|
|
Background: The first US Navy special warfare unit, formed at Fort Pierce (Florida) in mid-1943, was the Combat Demolition Unit. Volunteers came from the ranks of Navy Construction Battalions (CBs or "Seabees") and USN/USMC scout and raider units, and saw operational deployment in six-man teams at Normandy, with a 41% casualty rate but a 100% operation success rate. The D-Day survivors brought back hard=learned lessons which resulted in a new training program and the creation of two to three-man groups formed into squadrons, the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs). The UDTs, who had the assigned mission of reconnaissance and clearance of the proposed amphibious landing area from the 6 1/2 fathom curve to the high water mark, were deployed in the Pacific Theatre, Korea and Vietnam.
In 1960, a USN study was conducted to analyze the Navy's ability to counter-insurgency (COIN) operations, including unconventional and clandestine warfare. This study resulted in the commissioning of SEAL Team 1 and 2 on January 1, 1962 by President John F. Kennedy. The SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) Teams underwent the same training and were tasked with the same missions as the UDTs (sabotage, infiltration, reconnaissance and clearance), but were also trained in unconventional warfare techniques.
With increasing US involvement in Vietnam, the USN deployed two SEAL platoons in the Rung Sat Special Zone area, Saigon's outlet to the sea. Initially used only for intelligence-gathering missions in the Mekong Delta, the SEAL recon teams would map Viet Cong water and trail networks and then destroy them. These initial operations proved so successful that four more platoons were deployed to carry out similar operations further from the main waterways.
These recon teams were usually of between three to seven men, each a specialist in a specific area. These RTs consisted of the "wheel" (leader), a couple of swimmer-scouts, the "powder train" (demo specialist), the "rigger" (escort and cover for the powder train), a radio operator and a heavy-weapons man.
As the war escalated, SEAL Teams 1 and 2 deployed platoons throughout the riverine area, with insertions and extractions performed by craft of the Brown Water Navy. By late 1966, the SEALs received further support, in the form of a SEAL "package". This included Helicopter Attack Squadron Light 3 (HAL-3, or the "Seawolves"), equipped with UH-1B armed helicopters, the Special Boat Squadron and its PCFs (Patrol Craft, Fast or "Swift"), and additional support from a Mobile Support Team.
The Teams, as the SEALs refer to themselves, carried out a number of Search and Destroy operations during their time in Vietnam. These included Operation Charlestown (December 1966), which involved the location and destruction of VC wells in the Rung Sat Special Zone, Operation Crimson Tide (September 1967), which involved the SEALs acting as scouts during large unit operations, and Operation Bold Dragon III (March 1968), the destruction of Viet Cong bunkers and arms factory on Tanh Dinh island. SEALs also paid frequent visits to Haiphong Harbor, the main port of North Vietnam.
SEALs were amongst the most effective members of the MAC V SOG ICEX (Intelligence and Exploitation) program, and later the CIA- sponsored Phoenix Counter-Terrorist Program. Working alongside the Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRU), elite strike forces recruited from the local MIKE Forces and VC traitors and convicted criminals, they formed the direct action branch of this program. Missions ranged from reconnaissance to ambush, kidnapping, and assassination missions against Viet cong political cadre, tax collectors, and spies. Joint operations were also conducted with the Lin Dei Nugel Nghai (LDNN, South Vietnamese SEALs), including raids on VC POW camps in the Delta. Although controversial, it is known that the SEALs made use of the amphetamine dexedrine on such operations to be more alert and aware of their surroundings.
With the conclusion of the Vietnam War, the SEALs returned stateside. Standard "peace time" SEAL duty was the instruction of friendly troops in Central America and it is believed that it is SEAL elements and their locally trained troops which mined Nicaragua's main harbor under CIA authorization.
In November 1980, after the reorganization of the US Counter-Terrorist Units under the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), a 100 SEALs unit was formed and designated SEAL Team 6. Although highly classified, the Team 6, a.k.a. "the Mob", is a special counter-terrorist combat swimmer unit along the lines of Commachio Company, tasked with countering attacks on U.S. ships and oil rigs, as well as supporting DELTA FORCE in conventional Counter-Terrorist operations.
Elements of Teams 4 and 6 saw deployment during Operation Urgent Fury, in 1983. The first U.S. troops to land in Grenada, Team 4's missions included pre-landing beach reconnaissance in support of the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU), which it performed extremely well. Team 6 would face many more difficulties.
One of Team 6's first missions was the reconnaissance of Point Salines airfield. Sixteen men were to arrive off the island's southern coast in two C-130 transports, parachute into the sea, climb aboard the Boston Whalers, and meet up with the destroyer Clifton Sprague. There an additional squad SEAL squad complemented with USAF Combat Controllers (CCT) would join them after their own sea-jump. Finally, they would move to the airfield, check the runway' serviceability, remove any obstacles, place homing beacons, and await the Rangers. Disaster struck from the beginning.
The Team 6 parachute jump scheduled for dusk was pushed back six hours due to delays. The already treacherous night-time jump was made worse by twenty-five knots wind gusts, well in excess of the recommended eighteen knot recommended limit. The sixteen jumpers went ahead, in teams of eight, each member carrying the maximum combat load (over 60 lbs!!!) and without the benefit of a "dip test" to check for buoyancy. Only five of the first eight men surfaced. Further, they could not find their Boston Whaler and had to bob in the sea with their life-vests until a launch from the Sprague recovered them. The surviving members commented that even after releasing their equipment as soon as they had a canopy above them they plummeted sixty feet under water upon landing. The other eight men fared little better, losing one man but finding their Whaler.
After the rendez-vous with the Sprague, they picked up the six-man SEAL/CCT team and set-off, undermanned, for the Point Salines airfield. Despite two attempts, the SEALs were unable to reach the airfield and complete their mission.
The next Team 6 operations were the raids on Radio Free Grenada and the rescue of the Governor-General and his staff. Neither of these missions went as planned either. While SEALs successfully seized the radio station, they came under fire from Soviet BTRs and were forced to retreat into the surf a mile offshore or be overrun. In the end, the radio station was destroyed in an air strike.
Meanwhile two TF 160 MH-160Ks helicopters were transporting SEALs to the Government House. The mission started poorly when no one could find the structure amidst the foliage, and while circling the helicopters began to take hits. Ignoring the ground fire, the helicopters finally located and approached their target but found that the ground sloped too steeply to land. The SEALs fast-roped to the ground and the helicopters were forced to retreat still containing the SEAL 2IC and the satellite radio.
The twenty-two SEALs quickly disarmed the police guard and rescued the fourteen hostages, sheltering them within the Government House until they could be evacuated. Grenadian PRA troopers and BTR-60s began laying siege to the SEALs who managed to communicate the situation with HQ via a relay of their short-range radios. After four hours, an AC-130 Spectre arrived, relieved the SEALs and evacuated the fourteen staffers.
After Grenada, SEALs were also deployed on sabotage and raiding missions on Iranian ships and oil platforms in the Persian Gulf. SEAL Team 6 elements were used in the capture of the terrorist involved in the Achille Lauro hijacking.
The next large scale SEAL deployment came with Operation Just Cause (Panama). Seal Team 4 elements, as part of Task Force Bayonet, were tasked with cutting off General Noriega's potential escape routes. SEALs aboard two navy PBRs and two Army landing crafts closed the harbor at Colon, firing across the bow of any craft trying to leave. At H Hour minus one hour and fifteen minutes, four SEALs left Rodman Naval Air Station and swam towards the patrol boat President Porras, tied up at Balboa Harbor. The SEALs attached satchel charges and at H Hour (0100) the craft sunk in a loud explosion.
The final duty of the SEALs was the assault of the airfield at Paitilla where Noriega's learjet was housed. At about midnight, a USN patrol boat launched fifteen Zodiak boats, containing three sixteen-man platoons and a USAF CCT to communicate with the AC-130 Spectre in air support.
Swimmer scouts were sent ashore to reconnoitre the bay end of the airfield. However, having been notified that H Hour had been moved up by fifteen minutes, Lt. Commander Toohey decided to move his men without waiting for the scouts' report. Meeting with the scouts, the SEALs moved stealthily on their objective.
Toohey then received a second report informing him that a helicopter, suspected of transporting Noriega, had left Colon en route to the airfield. Toohey decided to speed two platoons to their objective to head off the helicopter. While running across the field, the SEALs encountered Panamians and ordered them to surrender, believing they were simple security guards as per the intelligence reports. In reality PDF soldiers had been dispatched to guard the Learjet after news of the invasion had been leaked. By "skipping" their shots, the PDF brought down seven of the nine SEALs in their first volley, killing one. In the ensuing minute-long firefight, additional SEALs were wounded and three of wounded killed. Three PDF troopers had been killed and eight wounded had been carried off. It took nearly two hours to evacuate the SEALs due to heavy air traffic during H Hour. During the action a 40mm grenade blasted a hole through the Learjet, rendering it useless.
In August 1990, SEALs returned to the Persian Gulf along with other JSOC forces to participate in Operation Desert Shield. SEALs had been the first Western forces to arrive in Kuwait, infiltrating the city within hours of the invasion. Their duty was to provide intelligence reports and develop plans to rescue US embassy personnel should they become hostages. SEALs were also first to capture Iraqi Enemy Prisoners of War (EPWs) after assaulting nine Kuwaiti oil platforms on Saturday January 19 1991. It is widely accepted that a SEAL sniper team on a recon mission, armed with M21 and M40A1 rifles, had Saddam Hussein within their scopes but decided not to shoot as it fell outside their mission parameters.
On February 23 1991, a day before the ground war's opening, a six-man SEAL Team, led by Lt. Tom Dietz, left their Saudi coastal base at Ras al-Mishab in a pair of Fountain 33 speedboats. At 2200, the six swimmer scouts untied the Zodiak raiding craft and set off along Kuwait's shoreline, as they had been doing for the past month. When within 500 meters from shore, the swimmers set off carrying marking buoys, H&K MP5Ks submachineguns, night vision equipment and 20 lbs. satchel charges. The explosives were set to detonate at 0100 February 24th, just three hours before the true allied assault. As expected, the charges and marking buoys fooled the Iraqis into believing an amphibious assault was imminent, forcing troops to be diverted to the east, rather than reinforcing the true front in the west.
With the end of he ground war and the capture of Kuwait City, the SEALs captured the world's attention as they patrolled the city in three-man Fast Attack Vehicles, heavily armed dune buggies capable of skimming across the desert sands at speeds of 60 mph.
The first phase, indoctrination and conditioning, consists of intense physical training with a 50% attrition rate. This phase also serves as the selection phase, culminating in an intense "Hell Week". The second phase is the military amphibious operations course, which instructs "tadpoles" in small-boat handling and open-and closed-circuit SCUBA techniques. The final phase, practical field exercise phase, consists of land warfare tactics, hydrographic reconnaissance, weapons handling, demolitions, and communications.
Those that graduate from BUD/S go on to the Airborne Course at Fort Benning, GA. This is followed by the 33-week Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Course. This course also instructs in biological and chemical munitions, and the use of atomic demolition munitions (ADMs). Upon completion, troopers are admitted into the "Teams" where they receive further continuation training as part of an operational platoon.
SEALs receive further training in unconventional warfare, jungle and all-climes warfare and survival, combat medicine, escape and evasion, fire support, and military free fall parachuting. Martial arts training is also stressed. From the Vietnam War to 1978 (when their instructor died), the SEAL martial art was Hwarang-do Karate. However, training has now shifted to the more conventional mixture of martial combat known as "commando training". SEALs also go on to learn a specialty, and some are assigned to one of two support units, the Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (SDV) teams and the Special Boat Squadrons (SBS).
Unit Organization: At present there are seven active SEAL teams in the US Navy. Each SEAL Team (1-5, 8) consists of 27 officers and 156 men, and is divided into five platoons. The five platoons are further broken down into squads and further into recon teams. SEAL Team 6, a 100-man unit, comes under the command of the JSOC rather than the Naval Special Warfare Groups (NAVSPECWARGRU 1 and 2), and is attached to DELTA FORCE in the counter-terrorist role. Teams 1, 3 and 5 are stationed at the Naval Amphibious base, Coronado, San Diego CA. Teams 2, 4, 6 and 8 are stationed at Little Creek, Norfolk VA. SEAL Team 6 is directly controlled by the US Navy's Atlantic Command (Norfolk, VA).
On May 1 1983, the last UDTs were decommissioned and the men incorporated in other units. UDTs 11 and 20 became SEAL Teams 5 and 4 respectively, while UDTs 12 and 22 became SDV Teams 1 and 2. However, though the UDTs no longer exist, the Navy has expanded its EOD unit to perform traditional UDT functions. The unit is trained in combat swimming, HALO jumps and closed-circuit SCUBA techniques. It is trained to employ and disarm all manner of destructive devices, including explosives, chemical weapons and nuclear devices.
The current SEAL arsenal includes all these weapons, as well as M16A2s, M16A2 carbines, M249s, M203s, Beretta 92SB-F and H&K P9S pistols, Ingram M10s, and the H&K MP5 series (especially the suppressed MP5A3SD). The standard shotgun is the Remington 870, although the Daewoo USAS-12 is under trial evaluation. The standard sniper rifle is the M40A1, although SEALs still make use of the M21 and its common counterpart the M14. SEAL Team 6 CRW members use the Beretta M9/M10 pistol. Silencers for the SEALs are designed by Qualatech.
Standard knife is the US Navy Driver's Knife, though the Buckmaster was specially designed by Buck Knives for the SEALs. Grenades and SERE kits are also carried and the black USN (U.S. Navy) flotation vest is used on operations. SCUBA equipment includes the state-of-the-art Draeger rebreather tank.
Larger equipment include the various SDVs, both wet and dry, Spectre and Swift class fast strike assault boats (STABs), Medium and Light SEAL Support Craft, and Seafox light Special Warfare amphibious aircraft are available. It is believed that the SEALs have access to the British Subskimmer submersible. As shown in the Gulf War, the SEALs also have access to the latest in ground vehicles, including the FAV.
SEAL TALENTS
Karate
Small Arms
HH Grenade Launchers
Rocket Launchers
Melee Weapons
Boating
Underwater
Landing Crafts
Climbing
Rappelling
Fast-rope
Demolitions
Underwater
ADM
Forward Observer, ground
Air Support
Naval Support
Gunsmith
Instructor
Language x3
Leadership
Parachuting, Static Line
HALO
ParaSCUBA
Concealment
Stealth
Photography
Cartography
Tracking
Navigation
SCUBA, Basic Open-Circuit
Advanced Open-Circuit
Night Diving
Closed Circuit
Survival, temperate
Urban
Jungle
Temperate
Desert
Arctic
Tactics, Small Units
Naval Ops
Swimming
By Matthew Sztajnkrycer
