Arma Virumque Cano

Posted By lex, on August 14th, 2011

Sometimes we ask ourselves, “Where do we get such men?”

Here. We get them here.

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They’re called “budweisers”

Posted by lex, on July 9, 2008

And they don’t come cheap.

During the service, as (Petty Officer Michael) Monsoor’s coffin was taken from the hearse to the gravesite, Navy SEALs lined up in two columns. As the coffin passed, video shows each SEAL slapping down the gold Trident from his uniform and deeply embedding it in Monsoor’s wooden coffin.

The slaps were reportedly heard across the cemetery.

The symbolic display moved many, included Bush, who during his speech in April’s Medal of Honor ceremony spoke about the incident.

“The procession went on nearly half an hour,” Bush said. “And when it was all over, the simple wooden coffin had become a gold-plated memorial to a hero who will never be forgotten.”

(H/T to the Salamander)

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Remembering Danny Dietz

Posted by lex On July 5th, 2007

Rifle and all: **

LITTLETON, Colo. (July 4, 2007) – Family, friends and Littleton city officials view the larger-than-life bronze statue of Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class (SEAL) Danny P. Dietz, who was honored by his hometown of Littleton, by dedicating the statue and park near his childhood family home. An estimated 3,000 people crowded the new park to honor the Sailor’s memory. Gunners Mate 2nd Class (SEAL) Danny Dietz was killed in action while conducting counter-terrorism operations in Kunar Province, Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. Coalition forces located the Sailor and notified the family six days later on July 4. The Memorial dedication marks the second anniversary of this event. U.S. Navy photo by Boatswains Mate 1st Class Chet Mowrey

I had a post on this story up several months ago. A story that should have been about a brave petty officer who valiantly gave his life in support of his friends and in his country’s noble cause, but that instead turned on the issue of whether a statue of a Navy SEAL with a rifle in a city park where children might see would be somehow “inappropriate.” The local police department was sufficiently concerned that the statue might be vandalized before it was unveiled that they enlisted the assistance ** of the Colorado chapter of Rolling Thunder to help them maintain a vigil.

Are you an elite, ultra-endurance athlete?

Posted by lex, on July 30, 2006

Yah. Me neither.

But some people are. And the Navy SEALs have an offer for them *:

So you say you want to be a SEAL?

Posted by lex, on May 15, 2006

 

Qualifications

General: A U.S. Navy SEAL candidate must:

– Be male.

– Be age 28 or younger (servicemen can be 30).

– Have good or correctable eyesight.

– Score well on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery tests.

Physical: A screening test requires that candidates:

– Swim 500 yards using breast or sidestroke (or military underwater recovery stroke) in 12.5 minutes or less, then rest 10 minutes.

– Perform at least 42 push-ups in two minutes, rest two minutes.

– Perform at least 50 sit-ups in two minutes, rest two minutes.

– Perform at least six pull-ups (hands face forward), rest 10 minutes.

– Run 1.5 miles in boots and BDU trousers in less than 11.5 minutes.

Interesting Turn

By lex, on March 17th, 2010

For the Fallujah SEALs **:

The case against a Navy SEAL accused of not protecting an alleged Iraqi terrorist took a major turn Friday when a military judge ordered that five key defense witnesses be granted immunity to testify on his behalf…

The Compound

By lex, on May 5th, 2011

The White House is going silent on the net about the dramatic mission to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, cross threaded at having to substantially change the story about how and why he was shot after the initial fog of war lifted. The administration also backed water on publishing photographs of his bloody corpse – a good call, in my humble: Those inclined towards conspiracy theories will cry “photoshop!” anyway, and there’s no reason to give the perpetually aggrieved set another bloody shirt to wave.

With that in mind, the Sandy Eggo Union Tribune is carrying an AP wire story that releases about as much detail as we’re likely to get:

“Navy SEALs: Obama’s Secret Army”

By lex, on February 21st, 2012

An otherwise sensibly written article * about the contributions of special forces in our quotidian bug hunts, with a dreadful title.

The SEALs, like the rest of the military, serve at the pleasure of the president. Who at the moment, happens to be Barack Obama.

But it is the office they serve, and the country it represents. Not the man. The office endures, like the Republic.

Men, they come and go.

* 11-10-2018 Link Gone; no replacements found – Ed.

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Cease Buzzer

By lex, on May 19th, 2011

The Secretary and the Chairman have combined to say that it’s time to change the subject from the bin Laden raid:

Helmet Cams

By lex, on May 13th, 2011

Not only did the Navy SEALS in the bin Laden takedown have a UAS overhead, piping imagery back to Washington, they wore helmet cams to record the action for later review, CBS reports: