Getbig Bodybuilding, Figure and Fitness Forums

Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Soul Crusher on May 02, 2011, 12:08:37 PM

Title: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 02, 2011, 12:08:37 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 02, 2011, 12:09:15 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 02, 2011, 12:13:57 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Neurotoxin on May 02, 2011, 12:26:46 PM


2012 re-election locked up.

                 
Thank you President Barack 'Hussein' Obama....an true AMERICAN HERO!
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 02, 2011, 12:51:09 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 02, 2011, 12:55:34 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 02, 2011, 12:59:00 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 02, 2011, 01:08:29 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Hugo Chavez on May 02, 2011, 01:23:45 PM
Thanks 3333... Awesome vids.  got any hardass vids?  Back in the late 80's early 90's I saw stuff that was fucking all out agressive brutal in your face kind of stuff.  shit that actually would make you fear even thinking about it...  Got any non-promo stuff?
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: 240 is Back on May 02, 2011, 01:29:32 PM
hannity and rush kissing obama's ass today.

it's pro-america day as opposed to bashing the choice of christmas decorations, etc.
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 02, 2011, 01:30:08 PM


Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 02, 2011, 01:37:06 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 03, 2011, 05:25:58 AM
SEALs are standing taller after secret raid
By Rowan Scarborough
The Washington Times




After the U.S. responded to the Sept. 11 attacks by investing billions of dollars to revive neglected special operations forces, it was only fitting that Navy SEALs earned the glory of killing the most wanted terrorist in history.

It was not an airstrike from 15,000 feet, or a foreign military, or someone in the inner circle who got to Osama bin Laden.

It was a team of well-trained American warriors whose command made manhunting a top priority over the past decade.

"Amen. We're standing 6 inches taller," said retired Rear Adm. George R. Worthington, who, as the top SEAL, headed the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif., in the early 1990s. "Interesting that 'scuba divers' took out Osama bin Laden."

The nearly flawless helicopter assault on bin Laden's walled hide-out in Abbottabad, Pakistan, showed that the huge U.S. investment in special operations forces - or SOF, as they are known - paid off spectacularly. There was no repeat of Desert One, the botched 1980 raid to free U.S. hostages in Iran, or Black Hawk Down, the disastrous 1993 mission in Somalia to capture a warlord.

The Somalia mission involved the secretive Joint Special Operations Command - the same unit that led Sunday's killing of bin Laden. What happened in the interim began with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's post-Sept. 11 orders to rebuild Special Operations Command into a combatant division on par with Central Command and other prestigious war-planning and war-fighting headquarters.

For the Joint Special Operations Command, a mix of Army Delta Force soldiers and the Navy's SEAL Team 6, it meant more manpower and its own intelligence asset, known as Task Force Orange.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the Joint Special Operations Command has teamed with aviation units, CIA officers and agents of the eavesdropping National Security Agency to form potent manhunting groups.

This fusion first gained wide public notice in 2006, when the command, then led by Army Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, hunted down Abu Musab Zarqawi, a particularly deadly al Qaeda terrorist in Iraq.

Sunday's raid was highly demanding. Army Black Hawk helicopters with 24 SEALs flew at low level more than 100 miles inside Pakistan's airspace, undetected.

The team landed before bin Laden could escape, then found, identified and killed the al Qaeda leader. Proficient in night operations, the SEALs did it all in 40 minutes and were airborne again - carrying the body of the most-wanted with them.

It is likely the raid was launched from northeastern Afghanistan, the area assigned to Navy counterterrorism SEALs. Army's Delta Force works other parts of the country.

Joint Special Operations Command divided Iraq in much the same way, with SEALs stationed in Anbar Province, while Delta Force performed missions around Baghdad.

President George W. Bush's war on terrorism translated into robust spending on what are affectionately called "snake eaters."

Special Operations Command's budget grew from $2.3 billion in 2001 to nearly $10 billion today. Manpower expanded from 45,500 to 61,500.

"It's an order of magnitude better," said Adm. Worthington. "The training these guys are getting, it's 10 times what we were getting when I went through. They're getting training right now that makes them the best in the world."

At the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, special operations - Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets and Delta Force, and Air Force AC-130 gunships - were generally neglected. The previous Clinton administration had not called on them to go after bin Laden or his network.

All that changed under Mr. Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld: Green Berets led the initial invasion of Afghanistan. Joint Special Operations Command enlarged and expanded its manhunting skills worldwide. The Marine Corps created its first special forces command.

"We increased the size of special operations forces," said former Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "We obviously increased their funding for new technical capabilities."

One key move was to make Special Operations Command a "supported" command, not just one that did the bidding of other commands, but could plan and execute battles.

"Rumsfeld elevated special operations to where they had field command empowerment, which is something they never had before," Mr. Hunter said. "We increased generally across the board the size and the capability of special operation commands. ... We made them more robust than they were."

An Obama White House official told reporters that killing bin Laden was the result of years of work.

"This remarkable achievement could not have happened without persistent effort and careful planning over many years," the official said. "Our national security professionals did a superb job."

SEAL commanders are urging their men to remain humble.

"Today, we should all be proud," said a message to sailors Sunday night from Rear Adm. Edward G. Winters III, the Navy's top SEAL. "That handful of courageous men, of strong will and character, have changed the course of history.

"Stand tall - more importantly, be humble, be the quiet professional. This is what makes our organization special. Be extremely careful about operational security. The fight is not over."

© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: dario73 on May 03, 2011, 06:03:07 AM
hannity and rush kissing obama's ass today.

it's pro-america day as opposed to bashing the choice of christmas decorations, etc.

I don't know about Rush because I am working while his show is on. But I saw part of Hannity's show just to see his reaction and he mostly focused on the intelligence gathering and the Navy Seals' effort. He even had a guest close to the end who clearly stated that while Obama should be recognized for giving the final order, the credit for the success of the operation belongs to the CIA and SEALS.

Now, TIME has come out with information that all the intelligence was gathered during the Bush administration using enhanced interrogation techniques at the CIA camps in Europe. You know, the same techniques opposed by Obama, Penetta, and the Dems. The same camps that the CIA was criticized for and which caused many liberal idiots to label Bush and Cheney as criminals and to call for their impeachment. The only thing that the CIA was doing in the last 2 years was trying to pinpoint the courier's location, which they were lucky to do by the courier answering a phone call.

As more facts come out, the more you see how miniscule Obama's role was in all this.
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 03, 2011, 06:13:05 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Neurotoxin on May 03, 2011, 08:02:29 AM




                 
Thank you Barack 'An AMERICAN Hero'  Hussein Obama!!

Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 03, 2011, 08:04:12 AM



                 
Thank you Barack 'An AMERICAN Hero'  Hussein Obama!!



Go away.   
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Neurotoxin on May 03, 2011, 08:15:32 AM
Go away.   


                       
GET A JOB  
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: 240 is Back on May 03, 2011, 09:03:35 AM
they should win Time's Man of the Year award.
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 04, 2011, 08:36:49 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 04, 2011, 08:47:59 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 04, 2011, 08:52:08 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 04, 2011, 08:57:45 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 04, 2011, 09:02:23 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 04, 2011, 09:03:31 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Neurotoxin on May 04, 2011, 09:08:13 AM



                             
Thank you Navy S.E.A.L Jesse Ventura !!
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: loco on May 04, 2011, 09:09:19 AM
Wake Up America.... Bin Laden Is LONG Dead !!
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 04, 2011, 09:10:47 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 04, 2011, 09:16:26 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 09, 2011, 12:19:33 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 09, 2011, 12:30:55 PM









Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 09, 2011, 12:33:38 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 09, 2011, 12:38:41 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 09, 2011, 12:46:02 PM






Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 09, 2011, 12:50:58 PM




Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 09, 2011, 12:59:00 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 09, 2011, 01:03:59 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 09, 2011, 01:05:11 PM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 10, 2011, 11:49:14 AM
The SEAL Sensibility
From a member of the elite force, an inside look at the brutal training and secret work of the commandos who got Osama bin 
By ERIC GREITENS


At Camp Pendleton in California, where I did my initial weapons training, we must have fired thousands of rounds at practice-range targets printed with the likeness of Osama bin Laden. To take the real shot, the one that brought down bin Laden, was the dream of every Navy SEAL.

 Lee Hawkins talks with Eric Greitens, a U.S. Navy SEAL and author of the book "The Heart and the Fist," about what it takes to become a member of this elite military force. Photo: Getty Images.
.The man who got that chance in Pakistan last weekend was a member of the SEAL community's most elite unit. He and the others who descended on bin Laden's lair would have put in relentless practice for weeks beforehand—assaulting mock compounds, discussing contingencies and planning every detail of the operation. Most of the men on that mission had dedicated the past decade of their lives to this fight, and they—and their families—had made great personal sacrifices.

Turning on my cellphone last Sunday, I got a text message with the incredible news: "OBL is dead. Hoo Yah!" Within minutes, a tidal wave of messages followed from fellow Navy SEALs and other military and nonmilitary friends. My own thoughts went back to James Suh and Matt Axelson ("Axe"), two members of my own SEAL training class. When Axe was pinned down by the Taliban in a firefight in Afghanistan in June 2005, Suh boarded a helicopter to fly in for a rescue mission. The helicopter was shot down that day and both men died. I thought to myself: Axe, Suh, they got him.

 Former Navy SEAL Howard Wasdin talks with WSJ's Lee Hawkins about his 12 years as a member of Team Six, the same elite squad credited with killing Osama bin Laden, and his new memoir chronicling the experience. Plus, his reaction to the news of bin Laden's death.
.The men who conducted the assault on bin Laden's compound are part of a proud tradition of service that traces its roots back to the Underwater Demolition Teams that cleared the beaches at Normandy. The SEAL teams themselves were born on Jan. 1, 1962, when President John F. Kennedy commissioned a new force of elite commandos that could operate from the sea, air and land (hence the acronym, SEALs). Though SEALs remain the nation's elite maritime special operations force, part of what Kennedy wanted and needed from them—and what the nation still asks of SEALs—is that they be a flexible force, capable of operating in any environment.

 
Dave Gately/Landov
 
A Navy SEAL during a training exercise

.To be able to undertake such missions, SEALs undergo intense training and practice. As some of my SEAL instructors would say, "The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war."

It's impossible to account for everything that can go wrong on an operation, but professional warriors aim to leave nothing to chance—the slightest details are accounted for beforehand, from who will be the first to "fast rope" down from the helicopter to how the compound will be swept for computers and papers that might yield intelligence. Targets vary, but the objective of the planning is always the same: accomplish the mission and bring everyone home alive.

The rigors that SEALs go through begin on the day they walk into Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training in Coronado, Calif., universally recognized as the hardest military training in the world. BUD/S lasts a grueling six months. The classes include large contingents of high-school and college track and football stars, national-champion swimmers, and top-ranked wrestlers and boxers, but only 10% to 20% of the men who begin BUD/S usually manage to finish. About 250 graduate from training every year.

Though often physical in nature, the tests of SEAL training are also designed to push men to their mental and emotional limits. "Drown-proofing" is one of the most famous of these ordeals. I remember it well from my own training in 2001. Standing with five other men next to the ledge of the combat training tank, I put my hands behind my back while my swim buddy tied them together.

"How's that?"

"Feels good."

He tugged at the knot to check it a final time. A knot that came undone meant automatic failure. The five of us exchanged glances and then, with our hands and feet firmly bound, jumped into the pool for a 50-meter swim. SEAL candidates are also tested with two-mile ocean swims, four-mile timed runs in soft sand, and runs through the mountains wearing 40-pound rucksacks.

 
Dave Gately/Landov
 
SEALs during training exercises.

.The pinnacle of SEAL training is known as Hell Week, a period of continuous tests and drills during which most classes sleep only a total of two to five hours. Every man has a different story of Hell Week; he remembers particular classmates and instructors, his own most difficult moments. But every Hell Week story is also the same: A man enters a new world aiming to become something greater, and having subjected himself to the hardest tests of his life, he has either passed or failed.

My Hell Week began in the middle of the night. Sleeping in a large tent with my men, I woke to the sound of a Mark-43 Squad Automatic Weapon. The Mark-43 has a cyclic rate of fire of 550 rounds per minute. It is the primary "heavy" gun carried by SEALs on patrol. A blank round is not nearly as loud as a live one, but when the gun is rocking just feet away from your ears in an enclosed tent, it still sounds painfully loud.

We soon started surf torture. We ran into the ocean until we were chest deep in water, formed a line, and linked arms as the cold waves ran through us. Soon we began to shiver. Instructors on bullhorns spoke evenly, "Gentlemen, quit now, and you can avoid the rush later. You are only at the beginning of a very long week. It just gets colder. It just gets harder."

"Let's go. Out of the water!" We ran out through waist-deep water, and as we hit the beach a whistle blew: whistle drills. One blast of the whistle and we dropped to the sand. Two blasts and we began to crawl to the sound of the whistle. We crawled through the sand, still shaking from the cold, until our bodies had warmed just past the edge of hypothermia. Then, "Back in the ocean! Hit the surf!"

We fought our way through that night and through the next day. As the sunlight weakened at the beginning of the next night, the instructors ran us out to the beach. We stood there in a line, and as we watched the sun drift down, they came out on their bullhorns: "Say goodnight to the sun, gentlemen. And you men have many, many more nights to go."

When they really wanted to torture us, they'd say, "Anybody who quits right now gets hot coffee and doughnuts. Come on, who wants a doughnut? Who wants a little coffee?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw men running for the bell. First two men ran, and then two more, and then another. The instructors had carried the bell out with us to the beach. To quit, you rang the bell three times. I could hear it: Ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding, ding.

View Full Image

Greg E. Mathieson Sr./Landov
 
Navy SEAL training includes swims with bound feet and hands, runs through the mountains carrying 40-pound rucksacks and 'Hell Week,' a period of continuous tests and drills.
.A pack of men quit together. Weeks earlier, we had started our indoctrination phase with over 220 students. Only 21 originals from Class 237 would ultimately graduate. I believe that we had more men quit at that moment than at any other time in all of BUD/S training.

What kind of man makes it through Hell Week? That's hard to say. But I do know—generally—who won't make it. There are a dozen types that fail: the weight-lifting meatheads who think that the size of their biceps is an indication of their strength, the kids covered in tattoos announcing to the world how tough they are, the preening leaders who don't want to get dirty, and the look-at-me former athletes who have always been told they are stars but have never have been pushed beyond the envelope of their talent to the core of their character. In short, those who fail are the ones who focus on show. The vicious beauty of Hell Week is that you either survive or fail, you endure or you quit, you do—or you do not.

Some men who seemed impossibly weak at the beginning of SEAL training—men who puked on runs and had trouble with pull-ups—made it. Some men who were skinny and short and whose teeth chattered just looking at the ocean also made it. Some men who were visibly afraid, sometimes to the point of shaking, made it too.

Almost all the men who survived possessed one common quality. Even in great pain, faced with the test of their lives, they had the ability to step outside of their own pain, put aside their own fear and ask: How can I help the guy next to me? They had more than the "fist" of courage and physical strength. They also had a heart large enough to think about others, to dedicate themselves to a higher purpose.

View Full Image

Landov
 
Seals during training exercises

.SEALs are capable of great violence, but that's not what makes them truly special. Given two weeks of training and a bunch of rifles, any reasonably fit group of 16 athletes (the size of a SEAL platoon) can be trained to do harm. What distinguishes SEALs is that they can be thoughtful, disciplined and proportional in the use of force.

Years later, in early 2007, serving in Fallujah as the commander of a unit targeting al Qaeda's operations in Iraq, my SEAL training served me well. In combat outposts throughout Fallujah, what had once been medium-sized houses were now ringed with sandbags, earthen barriers and barbed wire. Groups of Marines, Iraqi soldiers and intelligence professionals from the military and other government agencies gathered there to plan and launch operations.

 WSJ's Julian Barnes profiles the Navy's Commando forces. The squads, such as the Navy SEALs force that stormed Osama bin Laden's compound, have been been increasingly used in Afghanistan. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

.Though the specific tactics, techniques and procedures used for these operations remain classified, I can say that the fusion of operations and intelligence was a key development, allowing commandos to act swiftly on new information. When raids were conducted and men returned with computers or financial records, or even sometimes with the terrorists' pocket litter and scrawled notes, the intelligence professionals would set to work immediately. Often, by the time the commandos woke up, they had a new set of targets to hit the following night.

I remember sitting with Marines who had (cautiously) shared small pieces of intelligence with our Iraqi counterparts, who had (cautiously) shared information with us. Slowly, piece fit into piece, and like a family sitting down to snap together a jigsaw puzzle at Christmas, a picture emerged of the habits and acquaintances of an al Qaeda sniper who was suspected of being responsible for the death of several Marines in Fallujah. The target wasn't a senior man in the al Qaeda hierarchy. In fact, he seemed to be a runt, but sometimes the men who seemed like runts ended up having surprising connections to other terrorists.

 
.Over time, our picture of the al Qaeda network grew more complete. More and more terrorists were revealed, and the targets became so numerous that other forces had to be recruited to take them down. I had once imagined—probably based on watching bad movies about cops battling the mafia—that somewhere we would find a hierarchical chart of al Qaeda with bin Laden sitting at the top and pictures of men like this sniper near the bottom of a pyramid. In fact, no such clear picture existed, and every piece of new information seemed to offer a different way of interpreting what we thought we knew.

But throughout Iraq, night after night, we launched raids from the air, over land and yes—given the country's rivers—even sometimes from the water. Over time, the constant pressure degraded and destroyed al Qaeda's ability to operate. The terrorists knew that if they stayed in one place for long, they might be surprised in their sleep and find themselves being handcuffed by "men with green faces," as they sometimes called our commandos, whose faces, backlit by their night-vision goggles, seemed to glow green with menace in the middle of the night.

Members of al Qaeda in Iraq came to expect that they might wake up one night to the whomp of a helicopter overhead, the rattle of a Humvee outside, the explosion of their front door. These were the rude sounds of justice tracking them down, and Osama bin Laden no doubt heard them as well.

—Lt. Cmdr. Greitens is a SEAL in the U.S. Navy Reserve and the author of "The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL."
 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703992704576307021339210488.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories


   
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 15, 2011, 06:59:33 AM
I have to admit - this is a little strange.  WTF?



Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 08:32:56 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 08:34:16 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 08:37:23 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 08:38:50 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 08:42:21 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 08:46:10 AM
Not for nothing - but this dude would get fucking killed by Lt. Col. Ridenhour who runs my school. 

Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 08:55:45 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 09:00:03 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 09:03:06 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 09:12:18 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 09:21:48 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 09:27:30 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 09:36:39 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 09:44:46 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 09:54:57 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 10:05:33 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 10:15:54 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 10:25:55 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 10:37:11 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 10:42:23 AM


Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 10:43:28 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 10:45:11 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 10:48:43 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 10:50:45 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 17, 2011, 10:58:51 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 24, 2011, 06:30:22 AM
On the death of Osama bin Laden—and the secret life of the elite Navy SEALs who killed him
The author of ‘SEAL Team Six’ on the top-secret world of commandos


by Michael Friscolanti on Friday, May 20, 2011 7:30am - 6 Comments



A sniper by trade, Howard Wasdin was a special forces commando attached to the U.S. military’s most covert unit—the same squad that would later assassinate Osama bin Laden. His new book, SEAL Team Six, offers a rare glimpse into the top-secret world of America’s best-trained warriors.

Q: How did you find out that Osama bin Laden had finally been located and killed?

A: My neighbour actually came over. I had gotten up early that Monday, was getting ready to take the dogs out, and my neighbour knocks on the door. He said, “Happy Dead bin Laden Day.” I said, “What the hell are you talking about?” He said, “SEAL Team Six shot him in the head.” While I was relieved—as most of us were at first—I wasn’t completely at ease until I found out that nobody had been wounded or killed. In that type of operation, that is just amazing.


Q: It came as no surprise to you that Navy SEAL Team Six, your former unit, was selected for this historic mission. Why?

A: Let me be clear: I think everybody who puts on a uniform for their country is a hero. The same guy standing in line serving me my chow, and then washing my dishes when I’m done, is part of the team. But what makes the SEALs elite is the mental conditioning that they start receiving on day one, and the overwhelming desire to be the best. You want to be the absolute best warrior on the planet, and you constantly put yourself under pressure to do that. The SEALs also want people who are intelligent and who can think for themselves. A lot of military people just take orders, and there is a place for that. But SEALs think for themselves from day one. That way, when something happens—a kid runs out of a room, a woman is held as a human shield—they can make those decisions on the fly. We always say: “Improvise, adapt and overcome.”

Q: We don’t know his name—and perhaps never will—but what can we assume about the man who fired the bullet that killed bin Laden? Knowing what you know, how would you describe him?

A: It is most likely somebody between 28 and 35, highly intelligent, probably has an undergraduate degree, and if he doesn’t, he’s working on it. He likely speaks two or more languages, is in very good physical shape—I’m talking Olympic-calibre shape—and has a deep sense of patriotism and honour.

Q: Over the past few weeks, the media has described SEAL Team Six as everything from X-Men to Jedi knights. What do you think?

A: I think those people are missing the whole point. These guys are none of the above. They are just people who have huge hearts. Most people, especially after all this, think of SEAL Team Six as “wind them up, point them in a direction, and go kill.” But you would be amazed at how they really are. If anything, they are generous to a fault. You can’t be this type of warrior if you’re not doing it for a higher reason. It’s definitely not the paycheque. The higher reason, in my opinion, is God and country—as corny as that sounds.

Q: To become a Navy SEAL, a recruit must survive “Hell Week”—a gruelling 5½-day training marathon of scant sleep, no mercy. Most candidates don’t make it to the end, let alone the first day. How did you manage to come out on the other side?

A: Everybody is tempted during Hell Week to quit. If you ever talk to a SEAL who tells you he didn’t at least think about it—that it didn’t at least cross his mind—he’s lying to you. We all say that at some point we had a moment of weakness—and I’ll tell you mine. It was on the third or fourth night, and I’m naked in the Pacific Ocean with stage two hypothermia. They get us out of the water, and one instructor calls me over: “Wasdin, get your ass over here!” I ran over, shivering uncontrollably, and he hands me a cup of hot chocolate. When you’re that cold, that is the most amazing thing you could ever have. He brought me over to a side of the ambulance so I can feel the heat coming out the back, and he tells me, “Wasdin, you’re married, you don’t need this. Ring this bell, I’ll let you drink that hot chocolate, I’ll put a blanket around you and put you in the back of that ambulance.” I looked in the ambulance and saw half a dozen guys in there, sitting with a blanket and drinking hot chocolate. I thought, “Yeah, what the hell am I doing?” But then I caught myself, and handed him back the hot chocolate.

Q: How did you fight that urge?

A: The way to get through Hell Week is to not look at it as Hell Week. You have to look at it as “Hell Minute.” “I’m going to get through this minute. I’m not going to think about two minutes from now.” Because on Tuesday or Wednesday night, if you’re thinking about how you have to make it to Friday, you can’t mentally tackle that. You just can’t wrap your mind around that. You have to go minute by minute—which is exactly the way this operation went down to get bin Laden.

Q: Obviously, there is more to Hell Week than figuring out who can stay awake for five days while crawling through mud and being tossed into the ocean? What is the bigger point?

A: The one thing I can tell you for sure is that the guys who made it through Hell Week with me would never quit. It doesn’t matter if they’re shot, it doesn’t matter if they’re bleeding to death, it doesn’t matter if they’re amputated. It doesn’t matter what is happening. The guys who made it through Hell Week, you’re going to have to cut them up in little pieces to make them quit. That is the whole reason behind Hell Week.

Q: You spent time in SEAL Team Two, one of the “regular” SEAL units. When you were later promoted to Team Six—the elite of the elite—what was the key difference?

A: It’s not so much a change in the calibre of man as it is a change in the amount of support, toys, money and specialized training. In the regular SEAL teams, for example, you do a cursory course in CQB [close quarters battle]. But in SEAL Team Six, you eat, breathe, sleep and live this every day, so the big difference is going from being really good at CQB to being the masters of CQB. I can’t even put it in words what going to a different level is all about. It would be like you’re driving your car one day, and the next day you’re a NASCAR racer. You’re the same person, but you just went to a different level.

Q: What about the “mental conditioning” you talked about? How is that honed?

A: That is all part of the training. We would have our hands tied behind our back, feet bound, and be thrown into the swimming pool. Most people are going to freak out over that, but that is just one way we were taught to control our fear, control our emotion, keep your heart rate down, relax and concentrate on what you’re doing—right now. The difference between a regular person and a warrior is not that you’re not afraid. Hell, I was afraid. I don’t want to go into combat with anybody who is not afraid because it’s healthy to have fear. But what makes a warrior is the guy who can control that fear, channel it, and actually use it as a weapon.

Q: How do you do that? How can you train yourself to use fear to your advantage?

A: It’s not a sexy answer. It just comes down to doing the same thing over and over and over, and when you practise, practise, practise, train, train, train, it becomes muscle memory. When fear does kick in, you’ve rehearsed it so many times that the training and muscle memory take over.

Q: Obviously, the assassination of Osama bin Laden was no ordinary operation. As they flew to Pakistan that night, how would the team members control their emotions? They were, after all, about to finish a mission that the country had waited 10 years to complete.

A: Again, it’s not a sexy answer. You know how you do it? You stay focused on the moment. You don’t let the endgame—putting a bullet in Osama bin Laden—come into your thinking. You think about what you’re doing right now. How many steps is it from the wall to the front door? How many from this angle? That is how you stay focused.

Q: Could they have taken bin Laden alive?

A: I can’t speculate on that, but our military has a rule of engagement that is called “justifiable use of deadly force.” And, that is something you train in every day. So I will tell you for a fact that if bin Laden was killed it was because he was doing something that wasn’t compliant. He might not have been holding a gun, he might not have been going for a gun, but he was not standing still with his hands up. He was killed based on his actions in that room, not what he did to us on 9/11.

Q: Should the photos of his corpse be released?

A: I do not think so. I’m a diehard Republican, but I’m giving President Obama credit on a lot of fronts here. He got it right when he didn’t tell Pakistan we were going in. He got it right by burying him at sea so that nobody can make a pilgrimage to his dead body. And he got it right not releasing the pictures. Why should they be released? So we can incite people? The only caveat to that would be if there are surviving family members from 9/11 who, if it would help them get on with their lives to see this man dead, then maybe those are the only people who should be allowed to see them in a dark room somewhere.

Q: You were badly wounded in Somalia and forced to retire. You’re now a chiropractor in Georgia. Do you miss the old life?

A: There was a time when I did. In a really dark hour, I did. And when I found out this happened, I was in my living room walking through the scenario and thinking, “God, I wish that could have been me.”
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: LurkerNoMore on May 24, 2011, 07:51:42 AM
Can you believe that Disney trademarked the name Seal Team Six and has a line of action toys and such coming out.
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 24, 2011, 07:55:20 AM
Can you believe that Disney trademarked the name Seal Team Six and has a line of action toys and such coming out.

copyright office should not have allowed that. 
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: dario73 on May 24, 2011, 08:58:40 AM


At 4:32, dude got accidentaly kicked in the face.
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on December 27, 2011, 11:29:17 AM
Title: Re: Thank you U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Post by: Soul Crusher on December 27, 2011, 11:58:03 AM