The SEALs I have met

[mac117]

A close high school friend of mine went into the Navy after graduating in '69....became a SEAL, went to Nam in '70. Most of his team got killed on a mission in the North. Mike E & E'd back toward the South for 14 miles with an AK round in his thigh. He was pretty tough in HS, he was damn tough in the Navy.....and he's still one tough MOFO now! Used to get a bit crazy when drunk, but hey....so it goes! Met many over the years. Same caliber! Was next in formation to a few in jump school....I did a whole lot of push ups because of them! (just for being next to them) It was entertaining. Have nothing but respect for them.

[PocketKings]

All the SEALs in my RS class failed land nav. It was funny to us at the time.

Flash forward a few years and I'm attending Duane Dieter's CQB course in Maryland on the Army's dime. It's taught by active and former SEALs. They basically spent the whole course beating us into the ground.

I guess they got the last laugh.

[Guymullins]

I hope these SEALs have got a "Paratroopers I have Met" section on their website.

[MAC11B3V]

Sorry to say, the dozen or so I've met were dickheads... although I still give the majority of them the benefit of the doubt. Quitting Ranger school in Mountains when it gets shitty because "I don't need this" isn't a viable excuse. Also, straphanging on a jump then refusing to participate in sustained or pre-jump PLF's is not cool either. Yeah go ahead and stand there with your arms folded and your nose up in the air, we all think you are SO cool sir.

[Ferret_LE426]

I have always heard if you have to tell someone what you do, you have failed at what you do.

To qoute Bugs Bunny OH DE IRONEEEE
That is why he can't come clean because that means he has failed!

[recondo82]

Never actually met, but had the privilege of carrying on an e-mail conversation for a couple months with Roy Boehm, founder of the SEALs (well technically co-founder). I read his book when it came out and e-mailed him to ask a few questions. He was surprisingly responsive and forthcoming with information. I mostly asked him about his WWII service because my grandfather had also been in the Navy during WWII and they were in some of the same areas of conflict. This guy was the real deal, and repeatedly said that everything he did for the SEALs was an effort to give the men under him the best possible tools to survive. Sadly, he passed away almost 2 years ago about 30 miles up the road from me.

[18C4V]

I met some that were cool and others that wern't. I'm sure that the SEALS could say the same about us SF guys also. Heck there's guys in my company that I don't talk to since they think they are to cool for school.

[Ops NCO]

I hope these SEALs have got a "Paratroopers I have Met" section on their website.

[Gun-Toting Diplomat]

Sadly, most of the SEALS I've worked with simply sustain the "Rangers with flippers" reputation they've built. This is not to say they all suck, I work closely with one in particular who is easily one of the smartest men I've ever met. Still of the ones I've met and worked with, I'd have to say the good ones are in the minority.

[August]

I hope these SEALs have got a "Paratroopers I have Met" section on their website.

Actually it reads "Paratroopers I Look Up To"

[Guymullins]

Actually it reads "Paratroopers I Look Up To"

That must be all of us, seeing they are underwater most of the time.

[MAC11B3V]

Sadly, most of the SEALS I've worked with simply sustain the "Rangers with flippers" reputation they've built. This is not to say they all suck...

Please define "Rangers with flippers" reputation.

BTW all SEALS got their jump wings the same place we did, and I can pretty much guarantee they don't give a crap about a maroon colored hat...

[AaronSDMF]

I hope these SEALs have got a "Paratroopers I have Met" section on their website.

bawhahahaha...."dude bro, were seals bro, like bro we do anything we want bro....i put GP charges on every door in peaceful goverment supporting villages bro and like shoot random unarmed goat herders bro, because his 12th century livin ass didnt get the memo about being outside at 1700 bro, then Grunts come in bro, and get fucked up...because like...we pissed off the entire village bro.

[Gun-Toting Diplomat]

Please define "Rangers with flippers" reputation.

BTW all SEALS got their jump wings the same place we did, and I can pretty much guarantee they don't give a crap about a maroon colored hat...

Look this is all my opinion, so take it for what it's worth. But having worked with them a few times, I've started to notice that SEALs have lost touch with the ability to conduct FID in a meaningful way. The concentration on DA, or UW in my opinion has made them less useful in the current conflict. The Army has the premier FID/CT/UW (SF) and Infantry (75th) organizations. The focus the SEALs have had on the kinetics over the last 9-10 years makes them a Navy version of the 75th, which is what we don't need. The concentration on one slim section of the traditional SEAL mission has earned them a reputation as being "Rangers with flippers" That is to say, they work hard at being as good as the 75th at infantry tactics, with the additional SCUBA and waterborne operations training.

Not sure what you were getting at with the jump school thing, I didn't have the "pleasure" of attending with any B/UDS graduates.

[Davenc]

I've only known one and I worked with him for a few years quite a while back in the late 80's. He was a great guy and you would have never suspected he was a seal. He was a seal at the tail end of NAM and told me that whole seal teams where getting ambushed because of bad intel towards the end of the war. He felt real lucky to have made it out alive.

I do have the privilege though of knowing one of members of the first group of guys that went through Delta force training. Short story: My wife ended up meeting his wife and and they really hit it off so she gave my wife a bit of history about her husband. I ended up getting the book Inside Delta force and reading it and met her husband, and sure enough he's there in back ground in the picture of the graduating class. The Delta guy who wrote the book really violated the rules by publishing what he did. He's a really great guy and the wife and I have remained friends with him. Even pop off a few rounds with him every now and then out back on my home made firing range. I feel sorry for the guy though cause all those years in SF and Delta took a terrible toll on his body.