Do you want to be a SEAL, or just say you're one?

By: shipdog Mood: none, or other Date: 12/17/2007 17:21:13 Music: None

I retired as a SEAL in 2003 after twenty four years. My son is a SEAL with two SEAL Combat Deployments in Iraq and Decorated twice for Valor, he’s 22-years old and made it through training at 17.

I have no idea how many guys I’ve been a mentor to over the many years that have become SEALs, but it’s a pile.

I ran the Sea Cadet program for aspiring SEALs four times, each a month long, and many are in the Teams now.

I was asked by "Make a Wish" to sponsor a 19-year old with cancer who’s last wish was to be a SEAL for a day. He shot every weapon we had, blew demolitions, Hand2Hand, lock picking, flew tethered under a helo at a few hundred feet and sixty mph, and when I began to run out of cool SEAL stuff for him to do, we loaded him in a bird and he jumped at 13,000 ft on the seventh day.

How I wasn’t brought up on charges I’ll never know, but one thing we learn in SEAL Team is "Sometimes you have to do the Wrong thing, to do the Right thing."

Lee put up an eight year brawl with cancer and died this summer, one of the strongest guys I’ve ever met. His last request was to be buried in his cammies that I gave him with his honorary Trident and I was honored to speak at his service.

His strength came through adversity, extreme adversity and there’s a lesson in it for all of us.

The lesson is "Inner Strength."

The guys that survive SEAL Training have at some point during Training found that inner strength deep inside them. It’s in all of us, but many guys fail to find it because they can’t focus intently enough. They get so wrapped up by the cold, the exhaustion, the "How long are we going to keep lifting this Log?" that they can’t find what guys who make it through Training find, "Inner Strength."

May sound funny, but for me, I found my "Inner Strength" when I just stopped giving a crap. Don’t misconstrue that as a bad attitude, not even close. "BACK IN THE SURF!" OK... "WE’RE NOT STOPPING THIS EVOLUTION TILL SOMEONE QUITS!" OK... "UP BOAT" "DOWN BOAT" "UP BOAT" OK, OK, OK...

I realized that no matter how bad things got, they would eventually end, and this is what it would take to become a SEAL.

My class started with 120 guys and six months later only 24 of us were still there.

Why did a hundred or so leave? They simply gave a crap and the survivors did not!

Any other reasons? Yep, they wanted to say they were SEALs, but they really did not want to be SEALS. If your not sure which one you are, have a look at the video and decide for yourself..

[link=" http://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=afoBIMQzENE]

Good Luck Frogmen, if I can help, just ask....... Don