No Greater Sacrifice
Casen Stowe
English 102
Celeste Brown
17 September 2021
Casen Stowe
Celeste Brown
ENG 102 - 11095
14 September 2021
No Greater Sacrifice
Whether it is because of all the books, movies, podcasts, or stories, Navy SEALs are one of the most recognized special forces in the local U.S. and even in the world. Navy SEALs arguably have one of the world's hardest selection processes and have impacted the War on Terror along with the safety of U.S. citizens in ways that the average military personnel could ever amount to. No matter how great SEALs are, just like everything else in the world, they contain an origin.
Before truly understanding the large impact, the U.S. Navy SEALs have made around the world it is important to first understand the history of the SEALs and how they came to be. Like anything else in the world, every story has its origin. The Navy SEALs were born in Waimanalo, Hawaii two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. For a long amount of time SEALs were known as UDT-Divers, this is because their mission set at the time was strictly water operations and did not move on to land and air until later. UDT stands for Underwater Demolition Teams and perfectly described their mission set at the time. After World War 2 the UDT teams expanded their mission set quals getting them closer to the title SEAL. As the U.S. was now in war with Korea, their mission set needed to be broadened to fit certain desired tasks needed in the war. All though the only difference in their mission set was operating on land, it required a lot of learning and practicing. Just a few aspects to land warfare that take time and practice to learn is land nav, land combat strategies, and firefights. Since the UDT-Divers were strictly in water, they had most likely never experienced a real firefight. Along with a new mission set, UDTs were given a new but small choice of weapons. The teams mostly used handguns and mp5 submachine guns. Not only did UDT-Divers develop in Korea, but a large part of their development is due to their time spent in Vietnam. During Vietnam SEALs were widely known as the "Men with Green Faces," and rightfully so. The SEALs would apply green face paint to help them blend in with their surroundings and look more menacing to the enemy. The SEAL Teams changed a lot within their time in Vietnam which included conducting hit and run, and air assault tactics which is still used heavily to this day (Navy SEAL Museum). Vietnam is where SEALs were first well known truly gained the name SEAL (Sea Air and Land).
Before learning more about the mission set of the SEALs, it is important to know the tedious and unforgiving process that creates a SEAL. SEALs are not the best because its easy or their lazy; their the best because each one of them endure arguably one of the hardest military selections in the world. The first step to becoming a SEAL is to visit the local Navy recruiting office. The recruiting officer will help along the way and will present a SEAL Challenge Contract. A SEAL Challenge Contract allows the challenger to be tested on certain physical tasks. From there the records of the tasks will be sent out and reviewed for selection. This contract comes in handy as it allows the challenger to attend BUD/S prep, which is where the trainees prepare for the SEALs selection process. The next step to becoming a SEAL is to complete BUD/S, which is a task much easier said than done. Before beginning BUD/S it is important to know that only 250 out of 1000 succeed every year. Everyone wants to be there and win, but many will fail. BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) takes place in Coronado, California and consists of three main phases: basic conditioning, combat diving, and land warfare training (Page). Basic conditioning is the stage where the most fail. This stage includes one-to-two-mile swims, miles of running, surf torture, and many more torturous acts which can be summed by the phrase "drown-proofing." One of the most well-known aspects of the basic conditioning phase is "Hell Week." Hell Week is five days and five nights with a totaling four hours of sleep (Obringer). When not taking a ten-minute nap, the candidates are doing rigorous and immensely painful activities.
After basic conditioning all the remaining candidates graduate from a white shirt to brown shirt and begin combat dive training or also known as SCUBA training. SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) and combat diving makes up the second phase of BUD/S. In this phase the candidates learn how to use diving gear, navigate underwater, and conduct long and strenuous swims. A large portion of this phase includes drown-proofing. Drown-proofing ensures that future SEAL/S can calmy product procedures when underwater and low on air (Obringer). The only way to pass this stage is to remain calm. If the candidate does not remain clam during this process, they will lose air too quickly and will not be able to focus on the task at hand. One of the most well-known drown-proofing techniques is where the instructor confuses and hurls a candidate for a large amount of time. After that the candidate must stay calm to focus on the task at hand (untangling the breathing apparatus). This drill takes about twenty minutes, candidates spend about ten of those minutes without air. After the completion of this phase all remaining candidates proceed to land warfare.
Just like it sounds, the third and final phase to completing BUD/S, not becoming a SEAL, teaches the candidates about navigation (or land nav), intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, patrolling, and much more. In this phase the candidates how to properly treat and use explosives, and they learn small tactics like snatch-and-grab. A large amount of information is learned during the land warfare phase and includes hours in the classroom and hours outside running drills (Obringer). Land warfare is a good introduction for the candidates before they ship to SQT (SEAL Qualification Training).
Many SEALs have called SQT the "when you actually learn how to become a SEAL" training. This is because in SQT candidates learn more basic information that builds up on land warfare like battle tactics and parachute training. SQT lasts for about 15 weeks and includes many HAHO (High Altitude High Opening) and HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jumps. By the end of the phase anyone with a fear of heights will either be terrified, or not afraid of heights anymore. Upon graduation of SQT the candidates are officially considered Navy SEALs (Page). It is clear that the process to becoming a SEAL is one of the hardest in the world; if the process was any easier the SEAL teams would not have made the impact they have today around the world.
One of the main reasons why SEALs have been so impactful in the middle east is due to their mission set. One of the most well-known mission sets of the SEALs is HVT (High Value Target) capture and kill. Unlike force multipliers (Green Berets) SEALs operate as a team to be at their best ability all the time, because of this, they are often the ones chosen to capture or kill an HVT. These missions come in handy when a drone strike is not possible (due to danger close/ no IFF on kill), however, when the mission is to capture SEALs come in even more use. The teams are experts at stealthy raiding a compound and capturing the HVT without anyone ever knowing. These missions provide huge advantages to war as it allows for the HVT to be interrogated for intel. One of the most popular HVT kill raids in the world conducted by SEALs is the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. On May 2, 2011 the most wanted terrorists and mastermind behind 9/11 was killed by none other than SEAL Team 6 (DEVGRU). The entire operation took 40 minutes, and a minimal amount of shot were fired. Bin Laden was shot in the head on the third floor where he took his final breath (Pruitt). According to Mark Owens, a SEAL that participated in the op, "This was absolutely not a kill-only mission. It was made very clear to us throughout our training for this that, "Hey, if given the opportunity, this is not an assassination. You will capture him alive, if feasible."" Even though the Osama was not captured he goes on to say that the mission was capture or kill, no preference (Owens). The mission was to ensure that the terrorist never sees the light of day again. Not only have SEALs changed the world by capture-kill missions but have also made it a better place due to their abilities in hostage-rescue.
SEALs have conducted many hostage rescue missions and it has brought many U.S. citizens home and continues to keep them safe. A hostage rescue mission is automatically more stressful than a capture-kill mission due to one specific variable, the hostage. The operators must have pinpoint accuracy, methodical thinking and positioning, and good IFF (Identification Friendly Foe). All these aspects of a hostage rescue mission are important as one mistake could endanger the hostage's life tenfold. One of the most recent hostage-rescue missions conducted by DEVGRU is the October 27, 2020, Nigeria Hostage Incident. During the early hours of October 31 DEVGRU raided the compound to secure the hostage. Six of the seven kidnappers were shot dead before they had time to process what had just happened. It has not yet been disclosed what happened to the seventh kidnapper. By late morning October 31 the hostage was confirmed alive and well. The SEALs had support of an AC-130 gunship and an AWAQs aircraft for reconnaissance. The mission was conducted steadily, and it appears there was no error made by the SEALs (Altman). This mission is a perfect example of the outstanding and deadly capabilities these men hold. Eric Oehlerich, a former Navy SEAL stated "Men in these top-tier special forces units train their entire adult lives to be ready when called upon; hostage rescue operations are inherently dangerous. Those men put someone else's life above their own, they do so selflessly... it's an illustration of utter commitment." Along with the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden and the hostage rescue in Nigeria, there are many other circumstances and ops that took place that made the world a safer place.
One of the most well-known hostage-rescue ops that took place to save a U.S. citizen was the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips. On April 12, 2009, Easter morning. A team of SEALs HALO jumped into the area and boarded the destroyer USS Bainbridge. Four Somali pirates had taken over the merchant ship MV Maersk Alabama. Three of the four took Captain Phillips hostage and headed back towards the Somali coast. Three SEAL snipers simultaneously took out all three pirates while the lifeboat was still bobbing in the ocean (Pruitt). This op is just one example of the measures that will be taken and the capabilities of the SEALs when a U.S. life is at stake.
In honor of the Navy SEAL community, it feels only just to share about Operation Redwing, an op that ended very badly, but showed the true brave and heroic nature of the Navy SEALs. On June 28, 2005, a team of four Navy SEALs were conducting a reconnaissance mission east of Asadabad in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan. Everything was going smoothly until a group of nationals spotted the four SEALs. Due to rules of engagement the SEALs were forced to let the national go with full knowledge they would share their presence when they reached their town. Shortly after they were being pursued by a large group of Taliban. Now cornered by all three angles, the men had no choice but to jump down the steep side of a mountain and one of them (Marcus Luttrell) bit their tongue in half. With multiple gunshots wounds and the knowledge that he would die, Lt. Michael Murphy bravely made the run to a nearby elevated rock to call for QRF (Quick Reaction Force) so the team may have a single chance of survival. Shortly after an RPG landed near the remaining splitting them up. Marcus Luttrell, the lone survivor, shared that the RPG shot was the last time he ever saw his brothers again. Before Murphy's, Axelson's, and Dietz's death 35 Taliban were killed between the four of them. Shortly after the QRF Chinook was shot by an RPG killing all 16 men aboard. Operation Red Wings marks the single highest death toll in the Navy since WW2. This single day marks a long night of grievances for those brave men who lost their lives that day (Navy SEAL Museum). However, what happened in Ramadi 2006 made a large leap in the War on World Terror.
One major time the Navy SEALs greatly impacted the Global War on Terror is in Ramadi, Iraq 2006. The Last Punisher by Kevin Lacz is about SEAL Team 3 as they push though and regain ground in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006. Chris Kyle, the American Sniper, was also on SEAL Team 3 during this time and he is mentioned multiple times throughout the book. At the time Ramadi was one of the most dangerous cities in the world with enemy insurgents in nearly every street. The punisher squad became the nickname for SEAL Team 3 and they were even wanted by the terrorists, who were also offering a reward upon their death. The names of some of the SEALs who lost their lives in Ramadi include Marc Lee and Mikey Monsoor. Marc Lee is a name that will never be forgotten in the SEAL community as we was the first SEAL to die in Ramadi. Mikey Monsoor was one week away from going home when an enemy grenade was spotted near his teammates. Mikey did the bravest thing a single man can do and jumped on the grenade saving his fellow brothers from the inevitable explosion (Lacz). Both these men laid down their lives and made the ultimate sacrifice.
Gaining the status of becoming a Navy SEAL is a large achievement, however, more than an achievement it is a contract committing to over anything protect and maintain the safety of "The People" no matter the cost. Arguably, Navy SEALs have the hardest military selection process in the world, however, without it being the hardest these elite teams would not have kept the world as safe as it is today.
Works Cited
Altman, Howard. "SEAL Team 6 Rescues American Hostage in Nigeria." Military Times, Military Times
Lacz, Kevin, et al. The Last Punisher: A Seal Team Three Sniper's True Account of the Battle of Ramadi. Threshold Editions
Obringer, Lee Ann. "How the Navy SEALS WORK." HowStuffWorks Science
"Operation Red Wings." LT Michael P. Murphy Navy SEAL Museum
Owen, Mark, and Kevin Maurer. No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin LADEN: The Autobiography of a Navy SEAL. Dutton
Page, Seraine. "Navy Seal Training PROGRAM: What It Takes to Be a Navy SEAL." Sandboxx
Pruitt, Sarah. "Navy Seals: 10 Key Missions." History.com, A&E Television Networks
"Seal History: The Story of Naval Special Warfare." National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum
