Extreme SEAL Experience Blog

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. Our Counter Terrorist Team, as the mission is different and it’s another demanding screening process.

2. SEAL Delivery Vehicles, as anyone who can stay underwater for 10 hours is a cut above. I think the record is 14 hours.

3. In a Winter Warfare Platoon, as just being so severely cold for so long is at the top of food chain in SEAL Team for above average and that’s what I spent much of my time doing.

I spent 24-years in the Navy and most of that as a SEAL. I can’t say I was the best SEAL ever, but I was a damn good one. I can say that I was one of SEAL Teams more aggressive frogmen and it shows in my colorful past.

I did two things as a SEAL; I carried a gun, and when I wasn’t doing that, I taught others to carry one. That’s where the aggressive side comes from. I stayed very busy my whole time.

SEAL Team is the big boy’s club. It’s a testosterone filled society of tough guys and bad asses and the job you do is a difficult one.

To survive as a "small unit," you learn to go around large obstacles rather than through them. You look for another way in, a back door that isn’t being watched so to speak, and when you find one, you fully exploit it. That attitude follows you inside and outside of SEAL Team as you search for the easiest way to do a hard thing in everything you do.

I accomplished some amazing things as a SEAL with that attitude. I also pulled some really dumb moves. In the end, I came out ahead and as one of my Executive Officers told me once

"Shipley, you’re in the hole, but you’re smiling up at me," at times, sums up my career.

While I could write about the many successes my teammates and I enjoyed, they’re not as entertaining or funny as the many things that went wrong. I also write of a dark humor SEALs share and use on each other to get us through tough times. The tough times I refer to is any single day as a SEAL as there are no easy days. None.

I started as a "Deck Ape " on a Navy Frigate at the lowest rung of the Navy ladder and rose to Platoon Chief in a SEAL Team. The whole experience, all of it, was worth every push up I ever did and every mile I swam to get there.

This is my SEAL Blog...

Add Comment..

Back to Archives

Comments