Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Who is "Seal Team 6"?

- WWW.THEDAILY.COM

I don't know, you don't know, and I'm not completely convinced that the folks who produced this article / "app" really know who or what Seal Team 6 is, either.

But I HAVE read one of Richard Marcinko's books. (He has published over a dozen books, most of them in the "Rogue Warrior" series. Most, if not all of them, are available at Amazon.com.)

And I have at my desk my dog-eared copy of "Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and The Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10", by Marcus Luttrell (with Patrick Robinson).

About half of that book addresses the selection and training for SEAL team acceptance. The training and winnowing-out process described there provides some small amount of understanding about what sort of man can call himself a Navy Seal.

And I am very impressed all over again, every time I reread Luttrell's fascinating, dramatic ... saddening account of the extended firefight which lead to the virtual elimination of that select group of warriors.

Getting back to "SEAL TEAM 6"; The Daily has also published an article which it says describes "The Raid". Among other information, the article refutes earlier reports to the effect that "... one of bin Laden's wives was killed ..." during the firefight.

(For further information about the background of involved agencies, read "The Secret Team that Killed bin Laden", from National Journal. H/T Michael Bane; "Who Says Double Taps are Old School?" May 02 2011)

Providing further background information, USA TODAY reported that "Obama laughed at a bin Laden joke" the night before the raid, at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. It's an interesting footnote, demonstrating that this raid ... the planning for which began last February ... had actually been delayed for one day. We can only imaging that this was an odd moment in the President's career, when he was forced by circumstances (and the need to maintain operational security) to publically dissemble in reaction to the joke about bin Laden hosting "... a daily program on CSPAN between Four and Five (pm) ..."

We must remember to give President Osama Obama credit for his great leadership: he has proven once again that he can dissemble with the best of them.

And finally ....

FROM ONE DEAD MAN TO ANOTHER:



Lyrics:
Steve walks warily down the street
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet
Machine guns ready to go

Are you ready, hey, are you ready for this
Are you hangin' on the edge of your seat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat - yeah

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, eh
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust


Dick ... couldn't have said it better.

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