Posted on 05/08/2011 5:20:44 AM PDT by stevie_d_64
As soon as Jack Walston heard that bin Laden had been killed, he guessed a Navy SEAL pulled the trigger.
Walston, 45, of Shore Acres, retired from the Navy SEALs in 1996. He now runs a fitness company, Original Navy SEAL P.T. Course Inc., which offers military-style workouts to civilians in Houston and New York City.
"These guys are mentally and physically tough men," he said of SEALs. "These aren't guys that come handing out flowers and bandages and candy. When they show up they mean business, and they're not there to console you. They're there to take you out. And I'm glad that we have tough men who are willing to do that job."
Two dozen commandos from the secretive, "all-star" SEAL Team 6 raided bin Laden's compound on May 1 and left with the terrorist mastermind's body, along with documents, computers and other evidence. Interest in Navy SEALs has spiked ever since, driving a 1,000 percent increase in traffic to Walston's website.
'Tougher, meaner' The acronym SEAL stands for Sea, Air & Land. President John F. Kennedy founded the elite force in 1962. Prominent former SEALs who live in the Houston area include Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Marcus Luttrell, co-author of Lone Survivor, and Vietnam veteran Michael Thornton, who earned the Medal of Honor for saving the life of another SEAL in 1972.
Walston spent three and half years serving as a Navy corpsman assigned to the Marine Corps before he decided he wanted to become a SEAL.
"I really liked the nature of the work and I heard the grass was greener, and there was a group of guys who were supposedly a lot tougher, meaner and stronger," Walston said. "I wanted to find out if I'd be able to make it through their training."
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Neat story “ping”...
Let me caption your picture....
“Navy SEALS?! I need them like a hole in the head!”
...check...
Next??? ;-)
BUMP
Nice!
I will wait for Mark Bowden’s book on it before I say anymore.
Paging Mark Bowden - work for you.
I just started reading Eric Greiten’s”The Heart and the Fist.” He’s a remarkable individual.
Not so. The SEALs began in WW 2, IIRC.
That’s a keeper! THanks!
(I was in Beirut with the last-ever deploying platoon from UDT-21, when it became ST-4. IOW, I was in Beirut with the first-ever deploying platoon from ST-4. The training, gear, platoon structure etc had been merged a few years before the shift.)
Me, then:
The UDT Teams began in WWII.
Thanks for the ping. It’s been a great week to be a former frog.
I had a friend over two decades who was a UDT warrior in WW 2. He claimed a bond with todays SEALs as a “plank owner”. A multi-talented individual who loved to fish, drink and relax. He also claimed offers to fly mysterious cargoes from Central America to the states. He was twin engine rated and passed on the “big bucks for no questions”.
Thank you for your service to Our Country. I love the picture!
AWESOME PIC. Thank you for your service to this nation.
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