Honor and Betrayal : The Untold Story of the Navy Seals Who Captured the "Butcher of Fallujah"-and the Shameful Ordeal They Later Endured (9780306823091) by Patrick Robinson
Authors: Patrick Robinson
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ropes, gripping with his feet, fingers, and teeth if necessary.
The instructors taught the big boys technique, especially on the cargo nets, which were the same kind they use to embark SEAL Teams onto submarines midocean.
The teachers knew how much they had to put out for these aspiring SEALs. And none of them wanted to lose the big, striving Jon, whoâd been trying to be a Navy SEAL since he was about ten years old.
2
âWEâRE NAVY SEALSâAND WE NEVER SCREW IT UP!â
For each fallen man, a new piece is added to the great mosaic of the Teamsâa place where courage and daring are always paramount, but where valor is the unending constant.
T he word SEAL is an acronym that stands for Sea, Air, and Land. It has nothing to do with sea lions, walruses, dolphins, or any other deep-diving mammalânot that youâd notice if you ever saw a BUD/S class floundering half-drowned through the Pacific surf trying to land their upturned inflatable Zodiac boat.
Navy SEALs are expected to function in all of the earthâs elements, especially fire. They train harder than any other fighting force. Their exercises and physical routines are tougher, heavier, and more demanding.
But even though they never consider themselves a purely water-bound assault force, it is their breathtaking ability to operate in ocean, lake, or river that sets them apart. From their first steps through the BUD/S course to the end of their naval careers, they are taught that, unlike any other warriors on earth, water is always their friend, their haven, and their refuge.
And because the average human being is happier on land, the man who is capable of becoming a Navy SEAL is always a man apart. He alone, among literally thousands of applicants, has made it throughâand that underwater section of the BUD/S course would frighten the living daylights out of a blue marlin.
At the start of every BUD/S course a couple of hundred students take their opening plunge into the huge swimming pool in the Coronado training facility. Almost before the ripples have died down, fifty of them will be out of there. This is the most searching test, and the instructors can detect even the slightest sign of weakness.
Kids turn up to BUD/S with no conception of the standards they will encounter. Thereâll probably be twenty of them gone in the first ten minutes. Thatâs before it gets tough.
Matt McCabe recalls standing on the edge of the pool, talking to an instructor who was watching a student splashing and twisting to get his head up. The student was a really good guy and a friend of Mattâs, so Matt turned to the instructor and asked whether he would get another chance.
âI canât do that,â he replied. âOne day your life may be in that kidâs hands. And right here Iâm seeing pure panic. We canât risk that happening in a battlefield situation. Sorry, Matt, I liked him too, but heâs finished. Guys like that can get everyone killed.â
The âpool compâ (pool competency) section of the course needs to be, especially for Navy SEALs, a ruthless examination. And the SEAL instructors ensure that it never falls short. First of all they teach everyone how to swim more like a fish than a human, a special SEAL side-stroke that permits SEALs to make maximum speed with minimum profile and output of energy. Once instructors accept that you can make it up the length of the pool and back without choking or drowning, then they begin the serious action.
Nothing serious. They only rope your hands behind your back, tie your ankles together, and push you into fifteen feet of water, ordering you to drop to the bottom and stay there. If you show the slightest sign of anxiety or distress, youâre gone.
The rest must stay calm, hold their breath for one minute, minimum, and then bounce off the bottom back up to the surface for agulp of air. Each candidate must repeat this exercise over a fifteen- or
The instructors taught the big boys technique, especially on the cargo nets, which were the same kind they use to embark SEAL Teams onto submarines midocean.
The teachers knew how much they had to put out for these aspiring SEALs. And none of them wanted to lose the big, striving Jon, whoâd been trying to be a Navy SEAL since he was about ten years old.
2
âWEâRE NAVY SEALSâAND WE NEVER SCREW IT UP!â
For each fallen man, a new piece is added to the great mosaic of the Teamsâa place where courage and daring are always paramount, but where valor is the unending constant.
T he word SEAL is an acronym that stands for Sea, Air, and Land. It has nothing to do with sea lions, walruses, dolphins, or any other deep-diving mammalânot that youâd notice if you ever saw a BUD/S class floundering half-drowned through the Pacific surf trying to land their upturned inflatable Zodiac boat.
Navy SEALs are expected to function in all of the earthâs elements, especially fire. They train harder than any other fighting force. Their exercises and physical routines are tougher, heavier, and more demanding.
But even though they never consider themselves a purely water-bound assault force, it is their breathtaking ability to operate in ocean, lake, or river that sets them apart. From their first steps through the BUD/S course to the end of their naval careers, they are taught that, unlike any other warriors on earth, water is always their friend, their haven, and their refuge.
And because the average human being is happier on land, the man who is capable of becoming a Navy SEAL is always a man apart. He alone, among literally thousands of applicants, has made it throughâand that underwater section of the BUD/S course would frighten the living daylights out of a blue marlin.
At the start of every BUD/S course a couple of hundred students take their opening plunge into the huge swimming pool in the Coronado training facility. Almost before the ripples have died down, fifty of them will be out of there. This is the most searching test, and the instructors can detect even the slightest sign of weakness.
Kids turn up to BUD/S with no conception of the standards they will encounter. Thereâll probably be twenty of them gone in the first ten minutes. Thatâs before it gets tough.
Matt McCabe recalls standing on the edge of the pool, talking to an instructor who was watching a student splashing and twisting to get his head up. The student was a really good guy and a friend of Mattâs, so Matt turned to the instructor and asked whether he would get another chance.
âI canât do that,â he replied. âOne day your life may be in that kidâs hands. And right here Iâm seeing pure panic. We canât risk that happening in a battlefield situation. Sorry, Matt, I liked him too, but heâs finished. Guys like that can get everyone killed.â
The âpool compâ (pool competency) section of the course needs to be, especially for Navy SEALs, a ruthless examination. And the SEAL instructors ensure that it never falls short. First of all they teach everyone how to swim more like a fish than a human, a special SEAL side-stroke that permits SEALs to make maximum speed with minimum profile and output of energy. Once instructors accept that you can make it up the length of the pool and back without choking or drowning, then they begin the serious action.
Nothing serious. They only rope your hands behind your back, tie your ankles together, and push you into fifteen feet of water, ordering you to drop to the bottom and stay there. If you show the slightest sign of anxiety or distress, youâre gone.
The rest must stay calm, hold their breath for one minute, minimum, and then bounce off the bottom back up to the surface for agulp of air. Each candidate must repeat this exercise over a fifteen- or
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