by Couch, Dick
State Department, U.S., 75
States, Louis A., 47–48
Stockholm, Jon, 90, 91
Stoner 63A machine gun, 80, 87
Stoner, Eugene, 231
Strategic Plans Division, U.S. Navy, 66
Stubblefield, Gary, 158–59
submarines, UDT divers and, 30, 33
submerged explosives, 29
submersible craft, swimmer, 32
Sullivan, Bob, 90
Swepston, Carl, 120
“swim buddies,” 24–25
swimmer delivery vehicles (SDVs), 114
swimming requirements, 24
Sword Beach (D-Day, 1944), 13
Tadic, Miroslav, 168
Takur Ghar, Battle of (Afghanistan),205
“Tal Afar” battle plan, 221
Taladega, Lou, 194–95, 196, 198, 199–200
Taliban, 187, 188, 190, 191, 195, 200, 204–6, 248
Tarawa: UDT operations on, 19–20, 23
Task Force K-Bar (Afghanistan), 189. See also Harward, Bob
“Task Unit Whiskey” (Panama assault), 159
technology
and evolution of UDTs, 56–57
and post-9/11 deployments, 185
Tenth Army, U.S., 38
terrorism
beginning of war on, 169–70
and personnel recovery, 187–88
pro-Palestinian, 149–50
See also specific person, organization, or mission
Tet Offensive (Vietnam War), 95, 97–98
Thames, Jim, 102
Thanksgiving Day: in Grenada, 147
3rd Infantry Division, U.S. Army, 207
Thisted, Poul, 252, 253
Thornton, Frank, 96
Thornton, Michael E., 110–13
352nd Infantry Division, German: on Omaha Beach, 6
Tipton, James, 71–72
Tojo, Hideki, 27
Toohey, Pat, 156
Tora Bora, 203
train incident (Korean War): UDT operations and, 54
training, Navy SEALs
basic, 125, 139
BUD/S, 67–69, 77, 130, 131, 132, 135, 137, 176, 266
“cadre,” 80, 89
at Camp Billy Machen, 195
and characteristics of Navy SEALs, 266
CQD and, 174–75
and Cuban operations, 70
and Curtis incident in Panama, 153, 154
Fort Rosecrans ceremony and, 255–56
and Grenada missions, 141, 142
Hell Week and, 22, 68, 137
importance of, 97, 248
influence of Korean War on, 56
for junior officers, 104
and Lyons lectures about history of Naval Special Warfare, 58
NCDU training compared with, 3
predeployment, 173, 181
rigor of, 237
sniper/overwatch, 226, 229, 230–31
VBSS, 173
for Vietnam War, 116
See also Coronado Amphibious Base (San Diego, California); Little Creek Amphibious Base (Norfolk, Virginia)
trawler incident (Vietnam War), 100–105
Trident, 260–61, 266–67
Tufts University: International Security Studies Program at, 169
Turner, Richmond Kelly, 23–24, 44–45
26th Field Hospital, 106
27th Division, U.S. Army, 38
237th Engineer Combat Battalion, U.S. Army, 4
299th Engineer Combat Battalion, U.S. Army, 4
UDT-1, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54
UDT-2, 20, 50
UDT-3, 27, 50–51, 52, 55
UDT-4, 27, 28, 50
UDT-5, 16–17, 27, 46–49, 53, 55, 57
UDT-6, 16–17, 27
UDT-7, 16–17, 27
UDT-10, 33–35
UDT-11, 38, 40, 41, 42, 47, 66, 113–16
UDT-12, 66, 124
UDT-13, 18
UDT-14, 37
UDT-15, 37
UDT-16, 40, 41–42
UDT-21, 43
UDT-22, 69, 78, 117
UDT-Navy SEALs Museum (Fort Pierce, Florida), 14, 15
Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), U.S. Navy
accomplishments of, 35
as ancestors of Navy SEALs, 20n, 45, 256
appearance of, 18–19
awards and honors for, 44
characteristics of, 28–29, 50, 258
CIA and, 50, 53, 54–55
commissioning of new, 116–17
Cuban operations and, 62, 63, 70, 71–72, 75
culture of, 29–30, 43–44
decrease in number of, 116–17
equipment for, 51–52
evolution of, 56
and founding of Navy SEALs, 64–65
funding for, 116–17
Hollywood films about, 139–40
importance of, 19
as instructors for SEALs, 69–70
and Korean War, 48
land migration of, 56
“naked warriors” in, 18–19, 93
number in World War II of, 44
at Okinawa, 39–42
OSS Maritime Units and, 20n, 31–32, 33
“over the beach” operations of, 50
post–World War II combat strength of, 49–50
recovery of, 30–31
as reservists, 44
role of, 19–20
on Saipan, 16–19, 23–24, 25–27, 44
secrecy about, 44–45
selection of men for, 29
and selection of men for SEALs, 67
and shift to small-scale warfare, 65–66
small team approach of, 162
and staffing for SEAL teams, 123
submarines and, 30, 33
“swim buddies” as core unit of, 24–25
technological evolution of, 56–57
toolkits of, 31–32
training for, 20, 28–29, 43, 64–65, 67, 68
transition to SEALs from, 64–65
unconventionality of, 43–44, 53
in Vietnam War, 94–95, 103, 104, 113–16
World War II casualties in Pacificof, 44
See also specific person or team
United Nations
and First Gulf War, 161
Korean War and, 52–53, 55
and oil embargo on Saddam Hussein, 171–74
oil-for-food program of, 210
and Somalia attack, 165
University of Miami: as Operation Mongoose headquarters, 61
University of Texas: McRaven speech at, 125
Urgent Fury (Adkin), 138n
U.S. News & World Report magazine, 168
Utah Beach (June 6, 1944), 4, 13
VBSS activity (visit, board, search and seizure), 171–74
Vessey, John, 146
Vieques Island (Puerto Rico): as UDT training facility, 70
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 119
Vietnam War
appearance of SEALs in, 79–80, 93
and bounties for killing SEALs, 120
casualties in, 31, 100, 101, 107, 113, 117, 119
Chau Doc operations during, 95–97
CIA and, 90, 99
Da Nang Harbor command compound during, 264–65
DMZ in, 107
Easter Offensive in, 108, 111
end of, 119
equipment for SEALs in, 80, 93
impact on SEALs of, 186
intelligence in, 81, 94, 105, 106, 111, 119
Kit Carson Scouts in, 82, 84, 87, 88
and lessons learned in Grenada, 148
looting during, 88
Medal of Honor awards for actions during, 105, 106, 110, 113
Vietnam War (cont.)
Nha Trang Bay operations during, 105–6
and Norris-Thornton mission, 110–13
and North Vietnam invasion of South Vietnam, 119
POWs in, 77, 78–90, 107, 113–16, 117, 119
PRUs in, 95, 99–100
rescue of downed aircrew during,
106–10
and Rung Sat operations, 92–93
Russia and, 107
SEAL force in, 93, 117, 207
SEAL legacy from, 148
SEAL performance during, 117–20
Tet Offensive in, 95, 97–98
and training for SEALs, 68, 70
trawler incident during, 100–105
UDTs in, 95, 103, 113–16
U.S. drawdown in, 265
Vietnamese Navy (VNN), 111
Wall Street Journal, 140
Walter, Ray G., 22
Wantuck, USS: in Korean War, 51, 54
Watson, Robert, 4, 11
Weinberger, Caspar, 146
West, Bing, 118
Westmoreland, William, 118
Weyers, Marnard, 138
Whiskey Platoon, 78–90, 95, 98
Widmark, Richard, 140
Williams, Jack, 222, 238–39
Winkler, David, 55
wives: of Navy SEALs, 267–68
Wonsan Harbor (Korean War), 46–49, 57, 58
Woodward, Calvin, 166
World Trade Center attack (1993), 165, 169
World War II
demobilization after, 49–50
Japanese surrender in, 43
Navy’s worst losses in, 42–43
OSS Maritime Unit in, 31–32
Pacific Theater in, 16–45
See also D-Day; Omaha Beach
Yap (Caroline Islands), 33
Yarrow, Sean, 176–81
Yarrow/Yatch Entry, 174, 176, 181
Yokosuka Naval Base (Japan), 51
Zenith Technical Enterprises, 61
Zhawar Kili cave complex (Afghanistan), 190–204
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
DICK COUCH graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1967 and served as a Special Warfare Officer with the SEALs. While a platoon leader with SEAL Team One in 1970, he led one of the only successful POW rescue operations of the Vietnam War. In 1972 he entered the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served as a maritime operations case officer. Couch has spent five of the last fifteen years embedded with American special operations components. His nonfiction books include The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228, The Finishing School, Down Range, Chosen Soldier, Sua Sponte, and Always Faithful. He has lectured at the Air Force Academy, West Point, Naval Academy, FBI Academy, and U.S. Marine War College.
WILLIAM DOYLE is the coauthor, with former U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, of American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms. His other books include A Soldier’s Dream: Captain Travis Patriquin and the Awakening of Iraq, An American Insurrection, Inside the Oval Office, and A Mission from God (with James Meredith). He served as director of original programming for HBO, and he is coproducer of the PBS special Navy SEALs: Their Untold Story.
DISCOVER GREAT AUTHORS, EXCLUSIVE OFFERS, AND MORE AT HC.COM.
ALSO BY DICK COUCH
NONFICTION
The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228
The U.S. Armed Forces Nuclear-Chemical-Biological Survival Manual
The Finishing School: Earning the Navy SEAL Trident
Down Range: Navy SEALs in the War on Terror
Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior
The Sheriff of Ramadi: Navy SEALs and the Winning of al-Anbar
A Tactical Ethic: Moral Conduct in the Insurgent Battlespace
Sua Sponte: The Forging of a Modern American Ranger
Always Faithful, Always Forward: The Forging of a Special Operations Marine
FICTION
SEAL Team One
Pressure Point
Silent Descent
Rising Wind
The Mercenary Option
Covert Action
Act of Valor (Novelization)
OpCenter: Out of the Ashes
Act of Revenge
ALSO BY WILLIAM DOYLE
Inside the Oval Office: The White House Tapes from FDR to Clinton
An American Insurrection: James Meredith and the Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962
A Soldier’s Dream: Captain Travis Patriquin and the Awakening of Iraq
A Mission From God (with James Meredith)
American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms (with Chris Kyle)
CREDITS
Cover design by Richard L. Aquan
Cover photograph © by Jim Suga/CORBIS
COPYRIGHT
Portions of chapters six and seven previously appeared in Dick Couch’s books Down Range and The Sheriff of Ramadi.
NAVY SEALS. Copyright © 2014 by Dick Couch and William Doyle. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-233660-6
EPub Edition NOVEMBER 2014 ISBN 9780062336620
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FOOTNOTE
1 A notable earlier naval combat operation occurred in September 1942, when a small team of handpicked Navy salvage divers led by Lieutenant Mark Starkweather was put through a cram course in demolition and commando-raiding techniques and then sent across the Atlantic to spearhead Operation TORCH, the Allied invasion of North Africa. The team disabled a massive cable-and-net barrier blocking the Wadi Sebou River in Morocco, enabling shipborne U.S. Army troops to capture the strategic Port Lyautey airdrome, and earning a Navy Cross for each of the demolition team members.
2 According to SEAL historian Tom Hawkins, “The term ‘frogmen’ originates with the British, who were (except for the Italians) the first combat divers. They wore protective dress made from green rubber and were hence labeled ‘frogmen’ in the British press. Once the UDTs adopted the underwater capabilities of the OSS Maritime Units after the war . . . they too began exploring protective dress for thermal protection. They were not really called Frogmen until after Korea, and they hated the term initially, but soon learned that it made them very popular in books, magazines, and movies.” Also, see the end of this book for Hawkins’s detailed account of the World War II ancestor-legacy units of the U.S. Navy SEALs, including the Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs), Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs), Amphibious Scouts and Raiders (S&R), Special Mission Naval Demolition Unit, Naval Demolition Project, Special Services Unit One (SSU-1), Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO), and Office of Strategic Services Maritime Unit.
3 Mark Adkin, author of a definitive history on the Grenada invasion, criticized this mission on pages 174–175 of his book Urgent Fury (1989), asserting that the SEALs’ target was a long-range transmitter use
d primarily by the Bishop government for broadcasts throughout the Caribbean, while the key Radio Free Grenada transmitter used to transmit inside the country itself was at another location on the island. In other words, incomplete intelligence led the SEALs to a target that was not critical to the success of the invasion.
4 Publisher’s note: The DoD’s Office of Security Review requested the redaction of further references in this book to NSW’s Development Group, to which the authors have complied.
5 Adapted from the NSW Command brochure: http://www.public.navy.mil/nsw/news/Documents/ETHOS/Brochure.pdf.
