AS THE RAMP of the C-130 opened during a SEAL Training exercise, a freezing blast of cold air filled the aircraft under the glow of red lights and my body was shocked back to reality. Above the Arctic Circle, a bitter Norwegian Fjord waited below. I checked each man in my squad, then myself, as we approached the drop zone and I wondered what my family was doing at home as I hooked my parachute to the static line cable and took my position behind the gear laden boats.

Nothing but blackness looking out of the windy ramp and well past midnight as the eight of us were about to repeat Hell Week again, only this time, much worse. This would be my final jump, in my final exercise, and in my final platoon, and while I love going out with a bang, tonight would be an explosion.

The jump was about to go very bad . . .

THERE ARE THREE things you can do as a SEAL that are a cut above the average SEAL, if there is such a thing as average in the Teams.

1.

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I graduated BUD/S training and was assigned to SEAL Team ONE, Foxtrot Platoon and began SBI (SEAL Basic Indoc) now called SQT (SEAL Qualification Training). Our Land Warfare, Tactics, and Demolition training was conducted at a small SEAL Camp in the Sonoran Desert in Niland, California and SQT’s are still conducted there today.

Our Camp back then were old metal buildings with uneven floors and just plain crappy living, but I loved it there. Bunkers for the bullets and demolitions, classroom, showers, bunks and a dilapidated part we called a chowhall.

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The Water Fountain Incident

Added: Saturday March 09th 2013
By: Don Shipley

Everything in SEAL Team BITES. From the minute you walk through the door everything around you is dangerous. The parachutes, dive gear, weapons and demolitions all have a nasty nip if you aren’t being careful. And the end result of doping o...ff for even a brief second can be "Catastrophic."

Outside of killing yourself, or worse yet, a buddy is the potential trouble, (punishment kind of trouble) you can find yourself in using that equipment. And I always said SEAL Team is the "Most Forgiving" unit in the Military because we’ve all had run-ins and made mistakes using our equipment.

All our Admirals and Master Chiefs have been "Spanked" a few times for doing something that seemed like a good idea at the time... Do something right and you learn nothing, do something wrong and you are educated by VOLUMES in SEAL Team...

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Bottom of the Barrel...

Added: Saturday March 09th 2013
By: Don Shipley

Bottom of the Barrel...

We receive a lot of gifts from guys who attend the courses and all are appreciated, and mean a lot to Diane and myself. It means a lot that guys take the time to send a small token of the time they spent here and a simple "thank you." We’ve received knives, glass from the World Trade Center, tee-shirts, hand crafted arts, coins, books, flowers, cakes, booze, cookies, coffe......e, cards and native ornaments from their Countries, and all mean much to us…

Today… I received a case of crappy wine that means a TON to me. I don’t know who sent it, but I know they heard the story behind the wine from me and it brings back decades worth of my fondest memories in SEAL Team…

Beaujolais Nouveau… The bottom of the barrel wine…

Young Officers in SEAL Team MUST earn respect and more so than young Enlisted men.

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Secure from Hell Week!

Added: Saturday March 09th 2013
By: Don Shipley

Secure from Hell Week!

It’s a sad fact that nobody ever hears anything good about BUD/S (SEAL Training). It’s also a fact that most of the horror stories come from guys that don’t make it through. I wouldn’t want to spend five more minutes...... at BUD/S, but I can honestly say BUD/S holds my fondest memories from my SEAL days and I had a great time in training.

I spent six-months there. I cried for three months and I laughed hysterically for the other three months.

BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training is SEAL school, and it’s the "Big Boys Club." We were given a lot of rope to run with and we had few rules. Nobody told us when to go to bed, where we could go, how much we could drink. We were just expected to show up on time and ready to perform each day.

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