Navy SEAL Team Six

The SEALs were the offspring of the frogmen who were trained during World War II to recon beaches for amphibious landings. Soon they learned underwater demolitions in order to clear obstacles and became known as Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs). In the Korean War UDTs evolved and went farther inland, blowing up bridges and tunnels. And more years later, after observing Communist insurgency in Southeast Asia, the military understood the need for unconventional warriors and so the navy unit that could conduct warfare from sea, air and land (SEALs) sprouted from the UDTs.

To qualify as a Navy SEAL, the navy soldier usually already had to have 5 years military experience before being allowed to undergo further extensive and horrific selection and training. In the book SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper which was basically an autobiography of a SEAL in the most select branch of the SEALs, SEAL team six, Howard Wasdin shares his mental conditioning for the SEALs. His training actually started with the daily abuse he received from his step-dad to his being the sole candidate selected to join the SEALs out of a select cut of 100 applicants onward to his battle in Mogadishu, Somalia where he was badly wounded with one leg almost blown off and a bullet in the other ankle. Memorable to all participated in that bloody battle and just minutes before receiving his career-changing wounds, Wasdin also had an incredible sniper shot of 846 yards that killed a Somalian who was aiming to gun down a friendly operator. A much applauded shot as accuracy, even for a sniper, is hard beyond 500 yards!

But what kind of training did the Navy SEALS undergo to become the elite of the SEAL time? SEALs were trained to make their own ghillie suits (x2) - one of white and the other of green - designed to blend in to an environment. When SEALs went on multiple practice ops, the refrain in their minds was something like I am one with the ground, I am a part of the dirt. They learned to blend into the environment, and to green- or white-out their faces so that their faces no longer looked like faces - lightening the shadow area, and darkening the areas that shine. One of the SEALs training basic tests (of many!) was to swim 500 yards in 12.5 minutes, rest 10 minutes, 42 push-ups in 2 minutes, rest 2 minutes, 50 sit-ups in 2 minutes, rest 2 minutes, 6 pull-ups before dropping off the bar, rest 10 minutes, run 1.5 miles wearing boots and trousers within 11.5 minutes. Distances increased, times decreased. Training was brutal. For those who couldn't keep up, they were eliminated and never allowed to apply for Navy SEAL training again.

SEAL-trainees went on to learn advanced levels of diving and land warfare, including close-quarters combat (CQC). Then in his advanced and highly selective training as a sniper, Wasdin learned to field sketch for reconnaisance, very important training for teaching detail and accurate communication skills on paper. These drawings were done in perspective - nearby objects larger than distant objects, horizontal parallel lines converge and vanish in the distance. At the bottom of the sketch they were to note the patrol, number of 2.5 ton trucks, etc. and they were graded on neatness, accuracy, and intelligence value, requiring a score of 70% or higher ... or they were eliminated from sniper training. When field sketch training began, the task had to be completed in 30 minutes. As they gained familiarity, the maximum time allowed (replicating war circumstances) was reduced to 15 minutes.

Highly specialized training was given to the snipers. Both SEAL and Delta Force operators had snipers under training. Delta Force was the army's top commando unit parring with the SEALs, and both specialized units learned to shoot to kill a target under every circumstance regardless of climate, time of day, fatigue (which plays a big part), slant, elevation, country, hemorrhoids, etc. The training started out demanding that operators hit a target every time up to 800 yards, but that was shown to be an unrealistically high range, as in 200 yards or so too high to demand perfection. And so when Wasdin hit the unfriendly in war conditions at 846 yards, he was justifiably proud and the other specialized ops were justifiably amazed.

One of the funniest (in a way) moments in the book was when Wasdin, fresh from the battlefield, lay in a hospital hooked up to a pain killer that he could pump into his body if the pain was too great. He woke to someone crying, "Damn, it hurt! Damn, it hurts!" and looked over at a Ranger who had been in his own humvee when fleeing the attack and had been shot first in the leg, then twice in the shoulder, and then once in the arm, but all the while he kept feeding ammo to the others in the humvee. Wasdin had been impressed! Realizing the Ranger had no pain killing pump yet, he reached a mop handle over and after the Ranger grasped it, together they pulled with hospital beds closer. Then Wasdin pumped some pain killers into himself, and then disconnected the needle feeding pain killers into his IV drip into the Ranger's IV drip, gave him a few pumps ... and they got drowsy together. When the nurse returned, she went ballistic, but a passing colonel got a chuckle out of what happened, pulled the nurse aside and told her, "Hey, these guys are trained to take care of each other. Just let it go this time, will ya'?"

What I got most out of this book was the importance of training the mind, which usually comes from suffering, to be the highly trained and superior fighter of SEAL quality. Physical training is important, brutal, often unforgiving, but without having the will and ability to block pain and subsume discomforts and frustrations, the warrior would be a risk to himself and others. [This last statement reminds me of elephants used in battle in former times, but the elephants, though huge creatures, were inept for war for when they felt pain, they would go berserk and destroy what was around them or in their way, which often were on their own side. I guess the point here is they knew no teamwork in such a state, so I guess there does appear to be a parallel.]

My former SEAL colleague recommended this book to me, and now we have to talk! I have so many questions ... so many!