by Couch, Dick
There are traditions in the Teams that only members of their unique brotherhood share. Since 1970, every SEAL has worn the Trident. Poseidon, the god of the seas, wielded a trident that gave him the power to both create storms and calm the waters. At SEAL funerals, there is a tradition of teammates removing their Tridents and embedding them in the coffin of their fallen comrade. Retired Vice Admiral Joseph Maguire told us, “Being a SEAL and wearing the Trident, you come from a long line of people who’ve sacrificed greatly to get you to where you are. Nobody who wears the Trident today earned that reputation. They inherited that reputation from the men who came before them. And while you have the opportunity to be a SEAL, what you have to do is keep that reputation intact, and make it just a little bit better than when they pinned a Trident on your chest. At a SEAL funeral, you’re not just burying a warrior. You’re not just burying a teammate. You’re burying somebody that you love, somebody that you know, somebody that you trained with. You know his family. You know his children. For those of us who wear the Trident, everybody refers to each other as brother. And that is not just an expression. That’s how everybody feels about each other. Because my teammate is more important than I am.”
The SEALs are entering a period of uncertainty now, as America enters the post–Iraq War and post–Afghanistan War era. The scale and pace of combat may drop off or change substantially and the nature of the future missions of the SEALs and other American special operations forces is unclear. The missions of foreign internal defense and partner nation training, or helping other nations fight terrorism, especially in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, may increasingly dominate the SEALs’ work in the immediate future.
But as long as there is instability and war, there will be the need for special warriors like the SEALs to conduct direct-action, special reconnaissance, personnel recovery, hostage rescues, and antiterrorism missions. “We live in an extremely dangerous and difficult world,” observed Admiral Maguire. “And we have people who are willing to sacrifice everything for their country. I have no doubt in my mind that no matter where we as a nation go next, the first people in will be the SEALs.”
For decades to come, there will be the need for individuals with the physical ability, durability, intelligence, mental toughness, moral maturity, personal ethics, humility, and patriotic devotion necessary to become U.S. Navy SEALs.
AFTERWORD
by Rear Admiral Garry J. Bonelli (USN., Ret.)
Chairman, Navy SEAL Foundation
Ninth Force Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command
Deputy Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command
Commanding Officer, SEAL Team Five
Frogman, UDT-12
We asked Rear Admiral Garry Bonelli to contribute the Afterword to this book because he exemplifies the character and achievements of the U.S. Navy SEALs. He has served the Naval Special Warfare community for more than four decades.
Enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1968, Rear Admiral Garry Bonelli graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training Class 51 in Coronado, California. He made two ground combat deployments in Vietnam as a Navy “frogman” with Underwater Demolition Team 12. In 1974, Bonelli became a member of the first reserve unit of Naval Special Warfare.
In 1976, while completing his master of science degree in mass communications, he received a direct commission in the Navy Reserve. Bonelli has served as the commanding officer of eight Navy SEAL reserve units. He was mobilized in 1990 in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and served as the commanding officer of SEAL Team Five. Bonelli is the only Reservist to ever command an active-duty SEAL Team.
In 2001, Bonelli was selected to serve as the deputy commander of Navy Reserve Readiness Command Southwest. In 2006, Bonelli was recalled to active duty again, and when selected to flag rank, served as the deputy commander, and then the ninth Force Commander of Naval Special Warfare Command.
Looking back on the late 1960s in America, a time many historians viewed as a period of social upheaval and change, I was an aimless urchin roaming the streets of the Bronx, New York City.
I knew nothing about U.S. Navy SEALs. Growing up in the big city, I looked at the accountants who lived in huge homes in nice neighborhoods in Connecticut and commuted to work in Manhattan. I thought accounting looked like a pretty good profession, so I played basketball at Pace University, and sometimes attended accounting classes. After two semesters, I flunked out.
It was 1968. I knew I was getting drafted. Vietnam came right in my face real fast. I talked with my dad and he said, “You know, if you go into the Air Force or the Navy you probably won’t be in ground combat in Vietnam.” I said, “That makes sense, but that’s four years versus two years in the Army as a draftee.” Two extra years was a lifetime for an eighteen-year-old. To make a long story short, I enlisted in the Navy, and went to the Great Lakes Recruit Training Command outside Chicago.
In Navy boot camp, I realized within twenty-four hours that there’s the Almighty, and there’s a Navy chief petty officer, and they’re pretty close. This chief showed us an old grainy 16 mm film of guys scuba diving. It never dawned on me that the Navy would teach you how to scuba dive, so I raised my hand. The chief said, “Okay, kid, we’re shipping you to Coronado.” I said, “Coronado? What part of Vietnam is Coronado?” I took the car/pedestrian ferry across San Diego Bay before the bridge was built. It was paradise on the Pacific. I went to the beach and planted my feet firmly into the sands of the Coronado Silver Strand. When I looked up and down the mostly deserted beach, I thought, Kill me, this is where I’m staying.
However, my plan to stay out of ground combat in Vietnam failed. In fact, it failed twice. I was deployed in 1969, and then again in 1971. My first combat came sort of in a twisted way. We got to our command compound located on Da Nang Harbor, which was called “Frogville.” You are issued your basic equipment load—your guns and your bullets and all that, and you put it all at the end of your rack (bed). That way, in the middle of the night, if you get called out, you can get all your gear immediately.
Suddenly there were flares going off and all types of noises. Somebody woke me up and my first reaction was to go to the foot of my rack to get my harness and my rifle. My seasoned frogman teammate told me, “Don’t worry about that, leave your gear there.”
“What do I need?” I said.
“Your bathing suit,” he said.
“What are we doing?”
“We’re going around the harbor to go surfing. We’re looking for some Army guys that drowned, but we’re then going surfing.” So my first day in Vietnam I was on a surfboard. That’s the truth.
I was fortunate to be part of the special operations community, both active and reserve, for forty-five years. The low point I can recall was post-Vietnam, during the mid-1970s drawdown. It was a morale buster because SEALs and frogmen were less valued. The powers that be thought that our country didn’t need much in the way of special operations. It was a mistake, and we paid for it at Desert One during the aborted Iranian hostage rescue.
After Grenada and Panama, we’ve learned from our mistakes. That’s why we have a joint unified special operations command in Tampa, Florida, led by a four-star admiral or general to standardize and professionalize all special operators and synchronize the missions they execute. It’s a terrible fact of life; we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. The SEALs today are better educated, better equipped, better resourced, and better led than at any time in our history.
In 1990, I answered a phone call on a Thursday night saying, “Bonelli, we need you and twenty-four guys here by tomorrow if possible.” Desert Shield/Storm was kicking off. I said, “Yes sir!” We got called up, and ever since, the reserve component of Naval Special Warfare has been an important part of taking the fight to the enemy.
My proudest and most humbling moments were when I became commanding officer of SEAL Team Five in 1990, and eighteen years later, when Admiral Olson, then comman
der of the Special Operations Command, fleeted me up to be the ninth Force Commander of Naval Special Warfare Command.
People always ask me, “What does it take to become a SEAL?”
Today’s training takes two and a half years. You get a kid who comes in the front door—and when I say the front door, only one in five young men gets to even start basic SEAL training known as BUD/S. Then you take all those ones that made it in the front door, and only one in four is going to graduate and become a U.S. Navy SEAL. Only the federal government could afford to make that type of national investment.
The average SEAL trainee today is usually a bit more mature, and more educated. They have the brains, the brawn, and what I call the “Rudy factor” (from the Notre Dame football movie). The heart! They’ll never quit. The innate thread that runs through the teams since their inception back to World War II is that SEALs have hearts and minds that will never quit. They will never quit no matter what. SEALs are the type of professional warriors who get knocked down, get back up, get knocked down, get back up. That’s the common thread. After multiple combat deployments, a SEAL is a warrior’s warrior. But he’s also learned to be a diplomat and a problem solver.
When people think of SEALs, they think of them kicking in doors during combat operations. That’s true, but where our nation gets the most bang for their buck is with the diplomatic-problem-solving-type guy—the SEAL who can work with partners to expand their capabilities and their capacity to prevent wars and regional unrest. SEALs do a great job of building and sustaining relationships.
There’s another innate trait SEALs have. It’s a word that’s not found in the English language: teamability. It’s the ability not only to lead in a situation, but the ability to follow and contribute to the team and its mission.
Most military members wear some type of identifying patch or pin. With the Navy SEALs, it’s called the Trident. The Trident depicts an American bald eagle perched on a Navy anchor, grasping Neptune’s spear and a flintlock pistol. Wearing the Trident means everything to the guys. It’s the most distinguishing emblem on their uniform or most any military uniform. You see a lot of American eagle images in our country, often with the bird’s head held high, going full steam ahead. But on the SEAL Trident, it’s one of the few times you’ll see the American eagle with the head bowed. Why is the head bowed? It stands for humility. The best SEALs are humble warriors.
Since 9/11, I have a new group of heroes: the SEAL wives. They go through a lot and many of them have only known their husbands at war. These courageous women will never truly be appreciated for the sacrifices they make daily on behalf of our nation. The SEAL wives are the bulwark that keep our operators resilient and in the fight, time and time again. They bear the children who will raise their hands to defend our freedoms in the future.
My wife was the “first lady” of Naval Special Warfare for a number of years. Just prior to SEAL graduation ceremonies, my wife would make a point to meet the new spouses and the steady ladies of the guys graduating from SEAL training. She would tell them, “Believe it or not, ladies, during your time with these guys, they’ll want to be with their fellow SEALs more than they’ll want to be with you.” You could see their faces registering disbelief. “You can either be a camper or a worrier,” she’d say. “Campers take care of themselves, but worriers need a lot of attention. Your marriage will work better if you’re a camper.”
Any family will have their challenges. What’s particularly challenging about our SEAL community is that our guys on average are gone 255 days of the year out of 365. They’re in the fight, they’re training for the fight, or doing some special training.
To help, SEALs and their families now enjoy and cherish the benevolence of civilian, nonprofit support organizations such as the Navy SEAL Foundation, the SOF Care Coalition, and the NSW Family Foundation. Made up of mostly volunteers, these organizations help our teammates and their families during casualties, with educational support, transitions to civilian life, and the promotion of our rich Navy SEAL history and heritage.
In 2014, the Navy SEAL Foundation board of directors selected me as their chairman. If a SEAL is killed or wounded, the Navy is good about taking care of the family’s immediate needs. Our SEAL Foundation ensures that the spouse is taken care of on an enduring basis, and the children of our fallen have their educational needs met all the way through college.
We advertise that for every dollar donated to the Navy SEAL Foundation, we give back 94 cents to our teammates and their families through a variety of meaningful and measured programs. That’s a good return on investment.
If you’re interested in helping support our SEALs and their families, I can’t think of a better organization than the Navy SEAL Foundation.
For more information, please go to:
www.navysealfoundation.org
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Carol L. Fleisher, Peter Hubbard, Steve Bass, Mel Berger, John Silbersack, Captain William Fenick, Senior Chief Joseph Kane, Nick Amphlett, Sharyn Rosenblum, Liate Stehlik, Andrea Molitor, Brian Barbata, Dave Davis, John McManus, Erasmo Riojas, Chip Maury, Tom Pitoniak, Jay Barksdale, Rick Kaiser, Garry Bonelli, Ruth McSween, and Mark Corcoran; the teams at HarperCollins, PBS, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and everyone who contributed to this book and the PBS special, especially the Naval Special Warfare veterans who helped us.
A very special thanks to Tom Hawkins, who reviewed our manuscript and made many valuable contributions and comments.
APPENDIX A
U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND STRUCTURE
APPENDIX B5
NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE COMMAND—MISSIONS AND STRUCTURE
NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE (NSW) GROUPS 1 AND 2: SEAL TEAMS
SEALs
• Take their name from the elements in which they operate (Sea, Air, and Land)
• Maritime-focused, multipurpose combat forces
• Experts in the maritime environment
PLAN AND EXECUTE MISSIONS IN ALL OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS, THREAT CONDITIONS
• Special reconnaissance
• Direct action
• Unconventional warfare
• Foreign internal defense
• Information warfare
• Security assistance
• Counter-drug operations, personnel recovery
INFILTRATE OBJECTIVE AREAS FROM
• Fixed and rotary-winged aircraft
• Tactical mobility vehicles
• Navy surface ships
• Combatant surface craft
• Submarines, undersea platforms
MAINTAIN A FORWARD PRESENCE
• Regional orientation
• Language skills
• Cultural awareness
Team patches of NSW Groups 1 and 2.
NSW GROUP 3 SEAL DELIVERY VEHICLE TEAMS
SEAL DELIVERY VEHICLE TEAMS
• Operate and maintain SDVs, DDS
• Sustained by underwater breathing apparatus
• Support clandestine reconnaissance, direct action and passenger delivery
• Replacing MK 8 MOD 1 SDVs with MK 11
• Newer technology, greater payload
• Long-standing requirement for “dry” submersible
• Evaluating dry combat submersible prototypes
NSW GROUP 4 SPECIAL BOAT TEAMS
SPECIAL WARFARE COMBATANT-CRAFT CREWMEN MAINTAIN AND OPERATE MARITIME SURFACE CRAFT
• Train extensively in craft and weapons tactics
• Conduct special reconnaissance, combat gunfire support, SEAL insertion and extraction
• Provide dedicated, rapid mobility in shallow water areas
UNIQUE SOF CAPABILITY—MARITIME COMBATANT—CRAFT AERIAL DELIVERY
CURRENT INVENTORY
• 11-meter Rigid-hull Inflatable Boat
• Special Operations Craft Riverine
• SEALION
• Security Force Assistance craft
NSW GROUP
10
ORGANIZES, TRAINS, EQUIPS, DEPLOYS, AND SUSTAINS SPECIALIZED INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, RECONNAISSANCE, AND PREPARATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT CAPABILITIES
MISSION SUPPORT CENTER
• Reach-back capability state-side tailored to mission commanders’ needs
• Supplies mission-planning support to deployed forces
CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT UNIT
• Embeds language/regional experts and female support technicians to support translation, tactical interrogation, and intelligence collection
NSW GROUP 11
ORGANIZES, MANS, TRAINS, EDUCATES, EQUIPS AND DEPLOYS RESERVIST SEALS, SWCC, COMBAT SUPPORT, AND COMBAT SERVICE SUPPORT CAPABILITIES
• Provides additional operational capacity to the active duty force including expeditionary support, joint military training exercises, counter-narcotics operations
NSW DEVELOPMENT GROUP
MANAGES RTD&E [RESEARCH, TESTING, DEVELOPMENT, AND EVALUATION]; DEVELOPS MARITIME, GROUND AND AIRBORNE TACTICS FOR NSW AND DOD-WIDE APPLICATION
MISSION SPECIALISTS AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL
CRITICAL TO NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE OPERATIONS SUCCESS
• Explosive ordnance disposal, intelligence, communications, hospital corpsmen
