United States Navy SEALs
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| Navy SEALs | |
|---|---|
 U.S. Navy SEALs Insignia |
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| Active | January 1, 1962–present |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Type | Maritime Special Operations Force |
| Role | Maritime and Riverine special operations |
| Size | ~2,500 |
| Part of | United States Naval Special Warfare Command United States Special Operations Command |
| Garrison/HQ | Coronado, California Little Creek, Virginia |
| Nickname | Frogmen |
| Motto | (Unofficial) "Ready to Lead, Ready to Follow, Never Quit", "The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday", "It Pays to be a Winner" |
| Engagements | Vietnam War Operation Urgent Fury Achille Lauro hijacking Operation Just Cause Operation Desert Storm Operation Restore Hope Battle of Mogadishu (Four operators from the Development Group were a part of the assault convoy) Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom Operation Red Wing |
The United States Navy Sea, Air and Land Forces, commonly known as the US Navy SEALs, are the elite Special Operations Forces of the U.S. Navy, employed in unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, counter-terrorism, and special reconnaissance operations.
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[edit] History
The US Navy Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) were a precursor to the current United States Navy SEALs. Under-Water Demolition Teams began training in June 1943, one year before the invasion of Normandy. In World War II, UDT saw action at Normandy and at various locations in the South Pacific. The UDT refined and developed their commando tactics during the Korean War, with their efforts initially focused on demolitions and mine disposal.
President John F. Kennedy, aware of the situations in Southeast Asia, recognized the need for unconventional warfare and utilized Special Operations as a measure against guerrilla activity. In a speech to Congress in May 1961, Kennedy shared his deep respect of the Green Berets. He announced the government's plan to put a man on the moon, and, in the same speech, allocated over one hundred million dollars toward the strengthening of the Special Forces in order to expand the strength of the American conventional forces.
Realizing the administration's favor of the Army's Green Berets, the Navy needed to determine its role within the Special Forces arena. In March of 1961, the Chief of Naval Operations recommended the establishment of guerrilla and counter-guerrilla units. These units would be able to operate from sea, air or land. This was the beginning the official Navy SEALs. Many SEAL members came from the Navy's UDT units, who had already gained experience in commando warfare in Korea; however, the UDTs were still necessary to the Navy's amphibious force.
The first two teams were on opposite coasts: Team Two in Little Creek, Virginia and Team ONE in Coronado, California. The men of the newly formed SEAL Teams were educated in such unconventional areas as hand-to-hand combat, high altitude parachuting, safecracking, demolitions and languages. Among the varied tools and weapons required by the teams was the AR-15 assault rifle, a new design that evolved into today's M16. The SEALs attended UDT Replacement training and they spent some time cutting their teeth at a UDT Team. Upon making it to a SEAL Team, they would undergo a three-month SEAL Basic Indoctrination (SBI) training class at Camp Kerry in the Cuyamaca Mountains. After SBI training class, they would enter a platoon and train in platoon tactics (especially for the conflict in Vietnam).
The Pacific Command recognized Vietnam as a potential hot spot for conventional forces. In the beginning of 1962, the UDT started hydrographic surveys and Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) was formed. In March of 1962, SEALs were deployed to Vietnam for the purpose of training South Vietnamese commandos in the same methods they were trained themselves.
The Central Intelligence Agency began SEAL covert operations in early 1963. At the outset of the war, operations consisted of ambushing supply movements and locating and capturing North Vietnamese officers. Due to poor intelligence information, these operations were not very successful. When the SEALs were given the resources to develop their own intelligence, the information became much more timely and reliable. The SEALs and Special Operations in general started showing an immense success rate, earning their members a great number of citations.
The SEALs were initially deployed in and around Da Nang, training the South in combat diving, demolitions and guerrilla/anti-guerrilla tactics. As the war continued, the SEALs found themselves positioned in the Rung Sat Special Zone where they were to disrupt the enemy supply and troop movements, and into the Mekong Delta to fulfill riverine (fighting on the inland waterways) operations. The brown water of the Delta provided the foundation for the development of SEAL riverine operations. The SEALs adapted quickly and with deadly results. The braces, inlets and estuaries intermingled and left a broad area for both the North and South to operate. The SEALs and Brown Water Navy Boat Crews made it their job to win this part of the war, impeding as much as possible the movement of troops and supplies coming from the North.
The SEAL teams experienced this war like no others. Combat with the Viet Cong was very close and personal. Unlike the conventional warfare methods of firing artillery into a coordinate location, or dropping bombs from thirty thousand feet, the SEALs operated within inches of their targets. SEALs had to kill at short range and respond without hesitation or be killed. Into the late 1960s, the SEALs made great headway with this new style of warfare. Theirs were the most effective anti-guerrilla and guerrilla actions in the war.
However, back in the States the politics of war were working against the administration. The anti-war protest became much louder by the end of the 1960s. The American public began to question this war that was claiming so many of their young men. The anxiety and anger caused by the war began to take its toll and violence erupted at home.
SEALs continued to make forays into North Vietnam and Laos, and unofficially into Cambodia, controlled by the Studies and Observations Group. The SEALs from Team 2 started a unique deployment of SEAL team members working alone with South Vietnamese Commandos. In 1967, a SEAL unit named Detachment Bravo (Det Bravo) was formed to operate these mixed US/ARVN units, which were called South Vietnamese Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRU).
In the beginning of 1968, the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong orchestrated a major offensive against South Vietnam. Virtually every major city felt the effects of the "Tet Offensive." The North hoped it would prove to be America's Dien Bien Phu. They wanted to break the American public's desire to continue the war. As propaganda the Tet Offensive was successful: America was weary of a war that could not be won, for principles no one was sure of. However, North Vietnam suffered tremendous casualties, and from a purely military standpoint the Tet Offensive was a major disaster to the Communists.
By 1970, the US decided to remove itself from the conflict. President Richard Nixon initiated a Plan of Vietnamization, which would return the responsibility of defense back to the South Vietnamese. Conventional forces were being withdrawn, however, operations of the SEALs continued. The SEALS had developed a new base at the tip of the Ca Mau Peninsula and created a floating firebase, now known as Seafloat, by welding together fourteen barges. Accessible from sea, it also provided a landing area for helos.
On 6 June 1972, Lt. Melvin S. Dry was killed when entering the water after jumping from a helicopter at least 35-feet above the surface. Part of an aborted SDV operation to retrieve Prisoners of War, Lt. Dry was the last Navy SEAL killed in the Vietnam conflict. [1]
[edit] Navy SEAL teams and structure
SEAL teams are organized into two groups: Naval Special Warfare Group One (West Coast), and Naval Special Warfare Group Two (East Coast), which come under the command of Naval Special Warfare Command, stationed at NAB Coronado, California. As of 2006, there are eight confirmed Navy SEAL Teams. The original SEAL Teams in the Vietnam War were separated between West Coast (Team ONE) and East Coast (Team TWO) SEALs. The current SEAL Team deployments include Teams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10. The Teams deploy as Naval Special Warfare Squadron's and can deploy anywhere in the world. Squadrons will normally be deployed and fall under a Joint Task Force (JTF) or a Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) as a Special Operations Task Force (SOTF)
A SEAL Team has a Staff Headquarters element and three 40-man Task Units. Each Task Unit consist of a Headquarters element consisting of a Task Unit Commander (O-5), a Task Unit Senior Enlisted (E-8), a Targeting/Operations Officer (O-2/3) and a Targeting/Operations Leading/Chief Petty Officer (E-6/7). Under the HQ element are two SEAL platoons of 16 men (2 officers, 14 enlisted SEALs and sometimes 2 enlisted EOD Operators making a platoon of 18); a company-sized combat support staff (CSS) consisting of staff N-codes (the Army uses S-codes and the Marine Corps uses J-Codes); N1 Administrative support, N2 Intelligence, N3 Operations, N4 Logistics, N5 Plans and Targeting, and N8 Air/Medical. Each Task Unit can be easily split into 4 squads or eight 4-man fire teams for operational purposes. The size of each SEAL “Team” with Task Units and support staff is approx. 300 personnel. The typical SEAL platoon of 16 men has an OIC (Officer in Charge, usually an O-3), an AOIC (Assistant Officer in Charge, usually an O-2), a platoon chief (E-7), an LPO (Leading Petty Officer, E-6) and others ranging from E-6 to E-4 (most are E-5). Occasionally there is a "third O". Usually the third O is an O-1 on his first operational deployment. This makes the platoon consist of 3 officers and 13 enlisted personnel. The core leadership in the Task Unit/Troop and Platoon are the Commander/OIC and the Senior Enlisted NCO (Senior Chief/Chief).
Task Unit core skills consist of: Sniper, Breacher, Communicator, Maritime/Engineering, Close Air Support, Corpsman, Point-man/Navigator, Primary Driver/Navigator (Rural/Urban/Protective Security), Heavy Weapons Operator, Sensitive Site Exploitation, Air Operations Master, Lead Climber, Lead Diver/Navigator, Interrogator, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Technical Surveillance, and Advanced Special Operations.[citation needed]
Each team is commanded by a Navy Commander (O-5), and has a number of operational SEAL platoons and a headquarters element. In 1987, SEAL Team 6 was renamed to the United States Navy Special Warfare Development Group, although members are still frequently referred to informally as "SEAL Team 6". Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, a naval base in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is home to SEAL Teams 2, 4, 8, and 10. Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, a naval base in Coronado, CA, is home to SEAL Teams 1, 3, 5, and 7.
There are also two SDV units, SDVT-1 located in Pearl Harbor, HI, and SDVT-2 in Virginia. SDV Teams are SEAL teams with an added underwater delivery capability.
[edit] Notable Navy SEALs
- Roy Boehm — first commanding officer of SEAL Team Two, considered godfather of all SEALs
- Rudy Boesch — competitor in the TV reality shows Survivor and Survivor: All-Stars
- Brian J Bovill — Vietnam War veteran, author, BUD/s Class 45 in 1969
- Christopher Cassidy - NASA Astronaut
- Dennis Chalker — plankowner of SEAL Team SIX and Red Cell
- Hershel Davis — Grandfather of SEALs during the 80s & 90s; Master Chief of Blackwater USA (PSC).
- John Gay — Bronze Star with Valor recipient. One of four Navy SEAL members from SEAL Team 6 to have participated in The First Battle of Mogadishu who was wounded in action with the Lost Convoy and notable for having a Randall knife ricochet a stray bullet from inflicting serious injury[2]
- Bob Gormly — Commanding officer of Seal Team 6 during the invasion of Grenada, author of Combat Swimmer
- Eric Greitens — Recipient of the Bronze Star, White House Fellow, Chairman of the Center for Citizen Leadership and Public Speaker with the Leading Authorities Speakers Bureau
- Scott Helvenston — known as the youngest SEAL in history to complete BUD/S; while working as a private security contractor was ambushed, killed and his body mutilated in Fallujah, Iraq (March 31, 2004).
- Charles Hoelzel — NASCAR, Private Military Contractor Iraq
- Harry Humphries — Hollywood actor and consultant.
- Gary Jackson — president Blackwater USA, a private military contractor
- Bob Kerrey — Medal of Honor recipient; Democratic U.S. Senator from Nebraska (1989–2001); and president of The New School since 2001.
- Gerhard Klann — SEAL Team SIX Operator; claims he, along with Bob Kerrey committed war crimes in Thanh Phong, Vietnam.
- Marcus Luttrell — The sole survivor of Operation Red Wing, the deadliest single day in the history of SOCOM. 19 Special Operations Forces soldiers died during the operation; 3 from the original four man SEAL team and 16 others when a QRF helicopter that had been sent to rescue the SEAL team was shot down by a RPG.
- Richard Machowicz — aka "Mack," former Navy SEAL and founder of Bukido training system and host of Discovery Channel's Futureweapons
- Richard Marcinko — founder of SEAL Team SIX and Red Cell; and co-author of New York Times bestseller Rogue Warrior
- Tom McGrath — commander of SEAL Team Four during the Operation Just Cause, which suffered four killed and eleven wounded at Patilla Airfield.
- Alden Mills — Inventor of The Perfect Pushup
- Michael A. Monsoor — Awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor for jumping on an enemy grenade during a firefight in Iraq to save fellow SEALs.
- Fred "Tiz" Morrison — 1st African American Navy SEAL UDT Team 12 (Bronze Star Korean War-215JSC).
- Michael P. Murphy — Medal of Honor recipient, exposed himself to fire while calling in support during Operation Red Wing in Afghanistan
- Thomas R. Norris — Second Indochina War (Vietnam War) MACV-SOG Medal of Honor recipient and retired FBI agent.
- Eric T. Olson — The current head of USSOCOM, and the first Navy SEAL to head US Special Operations Command. He is also the first SEAL to go on to become a three-star and four-star Admiral.
- Chuck Pfarrer — SEAL Team SIX Operator; screenwriter with credits including The Jackal, Darkman, Red Planet, Virus, Hard Target, Navy SEALs; and author of the NY Times bestseller Warrior Soul and the reality-thriller Killing Ché
- Erik Prince — founder of Blackwater USA
- Neil C. Roberts — participated in Operation Anaconda and was killed in action after falling out of an ambushed helicopter
- Theodore Roosevelt IV — Vietnam-era SEAL great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, BUD/s class 36
- William Shepherd — first American commander of the International Space Station
- Stew Smith — personal trainer, and author
- Michael Thornton — Vietnam War and last non-posthumous Medal of Honor recipient.
- Jesse Ventura — served with UDT 12, was a professional wrestler, and 38th governor of Minnesota
[edit] See also
- Studies and Observations Group, Second Indochina War
- U.S. Army Special Forces
- U.S. Army Rangers
- U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command
- SEAL Delivery Vehicle
- United States Navy SEALs in fiction
- United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group
- Underwater Demolition Team
- United States Special Operations Command
- Red Cell
- Mark V SOC
- Special Boat Service
- Special Service Group Navy
[edit] References
- ^ Navy UDT-SEAL Museum:History,Vietnam. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
- ^ Black Hawk Down article: Where are they now?. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- Navy Fact File: Navy SEALs. San Diego: Naval Special Warfare Command – Public Affairs Office, United States Navy (2005-03-03). Retrieved on 2006-06-25.
- McCoy, Shane T. (August 2004). "Testing Newton's Law", All Hands Magazine, p.33.
- Obringer, Lee Ann. How the Navy SEALs Work. How Stuff Works. Retrieved on 2006-06-14.
- Sasser, Charles W. Encyclopedia of The Navy SEALs, Facts on File, 2002. (ISBN 0-8160-4569-0)
[edit] Further reading
- Bahmanyar, Mir. US Navy SEALs. Osprey Publishing, 2005. (ISBN 1-84176-807-3)
[edit] External links
- U.S. Navy SEALs Information Website - official site.
- U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command Website - official site.
- Someone Special - Official Vietnam-era U.S. Navy SEALs Recruiting Film
- Navy UDT-SEAL Museum
