Frogman Perspective
Life in the Teams
The Teams
First of all, no two days in the teams are alike. Every day and every week of every year I was a SEAL varied according to the current world threats, team I was on, and what cycle of work up I was in – for example, being deployed, pre-deployment training, or individual professional development training.
I’m not going to give you the standard information about what SEALS do or what mission SEALS go on. I’m going to give you the day in the life version. The real Frogman Perspective of being a Team Guy. Most guys I talk to you only see pictures online, or how Hollywood portrays SEALS, and yes some of that information is true and it all looks badass, but what I want you to focus on is what was the work and sacrifice that led up to those cool guys pics, I’m going to give you some insights about that.
The New Guy
Once I became a SEAL I was on top of the world, I thought I was a badass and unstoppable. My mindset was I just completed SEAL training, there is nothing that can stop me now. I learned very quickly that just because you completed training doesn’t mean shit when you arrive at your first SEAL Team-remember this if you’re trying to become a SEAL and you make it through training. I took a different route post SEAL Qualification Training (SQT). After graduation I received orders to Special Operations Combat Medic School(18D). Finished the 6-month course and was then stationed on SEAL Team Four. I was assigned to 1 Troop, Alpha platoon. My main purpose in life at that point was to keep my mouth shut and learn everything I can, soak it all in and be prepared to work my ass off. There is a saying in the teams and its this “Earn your Trident everyday”. This is something that holds true during your entire career as a SEAL.
I showed up to Seal Team Four when the team had just got back from deployment so these guys were fresh off the battlefield, most were on leave when I checked in so it was quiet around the team for the first month, but as guys trickled in off their leave, I could tell the older operators could smell fresh meat roaming the halls. I showed up to the team everyday bright and early ready to work. Every morning I would get a workout in before work started because I knew I would be task saturated all day. I would then prepare my gear for about an hour. When I checked in, I was issued a mountain of personal gear, so I was constantly messing with it and organizing it. First, I set up my gear locker, organized all of my stuff into bags, labeled them for example: Assaults, MAROPS, Diving, Jumping. Once I was done prepping my gear for the days training, I would walk into my platoon hut around 8 am to check in with my Leading Petty officer (LPO).
The Platoon “Hut”
Each platoon has their own “Hut”, this is a place where the lions…senior operators come to hang out, plan missions, training, and other duties required through out the day. When I stepped into my platoon hut for the first time, I was scared shitless. Before I entered the room, I would make sure my uniform, haircut, and my composure were tight. When the new guys entered it was like blood in the water for the older guys, it was just a matter of time until they came in for a taste. I was constantly locked on the entire time I spent in that room, it was fucking exhausting sometimes, but it was my duty as a new guy. I knew I had to prove to them I was worthy to wear that Trident, because none of the older guys cared that I made it through training, they all did, and they all have been to combat, I was just a pion in their eyes.
After I was finished with my morning routine of working out and prepping my gear for the day, I would go into my platoon hut before all the older guys showed up. All of the new guys would show up and leave at the same time everyday we would also congregate together while we were in the hut because what the hell did we know, we were walking on egg shells in there. If we weren’t out in the in the field training, you would find us in the hut doing administrative work, planning up coming training trips, or just hanging out and socializing. Believe it or not we had a bar in our hut that some of the new guys built for the older guys and a fridge fully stocked with every beer you could imagine. It was normal after the end of each day the entire platoon would stay late, crack some beers and just shoot the shit with each, or give us new guys shit. I loved this part of being in the platoon, it really was when we all bonded and got to know each other, it was important that we did this together because we were going to be training and going on deployment together.
Team Training
The professional Development (PRODEV) phase of the SEAL Team cycle is a time where they send individual SEAL operators to learn new skillset or enhance the ones they already have. This phase was coming to an end and we were getting ramped to begin our official platoon training cycle. This was it for me, up until this point everyone was always separated going to schools or on leave but now, we are all together as a full platoon, and I was fired up to begin our training. The entire training cycle consisted of the following: Jump training, dive training, tactical ground mobility, Maritime operations, and Assaults training. Each block was rigorous in of itself, long fucking days and nights, especially when I was a new guy on my first training cycle. During each training block, there is this sense that every operator gets and that is the need to perform at a high level all the time, it didn’t matter if you were a new SEAL or a seasoned one, that is what is engrained in us ever since BUD/S. Everything you do is a competition, competition is a excellent motivator to make people to perform at a high level. Especially as a new guy, every training trip I was constantly at alert, stressed and always eager to perform better than other new guys. My goal was to be a better shot, more in shape, and a better overall SEAL than the average, it was important for me to prove myself at the time to the older guys because they needed to trust me with their lives on and off the battlefield.
Once the platoon training came to an end, was almost bitter-sweet. On one hand the boys are relieved that it was over and the other you almost have that desire to continue and you miss being on the road with just the boys. Being on the road during the training trips, gives the guys a chance to relax and an opportunity to just focus on the job. Being home is great but there are distractions i.e. life, family, other temptations that can deter your focus from work. The greatest part about it, it’s the time where the platoon really becomes that brotherhood you always read about, we become FAMILY.
Deployment
Once the platoon training cycle ended, the team gets ramped up for deployment. Each Troop has an area of operation that they are responsible for. Mine was Central Command (CENTCOM) at the time, so we knew were going to the middle east but didn’t have an exact location about a few months our from deploying. Coming up on my first deployment after finishing my first full training cycle with my platoon was almost a surreal moment for me. It was a long road up to that point, I learned a shit ton, enhanced my skills as a Frogman, and I really felt that I was ready to go overseas and bring the fight to the enemy. My platoon was filled with nothing but hard dudes, seasoned war fighters. These guys groomed us new guys right because they knew what it would take to destroy the enemy when we got over there. Right before we all took leave, I was told that I would be going to Afghanistan with 2 troop because they needed a combat medic. Afghanistan was where the real fight was at, and I couldn’t have been more excited and nervous at the same time.
I will not be diving into the missions I did on deployment; I’m going to save that for another time. I want to talk about the experiences I had and the behind the scenes stuff you don’t see posted or hear about. My first deployment was hard both mentally and physically, I was young, eager, fired up, and nervous as hell. We all were especially us new guys, this was it, we arrived at the show. Boots on the ground we landed at our Forward Operating Base (FOB) in the Arghandab Valley. We were relieving a West Coast Seal Team. Reality hit me when we were going on our first turnover operation. Inserting via helicopters at night with two Supporting elements and one main element. On insert one of the helicopters crashed, hitting a side of a mounting. That night we lost a lot of good men and one lived. Without going into too much detail out of respect, this was the harsh reality we were in, this was combat, and anything could happen. This derailed our platoon significantly, being our first operation and losing close brothers, you could imagine what the boys were feeling. It took us about 2 weeks to get back on track and set a consistent battle rhythm. I want to say that the platoon bounced back great, it was hard, but we had a job to get done. The first four months of deployment flew by so fast its hard to keep track. Once winter hit it seemed like everything slowed down, some has to do with the weather in Afghanistan because it can get nasty, but it was in part that those savages didn’t like to fight in the winter, they were to fragile in cold weather, typical behavior for cowards of that caliber. For Team guys, we thrive in those types of environments, let’s just say we still found them and took care of business.
The last three months of deployment seemed to drag. We found ourselves counting down the days every so often. Boredom kicked in do the lack of Ops we were going on. A typically day for all of us would be waking up early or late in the afternoon, guys were on all different sleep schedules. It was hard to find a good one, so it was best to just get sleep when you could. When we woke up, it would be straight to breakfast if we had any, or just snack on whatever you had, mostly food from packages the boys received. It was off to the gym after chow, the gym was our sanctuary, at least for me it was. Physical fitness is what Team guys are good at, it also was a good place for the boys to blow off steam. Our gym down range was like the lion’s den. Imagine between 10-20 alpha male Team guys in a small space, all working out and trying to out lift one another. This was inflated ego at its finest and I loved every bit of it. Being around that caliber of men really pushed you to perform at a top level every single day otherwise you would be devoured. The last month of deployment when tensions started to rise, and guys become impatient. You can imagine being around the same people for that amount of time, its normal that we started to get on each other’s nerves to say the least.
Packing up, getting ready to return home we are told a tentative date that our bird will arrive and when we will be heading home. The harsh reality is that this date is never correct the first time. The date and time probably changed a dozen times. You want to know a good way to piss off a entire platoon of SEALS, keep giving them false information and delay them from seeing their families. Finally, the day had come to head home, and you can just see the sense of relief on all the boys faces, we all were ready to go home.
Post Deployment
Once the plane gets airborne and we prepare for the long haul to Germany. The boys began to scramble for the best spot to set up shop. This is a battle and hilarious at the same time. Guys bust out their hammocks and ground pads and begin hooking into anything they could find that could potentially support their weight. Some of us would even sneak up on top of the ISU storage containers to sleep, typically we got away with it until the aircrew caught us. Racked up and a couple ambien’s down. That 10-hour flight flew by. We landed on an Air Force base in Spangdahlem, Germany for a night, this was meant to be a refuel stop. This ended up being a bit more than just a “quick stop” to refuel, we ended up getting hotel rooms out in town, and of course the first thing we smelled was the booze. The boys checked into their rooms and immediately went down to the hotel bar, I will tell you this, the hotel was not ready for it. Some of the guys including myself were coming up with a plan to go out in town to have fun or some may say get into trouble. Me and the boys ended up finding the one and only bar in this small town. Spangdahlem had an interesting vibe, very small-town feel, we definitely stood out, again these small-town folks weren’t ready for some hard charging Team guys fresh off the battlefield. That night was long, filled with a lot of German beer. Going 7 months without drinking doesn’t quite set you up for success for pounding beers in Germany. From what I could remember we took a cab back, keep in mind that cabs in Europe are nice vehicles, this one was Mercedes. Our cab driver was driving like a maniac, hauling ass and whipping around corners, this led to me puking out of his back window giving his nice Mercedes a new paint job. Made It back to the hotel, we racked out and were up bright and early to catch our bird home, I felt like shit but I didn’t care because it was good feeling knowing I will be in the states soon.
Arriving Home
As soon as we got state side, there was a tour bus waiting for our arrival. The command set up a decompression stop for us in Ocean city, Maryland. This was a weekend stayover in the city, it was supposed to give us time to relax from deployment, meet with doctors, and bring us back to so called reality. I was a little frustrated with the fact, that we had to stay 3 hours from Virginia Beach for a whole weekend before we could go home, I knew the boys were also frustrated. Looking back now those weekends were much needed, the guys had time to relax, go out, and meet with doctors if needed. The Team did this with the best intentions, it made arriving in Virginia Beach that much sweeter. The 2-hour drive down to Virginia Beach was a surreal feeling, the bus was silent the whole way. The guys were excited to finally be back, I know I was, but like with any Team Guy, emotions were no- existent. We arrived at the Team before lunch time, as we pulled up we could see everyone’s family waiting on the side walk for the bus to arrive. The excitement really kicked in once all the guys saw this, I had a huge smile on my face. Once all the greetings and excitement subsided, everyone parted ways and went home with their families and I found my car that was still in the parking lot, I got in and went straight home. I had a lot of emotions running through me that day we all got home, good and bad, but I will tell you one thing, throughout my entire career going on three deployments overseas, those feelings never go away, I still experienced them every time I left and came home.
I hope all of you enjoyed this post and got something out of it. I challenge you that If becoming a SEAL is your goal, go after it no matter what. Reflect and make sure that the “why” behind wanting to become a SEAL is rock solid, and if it is, nothing can stop you.
TEAMS
Travis Kennedy