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US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (aka SEAL Team 6) appreciation thread

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X-Frame

Member
bdizzle said:
navy-seal-ad-swamp.jpg

WTF can someone point out where they are or is there nobody really there?

Been staring at this for minutes.
 

Salazar

Member
I have the very strong impression (I've read one of his books and some articles about him) that Marcinko is a complete dick. A hardass, indubitably, but a dick.

Not even going to try and find dudes in that poster.
 
Salazar said:
I have the very strong impression (I've read one of his books and some articles about him) that Marcinko is a complete dick. A hardass, indubitably, but a dick.
You need dicks to fuck assholes.
 
Salazar said:
Not even going to try and find dudes in that poster.
Reminds me of the Marine Scout Sniper training.

My friend who was a Scout Sniper before joining the Secret Service told stories about how (and forgive me, memory fades...this was probably 7 or 8 years ago now) one of the stealth tests took place in a large field. The tester/instructor stands in an elevated position in the middle of this field. The test was conducted with the trainee in full grassy cammo with rifle. During the test the candidate/trainee had to shoot off rounds, moving closer between each shot. The instructor's job was to spot them. If the trainer could spot you, you failed. It went on for something like 6 hours. at the closest point, I believe he said he had to crawl to within something like 10 feet of the trainer without being spotted. I can't remember, but I believe the distance increments were 100 yards, 75 yards, 50 yards, 25 yards, 10 yards.

I always remembered the gist because it sounded so amazing. That's some slow crawling to take 6 hours to go 100 yards, but that's the level of patience and skill required of a Marine scout sniper. You have to be absolutely INVISIBLE. and sorry if this was poorly worded. I'm kinda tired.
 
CaptYamato said:
I thought those were regular Seals?


From my understanding, Team 6 is over in that region of the world. They usually are the ones in the hottest conflict zones and have the highest rate of mortality amongst the Seal teams.
 

fallengorn

Bitches love smiley faces
Dreams-Visions said:
Reminds me of the Marine Scout Sniper training.

My friend who was a Scout Sniper before joining the Secret Service told stories about how (and forgive me, memory fades...this was probably 7 or 8 years ago now) one of the stealth tests took place in a large field. The tester/instructor stands in an elevated position in the middle of this field. The test was conducted with the trainee in full grassy cammo with rifle. During the test the candidate/trainee had to shoot off rounds, moving closer between each shot. The instructor's job was to spot them. If the trainer could spot you, you failed. It went on for something like 6 hours. at the closest point, I believe he said he had to crawl to within something like 10 feet of the trainer without being spotted. I can't remember, but I believe the distance increments were 100 yards, 75 yards, 50 yards, 25 yards, 10 yards.

I always remembered the gist because it sounded so amazing. That's some slow crawling to take 6 hours to go 100 yards, but that's the level of patience and skill required of a Marine scout sniper. You have to be absolutely INVISIBLE. and sorry if this was poorly worded. I'm kinda tired.
Like in Clear and Present Danger? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UypqH0dkRAI
 
Dreams-Visions said:
Reminds me of the Marine Scout Sniper training.

My friend who was a Scout Sniper before joining the Secret Service told stories about how (and forgive me, memory fades...this was probably 7 or 8 years ago now) one of the stealth tests took place in a large field. The tester/instructor stands in an elevated position in the middle of this field. The test was conducted with the trainee in full grassy cammo with rifle. During the test the candidate/trainee had to shoot off rounds, moving closer between each shot. The instructor's job was to spot them. If the trainer could spot you, you failed. It went on for something like 6 hours. at the closest point, I believe he said he had to crawl to within something like 10 feet of the trainer without being spotted. I can't remember, but I believe the distance increments were 100 yards, 75 yards, 50 yards, 25 yards, 10 yards.

I always remembered the gist because it sounded so amazing. That's some slow crawling to take 6 hours to go 100 yards, but that's the level of patience and skill required of a Marine scout sniper. You have to be absolutely INVISIBLE. and sorry if this was poorly worded. I'm kinda tired.

Dont think so. Military channel showed the process. They are basically in a field and they have to crawl their way to a position where they can get a sniper position on the target without the target knowing where they are at.

So they have to crawl for hours without being seen, then they call to a nearby instructor that they are ready to take aim. Once they say this, the targets will try to spot their position. If the sniper is pro, they will have picked a spot that the instructors cannot find.
 
Patrick Bateman said:
Because you will never hear anything from them. Most people of the German government don't know what they are currently doing. Even the Bundeswehr doesn't know what they are doing.



Btw. the founder of Team 6 looks like a total badass:

RichardMarcinko.jpg

He has that Tier One look.
 
fallengorn said:
that was actually pretty cool. I've never seen that before. But yes, I'd imagine so. I don't actually remember him telling me they had to shoot at targets, but it makes sense.

Also, that video made me remember: I believe he said there was always a guy withing X number of feet of him to give the trainers who were charged with detecting him some direction. I think they stood maybe within 10 yards of them at all times? I can't really remember anymore.

Masta_Killah said:
Dont think so. Military channel showed the process. They are basically in a field and they have to crawl their way to a position where they can get a sniper position on the target without the target knowing where they are at.

So they have to crawl for hours without being seen, then they call to a nearby instructor that they are ready to take aim. Once they say this, the targets will try to spot their position. If the sniper is pro, they will have picked a spot that the instructors cannot find.
Perhaps there's another test. Because I'm pretty sure he mentioned having to be spotted multiple times in the process.

It would not surprise me to know that there is more than one test of stealth skill. Was what you saw for sniper training (general) or Marine Scout Sniper training (specifically)?
 

Archer

Member
jeffy_johnson said:
Good job lads.

To continue on with the SF of other nations, how about Canada's JTF-2.

3291118.bin.jpg

A buddy of mine was a sniper in JTF-2. Projects included work in Africa and the Middle East back in the 90s.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
Perhaps there's another test. Because I'm pretty sure he mentioned having to be spotted multiple times in the process.

It would not surprise me to know that there is more than one test of stealth skill.


There's other tests before the final one where they are taught how to camo themselves, but the final test is that field. It's the culmination to all their training and if they are spotted even once, they are sent back a few weeks. I think it was said that 2 failures and they are out.

The part about being spotted multiple times could be when they have finalized their position and the targets try to find where they are hiding. They radio in to a field instructor where they think they are and the instructors mark it with a pole.


It would not surprise me to know that there is more than one test of stealth skill. Was what you saw for sniper training (general) or Marine Scout Sniper training (specifically)?

I believe it was Marine scout sniper school. They were talking about how there was only a few hundred members of this elite group at the end of the program.
 

FOOTE

Member
alphaNoid said:
Looks like ...

[IG]http://www.fashionmyspacelayout.com/images/backgrounds/ae-0004.jpg[/IMG]
I lol'd

X-Frame said:
WTF can someone point out where they are or is there nobody really there?

Been staring at this for minutes.
I'm willing to bet that most, if not all of them, are under the water.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Masta_Killah said:
From my understanding, Team 6 is over in that region of the world. They usually are the ones in the hottest conflict zones and have the highest rate of mortality amongst the Seal teams.
ST6 goes wherever JSOC needs them, they're not primarily based anywhere. And technically, they're not part of the SEALs anymore, they just keep the informal nickname as they originally were operating with them. Officially, Seal Team 6 is dissolved and DEVGRU took its place.
 
Masta_Killah said:
There's other tests before the final one where they are taught how to camo themselves, but the final test is that field. It's the culmination to all their training and if they are spotted even once, they are sent back a few weeks. I think it was said that 2 failures and they are out.

The part about being spotted multiple times could be when they have finalized their position and the targets try to find where they are hiding. They radio in to a field instructor where they think they are and the instructors mark it with a pole.
gotcha. my memory fades. thanks for the help in making it clearer. all of that sounds very familiar. :)

it was really cool to know a Marine Scout Sniper fresh out of training. He told me once he almost drowned. Some test where they had to jump in a deep pool in full gear, touch the bottom and come back up. Apparently he didn't get a very good kick down, so he kinda got stuck in the middle. lol.

Anyway, he did a couple of tours in Afghanistan...took some lives, I'm sure. Then he joined the Secret Service. Unfortunately, he died in a motorcycle crash a couple of years ago. He was a very good friend, and probably my closest fraternity brother.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
gotcha. my memory fades. thanks for the help in making it clearer. all of that sounds very familiar. :)

it was really cool to know a Marine Scout Sniper fresh out of training. He told me once he almost drowned. Some test where they had to jump in a deep pool in full gear, touch the bottom and come back up. Apparently he didn't get a very good kick down, so he kinda got stuck in the middle. lol.

Anyway, he did a couple of tours in Afghanistan...took some lives, I'm sure. Then he joined the Secret Service. Unfortunately, he died in a motorcycle crash a couple of years ago. He was a very good friend, and probably my closest fraternity brother.


Yeah, some of the stuff frontline soldiers go through is pretty insane. Military channel showed what it took to be in Marine recon, which is the elite group for Marines. First day and they were in the pool, learning to stay afloat for hours while passing around some weights. Then they had one where they had to swim to one end of the pool(to the bottom) and back without going up. I think they had to flutter kick it the whole way too. Some of the recruits nearly drowned doing that and quite a few dropped out on just that first day.



There was a depper last year who was accepted to the Seal program. He flunked out during Naval boot camp(spec ops go through a special boot program separate from regular recruits), which isn't even the real Seal boot camp which takes place in San Diego.
 
Masta_Killah said:
Yeah, some of the stuff frontline soldiers go through is pretty insane. Military channel showed what it took to be in Marine recon, which is the elite group for Marines. First day and they were in the pool, learning to stay afloat for hours while passing around some weights. Then they had one where they had to swim to one end of the pool(to the bottom) and back without going up. I think they had to flutter kick it the whole way too. Some of the recruits nearly drowned doing that and quite a few dropped out on just that first day.
I can imagine. As he strained to get back to the top, then struggled at the top, he said he overheard the drill sergeant (?) saying, "let him drown. if he does, we'll revive him."

jaw dropped. and yet I'm about 100% sure they were serious.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
I can imagine. As he strained to get back to the top, then struggled at the top, he said he overheard the drill sergeant (?) saying, "let him drown. if he does, we'll revive him."

jaw dropped. and yet I'm about 100% sure they were serious.

All special op training is basically designed to kill you unless you're super human. And that's why they're so fucking effective.
 
AceBandage said:
All special op training is basically designed to kill you unless you're super human. And that's why they're so fucking effective.
he told these stories with a certain glee. a glow was on his face, as if here were talking about his winning the Super Bowl. lol. he was always a charismatic guy and could always tell stories with the best of them, but this was special. Every word had energy to it.

as for his background, he was actually training to compete in the Olympics in Tae Kwon Do. At one point he was #3 in the world in his weight class. And high school salutatorian. Yea, he was pretty awesome.

here he is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbLnXNY1mY0
 
Dreams-Visions said:
I can imagine. As he strained to get back to the top, then struggled at the top, he said he overheard the drill sergeant (?) saying, "let him drown. if he does, we'll revive him."

jaw dropped. and yet I'm about 100% sure they were serious.


Yeah, this is for real. From what I've heard, this is something normal for spec ops to go through. They are taught not to panic when nearly drowning. They showed some diver recruits training in a pool and they were completely blindfolded and had to fix their breathing tanks from just touch. Fucking crazy when I was watching it and some of them did actually drown. They have medical staff in the water with them though so they were quickly revived.

Oh, and I think the recruits were for air rescue. They showed them running through a gauntlet of tear gas while trying to carry a dummy wounded soldier to the lz. It was something like a mile of nothing but tear gas.
 
BLSwagger10 said:
Personally, I'm a huge fan of Shooter. But thats just me.
that's the only one I can think of. and even then, it's just about impossible to make an accurate movie about Snipers beause the movie would go something like this:

00:00-1:54:00 - breathing

1:54:01 - 1:54:15 - lining up and confirming permission for shot

1:54:16 - shot

1:54:20 - Credits roll.

sniping is a slow and patient experience, from my understanding.

Masta_Killah said:
Yeah, this is for real. From what I've heard, this is something normal for spec ops to go through. They are taught not to panic when nearly drowning. They showed some diver recruits training in a pool and they were completely blindfolded and had to fix their breathing tanks from just touch. Fucking crazy when I was watching it and some of them did actually drown. They have medical staff in the water with them though so they were quickly revived.

Oh, and I think the recruits were for air rescue. They showed them running through a gauntlet of tear gas while trying to carry a dummy wounded soldier to the lz. It was something like a mile of nothing but tear gas.
my jaw is slack. much respect.
 
Masta_Killah said:
Yeah, this is for real. From what I've heard, this is something normal for spec ops to go through. They are taught not to panic when nearly drowning. They showed some diver recruits training in a pool and they were completely blindfolded and had to fix their breathing tanks from just touch. Fucking crazy when I was watching it and some of them did actually drown. They have medical staff in the water with them though so they were quickly revived.

Oh, and I think the recruits were for air rescue. They showed them running through a gauntlet of tear gas while trying to carry a dummy wounded soldier to the lz. It was something like a mile of nothing but tear gas.
What I had always heard from two different people was that they would tie your hands and throw you in the pool. You would flutter with your feet to stay up until you got too tired and then you'd figure out that you'd just sink until you'd hit the bottom and push yourself off the bottom then. After you got too tired of that then you'd start to drown. When that happened they'd pull you out and revive you and they would ask if you wanted to do it again. You had 30 seconds to answer and if you said no you were out of the entire program. When you said yes they literally just picked you up and threw you back in the pool to repeat. Intense shit.

Another story about the SEAL medics (or maybe just navy medics that are on some other special forces I don't remember) is that they would just take the medics and a bunch of pigs out to a field, shoot the pigs with a shotgun with buck shot at close range, point to the pigs and say "fix". The medics then just tried to patch the completely destroyed pig together.
 
SteveWinwood said:
What I had always heard from two different people was that they would tie your hands and throw you in the pool. You would flutter with your feet to stay up until you got too tired and then you'd figure out that you'd just sink until you'd hit the bottom and push yourself off the bottom then. After you got too tired of that then you'd start to drown. When that happened they'd pull you out and revive you and they would ask if you wanted to do it again. You had 30 seconds to answer and if you said no you were out of the entire program. When you said yes they literally just picked you up and threw you back in the pool to repeat. Intense shit.

Another story about the SEAL medics (or maybe just navy medics that are on some other special forces I don't remember) is that they would just take the medics and a bunch of pigs out to a field, shoot the pigs with a shotgun with buck shot at close range, point to the pigs and say "fix". The medics then just tried to patch the completely destroyed pig together.
:-O
 
SteveWinwood said:
What I had always heard from two different people was that they would tie your hands and throw you in the pool. You would flutter with your feet to stay up until you got too tired and then you'd figure out that you'd just sink until you'd hit the bottom and push yourself off the bottom then. After you got too tired of that then you'd start to drown. When that happened they'd pull you out and revive you and they would ask if you wanted to do it again. You had 30 seconds to answer and if you said no you were out of the entire program. When you said yes they literally just picked you up and threw you back in the pool to repeat. Intense shit.

Another story about the SEAL medics (or maybe just navy medics that are on some other special forces I don't remember) is that they would just take the medics and a bunch of pigs out to a field, shoot the pigs with a shotgun with buck shot at close range, point to the pigs and say "fix". The medics then just tried to patch the completely destroyed pig together.


Yup, sounds about right.
 

alphaNoid

Banned
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
How was his lumberjack beard...or am I confusing that with a different Canadian military/spec ops group?
To my knowledge elite US special forces are allow beards, matter of fact many of them are not considered 'military' in such they dont have to follow standard regulations. They walk around on base with beards and Hawaiian shirts etc..
 
AceBandage said:
All special op training is basically designed to kill you unless you're super human. And that's why they're so fucking effective.

Eh, my brother's gone through most of those courses (18e) and he said that most of those courses weren't as bad as people make it out to be. IIRC the only thing he had a problem with in Selection was the Downed Pilot exercise because the weight was high enough to tear his pack apart. The instructors know what they are doing at that level and anything that's closely supervised isn't going to get you seriously hurt.
 
Masta_Killah said:
There was a depper last year who was accepted to the Seal program. He flunked out during Naval boot camp(spec ops go through a special boot program separate from regular recruits), which isn't even the real Seal boot camp which takes place in San Diego.

I'm pretty sure everyone still goes through regular boot camp at Great Lakes. But they had so many drop outs in BUDS, they came up with a BUDS preparatory class, it's also in Great Lakes but is solely dedicated to physical conditioning and sports nutrition stuff, to get you prepared for the real thing. So if you're not a fleet returnee, you have to get through BUDS prep before you're allowed to start actual BUDS training in San Diego. So it sounds like your acquaintance didn't even make it through BUDS prep.

I saw on that SEAL show in military channel, one of the instructors said of the people in BUDS, 10% will make it no matter what, 10% just don't have what it takes no matter what, and that the rest it is up to how mentally tough you are. You can be in the best physical shape in the world, but if you can't take a lot of pain, like being freezing cold and hungry for weeks, you'll drop out.

The crazy thing is you already have to be a SEAL to try out for DEVGRU. And I think its by invitation only. And that most of them don't pass the tests to be in DEVGRU. So DEVGRU is the cream of the crop from people that are already SEALs.
 
XiaNaphryz said:
As mentioned in the OP, keep in mind there's additional screening and training to get into DEVGRU/ST6 beyond the basic stuff to become a SEAL and the average fail rate for that is 50%.
good grief.
 
SteveWinwood said:
What I had always heard from two different people was that they would tie your hands and throw you in the pool. You would flutter with your feet to stay up until you got too tired and then you'd figure out that you'd just sink until you'd hit the bottom and push yourself off the bottom then. After you got too tired of that then you'd start to drown. When that happened they'd pull you out and revive you and they would ask if you wanted to do it again. You had 30 seconds to answer and if you said no you were out of the entire program. When you said yes they literally just picked you up and threw you back in the pool to repeat. Intense shit.

Another story about the SEAL medics (or maybe just navy medics that are on some other special forces I don't remember) is that they would just take the medics and a bunch of pigs out to a field, shoot the pigs with a shotgun with buck shot at close range, point to the pigs and say "fix". The medics then just tried to patch the completely destroyed pig together.

This is a great documentary on this. There's also 14 days in hell for selection. I've heard that it's really easy to get into the dive school because nobody wants to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9UfHUxIw-4
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Death Dealer said:
The crazy thing is you already have to be a SEAL to try out for DEVGRU. And that most of them don't pass the tests to be in DEVGRU. So DEVGRU is the cream of the crop from people that are already SEALs.
And then you hear things about how certain CIA groups only recruit from places like DEVGRU or Delta, and I wonder what their pass/fail rate is in comparison.
 

purg3

slept with Malkin
SteveWinwood said:
What I had always heard from two different people was that they would tie your hands and throw you in the pool. You would flutter with your feet to stay up until you got too tired and then you'd figure out that you'd just sink until you'd hit the bottom and push yourself off the bottom then. After you got too tired of that then you'd start to drown. When that happened they'd pull you out and revive you and they would ask if you wanted to do it again. You had 30 seconds to answer and if you said no you were out of the entire program. When you said yes they literally just picked you up and threw you back in the pool to repeat. Intense shit.

pretty close, my brother passed dive school and this was similar to one of the tests he had to pass. so much respect for what he does, it's not even funny.
 
giga said:
What are some of the best special forces and sniper movies?

Sniper movies are usually pretty silly, Shooter was so so and very pop corn.

One of the better special forces films would be Black Hawk Down. While it largely focuses on Rangers, we do see lot of Delta Force in the film kicking ass all over the place. It was one of the few rare cases where Delta operations where pretty public and that was because of how big of a screw up the op was and so many Rangers involved working with Delta who recounted the whole thing.
 
Death Dealer said:
I'm pretty sure everyone still goes through regular boot camp at Great Lakes. But they had so many drop outs in BUDS, they came up with a BUDS preparatory class, it's also in Great Lakes but is solely dedicated to physical conditioning and sports nutrition stuff, to get you prepared for the real thing. So if you're not a fleet returnee, you have to get through BUDS prep before you're allowed to start actual BUDS training in San Diego. So it sounds like your acquaintance didn't even make it through BUDS prep.

I saw on that SEAL show in military channel, one of the instructors said of the people in BUDS, 10% will make it no matter what, 10% just don't have what it takes no matter what, and that the rest it is up to how mentally tough you are. You can be in the best physical shape in the world, but if you can't take a lot of pain, like being freezing cold and hungry for weeks, you'll drop out.

The crazy thing is you already have to be a SEAL to try out for DEVGRU. And I think its by invitation only. And that most of them don't pass the tests to be in DEVGRU. So DEVGRU is the cream of the crop from people that are already SEALs.


Dont forget that recruits have to meet the minimum physical requirements for spec ops during deps, as well as go through pre boot training with former SEAL members just so that they can meet the riggers of spec ops boot camp at Great Lakes.

And you're correct that everyone goes through Great Lakes. Flunkies get a new rate when they drop out of spec ops and have to go through regular boot camp.
 
All special op training is basically designed to kill you unless you're super human. And that's why they're so fucking effective.

A guy I know from class around the same age as me was special forces. He's not really big, either. I mean, he's tall, lean, and just cut, and he said he went through two weeks of hell before they pussified it.

Also, I hear there's a like over 90% failure rate for air force PJs fitness entrance or whatever they call it.

Dont forget that recruits have to meet the minimum physical requirements for spec ops during deps

What are the minimum requirements?
 
Jason's Ultimatum said:
A guy I know from class around the same age as me was special forces. He's not really big, either. I mean, he's tall, lean, and just cut, and he said he went through two weeks of hell before they pussified it.

Also, I hear there's a like over 90% failure rate for air force PJs fitness entrance or whatever they call it.



What are the minimum requirements?

Something like a mile and a half in 8:00 and 80 push-ups/120 sit-ups in 2 minutes, as well as laps around the pool under a certain time. Once they can do that, they get their spec ops rate, which isn't even a guarantee since you still have to pass your spec ops boot camp before you are even trained under your rate. And you still have to pass your training before you are actually spec ops.
 

riceckr

Neo Member
alphaNoid said:
To my knowledge elite US special forces are allow beards, matter of fact many of them are not considered 'military' in such they dont have to follow standard regulations. They walk around on base with beards and Hawaiian shirts etc..

This is correct, my brother and law was special forces. They have to assimilate and not stand out. My sister ended up divorcing him because he would go to afghanistan over 10 times per year. I remember him talking about how much combat pay he would get, it was just a job to them.

He lived in a house with other SF guys, nice big house, wild ass parties, pretty humble guys all pretty nice.
 
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