I’ve done four or five books on Naval Special Warfare (NSW), depending on how you count, and none of them were my idea. I’m an Army guy and the Army and Navy are really different communities, with different language, missions, tactics, and techniques. My real loyalty is to Army Special Forces (“Green Berets”) that goes back to my time in Viet Nam when my unit supported them (another story for another time). So my coverage of NSW (which includes both SEALs, and Special Boats) is that of an alien observer. I cannot avoid comparing SEAL missions and missionaries with Green Berets — and the differences are profound.

Below are photographs of members of SEAL Team 5 preparing for a deployment.

The training photographs are from BUD/S, the entry point for sailors who aspire to become SEAL qualified. Only about one in four will successfully complete BUD/S and even then they have a lot to learn before being accepted on a team.