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[XiaNaphryz]

Growing up in a Navy family, the SEALs have always been my favorite spec op group, and SEAL Team 6 (their top counter-terrorist unit) would eventually be broken off and elevated to Tier One Special Forces status as the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU). There are three other Tier One groups (Delta Force, ISA, and the 24th STS), all are under JSOC control, and specialize in "non-conventional military operations," meaning counter-terrorist activities and black operations.

After recent events (the Osama mission as well as the Somalia pirate rescue 2 years ago), I figure they should get an appreciation thread.

For those familiar with the arduous testing and screening needed to join the SEALs, it's even harder to get into ST6. Consider that pretty much all applicants already had passed SEAL training - those who pass the selection process attend a 7 month training course where at least on average half the class will fail. Serious injury and death are not uncommon during training operations as they try to make the exercises as realistic as possible. Many of those in ST6 would move on to the CIA's Special Operations Group.

ST6's official mission is classified, but is thought to include preemptive, pro-active counterterrorist operations, counter-proliferation, and assassination or recovery of high-value targets from unfriendly nations. They are one of only a handful of US units authorized to use preemptive actions against terrorists.

So hats off to the boys of ST6, you'll never have to buy a drink at a military base again. And keep in mind, this sort of mission is what they do on a regular basis - it just so happens that there was a high-profile target on this one.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

HOOAH!*

*

Spoiler

or whatever the SEAL version is

 

[RustyNails]

Also known as BAD DUDES

 

[MechDX]

Fuck Yeah!

 

[Mr.Squirrel]

 

[Kaako]

Motherfucking beasts son. *salutes*

 

[BattleMonkey]

Bet Delta is pissed they didn't get the job

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

It's already hard trying to pass the fitness entrance program for SEALs, I couldn't even imagine what it would be like for SEAL Team 6.

 

[RoboPlato]

http://sites.google.com/site/socal652/navy-seal-ad-swamp.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]
I've seen this picture before and I've always wanted to know if it was just a joke or if those soldiers are actually there.

 

[Clydefrog]

Chuck Norris doesn't even compare to these guys.

*salutes*

 

[RustyNails]

On April 29, Obama approved an operation to kill bin Laden. It was a mission that required surgical accuracy, even more precision than could be delivered by the government's sophisticated Predator drones. To execute it, Obama tapped a small contingent of the Navy's elite SEAL Team Six and put them under the command of CIA Director Leon Panetta, whose analysts monitored the compound from afar.
Story continues below

Panetta was directly in charge of the team, a U.S. official said, and his conference room was transformed into a command center.

Details of exactly how the raid unfolded remain murky. But the al-Qaida courier, his brother and one of bin Laden's sons were killed. No Americans were injured. Senior administration officials will only say that bin Laden "resisted." And then the man behind the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil died from an American bullet to his head.

Source

 

[Kaako]

I've seen this picture before and I've always wanted to know if it was just a joke or if those soldiers are actually there.

Can't spot them. If they're really there, then my most reasonable explanation is that they're under water.

 

[bggrthnjsus]

I've seen this picture before and I've always wanted to know if it was just a joke or if those soldiers are actually there.

i think it's a predator screenshot

 

[RoboPlato]

Can't spot them. IF they're really there, then my most reasonable explanation is that they're under water.

That's what I've always thought. I was really hoping that they were in ghillie suits or something and that someone could point them out to me.

 

[donkey show]

Mad respect for these guys. I remember meeting a couple SEALS at Airborne school and they were beasts. I can only imagine what other level SEAL Team 6 has to be at.

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

I've seen this picture before and I've always wanted to know if it was just a joke or if those soldiers are actually there.

They are there. Someone posted (though I guess it could be a gag) where they all are with the faintest hints of faces shown.

 

[Hootie]

They really are almost mythological guys at this point. They literally devote their lives to fucking shit up in the most efficient and badass ways possible. So awesome

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

I've seen this picture before and I've always wanted to know if it was just a joke or if those soldiers are actually there.

Someone posted the same picture with red circles over the seals last night in the Obama thread. Unfortunately, the picture is to low res so his zooms on the circles looks like random white pixels amid black and green.

 

[RoboPlato]

They are there. Someone posted (though I guess it could be a gag) where they all are with the faintest hints of faces shown.

I think I might see one of them. I may just be going crazy though. I've been staring at this picture for a while. Haha.

 

[donkey show]

They are there. Someone posted (though I guess it could be a gag) where they all are with the faintest hints of faces shown.

Here it is!

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Source

More specifics:

The Navy SEALs team that conducted this operation was the legendary Team Six, aka DevGru, or the “Naval Special Warfare Development Group,” flown into Pakistan by helicopter teams from the 160th Special Operations Air Regiment, part of the Joint Special Operations Command.

The original plan was for the Navy SEALs to rappel down into the compound, and that’s how they practiced it in April on a replica of the compound the military constructed in the U.S. on which SEALs Team Six conducted two practice runs.

But Sunday, one of the helicopters had an issue – they’re not sure what as of now – and conducted a soft crash landing. The chopper hit the deck – “it was a real white-knuckle moment,” a US official tells ABC News.

Another white-knuckle moment – at the end of the operation, Pakistan’s military scrambled fighter jets looking for the US helicopters. Who knows what could have happened if the Pakistani planes had reached the US helicopters -- but they didn’t.

The US team got back to Afghanistan by around 5:45 pm ET.

This operation happened, an official said, because of dogged, relentless intelligence work. For years, from detainees at Gitmo, the CIA had the nom de guerre of the courier, but they didn’t have his true name until 2007.

Intel spotted him in early 2009 – it took a while to follow him . Last August when intel found the compound the reaction was along the lines of “Oh my God who are they hiding here?” a official said, recalling definite recognition this was a significant find. Congressional leaders were briefed about the compound in December.

One possible complication: While CIA contractor Ray Davis was in the Pakistani prison there were concerns about his safety were this mission to be conducted.

Davis’s March 16 release cleared that possible obstacle to the operation -- a kill mission, with the clear objective to kill bin Laden.

Another story:

From Ghazi Air Base in Pakistan, the modified MH-60 helicopters made their way to the garrison suburb of Abbottabad, about 30 miles from the center of Islamabad. Aboard were Navy SEALs, flown across the border from Afghanistan, along with tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imagers.

After bursts of fire over 40 minutes, 22 people were killed or captured. One of the dead was Osama bin Laden, done in by a double tap -- boom, boom -- to the left side of his face. His body was aboard the choppers that made the trip back. One had experienced mechanical failure and was destroyed by U.S. forces, military and White House officials tell National Journal.

Were it not for this high-value target, it might have been a routine mission for the specially trained and highly mythologized SEAL Team Six, officially called the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, but known even to the locals at their home base Dam Neck in Virginia as just DevGru.

This HVT was special, and the raids required practice, so they replicated the one-acre compound at Camp Alpha, a segregated section of Bagram Air Base. Trial runs were held in early April.

 

[TylerD]

Silly GAF. You can't see the SEALs because they are in camouflage.

USA USA USA!

 

[leroidys]

My friends brother was a seal. Couldn't take the mental strain unfortunately.

 

[kitch9]

Polite nod to the SAS and SBS for the UK gaffers.

 

[Vicetrailia]

And here is where the rumors start.

Suddenly they were selectively bred from super elite soldiers to become godlike soldiers through genetic enhancement.

One guy has anger issues and gets stronger and stronger the more angry he gets. Once he picked a tank up and tossed it ten feet...yup.

Oh and another has spider senses and godlike agility btw. Yup, here we go.

 

[Weenerz]

These guys are based in my hometown. I guess that makes me a boss by proximity.

 

[TheRagnCajun]

Here it is!

LOL

I don't think so. I'm sorry but camo doesn't allow blend into water reflections, foilage, trees seemlessly like that. It also doesn't shrink your face to the size of a quarter and render the rest of your body invisible.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Polite nod to the SAS and SBS for the UK gaffers.

There are plenty of awesome SpecOp groups that I haven't mentioned, but other than the Spetsnaz there really hasn't been any other groups that have reached the same level mythology/notoriety of DEVGRU/ST6 as of late.

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Out of morbid interest, why use Seal Team 6 as opposed to Delta Force, Force Recon, etc? I'm happy there wasn't a inter service pissing match, but I just wonder why Seal Team 6 got the nod, operationally speaking.

FAKE EDIT: Bin Laden used a female human shield. I think that if true (and it wasn't someone else) needs to be broadcast till the mountains and the moon, so that OBL's last moments are encapsulated as a coward.

 

[Skilotonn]

Must be like living a movie everyday without somebody saying "cut".

Out of morbid interest, why use Seal Team 6 as opposed to Delta Force, Force Recon, etc? I'm happy there wasn't a inter service pissing match, but I just wonder why Seal Team 6 got the nod, operationally speaking.

FAKE EDIT: Bin Laden used a female human shield. I think that if true (and it wasn't someone else) needs to be broadcast till the mountains and the moon, so that OBL's last moments are encapsulated as a coward.

This morning I read it was someone else, and not him that used the woman as a shield.

 

[Chiggs]

LOL

I don't think so. I'm sorry but camo doesn't allow blend into water reflections, foilage, trees seemlessly like that. It also doesn't shrink your face to the size of a quarter and render the rest of your body invisible.

Yeah, that's pretty suspect.

 

[TrAcEr_x90]

One of my best friends is a Navy Seal. He literally trained for years before going on this first missions. He went through alot of injuries just doing the training.

 

[donkey show]

LOL

I don't think so. I'm sorry but camo doesn't allow blend into water reflections, foilage, trees seemlessly like that. It also doesn't shrink your face to the size of a quarter and render the rest of your body invisible.

They're watching you right now. :O

 

[MechDX]

LOL

I don't think so. I'm sorry but camo doesn't allow blend into water reflections, foilage, trees seemlessly like that. It also doesn't shrink your face to the size of a quarter and render the rest of your body invisible.

They are SEALS. They can do whatever the fuck they want. Im sure Osama said "They cant fucking get me here in Pakistan!"

 

[bbagwell]

Would they post the names of active officers on an advertisement?

 

[NullPointer]

BALLS OF FUCKING STEEL

 

[TheKaeptain]

Out of morbid interest, why use Seal Team 6 as opposed to Delta Force, Force Recon, etc? I'm happy there wasn't a inter service pissing match, but I just wonder why Seal Team 6 got the nod, operationally speaking.

FAKE EDIT: Bin Laden used a female human shield. I think that if true (and it wasn't someone else) needs to be broadcast till the mountains and the moon, so that OBL's last moments are encapsulated as a coward.

Probably on other missions. These guys don't seat around. They are always on missions like these.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Would they post the names of active officers on an advertisement?

As long as they're not assigned to any classified special ops stuff, I don't think it's an issue. Not all SEALs do classified work.

 

[Slappers Only]

Fuck Yeah!

.

 

[TheKaeptain]

As long as they're not assigned to any classified special ops stuff, I don't think it's an issue. Not all SEALs do classified work.

Yep. More than likely they are instructors.

 

[Revolutionary]

Fuck Yeah!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnUgAaea4M

 

[MrPliskin]

I have a better proposition: Thank you to everyone who's ever served, and who ever will serve, in any of the Armed Forces. Just saying

 

[Futureman]

Is there an article on the Somalia pirate rescue? I think I remember reading something about how they sniped all the pirates within a few seconds and saved everyone... but there's nothing about that mission on the Wikipedia page for Seal Team 6. So I'm not sure if I'm confusing something here.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I have a better proposition: Thank you to everyone who's ever served, and who ever will serve, in any of the Armed Forces. Just saying

It is not my intention to skip over everyone else in uniform - they all should get kudos obviously. But that's not the intention of this thread.

Let's be honest - SpecOps folks, particularly of the classifed sort, will rarely ever get the sort of public kudos they deserve as most of the work they've done will never be let out. And having a Navy bias, I just wanted to give ST6 some major props.

 

[TheKaeptain]

Is there an article on the Somalia pirate rescue? I think I remember reading something about how they sniped all the pirates within a few seconds and saved everyone... but there's nothing about that mission on the Wikipedia page for Seal Team 6. So I'm not sure if I'm confusing something here.

I thought those were regular Seals?

 

[LakeEarth]

LOL

I don't think so. I'm sorry but camo doesn't allow blend into water reflections, foilage, trees seemlessly like that. It also doesn't shrink your face to the size of a quarter and render the rest of your body invisible.

I dunno, you can definitely see #8 in a better quality pic in the main OBL dead thread..

 

[Futureman]

I thought those were regular Seals?

OP says "After recent events (the Osama mission as well as the Somalia pirate rescue 2 years ago), I figure they should get an appreciation thread."

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I thought those were regular Seals?

It was never specifically called out in the news immediately after, but later on it got out that Obama had telephoned Vice Admiral McRaven in JSOC after the mission, which strongly implies DEVGRU/ST6.

EDIT: Here's another news source:

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official told the Daily News that the legendary Naval Special Warfare Development Group - known as DevGru, or SEAL Team Six - was involved in the rescue operation.

DevGru consists of the "best of the best" of the Navy SEALs and has been on the front lines in the hunt for terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden.

Former Navy SEAL William Brown, 31, of New Jersey, said he wasn't surprised at all by the outcome of the Somali hostage standoff.

"Historically, when there's an American in trouble, the SEALs have been the choice of liberation," he said.

 

[anonnumber6]

Polite nod to the SAS and SBS for the UK gaffers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p4DmuGyehc

Balls of steel.

 

[RoboPlato]

I have a better proposition: Thank you to everyone who's ever served, and who ever will serve, in any of the Armed Forces. Just saying

Agreed. I may be very liberal in my beliefs but I still have a ton of respect for the sacrifices and struggles of the men and women in uniform.