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This information is presented on other web sites, both official and unofficial, at various sites around the Internet. It is gathered here in one place for those who have not had the time or opportunity to chase it all down.
MANPOWER – The REAL Numbers
Since the end of World War II there have only been about 13,000 men who have served in “operator” billets within the Naval Special Warfare community. This number includes approximately 2,400 men who are currently serving on active duty. This total number of “operators” includes all of the men who served with the various units that were precursors to today’s SEAL Teams, going all the way back to the earliest days of WWII and the Naval Amphibious Scouts and Raiders (S&R), the Naval Combat Demolitions Units (NCDUs), the Underwater Demolition Units (UDUs), and the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs).
BUD/S TRAINING – How Many, How Often, How Long
First and foremost the only men who can serve as US Navy SEALs are members of the US Navy. With the exception of a scant few specially selected foreign military men, the only people who may attend SEAL training are US Navy sailors. Those foreign military men do NOT participate in any supplemental or secondary SEAL training, they NEVER receive a designation as a US Navy SEAL, and they are NOT authorized to wear the US Navy SEAL insignia. Those foreign military men return to their home nations and carry the lessons they learned in SEAL training back to their comrades in arms. Despite false claims made by countless imposters to the contrary, members of other branches of the US Armed Forces have NOT historically been eligible to attend SEAL training. In 2008 a decision was made to open up access to the SEAL program to select members of the US Coast Guard. By the end of 2008 only five (5) men had been selected for the training - four (4) officers and one (1) enlisted man. Ultimately two USCG men have not dropped from the program. One of those men has graduated as the HONOR MAN in his class, and one was injured and rolled back to a later class. Upon completion of the training program, successful USCG graduates will serve in the US NAVY as members of a SEAL Team for the duration of the obligated service (4yr 4 mos) which is a part of that training program. Thereafter they will have an option of returning to the USCG.
Navy Basic Training (Boot Camp) takes about 3 months. After boot camp, a man who is destined for SEAL training may be sent to rate training – formal schooling in one of numerous areas of technical specialization that lasts from 5 to 14 weeks – prior to his reporting to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training at the Naval Special Warfare Center (NSWC) in Coronado, California. Many sailors who wish to attend SEAL training, and who have passed the rigid prerequisite screening test, still spend a year or more in the regular fleet before they are transferred to the NSWC for training. Only about 2 men out of every 100 who take initial physical screening tests for the SEAL training program manage to complete it with scores sufficient to result in assignment to BUD/S.
BUD/S training classes are very limited, with only about four classes convening each calendar year. Each class normally convenes with 150 or more men. Training lasts for 28 weeks, and the attrition rate is usually between 65% and 80%. While successful completion of BUD/S training is an absolute prerequisite to becoming a US Navy SEAL, graduation from BUD/S does not automatically qualify a man as a SEAL. Those who voluntarily drop out of the program or who are disqualified for any reason will return to the regular Navy fleet and be assigned duties in the skill rating which they acquired prior to attending BUD/S.
Following BUD/S training, graduates remain attached to the NSWC in Coronado while they complete a secondary training program currently known as SEAL Qualification Training (SQT). During the first decade and a half of the SEAL Team's existence that secondary training was actually conducted under the direction of the SEAL Team to which a man had been assigned upon completing training. After a new BUD/S graduate reported to the SEAL Team he underwent additional training which lasted approximately six months. During that time period the new man was "on probation" and did not officially hold full SEAL credentials. At the end of that supplemental training program and period of probation, the new man was evaluated by his superiors. If deemed physically and mentally suited for SEAL Team duty and if he had successfully completed all of the secondary training program, the new man was officially granted SEAL status. An entry was made in his Personnel Record designating him as a "COMBATANT SWIMMER (SEAL)" and his Naval Enlisted Classification (NEC) code was changed to reflect that new status. At that point he was a fully-credentialed Navy SEAL.
SEAL QUALIFICATION TRAINING (SQT)
The 'old way' of handling secondary training caused new BUD/S graduates to be listed on the manpower roster of the SEAL Team, but prevented them being utilized by that Team until they had successfully completed the full secondary training program, and the probation period. The SEAL Team manpower roster may have been full, but not all of the men listed there could be deployed as fully-trained SEALs. This handicapped the SEAL Teams and effectively left them shorthanded, despite a full manpower roster. To remedy this situation, the secondary training effort was relocated to the Naval Special Warfare Center (where BUD/S is conducted). The new BUD/S graduates would now complete their secondary training and probation period, and became fully-credentialed SEALs before ever being assigned to a SEAL Team. This meant that every man assigned to a SEAL Team was fully qualified and could be utilized by the command without waiting.
The 15-week SQT program includes Basic Airborne (Parachute) Training at the US Army’s Fort Benning, Georgia, as well as numerous other courses involving specialized skills and equipment. Like BUD/S, there is no guarantee that all of the men who enter SQT will successfully complete the program. At the end of SQT training, each graduate receives his SEAL Trident breast insignia, and his personal military record is updated to show he is officially designated as a US Navy SEAL. Each man's skill rating is then changed from whatever it was when he entered training to SPECIAL WARFARE OPERATOR or "SO". Each graduate then receives an assignment to one of the various SEAL Teams within the US Navy.
Many SEAL imposters claim to have attended “secret SEAL training” and offer this as a reason why there are no records of their claimed service. In reality, the BUD/S training program is completely unclassified. While there are other training steps (as described above) that must be completed on the path to becoming a fully qualified US Navy SEAL, BUD/S training is the first and most vital, and that training course is totally unclassified.
Without having first completed BUD/S training, a man cannot go on to attend SQT or any additional courses, and absolutely cannot become a US Navy SEAL. There are no exceptions and no “special cases”. There are no special “tests” that a man can take in order to bypass BUD/S training, there are no “short courses”, and no one is sent directly from the regular Navy fleet to the SEAL Teams. Every man who wishes to be a SEAL must successfully complete the entire BUD/S training program, and then must successfully complete the entire SQT program.
Before any secret missions are undertaken every man who participates in “classified ops” has to have already successfully completed BUD/S training, and SQT, including Jump School, SERE School, Winter Movement training, Close Quarters Combat, and dozens of other physical and technical training courses. The Navy maintains records of ALL of the men who go through BUD/S and SQT, and ALL of the classes that these men attend, and the units to which they are ultimately assigned. Specifics about combat operations are not normally a part of a man’s military record (unless as description of some particular action is included in an award or commendation). Regular military personnel records accurately track what schools a man has completed and what rank he has achieved. These records are readily available from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri and may be obtained under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).
From the day he first reports for BUD/S training to the day a man is ready to deploy as a fully trained, fully integrated member of an operational SEAL platoon, requires a bare minimum of 18 months. Depending on the amount of time between various training classes and schools, it can very often take two full calendar years or more to complete the process. Having spent considerable time and money to train a man for duty as a SEAL, the Navy expects a return on the investment. Therefore, once a man has successfully graduated from SEAL training, he is contractually obligated to serve for a specific number of years as an active duty SEAL before he may elect to leave the Teams and return to the fleet, or opt to leave the Navy entirely. This obligation may be shortened, of course, by injury or medical circumstances.
SECRET “SEALED” RECORDS – A Movie Myth
Anyone claiming that their records have been “sealed” because they contain information about their “classified missions” is making a completely false statement. As noted above, individual “missions” or combat assignments are NOT normally recorded or referenced in any man’s service record unless they form part of a commendation or award statement. There may be notations relating to “deployments” (these are often referred to as “tours”), but NEVER to any individual “missions”. Deployments take the form of a collective assignment for all members of a given SEAL platoon and generally last 4 to 6 months. These deployments amount to temporary assignments, either to a particular area of operations or aboard a naval vessel.
Anyone claiming that records of their service as a SEAL have been destroyed “to protect them from repercussions” or that portions of their records pertaining to SEAL service have been deleted “to uphold National Security”, is making a completely false statement. Such claims are invariably used in the motion picture industry to heighten the “secret agent” aspects of a movie, but such claims bear little or no resemblance to the factual world of the real US Navy SEALs.
The Navy doesn't seal personnel records to prevent revelation of their classified contents - that only happens in pulp fiction - or the movies! NO records of SEAL training have been purposely or accidentally destroyed by fire or other means. If you are told that records were burned up in a fire at the National Personnel Records Center, you should know that there was a fire at that facility in 1973, however, the fire only burned a relatively small number of Army and Air Force records. You can read about this fire and the damages which resulted at:
www.archives.gov/facilities/mo/st_louis/military_personnel_records/fire_1973.html
THE SEAL DATABASE
The SEAL Database currently lists slightly more than 10,800 men, of whom (as noted above) about 2,200 are currently on active duty. That SEAL Database is a product of the Naval Special Warfare Archives, and while it is not “classified”, it is most certainly considered to be “extremely sensitive” information and is not available for general distribution or public dissemination. The SEAL Database spans the time from approximately the end of WWII to the present day. Information related to the Naval Special Warfare units which served in the very earliest days of WWII is held by the Naval Special Warfare Archives and the UDT-SEAL Association. There is no other more complete resource regarding the men who have successfully completed UDT/SEAL training, and it is certainly the best and most accurate method of verifying an authentic, genuine US Navy SEAL. This is the same database that SEALs use for authentication among themselves when they are not known to each other, and it is recognized by the UDT-SEAL Association, the UDT-SEAL Museum, and the US NAVY as the most complete and comprehensive listing of Naval Special Warfare members available.
The SEAL database is thoroughly researched and based on original US Navy records and documentation dating from the present back to the early 1940's. Principal in the compilation of the database are the graduation records for the Navy’s Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training program. As each new class graduates from BUD/S training and the subsequent SQT training course, their names are added to the database.
The SEAL database was created by a private, non-governmental organization (the Naval Special Warfare Archives). While a copy of this database was presented to the US Navy for their own use, and they have expanded upon some of the information fields in that file, the original database is still held in private hands, and has never been subject to any manipulations by the Department of Defense. SEALs who have been removed from the Teams or who have had their SEAL status revoked are listed in the database along with those men whose service is exemplary. Records are never deleted or altered, and they are not subject to any control or censure by Naval authorities. The SEAL database contains the names of those who have successfully completed the BUD/S program and SQT; if a man’s name is not listed in the database, then he did NOT complete SEAL training… and he is not a US Navy SEAL. The SEAL database is regularly updated with the names of those who successfully complete BUD/S training, successfully complete SQT, and who are subsequently assigned to duty with one of the SEAL Teams.
It is important to note - and it cannot be overstated - that it is possible for a man to successfully complete BUD/S training and still NOT be a US Navy SEAL. Although the vast majority of men who complete BUD/S training do, in fact, go on to successfully complete SQT and all of the additional training courses needed to achieve SEAL status, there are a very few men who have not completed all of those programs/steps, and who never become SEALs. The last step to becoming a SEAL is the peer review and the award of SEAL OPERATOR status. For enlisted men this includes a formal assignment of the skill rating SO (Special warfare Operator), and the associated Naval Enlisted Classification (NEC) code. For officers this includes a formal designation as a Navy Special Warfare Officer, and the assignment of the associated Naval Officer Billet Code (NOBC).
VIETNAM
Although there were a very few individual SEALs acting as military advisors in Vietnam as early as 1962, the FIRST deployment of SEALs as combat forces did not take place until February 1966.
The last full SEAL platoon deployed to the Republic of Vietnam in 1971, and returned to the United States about 6 months later. Thereafter, only seasoned, experienced SEAL combat veterans were sent to Vietnam, singly or in pairs, acting as military advisors.
The LAST SEALs serving in Vietnam were returned to the US in November 1972. The Paris Peace Accords were signed in January 1973, stipulating a mutual cessation of hostilities, and an exchange of POWs. The last US combat troops (from all branches of US armed forces) left Vietnam and returned to the United States on 29 March 1973. Thereafter the only US military forces in Vietnam were the mere handful of US Marines officially assigned as the security force at the US Embassy in Saigon. The Vietnam War was at an end for all US combat forces. Only a small diplomatic embassy staff remained in Saigon.
On 30 April 1975 - two full years after all US combat forces left Vietnam - the North Vietnamese forces invaded Saigon (in direct violation of their agreements as stipulated in the Paris Peace Accords). With the imminent threat of being overrun by NVA forces, the US Embassy was evacuated… officially ending the US diplomatic presence in Vietnam.
There were a grand total of no more than about 250 SEALs sent to Vietnam, and only about 750 UDT “Frogmen” who served in the Republic of Vietnam or the coastal waters immediately offshore during the entire time span of the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1973. The Platoon designations, dates of deployment, and duration of deployments are known factors. Anyone claiming to be a SEAL during the Vietnam conflict should be able to easily provide this information. While specifics about duty activities during such deployments may be considered “sensitive”, the facts regarding a deploying unit’s identification, deployment start and end dates, and duration of deployment are NOT classified and can be quickly verified.
POST VIETNAM ERA
From the end of the Vietnam War (for US forces) in January 1973 until the military actions conducted on the Caribbean island of Grenada in October 1983, there were very few Navy SEALs who saw any sort of combat. BUD/S Training continued to turn out graduates, secondary training was conducted to create credentialed SEALs, and additional, supplemental training programs in various specialized skills were carried on continuously. Funding was greatly reduced, and SEALs often paid their own travel expenses in order to attend supplemental training programs around the country. An entire decade of Navy SEALs was fully and completely trained for war, but there was no war to carry out. Some few Navy SEALs were tasked with assignments in foreign locations, assisting other branches of the military, but the steady platoon deployments of the Vietnam era were at an end... at least temporarily.
IMPOSTER’S CLAIMS
As noted above, it is quite common for those making fraudulent SEAL claims – especially claims involving extraordinary combat heroics – to cite a “secret” training class or “secret mission” as an explanation for the lack of military documentation to back up their stories. Not being satisfied with SEAL claims alone, these imposters often make additional claims of other very specialized skills or assignments (sniper, courier, martial arts instructor, etc), or of participation in covert operations for the CIA or other “shadowy” government agencies. These totally bogus claims are made in order to emphasize the “ultra-secret” nature of the work they claim to have done, to underline their supposedly exceptional value as an “elite” service member, and to underscore their claims regarding the “extremely classified” and “inaccessible” nature of their military records.
The overall intention, of course, is to convey to the listener the idea that the person making the statements is not only an “extraordinary and deadly warrior”, but also one of the select few persons the government has decided to trust with the most sensitive, highly classified information… all in an effort to make the storyteller appear “better” or "superior" to those to whom he tells his tall tales.
SEALS ARE NOT SPIES
Readers are reminded that the acronym “SEAL” is a composite of three words - Sea, Air, and Land – the three environments within which the men of the SEAL Teams are trained to operate. Contrary to what many SEAL imposters would like you to believe, the acronym “SEAL” is NOT a composite of the words “Secret” “Agent” “Lad”! SEALs are military men, generally operating as a cohesive unit – a TEAM - assigned to carry out legitimate (although often covert) military assignments. They are not running around individually, acting like spies, playing at being “James Bond in uniform”, or carrying out any of the outrageous crap depicted on TV and the movie screen. All too many of the bogus stories told by SEAL imposters are based upon themes played out in spy novels and movies – tales of daring lone operatives functioning as spies and/or assassins far behind enemy lines. The SEAL imposters are counting on the idea that civilians don’t know the real truth about SEAL duty, and they are desperately hoping that listeners will believe stories which sound like those depicted in thrilling and sensational movies.
INDISCRIMINANT KILLINGS – Another Myth
A huge number of the tales told by imposters include claims of having performed heinous acts such as killing innocent women or children. Invariably such claims are intended to convey a mixed message to the listener… the story teller describes himself as being “sickened by what he was required to do”, and often cites his personal disgust as the reason he was “thrown out of the Teams”… and the reason that all records of his service were erased. At the same time, by telling such stories, the SEAL imposter communicates to his listeners the idea that he is a violent, dangerous, and cold-blooded individual, that he (supposedly) WAS willing to kill innocent women and children when called upon to do so, and that because he is such a dangerous and efficient killer, he is a person to whom great deference and respect should be shown.
-SEALs ARE sailors serving in the US Navy – not soldiers, not airmen, not coast guardsmen, and not marines…
-SEALs ARE highly trained, highly intelligent, extremely physically fit warriors…
-SEALs ARE quiet, extremely self-confident professionals, not generally given to bragging or threatening…
-SEALs ARE military men, subject to the restrictions and stipulations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)…
-SEALs ARE NOT CIA “James Bond” super spy type operatives single-handedly carrying out hair raising ultra-secret “missions” against enemy governments and forces…
-SEALs ARE NOT indiscriminate killers, standing knee deep in grenade pins and spent cartridge casings, wielding bloody combat knives, assuming theatrical martial arts poses, and insisting that people call them by insipid nicknames, supposedly official “code names”, or ridiculously fabricated “call signs” such as “Creeping Death”, “Death Merchant”, “the Angry Gorilla”, “Avenger”, or “Lone Wolf”…
-SEALs ARE NOT war criminals committing indiscriminate mayhem and heinous acts of mass murder at the ultra-secret behest of their government, or piling up “body counts” in the hundreds or even thousands.
WEEKEND MISSIONS and SURGICALLY IMPLANTED MICROCHIPS
Many SEAL imposters have convinced their listeners that they are actually secret operatives for the US government, participating in exciting, life-threatening covert actions around the world… but only on the weekends! Many claim that while they go about their normal work-a-day jobs they are also in weekly or even daily contact with government authorities, waiting for crucial assignments that will take them to far lands and high adventure. They often cite the names of government officials currently mentioned in the news media as a way of adding a sense of realism to their false claims. These tall tales generally include claims of “leave-on-Friday-return-on-Sunday” secret missions that make James Bond movies look like gentle nursery tales. Several SEAL imposters have even added fantastic claims of the government surgically implanting microchips and or long distance communications devices in their bodies, ostensibly so they are never out of touch and can always be located by their “government handlers”. Of course they also claim that the surgery was so skillfully accomplished that no scarring or evidence of the surgeries remains to betray their existence.
There have been speculative documentary shows about the idea of implanting microchips bearing emergency medical information in people who have unusual medical conditions or who are under high health risks, but this is not routinely done with US Navy SEALs. Real Navy SEALs don’t have “GPS locator chips” surgically tucked away in the muscles of their body against the possibility that they become separated from their unit behind enemy lines. It happens in the movies, but not in real life.
The truth is that only fully active duty members of the US Navy can be Navy SEALs. They go to work at a military base or location on a daily basis. They muster and train daily, follow a military schedule, wear military uniforms, stand rotating military watches, and suffer through regular uniform inspections… just like all the other members of all the other branches of the US military armed forces.
The only “civilian SEALs” in existence are member of the US Naval Reserves. They attend regular reserve unit drill weekends once a month, and spend two weeks a year on Active Duty for Training (ACDUTRA). If a SEAL is serving in harm’s way, it’s because he is on active duty. If he is a reservist, then he must first be called to active duty BEFORE he is sent into harm’s way.
He will have printed orders to report for duty, uniforms and equipment allotments, and very specific schedules to which he must adhere. If a member of a SEAL reserve unit is called to active duty, it won’t be for just a weekend, it will be for an extended period of time (6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc), and it will be as a result of a MOBILIZATION order affecting most or all of the members of his reserve unit.
“SADDAM IN THE GUN SIGHTS”… and WHAT MAKES A SEAL DIFFERENT
One of the most frequently offered stories told by SEAL imposters is the claim of having had Saddam Hussein, or Osama bin Laden, or Mohammar Quadaffi (or some other high profile, newsworthy dictator) in their gun sights, but not being given “green light authorization to shoot”... as if SEALs in combat situations somehow need to "phone home" for permission to pull a trigger!
More than half of what separates SEALs from other military men is what is between their ears. SEALs are highly intelligent, and their training emphasizes a reliance on their intelligence and initiative to do their jobs without having to call for decisions from higher authority. The situations under which SEALs operate often make such contact with higher authority virtually impossible.
In war movies a constant dialog takes place between the main characters, either through verbal discussions between buddies or constant radio calls to "HQ". This is unrealistic, but it is necessary to keep the audience informed about what is going on, and to move the plot forward. In contrast to such an artificial situation, real SEALs hardly ever speak when on an operation. Hand and arm signals used by the SEALs carry as much information as sign language for the deaf. The primary mission of the SEAL Teams is intelligence gathering; absolute stealth and silence is required under such circumstances. Many SEAL assignments are carried out without a single word ever being uttered... or a single shot being fired.
AWARDS AND CITATIONS
To date there have only been three (3) living members of the Naval Special Warfare community who have been awarded the Medal Of Honor (sometimes called the "Congressional Medal of Honor"). All three of those men served during the Vietnam War. Those three men are Robert Kerrey (a former US Senator for the state of Arizona and former Presidential candidate), Thomas Norris, and Michael Thornton. In fact, Mike Thornton’s Medal Of Honor was the last one awarded to any member of any branch of the US Armed Forces for combat action in Vietnam, and it is also the most recent Medal Of Honor awarded to any living member of the US Navy.
Since the end of the Vietnam War there have been two (2) Medals Of Honor awarded POSTHUMOUSLY to US Army Snipers who gave their lives while attempting to save the life of a downed flier during the famous “Blackhawk Down” event in Mogadishu, Somalia.
There were no Medals Of Honor awarded to any member of any branch of the US Armed Forces for actions during operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1990-1991).
Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P Murphy was awarded the Medal Of Honor POSTHUMOUSLY for his actions during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (Afghanistan) in June 2005. The CMOH was presented to Lt. Murphy's parents by President Bush on 22 November 2007.
Navy SEAL Petty Officer Michael Monsoor was awarded the Medal Of Honor POSTHUMOUSLY for his actions during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM in September 2006. The CMOH was presented to Petty Officer Monsoor's parents by President Bush on 8 April 2008.
There is no such thing as a secret award ceremony. At the present time (2008) there are fewer than 140 living recipients of the Medal of Honor. All awards of the Medal Of Honor are a matter of public record. The detailed citations for all Medal Of Honor awards may be viewed online at http://www.history.army.mil/moh.html.
Under Title 18, Section 704, of the United States Code, an amended by the provisions of the STOLEN VALOR ACT of 2005, it is a federal offense to falsely claim to have received the MOH or other medals of valor. This includes the making of false VERBAL claims. The penalties for violation of this statute include fines up to $10,000 and/or up to one year in prison.
Second only to the Medal Of Honor is the Navy Cross. Only a handful of awards of the Navy Cross have been made since the end of the Vietnam War.
In the years following the end of the Vietnam War, a Navy Cross was awarded posthumously to Navy SEAL Engineman Chief Petty Officer Donald McFaul who was killed in combat in Panama in December of 1989.
No Navy Crosses were awarded for actions in operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1990-1991).
Several Navy Crosses have been awarded to Navy SEALs for actions taking place during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (Afghanistan) and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.
POW CLAIMS – Completely False
Another popular claim made by SEAL imposters is that of being a former prisoner of war. Often such claims are accompanied by claims of being the “only survivor of my unit”. Of course this particular tactic is intended to elicit extreme sympathy for the person claiming to be a SEAL POW, and at the same time it is intended to eliminate any possibility of there being someone who can deny the claims.
The names of all US military personnel who have ever been held as a Prisoner of War are a matter of record, and the POW Network (www.pownetwork.org) can quickly and accurately verify or deny ANY claims of POW status. The absolute truth is that there have NEVER been any UDT Frogmen or SEALs captured, detained, or held as prisoners of war... not in ANY war, not EVER!
In March 2002 during OPERATION ANACONDA in Afghanistan's Shahikot Valley, an a ridge designated as Takur Ghar, Navy SEAL ABH1 Neil Christopher Roberts was blown out the back of a helicopter during an aborted attack when the aircraft was struck by several Rocket Propelled Grenades. While the aircraft managed a 'controlled crash' several hundred yards down the mountain, the occupants were initially unaware that Roberts was missing. When a head count revealed his absence a rescue effort was undertaken involving US forces from several branches of service. The incident was observed by an overhead platform - an unmanned aerial vehicle with cameras (but no armament). Via that UAV's cameras Roberts was seen to engage the enemy for a time before being killed. His body was dragged some distance to a location where it seemed obvious that the enemy hoped it would act as "bait" for rescuers. At least two enemy combatants were seen to stand over Robert's body, desecrate it with knife slashes, and shoot it in the head. The initial reports by the news media made claims that an American military man had been captured and executed. The truth is that ABH1 Roberts was KILLED IN ACTION, and his body was subsequently mutilated after the fact and dragged to a location where it was could more conveniently act as bait for would-be rescuers. Some media organizations continue to reprint or reissue the wording of their original press releases from 2002, wherein it was erroneously reported that he was captured, held as POW, and then executed. Presumably these statements are intended to garner greater shock from readers than the actual horrific details; the motivations for repeating these stories appear to vary - some are motivated by anti-war intentions, some by political agendas. Some appear to be motivated by inter-service rivalries which paint the SEALs/Navy personnel as less professional than members of the other service branches involved in the Operation.
SEAL TEAM SIX and RED CELL
Many SEAL imposters have claimed they were either current or past members of SEAL Team SIX and/or RED CELL. Some have even claimed service with SEAL Team SIX in Vietnam, while others have claimed service with that unit in Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), or Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In actuality, SEAL Team SIX didn't come into existence until 1980. Iranians had taken the US Embassy in Tehran in the spring of 1979, and were holding Americans hostage. The US military staged a rescue attempt called Operation Eagle Claw in April 1980. Three US aircraft on the way to a desert staging and refueling waypoint called "Desert One" were damaged in a sandstorm. Other aircraft did successfully make it to the "Desert One" waypoint - a section of desert roadway used as a landing strip. Loss of aircraft in the sandstorm made continuing the rescue effort impossible and the attempt was aborted. In the refueling and departure from the waypoint to return to US territory a collision occurred, several aircraft were damaged or destroyed, and lives were lost. SEAL officer Richard Marcinko was serving in the Pentagon at that time and was dismayed by the loss of life and aircraft in the effort to rescue Americans being held hostage. He enlarged upon an existing idea ("Mob 6") and proposed a unit of Navy SEALs which would be specifically tasked as an anti-terrorist unit. The proposal was accepted and Marcinko was made the Commanding Officer of the unit. He was also given the option of naming it, and opted to call it SEAL Team SIX.
Marcinko began selecting SEALs for the unit in the summer of 1980, the unit itself actually came into being on paper on the 15th of August of 1980 (12 years and 6 months after the end of the Vietnam War), and the SEAL Team SIX commissioning party was held in November 1980. Six months later the unit was fully operational, but it did not hear a shot fired in anger until its participation in Operation Urgent Fury on the Caribbean island of Grenada in 1983. By that point in time Marcinko was no longer the Commanding Officer.
RED CELL was a small contingent of men who were specifically tasked with evaluating the security capabilities of various US military bases from the viewpoint of a potential Soviet threat. Red Cell, although formed by SEAL Richard Marcinko and principally manned by ST-6 individuals, was not part of ST-6. It was actually the Navy Security Coordination Team (NSCT) and was mostly based out of the Pentagon. It's relationship to ST-6 was principally because of its founder and the majority of its members. Red Cell no longer exists.
The popularity and wide availability of author Richard Marcinko’s ROGUE WARRIOR books has put a lot of information about those particular SEAL units into the hands of the general public. Marcinko, as described above, was a real US Navy SEAL, and his books vividly portray an exciting and dangerous sequence of military actions. Armed with this apparent "inside information" a continuing floodtide of phonies has developed, claiming personal acquaintance with Marcinko, or claiming operating experience with SEAL Team SIX or RED CELL. Many imposters even go so far as to falsely claim that notable incidents (or slight variations thereof) from Marcinko’s books are actually their own personal experiences.
As a function of making his tales enjoyable for his intended audience, Marcinko’s form and style of writing are akin to a thrilling movie script, concentrating heavily on the exciting moments of training and/or deadly dangerous moments of SEAL operations, rather than on the more mundane and normal day-to-day life of a Navy SEAL. No other SEAL Team has been so widely described to the civilian public. In fact members of the general public have little, if any, specific knowledge about any other SEAL Team except Team SIX. Most don’t even know how many SEAL Teams actually exist.
The tall tales of SEAL imposters generally follow the same heavy focus on action and danger as presented in Marcinko's books, and ignore the mundane aspects of day-to-day training and non-combat life. Any descriptions they may offer related to “down time” between combat actions generally seem to focus on drinking and partying, bragging about their bedroom conquests, and always always always bragging about their many claimed heroic combat accomplishments... and these rarely bear any resemblance to the realities of SEAL duty.
The publicity which resulted from publication of Marcinko's ROGUE WARRIOR book was entirely contrary to the Navy's desire to maintain a low public profile regarding SEAL Team SIX. It was felt that the great amount of publicity effectively made SEAL Team SIX's anti-terrorist operations far more difficult, if not impossible. As a result SEAL Team SIX was decommissioned "about 1989" [this date is intentionally vague]. The officers and men were reassigned within the SEAL Teams; many of them were specifically tasked with continuing their anti-terrorist operations as a part of other SEAL units with far less public profiles.
TATTOOS
Many SEAL imposters offer tattoos as evidence that they are actually members of the US Navy’s SEAL Teams. They take advantage of the fact that most people would not begin to give serious consideration to obtaining such a tattoo without having legitimately earned the right to display or wear the symbol. Upon displaying their tattoos, SEAL imposters often claim to their listeners that “all of the men in my class got this same tattoo when we graduated from training”. Others have claimed that a particular tattoo was one that all the members of their individual SEAL platoon got after completing a particular deployment, operation, or “mission”.
Time and again reports surface of individuals offering or displaying a SEAL Trident tattoo as “proof” of membership in the Navy’s SEAL Teams. The truth of the matter is that a tattoo is nothing more than an indelible picture set into the wearer’s skin. The government does not issue and does not espouse tattoos of any sort or kind. Anyone can purchase a tattoo. Anyone can obtain ANY tattoo image (including any military insignia) if they are willing to spend the money, and to endure the discomfort of having it pierced into their skin.
It is perhaps appropriate to point out that the requirements of Operational Security (OPSEC) and Personal Security (PERSEC) are not well served if members of an elite military force like the SEALs are wearing the identifying emblem of their unit tattooed on their bodies. These are not the freewheeling days of wooden ships, canvas sails, and sailors wearing exotic tattoos from unheard-of ports in the primitive South Sea Islands. This is the 21st Century, and the modern Navy is a completely different entity. The popularity of tattoos is increasing, including the SEAL Trident emblem or variations on that theme, and more SEALs do have tattoos today than 30-40 years ago. Still, those tattoos are never offered as proof of SEAL training or SEAL duty. There is no tattoo which is either currently recognized or accepted as a means of identifying certain SEAL members.
When Navy SEALs go into combat they do not normally carry identifying documents such as I.D. cards, drivers’ licenses, photographs of wives or girlfriends, notes from friends, letters from home, or paycheck stubs! Despite such strict observance being given to OPSEC and PERSEC by these quiet professionals, the claims of special tattoos as proof of being a SEAL or members of a SEAL unit are regularly offered by countless imposters, many of whom have never served a day in the military.
OPSEC and PERSEC are very real concerns, and tattoos – officially classed as “identifying marks and scars” – pose a real threat to both OPSEC and PERSEC. For that reason most real SEALs still do not wear any tattoos, and avoid having the SEAL Trident permanently engraved anywhere on their persons. There is no official ban on tattoos (Trident emblems or otherwise) in the SEAL Teams. As noted the popularity (fad) of tattoos is greater today than in years past. Additionally, some former SEALs do obtain such a tattoo, most often small and discretely located, after leaving active military service, but this is far from a “standard procedure”. A Trident tattoo is never offered by a real SEAL as proof of his Team membership.
"I WORKED WITH THE SEALS..."
The claim of “working WITH the SEALs” is often offered by imposters who have been called to account for their false claims of being a SEAL. When confronted with evidence that he is not listed among SEAL Training graduates, the imposter often suggests that his comments have somehow been “misunderstood”, and that he only claimed to have “worked with the SEALs”. Of course that statement, like his initial false claim of actually being a SEAL, is intended to imply to the listener that somehow the claimant has acquired the knowledge and skills, including both weapons proficiency and martial arts abilities, required to be a SEAL Team operator.
In truth, since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 there are some non-SEALs being assigned to “work with” the Navy’s SEAL Teams in combat zones, but those individuals do not participate in combat operations and their assignments do not mean that those individuals have been trained as SEALs, or possess SEAL skills or credentials. These selected individuals are termed INDIVIDUAL AUGMENTEES or IAs.
A specialized Individual Augmentee (IA) selection process was developed that sends sailors with critical skills to support special operations missions. In 2007, more than 20 percent of the personnel supporting Naval Special Warfare (NSW) operations in Southwest Asia, including Iraq and Afghanistan, were IAs. Most of the IAs are drawn from other parts of the Navy and the Navy Reserve Force.
The IA selection process begins with a Combatant Commander who identifies a need for support and then requests the personnel. Since the IAs will serve side by side with their NSW counterparts, the process is carefully reviewed and validated. After the request is approved, personnel are identified. Once orders are in hand, a predeployment battery of administrative and medical screenings are undertaken. Physical checks, immunizations, passports and security clearances are all obtained, and then the member heads to a TWO-WEEK BASIC SOLDIERING course at Ft. Jackson, S.C., which includes weapons training, land navigation and tactical combat casualty care.
The IAs then receive indoctrination at an NSW command. With their newly-issued camouflage and protective gear, they are then assigned to a SEAL Team, and with the Team become part of a Task Unit (TU).
IAs handle a variety of tasks when they get to their final destination. One recent IA worked as a Civil Affairs Officer, and his job included multiple Coordinated Medical Engagements involving site surveys of local infrastructure such as water treatment plants, emergency refuse cleanup, and assisting the local government with ways to rebuild and manage their area. Another IA was primarily responsible for restoring cellular phone service to an area damaged by warfare. He also visited a poor fishing village and assisted the Iraqi Army in passing out book bags to the local children, and distributing heaters and blankets to their parents.
There are, indeed, men who “work with the SEALs”, but their contributions do not entail combat or require specialized combat training, skills, or abilities. Individual Augmentees or IAs have no “SEAL credentials” and are not considered “SEAL Operators”.
IN SUMMARY
The US Navy's SEALs are arguably the most highly trained Special Operations force in the world today, but even they have physical and technological limits. Unlike the typical “super hero” SEALs described in pulp fiction novels or presented in action/adventure movies, today's real SEAL is very “low profile”, unassuming, highly intelligent, highly capable, and extremely self-assured military man. Real SEALs don't seek the public limelight or the attention of the media. Real SEALs do not need to hang out in bars regaling others with tales of covert actions as a means of boosting their own sagging egos. The real SEALs are widely known as "the quiet professionals". A good general rule of thumb in evaluating someone’s claims of being a SEAL is this:
Those who talk the most, very likely did the least, and those who talk the least, very likely did the most.
While Navy SEALs are in great physical shape compared with most other military men, they rarely look like Olympic gymnasts, body builders, weight lifters, or professional wrestlers. A real SEAL is more likely to look and act like the guy next door – someone who works out regularly at the gym! Unlike most people in today's work-a-day world, men who successfully complete SEAL training have tested their mental and physical limits and know their true capabilities. They are self-assured, confident, rational and realistic. They are better than most at rapidly analyzing a situation and determining a course of action in times of crisis. More than half of the difference between a real SEAL and a non-SEAL (military or civilian) is what goes on between his ears.
The US Navy SEAL Teams are a MILITARY organization, and the details of SEAL operations, tactics, and technology are disseminated on a "NEED TO KNOW" basis. That "need to know" does NOT include barroom drinking buddies, coworkers, or women or children we are hoping to impress. Real SEALs are ALWAYS concerned with OPSEC and PERSEC, and NEVER “confide” information about their work to anyone outside their unit. Real SEALs don't go around bragging about their “missions”, their "kills" or “body counts”, or their heroic actions. Real SEALs rarely discuss their assignments or accomplishments, even with other SEALs... and certainly do NOT discuss them with non-SEALs.
Real SEALs rarely wear tattoos. Tattoos can be bought by anyone with money and a tolerance for pain. But no one can buy a billet on the US Navy’s SEAL Teams. The legitimate right to the title “SEAL” must be earned through personal dedication and sacrifice, through unbelievably grueling and demanding physical and mental training; through sheer determination and unshakeable will.
Statistics show that only 4.5% to 5% of the current living US population – about 1 person in 20 – has any first hand experience of any sort in the military. This includes all active duty personal (both male and female), all current military reservists, all members of the National Guard, and all living veterans of past service in the US armed forces. The remaining 95% of the population must rely upon second hand information for all knowledge of the military. This second hand information comes from a wide variety of sources, many of which have an underlying profit motivation for disseminating their information.
News organizations (both print and broadcast media) relate what has happened or is happening with the military, and ostensibly provide that news without prejudice or manipulation. Viewers must keep in mind, however, that advertisements underwrite those efforts… and the success of advertisements is based upon high levels of viewership. The more exciting, dramatic, or controversial the news story, the more viewers there will be… and thus the more viewers who will see the commercial advertisements which support the news organization financially. Subtle pressures are constantly at work, influencing writers to present sensational news stories … whether or not the actual facts about a news story justify the sensationalism.
Entertainment television (non-news) and the motion picture industry are equal competitors for viewer’s attention and the dollars which those viewers have to spend. Sensationalism is the name of the game; the more exiting, dramatic, and spell-binding the story, the more money the storytellers stand to earn. With very few exceptions, TV and motion pictures rarely portray characters who are file clerks, typists, truck drivers, or cooks going about their normal, daily lives. There is little excitement to be found in portrayals of retail clerks or postal workers. Obviously such mundane and unexciting movies or TV shows wouldn’t sell many commercials or theater seats. Excitement is what sells, and stories about Navy SEALs are exciting… but they rarely bear any resemblance to reality. More often than not those TV and motion pictures portray incredibly heroic individuals who are called upon to spy for their government, or shoot their way in/out of a terrorist camps, all while facing incredible odds and extreme dangers. Even “docudramas” are actually works of imaginative writing and only loosely based upon actual historic incident, often with unrelated and imaginative scenes of graphic violence thrown in as pivotal plot points.
For every REAL SEAL, living or dead, there are countless barroom braggarts spouting outrageous tales of daring SEAL combat missions to their drinking buddies. For every REAL SEAL there are countless back-alley bullies using false claims of being a SEAL to threaten and intimidate others. For every REAL SEAL there are countless corporate executives padding their resumes with exaggerated claims of military service and awards for valor, and countless security and law enforcement officials seeking positions of greater authority based on fictitious SEAL experience. For every REAL SEAL there are countless lascivious Lotharios preying on unsuspecting and trusting women who believe their absurd lies and misrepresentations.
The Naval Special Warfare community lost TWO Teammates during the Korean War, FORTY-NINE Teammates during the Vietnam War, FOUR Teammates during the Grenada conflict, and FOUR Teammates during the Panama conflict. Thus far TWENTY-THREE SEAL Teammates have fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Others have fallen as well, both in training and in actual operations. In fact the number of SEAL deaths due to non-combat and training accidents outnumbers SEAL combat deaths more than two to one.
Those who falsely claim to be one of our fellows, and on equal footing with our fallen comrades, are not only a disgrace to every man and woman who ever served the nation honorably in uniform, but they are a direct insult and an affront to the memories of good men who truly earned the right to be called SEALs; men who have given their lives in the service of our nation.
As one of our Teammates from the Vietnam era once said; “the men making false SEAL claims are walking on the graves of 49 of my Teammates!”
More appropriate words than these do not exist.
