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 Page B
Authors: Patrick Robinson
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the parachute to a specific location and then concealing it so as to avoid enemy detection.
Thereâs a whole section of the training devoted to Military Freefall Parachuting (MFF), especially HALO (high altitude, low opening). Flying well above the range of anti-aircraft fire or surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), SEALs deploy at enormous heights and wait many, many seconds to open the parachute so as to avoid ground radar.
The major Jump School component is HAHO (high altitude, high opening), when the SEAL cracks open the parachute thousands of feet above the ground, intending to prevent anyone from hearing the snap of the opening. This is a specialist method of covert entry into quiet, guarded terrain. It also enables the parachutist to glide for many miles and then put down in a precise spot.
At the conclusion of Jump School successful students move into another intensive course called SEAL Qualifying, six months of much more advanced training. In addition to his new stratospheric skills, Matt now had the rudiments of land navigation, accurate shooting, mountaineering, stealth, camouflage and patrolling, and weapons proficiency. They also increased everyoneâs skills in tactical combat diving and underwater ship, pier, and beach attacks.
He could run a fourteen-mile race on the beach, over which he could also attack if necessary, from the surf, burrowing into âhidesâ(locations, usually concealed or camouflage, that provide concealment and protection from enemy fire as well as maximum fields of observation and fire), above the high-water mark, the dreaded spot where SEAL assault Teams are most vulnerable.
For days on end, in the final phase of BUD/S, they practiced fighting their way out of the water under full combat gear and weapons. And most of the instructorsâ early impressions proved correct. Every man who had reached the final stage, just twenty of them, passed the BUD/S challenge.
But it was not over. Ahead of them was the long six-month journey around the SEAL schools all over the country, from Florida to Alaska, in heat and snow, learning not just how to be a combat warrior but to become a Team leader, burnishing the skills as a marksman and a sniper, perfecting their abilities in advanced shooting as well as explosives and detonation.
The training and the learning never stopped. For SEALs it never does. And for a determined character like Matt, it all represented some kind of an earthly paradiseâthe heavy-duty program, which would turn him into the SEAL he had always dreamed of becoming.
He was a good shot, but he needed to demonstrate expertise with not only the M-4 rifle but also the SR-25 semiautomatic sniper rifle and the bolt-action .308-caliber rifleâin fact every possible kind of weapon, including the stuff US enemies use.
As his instructor reminded them all: âOne day you may have to grab some foreign bastardâs weapon and fight for your life and the lives of your teammates. You must understand thoroughly how someone elseâs tenth-rate rifle works, because those precious seconds you have may mean the difference between death and survival.
âRemember, weâre SEALs. And we donât fuck it up. EVER!â
On the day the training ended, fourteen months after Matt had arrived at Coronado, he stepped up to receive his Tridentâthe proudest day of his life. He shook hands with his commanding officer (CO) and promised faithfully that he would endeavor to earn it every day of his life.
And yet another section of the SEAL creed he knew so well stood starkly before him:
My loyalty to Country and Team is beyond reproach. I humbly serve as a guardian to my fellow Americans always ready to defend those who are unable to defend themselves. I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions. I voluntarily accept the inherent hazards of my profession, placing the welfare and security of others before my own.
I serve with honor
Thereâs a whole section of the training devoted to Military Freefall Parachuting (MFF), especially HALO (high altitude, low opening). Flying well above the range of anti-aircraft fire or surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), SEALs deploy at enormous heights and wait many, many seconds to open the parachute so as to avoid ground radar.
The major Jump School component is HAHO (high altitude, high opening), when the SEAL cracks open the parachute thousands of feet above the ground, intending to prevent anyone from hearing the snap of the opening. This is a specialist method of covert entry into quiet, guarded terrain. It also enables the parachutist to glide for many miles and then put down in a precise spot.
At the conclusion of Jump School successful students move into another intensive course called SEAL Qualifying, six months of much more advanced training. In addition to his new stratospheric skills, Matt now had the rudiments of land navigation, accurate shooting, mountaineering, stealth, camouflage and patrolling, and weapons proficiency. They also increased everyoneâs skills in tactical combat diving and underwater ship, pier, and beach attacks.
He could run a fourteen-mile race on the beach, over which he could also attack if necessary, from the surf, burrowing into âhidesâ(locations, usually concealed or camouflage, that provide concealment and protection from enemy fire as well as maximum fields of observation and fire), above the high-water mark, the dreaded spot where SEAL assault Teams are most vulnerable.
For days on end, in the final phase of BUD/S, they practiced fighting their way out of the water under full combat gear and weapons. And most of the instructorsâ early impressions proved correct. Every man who had reached the final stage, just twenty of them, passed the BUD/S challenge.
But it was not over. Ahead of them was the long six-month journey around the SEAL schools all over the country, from Florida to Alaska, in heat and snow, learning not just how to be a combat warrior but to become a Team leader, burnishing the skills as a marksman and a sniper, perfecting their abilities in advanced shooting as well as explosives and detonation.
The training and the learning never stopped. For SEALs it never does. And for a determined character like Matt, it all represented some kind of an earthly paradiseâthe heavy-duty program, which would turn him into the SEAL he had always dreamed of becoming.
He was a good shot, but he needed to demonstrate expertise with not only the M-4 rifle but also the SR-25 semiautomatic sniper rifle and the bolt-action .308-caliber rifleâin fact every possible kind of weapon, including the stuff US enemies use.
As his instructor reminded them all: âOne day you may have to grab some foreign bastardâs weapon and fight for your life and the lives of your teammates. You must understand thoroughly how someone elseâs tenth-rate rifle works, because those precious seconds you have may mean the difference between death and survival.
âRemember, weâre SEALs. And we donât fuck it up. EVER!â
On the day the training ended, fourteen months after Matt had arrived at Coronado, he stepped up to receive his Tridentâthe proudest day of his life. He shook hands with his commanding officer (CO) and promised faithfully that he would endeavor to earn it every day of his life.
And yet another section of the SEAL creed he knew so well stood starkly before him:
My loyalty to Country and Team is beyond reproach. I humbly serve as a guardian to my fellow Americans always ready to defend those who are unable to defend themselves. I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions. I voluntarily accept the inherent hazards of my profession, placing the welfare and security of others before my own.
I serve with honor
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