Navy SEAL Training: JD Vance Participates in Rigorous Exercise Regimen

Vice President JD Vance Joins Navy SEALs for Grueling Training Session

New photos obtained exclusively show Vice President JD Vance training alongside U.S. Navy SEALs at their facility in Coronado, California, participating in a rigorous 90-minute workout that left the former Marine feeling “hit by a freight train.”

The images capture Vance fully immersed in multiple stages of SEALs training, carrying logs, rowing in the ocean, running on the beach, and navigating a challenging rope obstacle course. Many of the SEALs’ faces were blurred in the released photos to protect their identities.

“Just finished PT with the Navy SEALs for 90 minutes,” Vance shared in a social media post Monday. “They took it easy on me and I still feel like I got hit by a freight train.”

The vice president used the experience to express gratitude to America’s special operations forces, writing that he is “so grateful to all of our warriors who keep us safe and keep the highest standards anywhere in the world.”

Vance’s military background gives him personal insight into such training. As a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who enlisted in 2003 and deployed to Iraq in 2005 with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, he worked in public affairs during his service. This military experience has shaped his perspectives on national security issues, the human costs of armed conflict, and the weighty responsibility leaders bear when deploying troops into combat zones.

The Navy SEALs represent the pinnacle of military special operations capabilities. Known for maintaining extraordinarily demanding physical standards, these elite units conduct specialized missions ranging from counterterrorism operations to complex maritime interventions. Their training is famously rigorous, designed to push human endurance to its limits.

This high-profile workout session aligns with broader messaging from the Trump administration emphasizing physical readiness across the U.S. armed forces. War Secretary Pete Hegseth has been particularly vocal on this front, frequently stating that American troops need to be “fit, not fat” – a standard he insists should extend all the way to general and flag officers.

Hegseth himself has demonstrated this commitment by participating in physical training sessions with service members during visits to military units worldwide, signaling a top-down approach to fitness within the military’s leadership structure.

The administration appears to be prioritizing a culture of physical preparedness as part of its broader military policy, with senior officials like Vance and Hegseth leading by personal example. This emphasis comes at a time when military readiness has become an increasingly important focus, both for operational effectiveness and national security posture.

For Vance, whose political rise has been partly defined by his military service and heartland roots, the training session offered a visible connection to America’s most elite fighting forces. Though the SEALs “took it easy” on him by their standards, the vice president’s willingness to participate in their notoriously challenging regime demonstrates a hands-on approach to military engagement that distinguishes him from many previous vice presidents.

The photos from the session show Vance in workout attire alongside the SEALs, including a final group photo with an American flag backdrop – visually reinforcing the administration’s emphasis on military strength and readiness.