"only god can decide if terrorists are right or wrong. It's our job to arrange the meeting"
-Utd seal association
What is a Navy SEAL? What exactly do they do, and why in the world do they do it? Very few people have a clear understanding about the answers to these questions. It is amazing to me how so many people will agree that Navy SEALs are by far the most respected group of men throughout all of the military, yet few people have a clear perception of what SEALs do or how they operate. They have even less of an understanding of why they do it. Currently, as a result of media attention on various missions, successful movies such as A Good Day to Die and Act of Valor, as well as recently released video games and books about SEALs, the popularity of this elite group has skyrocketed. SEALs are considered the badasses of the military, yet when I asked several civilians about their perceptions of SEALs, I found that most have very little knowledge beyond what they have seen and heard in the media. This perception reflects very little about the job of Navy SEALs and even less about what makes them truly different from other men.
Sea, air, land
When I looked at what separates Navy SEALs from other branches of Special Operations, I noticed that it has a lot to do with how they go about getting their job done. It was pointed out to me by retired Navy SEAL, Keith Morse, that a vast majority of civilians think that SEALs mostly work in water. This was proven to be true when I asked a few civilians to tell me what they know about SEALs. While this is partially true, Keith explained to me that SEAL actually stands for sea, air, and land, meaning they insert and extract into missions from all environments. This requires them to have versatility in their skills and requires them to be as highly trained or better trained than every other branch of Special Operations in order to successfully get their job done.
"ANYONE CAN JUST GO IN THERE AND KILL SOMEONE, BUT YOU CAN'T GET INFORMATION FROM A CORPSE" -SEAL MOTTO
Navy SEALs ultimately have one job and one job only. While this may not sit well with some people, their job is to kill or capture enemies of the United States. Because they have such a specific job, they work in much smaller groups than other branches of Special Operations, sometimes as few as ten men at a time. To successfully operate in such small groups, SEALs must be trained in a variety of tasks and have incredible stamina and strength. They also must have specialized skills such as my father (pictured to the left) who was a sniper. I think everyone can agree that a Navy SEAL has outrageous physical toughness and abilities, but what many would fail to recognize is the intelligence required for the job. Certainly quick decision making, problem solving, and an ability to calmly respond to a crisis are required. Even beyond this, SEAL's need to have the skills and experience to gather information from unfriendly forces in an effort to meet their objective. The job at hand may be to capture, not kill, terrorists linked to the primary target. For anyone who knows how to accurately use a gun, it is much easier to kill than to capture. Getting an enemy to provide accurate information requires that SEALs have an understanding of how the enemy thinks. They must know exactly what to do and say in order for the terrorist to give up the valued information. Therefore, while the popular belief that SEALs are physically strong and powerful is true, it is not the entire picture. There is also a component of intelligence, cultural knowledge, and mental stability that is necessary for them to successfully do their jobs.