Completing a death-defying 25 mile open ocean swim

alone at night in the raging sea against gale-force winds 

towing a 50 lb. keg of high explosives with a lit fuse, 

a BUD/S Trainee gets extracted only after knocking out

a shark's tooth.

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- Myth. 

 

Contrary to popular belief Navy SEALs do not have

to kill a puppy, tear out the throat of a monkey, 

or be dropped alone 25 miles out to sea and

expected to return with a shark's tooth prior

to graduating BUD/S and earning their Trident.

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However, there is record of UDT/SEAL Frogmen killing

sharks with nothing more than their knife while on

operations in the West Pacific.

 

It is unknown however if they extracted any "souvenirs".

 

-Legendary

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         Frogman vs. Ninja

While conducting Sweep and Clear operations along a narrow canal in the Mekong Delta, a small detachment of Underwater Demolition Team operators came under heavy fire at very close range.

Caught in the center of the kill zone, Chief Hospital Corpsman Donel Kinnard took the brunt of the initial attack and was blown off his feet by a well placed RPG round. Although Kinnard had sustained multiple shrapnel wounds to his extremities, the battle hardened warrior disregarded his personal injuries and jumped directly into the fight instantly turning the tables on the rapidly advancing enemy force.

With all the skill of a Major League pitcher and a rapid fire arm, the intrepid Operator began hurling grenades straight into the heart of the enemy position seriously disrupting their ability to continue a coordinated forward assault. As the battle escalated, the lightly armed and seriously outnumbered Frogmen found themselves embroiled in an all out jungle warfare-close quarters combat-Battle Royal.

While actively exchanging fire with multiple NVA soldiers to his front, an enemy commando crept up and attacked Chief Kinnard from behind. Although severely wounded in all four limbs, the fearless Frogman anxiously engaged the NVA Officer in a violent close in fight to the death. Seriously outsized and outmatched by the American jungle-fighter, the NVA soldier fought with all the ferociously of an Asian tiger and the skill of an experienced martial artist.

After several minutes of savage hand to hand mortal combat in the middle of a raging firefight with enemy rounds and rockets raining in all around him, Chief Kinnard emerged bloodied but victorious after dispatching the North Vietnamese Ninja with his trusty rusty K-Bar knife.

 

-Legendary

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       Frogman Hat Trick - One Shot, Three Kills.

While conducting the pre-dawn Combat Perpendicular Hydrographic Reconnaissance of an enemy held beach in Vietnam, a small detachment of UDT Frogmen came under heavy attack from a sizable and highly aggressive Viet Cong patrol and forced to tacticallt withdraw without the necessary intelligence needed by the U.S. Marine Corps.

Determined to accomplish their mission and beat the VC at their own game, the UDTs returned a few weeks later with a more effective plan and newly evolved counter-ambush tactics. This time, the clever Frogmen sent two individual sets of Swimmer Scouts ashore well in advance of the operation to act as a security element on each flank of the designated beach. Knowing they may be forced to engage the enemy in order to complete their vital mission, the operators equipped themselves with various light arms, smoke, and hand grenades.

After successfully infiltrating the area undetected then setting up camoufaged observation posts, the Scouts signaled in the Swimmers who began to stealthily move forward while dipping lead and recording their depth soundings. Just as the platoon reached the low water mark completing the beach survey, three very small but extremely fierce enemy guerillas burst from the jungle screaming like banshees and began to charge the seemingly defenseless Frogmen who were now dangerously exposed at the waters edge.

As the trio of tiny berserkers opened fire on the exposed Swimmer line, a young and very hairy-chested Frogman leveled his M79 and laid a Golden Egg directly on the chest of the middle/lead VC fighter. The H.E. round had just enough time to arm its self before fully penetrating the victim’s breast and knocking him backward into his two wild-eyed companions. Then, like a human IED… the small man in the conical hat and black pajamas detonated High Order sending metal and bone fragments in all directions instantly shredding his two comrades, and effectively halting the enemy advance. –

 

-Legendary

Both shocked and amazed by this incredible shot, the Viet Cong momentarily stopped firing and reconsidered their next move. This brief lull in enemy fire allowed the web-footed Warriors just enough time to initiate a counter strike while leap-frogging back to deeper water and covering the security element’s tactical withdrawal to the sea. While steadily engaged in a running gunfight with the overwhelming enemy force, the Swimmer Scouts called in gunfire support from U.S. naval vessels staged far off shore, then hit the surf vanishing behind a dense curtain of red smoke and extracting with their Teammates.

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        Getting Wet

During the Vietnam War many SEAL Platoons exercised an ancient warrior Rite-of-Passage that was affectionately dubbed… Getting Wet. This ritual was strictly reserved for new guys on their first deployment who had yet to prove the true extent of their commitment to the Teams and to their Brothers.

Seasoned operators were unwilling to risk some FNG losing his nerve at the critical moment during operations and endangering the whole platoon; so at the earliest possible convenience, a new guy would be told to “Get Wet” and tasked with sneaking into an enemy hooch and silently dispatching the target using only his KA-BAR knife.

As the rest of the platoon lay in wait covering his movement the young Frogman would either succeed then sneak away undetected, or he would succumb to fear and be compromised. This typical Team Guy style no-nonsense way of weeding out the weak was a highly effective Pass or Fail type evolution with no gray area.

Killing a man with a knife is a very messy affair, especially if you go for the throat as all SEALs preferred to do. Removing the blade and uncorking a pressurized vein or artery has the effect of opening a shaken can of soda and the assassin is unavoidably drenched in his enemy’s blood… thus the term, Getting Wet. Only after accomplishing this solo “hands on” mission, was an operator fully trusted and truly accepted into the platoon.

 

-Myth

Still to this day when a BUD/S trainee is given the command to “Get Wet”, he is in some way proving his unwavering commitment to the Teams. This story appeared in a Time-Life book in 1986 when very little had been written about SEAL operations in Vietnam. Like many myths, this one originated in a bar in Coronado, CA, in 1970 when a group of drunken SEAL operators were telling tall-tales to Time-Life reporters attempting to write articles on UDT/SEAL operations in Vietnam.

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        Frogman Down

 

The C.I.A. assassinated a SEAL Team One Officer in El Salvador for brandishing his Trident on 60 Minutes…

Lt. Commander Albert Schaufelberger was mercilessly gunned down in cold blood thirty two years ago this month on the grounds of Central American University in San Salvador. Schaufelberger was serving as the Senior U.S. Naval Advisor in the region tasked with training (secretly leading) the Salvadorian Army in Counter Insurgency / Counter Arms Smuggling operations. Unlike today, such geopolitical military actions were kept under strict wraps and were very closely guarded secrets withheld from the rest of the international community.

For some unknown reason, (most likely Hollywood Frogman syndrome) Lt. Commander Schaufelberger appeared briefly in a short expose’ featured on 60 minutes while riding aboard a small Salvadorian military gunboat wearing Jungle Greens… including U.S. Navy/Name tapes, rank insignias, and his Trident. This is the first/only (known) incident were a Navy SEAL was shown in a combat uniform/Trident while serving in a Conflict Zone on American/International TV.
Needless to say, no one in the Teams was very pleased with this unprecedented breach of Operational Security. This 60 second clip on 60 Minutes lit the fuse on a conspiratorial powder keg that would ultimately detonate in Washington D.C. To say that covert U.S. Military operations in the region at that time were “highly sensitive” is a gross understatement, and his presence there as a Spec-War Officer leading operations was considered “ultra” secret to say the least.

Of course being a hairy-chested Frogman, Schaufelberger was dating a beautiful Salvadorian girl employed at the local University. The LTC would regularly venture out in the evenings and pick up his "War Scootch" when she would get off work. Keeping to various SOPs and in-country protocols, Schaufelberger always wore civilian clothing and drove his "low profile" Embassy issued (armored) Ford Bronco when on Liberty in the highly volatile A.O.

At 6:30 pm 25 May 1983 exactly one week after the 60 Minutes piece aired internationally, the SEAL Officer pulled up in front of the University and honked the horn to signal his arrival. Just as his girlfriendexited her work place, a white VW Micro-Bus screeched to a halt near the Bronco as several masked gunmen leaped from the sliding door and opened fire at point blank range with AK47s. One assassin quickly moved directly to the open driver’s side window spraying the interior before moving in for the Coup de Gras. The unarmed operator had attempted against all odds to escape by mashing the gas pedal to the floor, but died before smashing into a truck that had parked ahead of him just moments before the incident went down.

As fate would have it… Lt. Commander Schaufelberger had removed the custom bullet-proof door glass two days before when the Bronco’s air conditioning unit shit-the-bed in the stifling 110 degree Central American heat.

Although no one claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, it was “assumed” that the plot was carried out by the Central American Workers Party, a revolutionary group running guns and assorted military supplies in the area… basically, a small wing from the same organization that he was operating against. The SEAL Officer’s operational success record was beyond outstanding and this made him an extremely high value target for his enemies. He told the Press just a week before his untimely death that “They” know who I am. The night before he was cut down Schaufelberger exchanged gunfire with some bad guys during a "Drive By Shooting" at his residence.

Lore has it that the Clowns In Action contracted the Hit Squad to take him out for carelessly revealing their “Dirty Little War” in Central America on international TV. It wasn’t long after this incident that the Iran-Contra scandal began to develop when the Press exposed Oliver North for illegally providing U.S. Military support to guerillas in Central America in direct violation of the Boland Act set forth by Congress.

Lt. Commander Albert Schaufelberger is the only known Frogman ever to be directly targeted and assassinated by an enemy force.

 

-Legendary

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​

    Heroes of Hungnam Harbor

On the night of 23 December 1950, in the early days of the Korean War, Underwater Demolition Team 3 began to surreptitiously transport large amounts of high explosives ashore from the U.S.S. Begor APD-127 while on patrol in Hungnam harbor South Korea.

With an overwhelming enemy force advancing unchecked from the North and expected to overrun the highly valuable Hungnam port facilities and supply depot at anytime, the U.S. Navy went to decisive and immediate action. Literally trapped between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea; U.S naval forces could not allow the massive amounts of military assets stored at Hungnam to be commandeered nor could they allow the enemy the ability to use this strategic seaside base in operations against them, so after a complete evacuation of all civilian and military personnel… the Navy ordered the complete destruction of the entire area.

With limited resources at hand, the Navy looked to a very small group of courageous men with a very large reputation to take on this highly dangerous and extremely critical mission. Excited by the prospects of such a dangerous mission, the small detachment of UDT-3 Frogmen eagerly accepted the potential “suicide mission” and set about hunting down every type of available ordinance readily available afloat or ashore, then began preparing the base for total annihilation. Aerial bombs, shells for Battleship guns, fuel tankers, and anything else highly explosive that they could get their hands on was tied into the main trunk-line. Not only did the operators have to figure out the precise placement to ensure maximum effect of each of the many separate improvised charges, they had to tie them all together into a single shot… all with the Red Chinese Army breathing down their necks hell-bent on seizing the facility, and killing as many American servicemen as possible.

This was especially unnerving to the UDTers who were operating alone in no-man’s-land without any hope of support or rescue if they came under direct attack. Undaunted in the face of great peril, the steely-eyed Naked Warriors calmly set about their highly technical and extremely precarious task with highly coordinated precision.

Then on Christmas Eve 1950, just as the beady-eyed red commie bastards were breaking through the facility’s outer perimeter, the fearless Frogmen sprang into action…

Like the lighting of a great wartime Christmas Tree, the U.S. Navy Demolitioneers pulled the fuse igniters on the largest non-nuclear explosion in recorded history to that date, then slipped away like shadows into the sea just beyond the reach of the massive shockwave.
The spectacular blast and flawless total destruction of the Hungnam Harbor facility By Underwater Demolition Team Three became one of the most widely publicized photographs of the Korean War and immortalized the Underwater Demolition Teams in the hearts and minds of the American public. –

 

-Legendary

    Mine Hunters

During the Korean War, Underwater Demolition Team Three Frogmen would entertain themselves between operations by climbing the ship's communications mast and sniping floating mines for target practice. When that challenge got old, they would swim out and disconnect the mines from their anchor points and make "clusters" of these incredibly dangerous and easily triggered devices.
Of course being Frogmen the clusters continued to grow in size, as did the spectacular blasts and water spouts. The final cluster of remaining mines was so large that the shockwave nearly snapped the keel of the ship they were aboard.

 

-Legendary

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    Tip of the Spear

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From their inglorious inseption 10 November 1775, the U.S. Marine Corps have bragged incessantly about being the first ashore and the first to fight. Leading the invasion and securing the beachhead has always been the pride and glory of the Corps, and for exactly 168 years the Marines remained the undisputed American warriors at the tip of the proverbial spear.

Unfortunately for the miopic Jarheads, a small atoll in the West Pacific named Tarawa didn’t have a beachhead as much as coralhead and was surrounded by many concentric rings of jagged coral reefs. In the pre-dawn hours of 20 November 20 1943 off Tarawa Island, Marine LVT landing craft dropped the front ramps and began unleashing the over anxious Devil Dogs into the arms of certain death.

Like the Grim Reaper taking great swaths with his scythe, the GI-rines were mecilessly cut down in large numbers by heavily concentrated Japanese machinegun fire as they disembarked the lumbering landing craft. Low tide had stopped the LVTs a few hundred yards short of their designated objective, and as the remaining Marines who had not been downed in the initial onslaught began to advance and those who were not shredded by the withering enemy machinegun fire, were filleted on the razor sharp coralheads while foundering in shallow water in a futile attempt to jettison their heavy and cumbersome combat gear. One by one the amphibious warriors sank into the dark water between the reefs and drowned in squad formation like true Marines. This would be the last blind anphibious invasion conducted by the U.S. Military.

On November 30, 1943 Underwater Demolition Teams 1 and 2 departed Maui, Hawaii with the primary mission of conducting pre-invasion hydrographic beach surveys in the South Pacific theater. Once the hydrographic surveys were complete, the UDTs would then return and demolish all enemy laid obstacles with high explosives clearing safe passage lanes for the Marine landing force. Along with these important duties, the UDTs would send highly trained Swimmer Scouts ashore to eliminate any potential threats that could send warning or sound the alarm alerting the Japanese.
This would mean that the UDTs would be going ashore well in advance of the main landing force and be the first ashore and the first to fight.

As WW2 progressed, the use of UDT demolioneers became standard operating proceedure for all major beach invasions and led the way on all occasions without notoriety or fanfare. The Underwater Demolition Teams were considered so secret at the time that the Marines had no idea that another even more elite military unit was tasked with clearing the way and rolling out the Red Carpet for their approach and safe landing.

Toward the end of the war, UDT Frogmen had grown tired of the endless boasts by the Marine Corps still claiming to be the first ashore so they devised a clever plan to steal their thunder and set the record straight once and for all.On nearly every amphibious landing during the last year of the the great war, the Leather Necks would storm the beach full of pride only to find a “Welcome” banner firmly errected in the sand reading something to the effect of… Welcome U.S. Marines to Whatever Island! Signed, UDT # X.

The top Navy brass was as surprized and upset by this as the Marines, and the UDTs were encouraged to cease this contentious behavior, but the upper echelon ultimately lost the battle in the end. This unique and humorous tradition continued on through the Korean War with a welcome sign posted at Inchon. , and Frogs from Underwater Demolition Team 12 raised the banner for the last time in 1963 welcoming the U.S. Marines ashore in Vietnam.

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-Legendary

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Fearless

​

During the invasion of Panama, a 16 man from platoon from SEAL Team Four faced heavy enemy resistance while moving across an open airport tarmac in a daring attempt to sabotage Manuel Noriega's private jet. With half the platoon instantly down as seriously casualties, the other half of the dangerously exposed platoon escalated the deadly firefight then eventually suppressed the enemy fire then terminated the remaining bad guys.

In the midst of this raging firefight, out in the complete open with not a thimble full of cover, the platoon Corpsman went man to man rendering emergency medical treatment.
As the intrepid operator began to move to the next severely wounded warrior, the medic’s sardonic teammate momentarily stopped firing and with a morbid grin gestured to his head. The curious Corpsman stopped, reached up, then suddenly realized that one entire half of his scalp had been peeled down, his skull breached, and his brain exposed.

Without hesitation, the intrepid operator promptly removed a large battle dressing from his medical kit, secured it over his wound, and threw his fellow Frog that "Thanks Brother" nod, then continued on with his life-saving efforts as if his injury was no more severe than a paper cut.

 

–Legendary

 

 

               More To Come!