Inside SEAL Team Six(96)

As Al did this, he gave me a little smirk. It was the same little smirk he’d given me years earlier when the two of us were testing an ■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​■​

Al and I were going to jump out on an experimental tandem rig. It was actually two jumps combined into one, because soon after Al deployed his main chute, I had to release four points of contact with him before I could free-fall away from Al and pull my chute. Before I jumped, I said, “Al, I want to be released at eight thousand feet so I have plenty of time to do a cutaway.” And knowing Al the way I did, I added, “I’m serious, don’t mess around up there.”

Al had a reputation of being one of those sky gods at ST-6, a man who would jump on the back of a new jumper as he was falling at 120 miles an hour to scare him shitless. Or he’d grab the jumper’s feet and spin him in circles.

Al and I exited the bird at twelve thousand, five hundred feet, the two of us secured, my back to his front.

When we got to eight thousand feet, I yelled, “Okay, Al, I’m going to cut away now.”

He said, “Wait, let’s go over there.”

He steered in an easterly direction for about a thousand meters as we fell to seven thousand feet.

I shouted, “Okay, Al, now!”

He said, “No, you were right. Let’s go back over to where we were before.”

Now we were less than six thousand feet and I was getting worried because I still had four release points to pull—two at my chest, two at my hips—before I could free-fall away from him and pull my chute.

“Al, now!”

We were down to five thousand feet and falling. Had it not been an experimental chute, I wouldn’t have been so anxious.

“Al! Damn it!”

He smirked, then gave me the signal to release. I cut away from Al and had a good opening and a safe landing.

As I continue to work the dirt circuit—which is what we former operators call the Middle East—I keep running into retired SEALs like Al. Guys I’ve known for thirty years now. It’s always great to see them. We’ve all turned gray and look a little weary but are still riding the operational train.





Chapter Seventeen





ST-6 Today


Although I sacrificed personal freedom and many other things, I got just as much as I gave.…For all the times I was wet, cold, tired, sore, scared, hungry, and angry, I had a blast.

—ST-6 Petty Officer First Class Neil Roberts in his “open in the event of my death” letter to his wife



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