are exhaling.

So you're like on an exhale as the as each of these breath holds begin.

And it's it's just like breath holding and stress-induced situations for 20 minutes.

I mean, it's sort of been uh the the test pool comp is it's likened to simulated drowning.

Like, can you handle simulated drowning?

Uh and it's like such a gut check, and I was horrible at it, but I I've

Eventually past it, but by the skin of my teeth.

Some guys are phenomenal and they can just go like the ho Hawaiian surfer guys, though they'll go in there, they can hold their breath for like five minutes

Like five minutes.

We uh I mean basically every day in the early part of SEAL training, when you get when you get to the compound to start your day at, you know, four or five in the morning, like every day begins with jumping in the ocean, which is sort of like not a big deal.

But psychologically, you know the whole day is gonna be awful.

You're already pretty much sleep deprived to begin with.

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