Inside SEAL Team Six(35)

That didn’t mean that we sat around doing nothing. Quite the opposite. When we weren’t doing ops, we trained nonstop.

At the time, SEAL Team One consisted of six fourteen-man platoons and a headquarters element commanded by a Navy commander. Sometimes platoons were divided into two seven-man squads or three- and four-man elements. All platoon personnel were dive, parachute, and demolitions qualified.

A typical SEAL platoon is made up of two officers, a chief, and eleven enlisted men. Responsibilities are divided into positions on patrol (point man, patrol leader, commo man, M60 gunner, corpsman, and rear security), department leadership (diving department head, air department head, ordnance/demo department head), and by rank.

The officer of each platoon is called the platoon commander. Under him is a junior officer, the senior enlisted man known as the platoon chief, and the next senior enlisted, the leading petty officer, who is in charge of the day-to-day management of the enlisted platoon members.

In addition to ST-1, UDT-11 and UDT-12 were stationed at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, and in 1983, soon after I arrived at ST-1, those UDTs were converted into SEAL Teams Three and Five; they continued to be based in Coronado. In 2002 a fourth West Coast SEAL Team was commissioned, ST-7.

SEAL Teams One, Three, Five, and Seven are organized under Navy Special Warfare Group One (NSWG1), which is commanded by a Navy captain. Its geographical responsibilities include the Pacific and Central commands.

On the East Coast, UDT-21 was converted into SEAL Team Four in 1983, and SEAL Teams Eight and Ten were added in 2002. SEAL Teams Two, Four, Eight, and Ten fall under Navy Special Warfare Group Two (NSWG2), based in Little Creek, Virginia.

The team that no one talked about was SEAL Team Six. All you heard was that SEALs in ST-6 were the cream of the crop. They had the best equipment, got the most important ops, and received the most money. You couldn’t request orders to go to Six; you had to be selected.

ST-6’s very existence was classified. Even though in 1980 it was still very new, it already had a special aura around it.

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Flying under the radar, supply planes and supply helicopters landed at the staging area (Desert One) on the night of April 24, 1980. But one of the eight RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters that were going to be used to insert the Delta Force rescue team experienced mechanical difficulties and had to be abandoned. The other seven ran into a sandstorm, known as a haboob, that caused severe navigation problems and forced one to turn around and go back to the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.

The six remaining RH-53Ds arrived at Desert One an hour late. And one of them was badly damaged.

With only five functioning RH-53D helicopters left, the commanders on the scene requested permission to abort the mission. President Jimmy Carter gave his approval.