Longest-serving SEAL saying goodbye

13th ‘Bullfrog’ joined in 1971

The surface fleet has its Old Salt. The naval aviators have their Silver Hawks and
Gray Eagles. But for the SEALs, the longest-serving active-duty operator is called
the “Bullfrog.” And if you walk up to Capt. Pete Wikul, the 13th and current Bullfrog,
you’ll know right away — his handshake is ironclad, and his nameplate is stamped large: “BULLFROG.” On Sept. 25, he will retire after 39 years and four months in the Navy, when he’ll be
replaced as Bullfrog by none other than Adm. Eric Olson, head of U.S. Special
Operations Command. And until his change-of-command ceremony July 10, Wikul
was the commanding officer of the Kennedy Irregular Warfare Center at the Office
of Naval Intelligence outside Washington, D.C.

A member of the tight-knit SEAL community since 1971, he lived up to the
reputation. He ate snakes caught in the wild and got about every qual in the book,
according to sea stories shared at his retirement lunch in an Alexandria, Va., tavern.
So legendary were his exploits that Wikul appears as a mustang captain named
“Dean Blackburn” in novels by his former Special Boat Unit 20 commanding officer,
Paul Evencoe.

“He was just a no-nonsense officer. A loyal officer,” Evencoe said.
Evencoe and Wikul went to the Persian Gulf in 1987 during Operation Earnest Will,
a special mission to protect oil tankers from Iranian aggression.

Evancoe, also a mustang, went to Vietnam as a SEAL and retired as a commander
before going into counterterrorism work. He has several sea stories about Wikul’s
direct manner during skirmishes and gun battles with Iranian forces.

“He’s just exactly that kind of warrior you would want beside you in a hopeless
battle,” Evancoe said. Wikul came from gritty origins, born in Harlem with a heroin
addict as a father, he said. Like many who found a steady path in the Navy, Wikul
leaves grateful.

“The Navy is just a great place,” he told Navy Times. “In the military, you can really
make something of yourself.” He took over as Bullfrog from Capt. Karl Heinz in
November 2006. Wikul said there’s no set code to being Bullfrog. You just do it.
“You wind up just giving advice. You seem to take it on. And not just SEALs. You
mentor everyone,” he said, adding that the Bullfrogs make up a special group within
the already elite SEALs.

“That’s something very special in our community,” Wikul said. “There are only 13 of
us. There are more presidents than us.”