The SEALs of today owe a debt of gratitude to the Frogmen of the past. These Frogmen of World War II, Korea and Vietnam were the purest of amphibian soldiers. They were dubbed the Naked Warriors based on the simple fact they went into combat situations with nearly nothing. A knife, a side arm and some explosives, swim fins and mask and little else. Yet they were able to accomplish so much with so little. They went onto the beaches of France the night before D-Day to clear obstacles for the landing crafts. They set diversions that resembled massive landing parties in Korea and much more.
It was these stories that encouraged me to choose the Frogman route when I joined the Navy. In the early eighties the Frogman heritage was strong in the Teams. However, few choose to head off to one of the Frogman Teams (SDV Team – 1 or 2). It was much sexier to be a SEAL!
The Frogmen of the 80’s (and beyond) were not quite so naked any longer. When I checked into SDV-2 in Little Creek, Virginia I’d already gone through a course on piloting mini-submarines. The mini-subs made attacking a harbor and its enemy ships infinitely easier than the what the Frogmen of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s had gone through. The mini subs also afforded the modern-day Frogmen to take on more complicated and sophisticated tasks.
The 80’s and early 90’s was a great time to be a Frogman. The SALT talks and subsequent disarmament agreements meant the US Navy Submarine community was looking for ways to keep some of their ballistic subs employed. We soon found ourselves deploying overseas on several of the gigantic subs now almost entirely dedicated to the Frogman mission.
Okay so being locked up in a sub for fifty-two days straight wasn’t exactly the best of times but the food was good!
This is not a history lesson but more of a personal account. I had no real idea until much later the major step the Frogman community had taken by working more closely with the submarine fleet. All I knew for sure was my first deployment was off an amphibious ship. Launching an SDV over the side, watching its plastic haul bang down the skin of the steel ship made launching off a ballistic submarine a dream! During one of the ill-fated launches off an amphib ship the whole nose cone of the SDV fell off into the ocean, never to be seen again. If you are at all familiar with aircraft, you know how important the nose is.
Weather had little or no effect on submarine operations and subsequently on launching our mini-subs. We could launch under calm conditions only to find out there were three-foot swells at the surface (okay that’s a little over dramatic – but you get the point).
The weather did have an effect on operations when we were launching our zodiacs (inflatable boats). Once a set of four rubber boats were tide off to the submarine – bouncing around on the surface for what seemed like forever. The launch of the boats had been a little premature and the Army divers we’d agreed to run into shore took a long time to get to the surface. As we bobbed on the surface being jerked back and forth and sideways for an extra two hours – there wasn’t much left of anyone’s dinner by the time we got underway.
I have spent most of my life calling myself a Frogman. This may be in part because of my complete love of the ocean or because that is where I started my Navy career. Either way Frogmen have a long and illustrious history. I believe it is this heritage and tradition of the Frogman that provides every SEAL Team member the goods to set him apart from his peers.
FROG-ON!
Picture Credit: Aviationist.com