Jeff Smith Interview
Submitted by Guest on Wed, 03/27/2002 - 06:00.
Source: Mark Divine
M (Mark Divine):
When did you first hear about the SEAL Teams? J (Jeff Smith): I just graduated from High school and I was working construction. One of the guys on the job site was an old UDT frog. We just started talking and he told me stories about what he used to do. He was a Vietnam SEAL, he told me all the stories. I was like, "are you kidding me? There is a job were you can do that?" That is what got my interest going. So I went down to the Recruiting office and signed up on a Friday afternoon. I think I was gone about a week and a half later.
M: Strait to boot camp. Did you have any guarantee for BUD/S?
J: No they didn't have any guarantees. This was 84, there was no guarantees. They just said, "Hey show up to boot camp and you'll get a screening test." So I said, "Sounds good to me, I'll figure it out once I get there."
M: So, it was a four-year enlistment with no promise for BUD/S?
J: Yea, They told you, you had to pick a source rating. There were certain ratings that you needed to be a SEAL. I picked signalman because it was the shortest "A" school they had, I just wanted to get to BUD/S, that's all I was interested in. You went to boot camp did your basic then went to "A" school for your official rating.
T (Tom Raab): How long after "A" school did you wait for your billet for BUD/S?
J: Not long, I finished "A" school and went almost directly to BUD/S.
M: Did you prepare at all for the physical test?
J: I tried to do a little bit of running, they told me that would be a big part of BUD/S. So I did as much as I could. I don't think you can really prepare yourself, I was no tri-athlete.
M: What BUD/S class were you in, and what time of year was it?
J: I was in BUD/s class 135, Hell week was in Feb. I started out in class 133 I ended up getting rolled back due to shin splints, a pretty common injury in BUD/s. Stress fractures are the most common injury for the Trainees.
T: How long were you given to recuperate?
J: It was six months.
M: How big was your class when you started?
J: We started with 135 to 140 and graduated 26.
T: Do you restart the training from the beginning when you get rolled back? How far did you get in your first class (133)?
J: In the first class I went all the way past "Hell Week" I got rolled back at the beginning of second phase.
T: So you didn't have to do Hell Week twice?
J: No, once you go through hell week you don't have to do it again. You are considered a "Green Shirt". You go back to fourth phase -"pre-training phase"- but do not have to complete the next 6 weeks of hard training. So I started BUD/S in January and graduated in November. Then went to army airborne school. That's were you go after you complete BUD/S. It's like your final phase, but you already feel graduated after BUD/S.
M: Any worthy stories of airborne school?
J: Well, five guys got kicked out. They went back to the teams to get yelled at.
M: That happens every class. Jump school is funny because there are 3000 army pukes and 16 SEALs. All the black Hat instructors would focus on the SEALs. Because SEALs will go there in mass as a class and literally run circles around the rest of the formations. The army would do their formation trots and the SEALs would get bored. To get their workouts they would try to get dropped down for extra pushups.
J: You are there with all your buddies and just came through BUD/s so your feeling a little cocky, feeling kinda invincible. When you check back into the Teams you are back to being this humble new guy again. You've got to prove yourself all over again. Because they don't know who you are, your training is really just starting again.
M: What kind of training after jump school?
J: I went to a SDV Team, a SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team. They specialize in submersibles. So I ended going a three-month program just to learn to pilot and navigate these subs.
M: How long were you with the SDV's?
J: Four years. I did two deployments started in the Philippines and were one of the first platoons to redeploy to Hawaii When they opened up a detachment there. They wanted to keep us close to the subs.
T: Is that when they started the dry deck shelters?
J: The first sea trials of the DDS.
T: They say the SDVs are the coldest darkest ride the SEALs have to endure.
J: I'll tell ya what, it's not for everyone. I can remember some cold dives up in Banger Washington. We had these dry suits we used. During a full mission profile I flooded out at the beginning of a eight-hour op. The water is just above forty degrees We continued the op just so we didn't have to repeat it.
T: Did you risk hypothermia?
J: A SEAL diving is always at risk of hypothermia. When you're swimming at least your body is generating heat. When you're in a wet sub you're just sitting in the water without moving for hours, it gets very cold.
T: Have there been any improvements in the dive rigs to provide heat?
J: There have been some improvements in the dry suit, back then it was like wearing a Dunlap tire tube with elastic bands around your wrists and neck. Ideally if you have a dry submersible you wouldn't have to expose yourself to the cold like that.
T: Aren't they working on a dry submersible for the SEAL Teams?
M: There working on the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) that is supposed to be deployed to Hawaii by end of 1997. Its kind of an albatross, its a giant dry sub that will be piloted by a submariner and navigated by a SEAL. It will hold up to eight SEALs that can enter and exit through a bottom hatch chamber that will be pressurized to hold the water out. It's range and speed are classified. The ASDS will Dock to the top of a nuclear sub and the bottom hatch becomes the dry entryway into the SSN. The SEALs will not have to get wet until within swimming range of the target. When he gets to the Target he will still be worth a shit.
T: Are there other elite troops to other countries that are at the same level as the US Navy SEALs?
J: I'm pretty partial to the SEAL teams. Different counties specializes in different things. I worked with the Australia SAS and they are a great group of guys. Well trained and motivated. Never worked with the French but I hear they are excellent underwater navigators and divers. The German GSG9 and the Kamfswimmers are very proficient divers and the GSG9 are excellent surgical counter terrorist force comparable to our Delta Force.
When you work with these different units you adapt what works for them and make work for you.
M: Did your platoon get deployed to Gulf War?
J: We were overseas at the time that Desert Shield first started happening. We were all slated to go, we were all packed up and at the last minute they said "you guys stay here, we will send units from back on the strand." that was the time they were having all those coups in the area that we were deployed. We ended up sitting tight and doing a lot of nothing.
M: There were a lot of people upset about that whole thing. We had platoons that had trained for nine months to a year deployed overseas. That is when you are, technically speaking that is when you are to be used in war. When Desert Shield came up what did they do? Rather then sending fully trained and forward deployed platoons that have been working together all this time, they put together fresh platoons from back in the states that haven't had the deployed training and sent them.
M: Where did you go after SEAL Team 3?
J: From Team 3 I ended up at the parachute team. They had tryouts I decided to try out for the team, and made it.
T: How many jumps did you have before you tried out for the parachute team?
J: I had just under 300 jumps. I was no skydiver extraordinaire by any means, all military jumps. Once you get on the parachute team that is your job. For two or three years you're jumping every day so your skill level just increases so fast.
T: How are you treated and trained as the new guy.
J: The parachute team it's a different kind of jumping. Its performance jumping, you are going from the tactical mode into the show mode so it's a whole different kind of skydiving
M: How many guys are on the team?
J: There are, I believe, usually 14 at any one time.
M: What type of events do you perform at?
J: Anything or everything, you are jumping in air shows, baseball games, football games, horse races, car races, you name it.
M: How many events do you jump at?
J: Typical season lasts from the beginning of March to the middle of October and you're gone every single weekend to do different shows and events. You're really working for Navy Recruiting.
After you dive you have to meet the audience. Jumping is just a part of the whole picture, you become a public representative of the Navy, you're not just SEAL Team, you're Navy. So you've got to present the Navy in the best possible light.
T: Drinking beer and signing autographs.
J: Yep!
T: How many jump teams are there?
J: The east coast used to have the shooting stars and the west coast had the Leapfrogs. They since have combined the two teams.
T: Was this initially a recruiting effort?
J: At first it was just a bunch of SEALs that got together and jumped on weekends. Some guys started jumping together and then made a club out of it. Next thing you know they started doing shows.
M: What is the highest altitude you have jumped from?
J: If you are going to do any jumping over 17000 feet it requires oxygen. We would not jump at that height in the leapfrogs, nothing over 13000 feet. In the regular SEAL Teams I've jumped from 30,000 feet. Free fall could take a couple minutes depending if you're doing a HALO or HAHO. HALO standing for High Altitude Low Opening exiting at 30000 and pulling the cord just over 3000. HAHO High Altitude High Opening, you're opening at a High Altitude and using the chute to glide over large areas.
T: How long does it take to master some of the formations that Leapfrogs do?
J: There are two types of formations, freefall and canopy relative. The thing with a public event is that the freefall formations are impossible for the people on the ground to see. The Leapfrog's claim to fame was doing what they call Canopy Relative Work (CREW) is what they call it. The reason it's such a big crowd pleaser is because they see it-they can see the canopies and see what you're doing.
M: Have you had any incidents?
J: You call it a wrap if you become entangled. The potential is there it is one of the hazards. You have procedures, its done safely you have altitudes and cut off altitude. You have a game plan put together, you know were everyone is going to be. You have a lot of communication going on in the air. If something goes drastically wrong you cutaway.
T: How much time do you have to cut away and open your reserve?
J: You don't want to be making any canopy transfers below 1800 feet that is why we have our cut off altitudes.
T: Are the chute being use d by the Leap Frogs Modified Military chutes?
J: The chutes used by the Leap Frogs there actually a civilian sport rig design especially for the CREW formations.
T: After jumping with these sport chutes what is it like going back into the Teams and jumping with a military chute?
J: Its like jumping with a refrigerator on your back, as compared to a knapsack. They are designed more like a cargo chute to hold the SEALs and up to four hundred pounds of equipment. The Jump Team chutes are around 190 square feet, to the military chute at 375 square feet. The larger canopy is more forgiving the smaller chutes are quicker and more maneuverable, but less forgiving.
M: You want to talk about Jack Murphy stadium at all?
J: As far as why I'm sitting here? (Jeff is in a wheelchair) In December of 1994 I was performing a demonstration at Jack Murphy stadium during the Holiday Bowl. I was coming in with another individual in a biplane formation. I came into the stadium like I've done dozens of times before. We aren't sure what happened but I came in and didn't have any breaks. I was coming in at full speed (30) miles per hour. The chute would not flair. I ended up coming in, thinking it would flair I kept lifting my legs up, the chute never flared. As it turned out, I landed on my back and broke my seventh and eight vertebrae it was a burst fracture slicing up my spinal cord.
T: Were you aware of the extent of your injury at the time?
J: I thought it strange I could not move. My first reaction was, this is embarrassing I'm lying in Jack Murphy stadium in front of 60,000 people I want to get the hell off the field. I tried sitting up or standing up and nothing was working.
M: Any Regrets about joining the SEAL Teams?
J: This happened to me, but I still say that skydiving is one of the safest sports you can get into. It's still more risky to get in a car a drive away for the drop zone. If someone were to say when I was signing the papers that in eleven years you'll be in a wheel chair, would I have pulled my hand away, to think twice. I have no regrets, if I had a choice I would still be in today, no regrets.
T: Have you talked or seen the old UDT guy that talked you into joining the Teams?
J: No, I heard he was asking around after I graduated BUD/S but I have not seen him.
M: Any words for anyone thinking about the SEAL Teams?
J: If you think you can do it, DO IT!
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