Navy SEALs. Navy SEALs and Russian special forces: who is better prepared? Separate regiment of the Navy Special Forces for combating terrorism at sea

Navy SEALs - United States Navy SEAL ( S.E. a, A ir and L and) (literally “Seals”) is the legendary and also the main tactical unit of the Special Operations Forces (MTR) of the Navy, which is operationally subordinate to the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
According to many military analysts, today the US Navy SEALs are the most trained and equipped unit in the world, on a par with the elite US units Delta, FORECON, MARSOC.
This is the elite of American special forces.

SEAL missions

United States Navy SEALs are designed for:
- conducting reconnaissance,
— carrying out special and sabotage activities, search and rescue operations,
- covering the main forces,
- directing artillery fire,
— demining and mining,
— ensuring communications in areas where ongoing fighting,
— combating maritime terrorism and illegal crossing of the country’s maritime state borders,
— fulfillment of other tasks facing the Special Forces.

SEAL unit structure

The main unit within the SEAL is a separate detachment (battalion) of special forces (special purpose), consisting of:
- the commander of the detachment, who, as a rule, has the rank of captain 3rd, sometimes captain 2nd rank in the US Navy,
- headquarters:
⚓ - chief of staff of a detachment with the rank of lieutenant commander (or naval lieutenant) (Operations, N3),
⚓ – operational officer (Plans and Targeting, N5),
⚓ – head of the detachment’s intelligence (Intelligence, N2),
⚓ – deputy detachment commander for combat training (Administrative support, N1),
⚓ – deputy detachment commander for logistics (Logistics, N4),
⚓ – head of the detachment’s PSS/medical service (Air/Medical, N8),
— detachment control support groups:
⚓ — two security platoons of 16-20 soldiers each with a logistics company,
— 3 separate special-purpose companies (squadron) of 40 soldiers each:
⚓ - company commander (naval officer with the rank of lieutenant commander),
⚓ - two deputies (Navy officers with the rank of Navy lieutenant).
The standard number of personnel of a separate special forces detachment of the US Navy with support units is up to 300 people.

SEAL Base Locations

Main base of deployment SEAL units The US Navy are:
— on the Atlantic coast of the USA:
⚓ — Military unit “Little Creek” of the Naval Landing Forces (as part of the main military unit of the US Navy “Norfolk”),
⚓ — Naval aviation garrison of the Oceana military unit (Dam Neck, Virginia), where a separate regiment of the Navy Special Forces for combating terrorism at sea is stationed.

— on the US Pacific Coast:
⚓ - Military unit "Coronado" of the Navy landing forces (as part of the US Navy military unit "San Diego".

The control bodies of the Naval Special Warfare Command and the Naval Special Warfare Center are located here.

SEAL History

It is generally accepted that the history of the "Navy Seals" dates back to the time Civil War(1861), when northern troops used swimmers to detect mines.
The first special units of the US Navy were created in 1943, when the Americans made an attempt to learn from the experience of the military, who were then fighting in the jungles of Burma against the Japanese, and create similar forces. It is quite justified that the first instructors of the new unit were the British military. During those years, US Navy SEALs were active participants in some of the bloodiest operations of World War II, including Iwo Jima and the Allied landings at Normandy.
The modern Marine Special Forces Corps was formed in 1962 after the US military presented then-President John F. Kennedy with an analytical note, which explained the need to create a special unit based on the US Navy capable of carrying out sabotage missions on the territory of a notional enemy - the Warsaw countries. treaty, Cuba and Vietnam.
Since 2001, the US government has allocated approximately $10.5 billion for the needs of the Special Operations Headquarters. At the same time, the number of business trips increased (approximately 4 times).
Admiral W. McRain, who commanded this special unit, asked the authorities many times to provide him with more resources and autonomy. According to some sources, the admiral wanted to expand his forces in Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as achieve the ability to personally make decisions about movements military equipment and manpower, if necessary, in order to increase flexibility and speed of operations.

US Navy SEAL Training

The physical training of US Navy SEALs is given the utmost importance.
The main SEAL training methods were borrowed from combat swimmers - the UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams) unit. Until 1983, when the UDT was disbanded, the main core of the SEAL was formed from the fighters of this detachment, and those who planned to become a Navy SEAL were trained in it. Only 10% of recruits go through all stages of the rigorous training process and receive the coveted SEAL emblem, which in slang is usually called “Budweiser” (an eagle with an anchor in its claws, a trident and a flintlock pistol).
The Navy SEALs' physical training program is divided into several multi-week cycles, which are based on the principle of increasing loads. Thus, if in the first week of a nine-week course recruits do 3 sets of 15 push-ups and run 2 miles, then in the ninth week they run 6 miles and do 6 sets of 30 push-ups.
At week 18 (the second nine-week cycle), fighters are already doing 20 sets of 20 push-ups.
The physical training program for Navy SEALs includes a large number of special trainings and forced marches in conditions close to combat.

In order to instill in SEALs the understanding that the aquatic environment is not hostile to them, special attention is paid to operations in the water. The fighters of this special unit constantly improve their swimming skills: they are taught to swim in extreme conditions, with long breath-holds, with a load, with tied hands and feet.
The psychological training of Navy SEALs is also of no small importance, during which they are taught to remain calm in the most extraordinary situations, deliberately increasing the level of stress.
Psychologists working with them identify 4 main factors that fighters must take into account in critical situations:
— clearly and correctly set goals;
— visualize the stages of achieving these goals;
- be able to save positive attitude and carry out internal dialogue;
- be able to keep stress under control.

SEAL Attributes

Information sources:

1. Wikipedia website
2. official website of the special forces

They planned their deadly missions with secret bases in the wastelands of Somalia. In Afghanistan, they got involved in such close battles that they came out of them covered in blood - someone else's. In secret raids under the cover of darkness, their weapons could range from custom-fitted carbines to ancient tomahawks.

All over the world, they set up spy stations disguised as commercial ships, pretended to be civilian employees of shell companies, and worked in embassies in pairs of men and women, keeping an eye on those whom the United States wanted to kill or capture.

These operations are part of the secret history of the US Navy's SEAL Team 6, one of the nation's most mythologized, secretive and least scrutinized military organizations. Previously, it was only a small group dedicated to performing specialized but rare tasks. But within a decade, Team 6, best known for killing Osama bin Laden, had become a global human-hunting machine.
This squad role reflects new way America's conduct of war, in which conflict is defined not by victories and defeats on the battlefield, but by the merciless killing of suspected militants.

Almost everything about SEAL Team 6, the secretive special forces unit, is shrouded in secrecy—the Pentagon doesn't even publicly recognize that name—though some of their activities last years were mentioned, for the most part, in enthusiastic reports. But examining the evolution of Squad Six through dozens of interviews with current and former members and other military personnel, as well as reviews of government documents, reveals a much more complex and provocative story.

Having fought brutal wars of attrition in Afghanistan and Iraq, Team 6 elsewhere has carried out missions that blur the traditional line between soldier and spy. The unit's sniper division was reorganized to perform covert intelligence missions, and the SEALs collaborated with CIA officials under the Omega Program initiative, which gave them greater freedom to pursue their opponents.

Team 6 has successfully carried out thousands of dangerous raids that military leaders say have weakened the militants' infrastructure, but their operations have also been plagued by repeated scandals involving excessive killings and civilian deaths.
Afghan villagers and a British commander accused SEALs of indiscriminately killing people in one of the settlements. In 2009, the unit carried out a raid in collaboration with the CIA and Afghan militias that killed several young men, leading to tensions between NATO and Afghanistan. Even a hostage freed during a tense rescue operation wondered why the SEALs killed absolutely all of his captors.

SEAL operatives prepare for a night mission to capture insurgent leaders near Fallujah, Iraq.
When suspicions of irregularities began to arise, external oversight was still limited. The Joint Special Operations Center, which oversees SEAL Team 6's missions, conducted its own investigations into more than a half-dozen cases but rarely shared the results with Navy investigators.

“Investigations in the SCSO are carried out by the SCSO, this is one aspect of the problem,” says a former senior officer with experience in special operations

"This is an area that Congress, to everyone's dismay, doesn't want to know too much about," says Harold Koch, a former State Department senior legal adviser who advised the Obama administration on covert warfare issues.

Since 2001, SEAL Team 6 was showered with money, which allowed them to significantly expand their ranks - their number reached about 300 assault fighters (operatives) and 1,500 support personnel. But some members of the unit wonder whether the large number of operations has diluted the unit's elite culture and forced them to squander it on low-value combat missions. Team 6 operatives were sent to Afghanistan to hunt al-Qaeda leaders, but instead spent years in close conflict with mid- and lower-level Taliban fighters. A former operative described the squad members' role as "armed players in the wings."

The cost of change was high: over the past 14 years, more fighters of the detachment have died than in its entire previous history. Constant assaults, parachute jumps, rock climbing and shell explosions - many were traumatized physically and mentally.

“War is not a beautiful thing, as people have come to think in the United States,” says Britt Slabinski, a retired Team 6 soldier and veteran of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. “When one person is forced to kill another over a long period of time, you cannot do without emotions. You have to show your worst and best qualities."

Team 6 and their Army counterpart, Delta Force, have fearlessly carried out numerous operations, and have been trusted with missions by the last two Presidents in increasingly numerous hotspots around the world. These include Syria and Iraq, now under threat from ISIS, as well as Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen, which are mired in protracted chaos.

Like the CIA's drone campaign, special operations offer policymakers an alternative to costly wars of occupation. But because the Sixth Squad is shrouded in secrecy, it is impossible to fully assess the progress and consequences of their operations, including civilian casualties and the deep hostility of the inhabitants of the countries where they are carried out. These operations became part of the American war effort with little public comment or debate.

Former Sen. Bob Kerry, a Nebraska Democrat and Vietnam War-era Navy SEAL, warns about overuse of Squad 6 and other special forces.

“They have become a kind of emergency service, where people turn to for any question”

But this state of affairs is inevitable, he continues, when American leaders find themselves “in situations of choice between terrible consequences and bad consequences, when there is no choice.”

SEAL Team 6 headquarters is located in southern Virginia Beach and is not open to the public.
While declining to comment specifically on SEAL Team 6, US Special Operations Command said that since the attacks of 9/11, its forces "have been involved in tens of thousands of missions and operations in a variety of locations and have consistently maintained the highest standards expected of the military." USA".

The command said that operatives are trained to act in complex and constantly changing situations, and they are free to independently determine how to behave, depending on the state of affairs.

“All allegations of violation of discipline are considered. Such cases, if there is evidence, are further investigated by military or law enforcement agencies.”

Supporters of the detachment do not doubt the significance of such “invisible warriors.”

"If you want the unit to occasionally engage in activities that violate the norms international law, you definitely don’t need publicity,” says James Stavridis, a retired admiral and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

James is referring to the invasion of areas where war has not been declared. Also, Team 6, according to Stavridis, “should continue to operate in secret.”

But others warn of the consequences of keeping an endless string of special operations secret from the public.

“If you're not on the battlefield,” says William Banks, an expert on national security law at Syracuse University, “then you're not responsible.”

War at Close Range

Petty Officer First Article Neil Roberts and the location of Takur Ghar.
During a chaotic battle in March 2002 on Mount Takur Ghar near the Pakistan border, Petty Officer First Class Neil Roberts, a weapons specialist with Team 6, fell from a helicopter into al-Qaeda-controlled territory. The militants killed and mutilated his body before American troops could get there.

This was SEAL Team 6's first major battle in Afghanistan, and Neal was the first casualty. Roberst's murder sent shivers through the very tight-knit team. American " new war" will be ugly and will be carried out at a very short distance. At times, the operatives also showed excessive cruelty: they cut off fingers or small pieces of skin to analyze the DNA of the militants they had just killed.

After the March 2002 campaign, most of Osama bin Laden's fighters fled to Pakistan, after which Team 6 would have little to no involvement in the ongoing fight against the terrorist network in Afghanistan. The enemy they were sent to destroy has all but disappeared.

At the time, the team was prohibited from hunting the Taliban or pursuing al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan, as it would risk condemnation from the Pakistani government. Largely confined to Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, the SEALs were frustrated. The CIA was not subject to such restrictions, so Team 6 members began working with the spy organization, taking advantage of its expanded combat powers, says the former military and intelligence official.

These missions, as part of the Omega program, allowed the SEALs to conduct "controversial operations" against the Taliban and other militants in Pakistan. Omega was created after the Phoenix Program (which existed during the "Vietnam Era"), in which CIA officers and troops special purpose conducted interrogations and assassinations in order to destroy the Viet Cong guerrilla network in South Vietnam.

But the increasing number of killings during operations in Pakistan poses too many risks, officials said, and the Omega program should focus largely on using Afghan Pashtuns to conduct spy missions in Pakistan and work with CIA-trained Afghan fighters during night raids. in Afghanistan. A CIA spokesman declined to comment on this statement.

The escalating conflict in Iraq attracted almost all of the Pentagon's attention and required a constant build-up of troops, including SEAL Team 6 operatives. With America's military influence weakening in Afghanistan, the Taliban began to regroup. Alarmed, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of the Joint Special Operations Center, gave the SEALs and other troops a broader mission in 2006: defeat the Taliban again.

This assignment led to years of nightly raids and battles carried out by Team 6. The squad was assigned to lead special forces during some of the most brutal periods of what became known as the longest American war. A secret squad that was created to carry out the most risky operations is instead involved in dangerous but routine battles.

Operations increased over the summer when Team 6 and the Army Rangers began hunting "mid-level" militants to hunt down Taliban leaders in Kandahar province, the Taliban's heartland. The SEALs used techniques developed with Delta Force in kill-and-capture operations inside Iraq. The logic was that information gleaned from the rebel hideout, coupled with data collected by the CIA and the National Security Agency, could lead to a bomb-making workshop and, ultimately, to the rebel commander's door.

It seemed that the special forces would always be lucky. There is no publicly available data on the number of night raids Team 6 conducted in Afghanistan or their casualties. Military leaders claim that most of the raids took place without a single shot being fired. But between 2006 and 2008, one operative says there were busy periods when their team killed 10 to 15 people a night, sometimes even as high as 25.

The faster pace "made the guys violent," says a former Team 6 officer.

"These massacres have become commonplace"

The night raids helped unravel the Taliban network, special operations commanders say. But some members of Team 6 began to doubt that they had really made a difference.

“We had so many goals that it was just another name. Whether they were intermediaries, Taliban commanders, officers, financiers, it no longer matters,” a former senior SEAL member said in response to demands for information about one of the missions.

Another former member of the group, an officer, was even more dismissive of some of the operations.

“In 2010, the guys were chasing a street gang. The most trained squad in the world was chasing street bandits."

The unit has made its operations faster, quieter and deadlier, and has benefited from constant budget increases and technology improvements since 2001. Team 6's other name, the Special Rapid Deployment Maritime Combat Team, hints at its official mission to develop new equipment and strategies for the SEAL organization as a whole, which includes nine other non-clandestine teams.

SEAL gunsmiths prepared a new German-made rifle and equipped almost all weapons with suppressors that suppress the sound of gunfire and gunshot flashes. Laser sights that help SEALs shoot more accurately have become standard, as have thermal optics to detect human body heat. The group received a new generation of grenades - thermobaric, which are especially effective for destroying buildings. They increasingly operate in larger groups. The more lethal weapons carry SEALs with them, the fewer enemies come out alive.

The Heckler & Koch MP7 (top), equipped with a suppressor to suppress flashes and sounds, and the MP5 (bottom), a submachine gun widely used by law enforcement. In the US military, the MP7 is only in service with Delta Force and SEAL Team 6. It has also been acquired by some SWAT teams.

“To protect yourself and your brothers, you will use anything, regardless of whether it’s a blade or a machine gun,” said Mr. Raso, who worked with Mr. Winkler on the creation of bladed weapons.

Many SEAL operatives said they did not use tomahawks—they say they are bulky weapons that are not as effective as firearms—acknowledging that the battlefield situation was at times quite chaotic.

“This is a dirty business. I can shoot them like I was told, or I can poke them or slash them with a knife, what difference does it make?” says one former Team 6 member.

Culture

SEAL Team 6's isolated headquarters at Dam Neck Branch at Oceana Naval Air Station, south of Virginia Beach, serves as home to a force within a force. Far from the public eye, the base is home not only to its three hundred operatives (they despise the word "commando"), their officers and commanders, but also to pilots, barge builders, sappers, engineers, medics and a highly equipped reconnaissance unit. modern systems for surveillance and surveillance around the world.

SEAL Team 6 headquarters in Virginia.
Navy SEAL - which stands for "Sea, Air, Land" - has its origins in World War II diving teams. Team 6 emerged decades later, following a failed 1980 attempt to rescue 53 American hostages captured during the siege of the American embassy in Tehran. Poor planning and poor weather conditions forced the command to abort the operation, and eight troops died when two planes crashed in the Iranian desert.

The Navy then turned to Commander Richard Marcinko, a tough Vietnam veteran, to create a SEAL team that could quickly respond to terrorist threats. The name itself was an attempt at Cold War disinformation: there were only two SEAL teams at the time, but Commander Marcinko named the force SEAL Team 6 in hopes that Soviet analysts would overestimate their strength.

He disregarded the rules and created an extremely extraordinary squad. (Several years after he left his command, Marcinko was accused of fraudulent military contracts.) In his autobiography, Trickster Warrior, Commander Marcinko describes drinking together as an important component of Team 6's cohesion; much of his recruitment resulted in drunken bar sessions.

Initially, Team 6 consisted of two assault groups - Blue and Gold, named after the colors of the fleet. The blue group adopted the "Jolly Roger" as a symbol and quickly earned themselves the nickname "Bad Boys in Blue" for their constant accusations of drunk driving, drug use and crashing practice cars with impunity.

At times, junior officers were kicked out of Team 6 as they tried to deal with what they perceived as unserious attitudes. Admiral William McRaven, who headed Special Operations Command and oversaw the attack on bin Laden during Marcinko's time, was removed from Team 6 and assigned to another SEAL team after complaints about difficulties in maintaining order among the fighters.

Ryan Zinke, a former Team 6 member who now serves as a Republican congressman in Montana, recalled one episode of the team's cruise ship training in preparation for a possible hostage crisis at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Zinke accompanied the admiral to the bar on the lower deck. “When we opened the door, what I saw reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean,” says Zinke, recalling how the admiral was amazed at the long hair, beards and earrings in the soldiers’ ears.

“Is this my fleet?” the admiral asked him. - “Are these guys my fleet?”

It was the beginning of what Zinke called "the great bloodletting," as the Navy thinned out Team 6's leadership to bring it down to the pro level. Former and current Team 6 operatives say the culture was different back then. Now the squad members have become more educated, more prepared, older and wiser - although some still go too far.

“I got kicked out of the Boy Scouts,” claims one former officer, adding that most of SEAL Team 6 “was just like him.”

A potential member of SEAL Team 6 with a tattoo of bladed weapons combat during dive training in Coronado, California.
Delta Force members known topics, which strictly follow established rules, often start out as ordinary infantrymen, then advance into reconnaissance units and special forces before joining Delta. But SEAL Team 6 is more isolated from the rest of the fleet, and many of its members come to the squad's rigors of training from outside the military.

After several years of service in regular SEAL teams—even-numbered ones in Virginia Beach, odd-numbered ones in San Diego, and another mini-submarine squad in Hawaii—soldiers can try to join a sixth team. . Many people want to join the most elite SEAL team, but about half of them drop out.

The officer corps of the 6th Division is constantly changing, and while officers sometimes return for multiple tours of duty, non-commissioned members usually remain in the squad for much longer, causing their influence to be noticeably inflated.

“Many soldiers think that they are really in charge. It's part of Marcinko's style," says one former SEAL officer.

And they are prone to bravado - on this the squad's critics and defenders agree. Although other SEAL units (known in the military as "white" or "standard") perform similar missions, Team 6 focuses on high-priority targets and hostage rescue in combat zones. He also cooperates more with the CIA and carries out more secret missions outside of conflict zones. Only the soldiers of the sixth squad are taught how to return nuclear weapons that have fallen into the wrong hands.

Squad 6's involvement in the 2011 raid on bin Laden prompted a rush to publish books and documentaries about them, causing silent Delta fighters to roll their eyes. Members of the Sixth Squad are expected to remain silent regarding their assignments, and many current and former fighters What makes them angry is that two of their comrades themselves spoke about their role in the death of the al-Qaeda leader. The two are Matt Bissonnette, the author of two best-selling books about his time in SEAL Team 6, and Robert O'Neill, who said on television that he killed bin Laden. Criminal Investigation Service navy is conducting proceedings against them on charges of disclosing classified information.

Others were quietly expelled from the unit for drug use, or quit because of conflicts of interest involving military clients or outside work. Navy officials punished 11 current and former employees in 2012 for disclosing Squad 6 tactics or passing on secret training films to promote the video game Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

A grave at Arlington National Cemetery containing the remains of soldiers killed when a helicopter called Extortion 17 was shot down over Afghanistan in 2011.
Given the many combat missions over the past 13 years, few members of the squad have escaped unscathed. About 35 operatives and support personnel died on combat missions, according to a former squad officer. They include 15 members of the Golden Company and two demolition specialists killed in 2011 when a helicopter called Extortion 17 was shot down in Afghanistan. It was the most terrible day in the history of the sixth squad.

Explosions of charges used to break through fortifications during raids, constant assaults and exhausting riding on high-speed boats during sea rescue operations or training took their toll. Some suffered traumatic brain injuries.

“Your body is just broken,” says the recently retired fighter. “And my brain is broken too”

"Navy SEALs are a lot like National League football players: They will never say, 'I don't want to be in the starting lineup,'" explains Dr. John Hart, medical director at the University of Texas Brain Health Center at Dallas, who has treated many SEAL patients. “If guys who already have the consequences of a concussion are sent on a mission, this will only worsen the existing brain damage. The brain needs enough time to recover.”

License to Kill

Early in the war in Afghanistan, SEAL Team 6 was tasked with protecting an Afghan politician named Hamid Karzai; one of the Americans almost received a bullet in the head during an assassination attempt on the future president. But later, Karzai more than once criticized US special forces operations, claiming that civilians were constantly dying during their raids. He viewed the actions of Team 6 and other units as a blessing for Taliban recruiters and subsequently attempted to stop night raids entirely.

SEAL Team 6 was assigned to protect Afghan leader Hamid Karzai. After an attempt on his life in 2002 in Kandahar, a squad member wounded in the head uses a T-shirt to slow the bleeding.
Most missions did not end in death. Some members of Team 6 say they gathered women and children together and kicked or kicked men out of the way so they could search their homes. Sometimes they captured prisoners; According to one of the representatives of the department, after attempts by SEAL soldiers to capture people, some of the prisoners ended up with broken noses.

Typically, Team 6 members work under the watchful eye of their superiors - officers at Overseas Operations Coordination Centers and Dam Neck, who monitor the raids with drones hovering in the sky - but they get away with a lot. While other Special Forces teams are subject to the same engagement procedures as other troops in Afghanistan, Team 6 typically conducts its operations at night, deciding life and death matters in dark rooms without witnesses or cameras.

Operatives use silenced weapons to silently kill sleeping opponents; in their opinion, this is no different from bombing enemy barracks.

“I snuck into people's houses while they slept,” writes Matt Bissonnette in his book Not a Hero. - “If I caught them with weapons, I killed them, like all the guys in the squad.”

And they don't doubt their decisions. Clarifying that operatives shoot to kill, the former sergeant added that they fire “control shots” to make sure that their opponents are dead. (According to a pathologist's report, in 2011, on a yacht stolen off the coast of Africa, a member of Team 6 delivered 91 blows to a pirate who, along with an accomplice, killed four American hostages. According to a former SEAL, operatives are trained to open every major artery in the human body.)

The retired officer claims that the rules boil down to one thing:

“If you feel threatened for even a second, you will kill someone.”

He described how, while serving in Afghanistan, a SEAL sniper killed three unarmed people, including a little girl, and told his superiors that he felt they were a threat. Formally, this was enough. But in Team 6, according to the officer, “this doesn’t work.” He added that the sniper was kicked out of the squad.

Six former soldiers and officers who were interviewed admitted that they knew about civilians killed by Team 6 fighters. Mr. Slabinski, who served in the SEALs as a private, witnessed Team 6 operatives mistakenly killing civilians "four or five times" during his service.

Funeral of Afghans killed in 2009 during a joint US-Afghan raid on Ghazi Khan in Kunar province.
Some officers say they routinely questioned members of Team 6 when unlicensed killings were suspected, but usually found no evidence of wrongdoing.

“We had no reason to dig deeper,” says the former special forces officer.

“Do I think something bad happened?” - asks another officer. - “Do I think there were more murders than necessary? Naturally. I think the natural reaction to a threat was to eliminate it; and only then did you wonder: “Did I overestimate her?” Do I think that the guys deliberately killed those who did not deserve it? No, it’s kind of hard for me to believe it.”

According to some military law experts, civilian deaths are an integral part of every war, but in conflicts with blurred front lines, where enemy combatants are often indistinguishable from civilians, the conventional rules of war become obsolete, so that new clauses must be added to the Geneva Convention. But other experts are indignant, arguing that long-lasting and clear rules should take precedence over the realities of combat.

“It's especially important to emphasize boundaries and rules when you're fighting a ruthless and dishonest enemy,” explains Jeffrey Corn, a former Army Bar expert and current lecturer at Law College South Texas. “That’s when the desire for revenge is strongest. And war is not meant for revenge."

Towards the end of Team 6's Blue Company tenure in Afghanistan, which ended in early 2008, the elders complained to the British general whose forces controlled Helmand Province. He immediately contacted Captain Scott Moore, commander of SEAL Team 6, and informed him of a complaint from two elders that SEALs had killed several people in the village.

Captain Moore confronted those leading a mission to capture or kill a member of the Taliban, codenamed Operation Panther.

When Captain Moore asked what had happened, the unit's commander, Peter Wasley, denied any allegations that the operatives had killed civilians. According to a former Team 6 member and military official, he said his men killed all the men because they had guns. Captain Wasley, who now oversees Team 6's East Coast teams, declined to comment.
Captain Moore asked the US Joint Special Operations Center to look into the incident. By that time, the command had already been informed that in the village there were dozens of witnesses to the mass execution carried out by American soldiers.

Another former Team 6 member later insisted that Blue Company Captain Slabinski ordered the killing of every man in the village before the operation began. Slabinski denied this, claiming that there was no order to kill all the men.

“The guys and I didn’t even discuss this,” he said in an interview

He said that during the raid he was greatly disturbed by the sight of one of the young operatives cutting the throat of a dead Taliban fighter. “It was like he was mutilating a corpse,” Slabinski said, adding that he shouted, “Stop it!”

The naval prosecutor's office later concluded that the operative could have removed equipment from the dead man's chest. But Team 6 commanders were worried that some of the fighters might be getting out of hand, so that operative was sent back to the States. Suspecting that his fighters were not fully complying with the regulations for the start of the clash, Slabinski gathered them all and gave an “extremely stern speech.”

“If any of you are seeking retribution, this issue must be resolved through me,” he recalls his words. - “No one can solve this except me”

As he himself claims, the speech was supposed to make the fighters understand that this permission would never happen, since such a thing was unacceptable. But he admits some fighters may have misunderstood him.

According to two former members of Team 6, the Joint Special Operations Center cleared the company's name of all charges related to Operation Panther. It remains unclear how many Afghans died during the raid or the exact location of their deaths, although one officer believed it was south of Lashkar Gana, the capital of Helmand province.

But the killings have fueled debate in high places about how, in a country where many people carry guns, Team 6 could ensure that it only goes after "the really bad guys."
In other cases, which were usually handled by the Center rather than the naval prosecutor's office, no one was charged. Usually, if problems arose, fighters were sent home; for example, three fighters who went overboard during interrogation, and some team members who were linked to dubious murders.

More than a year later, another operation caused strong indignation among the Afghans. By midnight on December 27, 2009, several dozen American and Afghan fighters landed by helicopter a few miles from the village of Ghazi Khan in Kunar province and headed for the village under cover of darkness. By the time they left, ten residents had been killed.

It is still unknown what exactly happened that night. The objective of that mission was to capture or kill a senior Taliban operative, but it quickly became clear that there were no Taliban commanders on site. This was due to disinformation, a problem that still plagued the United States after years in Afghanistan. The former governor of the province conducted an investigation and accused the Americans of killing unarmed schoolchildren.

The US Embassy in Afghanistan released statements saying that a subsequent investigation found that "eight of the ten people killed were students in local schools."

U.S. Army officials said the victims were members of an underground cell that made improvised explosive devices. They later retracted those claims, but some military officials still insist that all of the teenagers carried weapons and had ties to the Taliban. One NATO statement said those who carried out the raid were “essentially non-military,” apparently hinting at the CIA being in charge of the operation.

But the members of Team 6 also participated in this mission. As part of the secret Omega Program, they joined a strike force that included CIA operatives and Afghan fighters trained by the intelligence services.

By then, the program, which had begun at the dawn of the war in Afghanistan, had changed. The raids on Pakistan were curtailed because it was difficult to operate there due to the increased activity of Pakistani spies and soldiers, so missions were mainly carried out on the Afghan side of the border.

Over time, General McChrystal, who became the commander in chief of American forces in Afghanistan, responded to President Karzai's complaints by tightening the rules and slowing down the pace of special operations.
Having practiced covert infiltration behind enemy lines for many years, Team 6 members were often forced to “warn” before attacking, like a sheriff shouting into a bullhorn: “Come out with your hands up!”

Slabinski argues that most civilians died during “preventive” operations, which were supposed to reduce precisely such losses. Enemy fighters sometimes sent family members forward and shot from behind them, or handed out flashlights to civilians and ordered them to illuminate American positions, he said.

Former commando O'Neill agrees that the rules could be infuriating.

“Then we realized something: the more opportunities we were given to cause indirect damage, the more effective we were - not because we took advantage of it, but because we knew there would be no doubt. With the increase in the number of rules, everything became more complicated.”

Rescue missions

Long before night raids in Afghanistan and landings on the battlefield, members of SEAL Team 6 were constantly trained to rescue hostages - a difficult and dangerous task they did not perform until 2001. Since then, the detachment has made 10 rescue attempts, which are simultaneously among its greatest successes and most bitter failures.

During extractions - which are considered "no margin for error" missions - they must move faster and take greater risks than in any other type of operation because they must ensure the safety of hostages, operatives say. Typically, operatives killed almost all the people involved in the capture.

Clockwise from left: Jessica Lynch on a stretcher after being found in Nasiriyah in 2003; the boat on which Captain Phillips was held in 2009; Danish hostage Paul Hagen Thisted, rescued in Somalia in 2012; and his colleague, American Jessica Bochanan.
The first high-profile rescue mission occurred in 2003, when SEAL Team 6 operatives helped bring home Professor Jessica Lynch, who had been wounded, captured and held in a hospital during the early days of the Iraq War.

Six years later, members of Team 6 parachuted from cargo planes into Indian Ocean along with their special boats to rescue Richard Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama, a container ship hijacked by Somali pirates. A video shot by Mr. O'Neill shows the operatives parachute with fins attached to their boots before four boats - small, fast, with stealth technology to evade radar - are ejected from the plane - each with multiple parachutes. SEAL snipers ended up killing three of the pirates.

In 2012, airborne operatives descended on Somalia to free Jessica Buchanan, an American aid worker, and her Danish colleague Poul Hagen Thisted. The Joint Special Operations Center (JSOC) believes that everything was standard during that mission. The SEALs landed using a technique called HAHO, high altitude-high opening. This means the operatives jump out from high altitude and glide for a long time on air currents, thus secretly crossing the border. This maneuver is so dangerous that several people have died during preparation for it over the years of the detachment’s existence.

Miss Bochanan recalled that four of the kidnappers were about 4.5 meters away when the Team 6 members approached under cover of darkness. During the operation, they killed all nine kidnappers. “Until they showed up, I didn’t even know that we could be saved at all,” Miss Bochanan said in an interview.

In October 2010, a member of Team 6 made a mistake during an attempt to rescue Linda Norgrove, a 36-year-old British aid worker captured by the Taliban. It all happened in the first two minutes, after the operatives disembarked from helicopters in Kunar province and slid 27 meters along a braided cord onto a steep slope, as two senior military officials later said.

As they headed toward the Taliban base in the dark, the new member of the squad became “confused,” he later told investigators. His weapon jammed. “With a complete mess in his head,” he threw a grenade into a trench where he thought two militants were hiding.

British Linda Norgrove, a humanitarian worker who died during a SEAL rescue mission in Kunar province, Afghanistan.
But after a shootout, during which several Taliban were killed, the SEALs found the body of a hostage - in dark clothes and a headscarf - lying in this very trench. At first, the operative who threw the grenade and another member of the squad reported that Miss Norgrove died due to the detonation of a suicide vest. Their version did not last long. Surveillance camera footage shows that she died almost instantly from shrapnel wounds to the head and back, caused by a grenade explosion, according to the investigators' report.

As a result of a joint American-British investigation, it turned out that the operative who threw the grenade grossly violated the procedure for releasing the hostages. He was kicked out of Team 6, although he was allowed to remain in another SEAL unit.

Two years later, the American doctor was successfully rescued, but at great cost. One December night in 2012, a group of Team 6 operatives wearing night vision goggles stormed an Afghan field camp where the Taliban were holding Dr. Dilip Joseph, a collaborator. humanitarian organization. The first operative to enter was knocked down by a shot to the head, to which the other Americans responded with brutal efficiency - all five captors were killed.

However, Dr. Joseph and the military gave very different versions of what happened. The 19-year-old militant, Vallaka, survived the attack, the doctor said. Dilip Joseph recalled being captured by SEALs sitting on the ground with his head bowed and his hands tied behind his knees. The Doctor believes that Vallaka was among those who killed one of Team 6.
A few minutes later, as he waited to board the helicopter, one of the SEALs who rescued the doctor took him back into the building. There before his eyes appeared the dead Vallaka, lying in a pool of blood and illuminated by moonlight.

“I remember it clear as day,” the doctor said

The military, hiding behind its “top secret” status, stated that all the kidnappers were killed shortly after the SEALs entered the camp, and that Vallak was never captured. Also, according to them, then Dr. Joseph was disoriented and did not go back into the building at all. They also asked: how could the doctor clearly see what was happening in the darkness of the night?

Two years later, Dr. Joseph remains grateful for his rescue and appreciates the sacrifice of Petty Officer Nicholas Cescu, a squad member killed during the operation. But at the same time, he is haunted by the fate of Vallak.

“For weeks I could not come to terms with how effectively they acted. The precision was surgical,” recalls Dr. Joseph

Global spy group

From a defensive line along the Afghan border, Team 6 regularly sends locals to gather information in Pakistan's tribal areas. The group turned large, brightly colored Jingle Trucks, popular in the region, into mobile spy stations, hiding sophisticated listening equipment in the back of the truck, and with the help of Pashtuns (an Iranian people inhabiting mainly southeast, south and southwest Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan - approx. Newabout) drives them across the border.

Outside the Pakistani mountains, the squad also conducts risky missions in the southwest Pakistani desert, particularly in the windy region of Balochistan. One such mission nearly ended in disaster when insurgents launched a rocket-propelled grenade directly from a doorway, causing the camp's roof to collapse and a Team 6 sniper sitting on it to fall onto a small group of insurgents. Another American sniper nearby quickly killed them, one former operative said.

Between the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, members of Team 6's Black Company were scattered around the world to conduct espionage missions. It was originally a sniper unit that was redesignated after the Sept. 11 attacks to conduct "high-risk operations," military jargon for intelligence gathering and other clandestine activities in preparation for special missions.

The idea was especially popular at the Pentagon when Donald Rumsfeld served as Secretary of Defense. In the middle of the last decade, General McChrystal ordered Team 6 to become more involved in global intelligence-gathering missions, and Black Company operatives were assigned to American embassies from Africa and Latin America to the Middle East.

A former team member said SEAL Team 6 used diplomatic pouches, regular deliveries of classified documents and other materials to American diplomatic posts, to smuggle weapons to Black Company operatives overseas. In Afghanistan, Black Company fighters wore local clothing and infiltrated villages to plant cameras and listening devices and interview locals in the days and even weeks before nighttime raids, some former members say.

The team creates front companies to provide cover for Black Company operatives in the Middle East, and operates floating spy stations disguised as commercial vessels off the coast of Somalia and Yemen. Members of the Black Company, working at the American embassy in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, played a central role in the hunt for Anawar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric and American citizen who became involved with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He was killed in 2011 by a CIA drone.

One former member of the Black Company said that in Somalia and Yemen, operatives were only allowed to shoot at targets of special importance.

“Outside of Iraq and Afghanistan, we did not work at random. Everything was completely different there."

Black Company has something that the rest of SEAL Team 6 doesn't have: female operatives. Women from the Navy join the Black Company and are sent overseas to gather intelligence, most often working in embassies with male partners. A former SEAL Team 6 officer said that in Black Company, men and women often work in pairs, which is called "softening." Pairs arouse less suspicion among enemy intelligence or armed groups.

On this moment More than a hundred people work in the Black Company. The organization is expanding due to the growing threat around the world. This is also due to changes in American politics. Wary of using “shadow soldiers” after the Battle of Mogadishu defeat in Somalia in 1993, government officials now prefer to send teams like SEAL Team 6 to resolve conflicts, regardless of whether the US wants to advertise its presence or No.

“When I was in business, we were always looking for war,” says Mr. Zinke, a congressman and former member of Team 6. “And these guys found them.”

Authors: Mark Mazzetti, Nicholas Kulish, Christopher Drew, Serge F. Kovalevski, Sean D. Naylor and John Ismay.
Original: New York Times

The activities of Russian special forces, a known enemy of the Navy SEALs, during the years cold war has always been shrouded in a dense veil of secrecy. Despite this, debate continues about which units are better prepared. ABC (Spain) writes about special forces of different countries and tries to understand who has stronger fighters.

There is often debate about which special forces units are best trained. It’s not for nothing that the fighters of the Delta Force (USA) and SAS (Great Britain) undergo training under similar programs.

On Friday, April 29, 2011, Barack Obama ordered the most important operation in modern history USA: storm the house in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, where Osama bin Laden was hiding. To carry out such a difficult task, fraught with the most unpredictable episodes, the American president selected a small group from the Navy Seals tactical unit, which during a firefight destroyed the leader of Al-Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation - approx. ed.) on the night of May 1.

Two years later, word leaked that only two of the members of Team 6, the same SEALs who killed Terrorist No. 1, were still alive after 22 of the 25 were killed in a plane crash in Afghanistan. -ty of its members. Another fighter died in a parachute jump failure last April, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported. The high mortality rate once again proves that this group, consisting of fighters who have passed the most stringent selection, is at constant risk.

The Navy SEALs tactical unit was created after one of the United States' greatest military failures. In 1962, following the failed landing of Cuban mercenaries at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, President Kennedy approved the creation of a selective amphibious unit capable of conducting raids deep into enemy territory. Baptism of fire they took place in Vietnam, where the nature of the terrain and the lack of a clearly defined front line required the participation of special forces. Modeled after the Royal Navy Special Warfare Group, the SEALs were tasked with, among other things, surveillance and patrol of the Mekong River in their fast boats.

It was then that the United States began to use them for the most complex operations that had to be carried out with almost surgical precision. Among the most famous successes, mention should be made of the release of the transatlantic liner Achille Lauro, as well as captain Richard Phillips, kidnapped by Somali pirates, participation in the landing on Granada in 1983, and also participation in the Iraq War in 2003, the largest in the history of this unit . Information was also leaked about some of the SEALs' failures, in particular the attempt to capture Panamanian President Manuel Antonio Noriega during the invasion of that country, as well as the failed operation to free hostages at the US Embassy in Tehran in 1980.

When selecting candidates for this type of assignment, male Navy personnel no older than 28 years of age are considered. The training process lasts six months, culminating in a training session called “A Week in Hell”: for five days, the future commandos experience constant cold, hunger and no opportunity to sleep. This "Week in Hell" is taking place at the Coronado Air Force Base in California, where half of the 2,500 currently deployed Navy SEALs trained. The rest trained at the Little Creek base in Virginia, except for 300 troops believed to be part of Team 6, stationed at Dam Neck, also in Virginia.

During selection, up to 90% of candidates are eliminated. During the tests, you must run 24 kilometers, swim three kilometers in reservoirs under open air and withstand heavy physical exertion. In general, training lasts a year and a half, then another year as part of the unit, after which the soldiers are sent on their first combat mission.

SEALs typically operate in an eight-man platoon, although depending on the nature of the operation, they can work in pairs or as a full team, each with their own specialty: demolition, electronics, routing, medical assistance. and so on.

Mysterious and menacing Russian “special forces”

The activities of the Russian special forces, the eternal enemy of the Navy SEALs during the Cold War, have always been shrouded in a dense veil of secrecy, which turned it into a kind of myth. Although the very concept of “special forces” refers to all special forces units of the Soviet and Russian era, among them two are especially distinguished by their level of training: GRU special forces, which is structurally part of the military intelligence service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and FSB special forces, which are engaged in countering terrorism.

Despite numerous videos posted on the Internet showing how special forces operate, the details of their training are still classified. These units were created in the 50s of the last century, at the height of the Cold War. Initially, they were trained to carry out various covert operations, including infiltration, as well as to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage activities. But after the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, special forces came out of the shadows and began to actively participate in battles.

According to the little information that we know, special forces pay great attention to hand-to-hand combat. They mainly use Sambo wrestling techniques developed in the Soviet Union. In addition, much of the training is carried out using live ammunition and explosives, which contributes to one of the highest mortality rates among special forces in the world.

However, their structure is similar to other special purpose units. Each special forces unit consists of 8-10 soldiers operating under the command of an officer. They are trained in the handling of explosives, targeted shooting, radio communications and reconnaissance on the ground.

Among the failures of the special forces and, above all, the FSB special forces, in conducting anti-terrorist operations, mention should be made of the assault high school in Beslan on September 3, 2004, having been captured by Islamist militants two days earlier. It all ended in a chaotic assault, which was launched by the anti-terrorist unit Alpha. Subsequently, military personnel of the Armed Forces and internal troops joined him. The result is 370 dead.

As well as SAS and Delta Force

Russian special forces and the Navy SEAL team are quite well known in the world, and especially in the media, but there are other elite units that undergo similar training. In particular, the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Forces (SBS) of the British Royal Armed Forces were created during the Second World War and became a kind of prototype for the special forces that appeared subsequently. Among other tests, candidates must trek through the Welsh mountain ranges while carrying 25 kilograms of weight and live in the rainforest for a month.

In the same USA there are other well-trained special forces units, for example the 75th Ranger Regiment, the Green Berets (counterinsurgency, counter-guerrilla warfare, training foreign military personnel), and, of course, the 1st Operational Detachment Special Purpose"Delta" (Delta Force). It was created in 1977 by Colonel Charles Beckwith, before that for a long time engaged in training British SAS soldiers. Delta Force accepts men with the rank of sergeant over 21 years of age who have served at least two and a half years in the army and have successfully passed tests no different from those of SAS and Navy SEAL candidates.

Unlike the aforementioned special forces forces, Delta Force tends to operate covertly, carrying out more sensitive missions. They wear civilian clothing on military bases and their area of ​​activity includes the United States.

A study of the experience of recent military conflicts involving the United States shows that the army of this country is increasingly using completely new combat tactics: seizing air supremacy followed by the suppression of enemy military targets with aircraft and tactical missiles. Analysts have already called such tactics “sixth-generation war,” when there is no clearly defined front line, and ground army units perform mainly security and blocking functions. At the same time, actions on enemy territory are most often assigned to special forces units, which can perform a wide variety of tasks - from the destruction of key military installations to the capture or elimination of political and military leaders.

It is very interesting to consider the structure of special forces in the United States as the country that was the first to use the tactics of “sixth generation warfare.” Back in 1987, the Special Operations Command (US SOCOM - United States Special Operations Command) was created within the structure of the US armed forces, to which the special operations commands of the Army, Air Force and Navy, as well as the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC - Joint Special Operations Command) were subordinated. which is supposedly entrusted with organizing and conducting anti-terrorist actions and monitoring weapons of mass destruction. Also in 1987, the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict was created. The Special Operations Command is entrusted with the management of special forces units in the United States, as well as resolving all financial and organizational issues. If a special forces detachment operates outside of the United States, it is transferred to the command of the "area of ​​responsibility" commander or, in the case of hostilities, the theater commander. Such an organization of leadership allows one to avoid most problems with coordinating the actions of units and distributing powers.

SEAL - special forces of the US Navy (US Navy), designed to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage operations from the sea. Literally translated, "seal" (also "fur seal") is an abbreviation for Sea - Air - Land. Photos and videos under the cut
"Seals" trace their history back to the Civil War of 1861, when the Northerners used combat swimmers to find and neutralize mines.

The current Seal Corps was formed in 1962; President Kennedy is also considered their “godfather.” "Seals" took an active part in the war in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

For individual special forces units, the United States has chosen an extensive development path - to grow in breadth. In addition to several large divisions, a large number of small, highly specialized ones have been created. For example, even the Department of Energy has its own special forces - Special Rapid Response Teams (SRT - Special Response Teams), which are responsible for the protection of nuclear materials. This development strategy makes it possible to create divisions that specialize in performing very specific tasks.

SEa, Air, Land (SEAL) - Sea, Air, Land
SEAL is the name of the special forces of the US Navy (US Navy), designed to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage operations from the sea. In the press, this unit is often called “seals” or “fur seals.” The abbreviation SEAL is similar to the English word "seal" - seal.

The history of the unit began with the creation in 1942 of the Navy of special submarine demolition teams (UDT - Underwater Demolition Team), designed to clear coastal waters and the shoreline at landing sites. During World War II, these teams did without scuba gear - they were simply well-prepared and trained swimmers. By 1948, the US Navy had four such teams remaining and began training in the use of diving equipment. Even the famous Jacques Cousteau was indirectly involved in this work, from whom a batch of scuba gear and breathing apparatus was purchased in 1949. And by July 1950, the training and equipment of UDT combat swimmers had become sufficient to use them in the war with Korea. They were tasked with reconnaissance and clearing coastal waters of mines. A little later, UDT groups began to be used for sabotage on enemy territory. The actions of the UDT fighters in Korea were so successful that by 1952 it was decided to create another, fifth group of combat swimmers. And ten years later, on January 1, 1962, US President John Kennedy signed an order to create the SEAL naval special forces.

SEAL initially consisted of two detachments: SEAL Team 1 in the Pacific Fleet and SEAL Team 2 in the Atlantic. But by 1963, the unification of all reconnaissance and sabotage units of the fleet began to be united into two naval operations support groups (NOSG - Naval Operation Support Group), which included SEAL groups, UDT, as well as auxiliary units such as a detachment of boats. In the same 1963, the first units from the SEAL fighters.

NOSG went to Vietnam. And in 1966, SEAL soldiers also arrived there. The territory of Vietnam is replete with rivers, along which SEAL soldiers in light boats went to the site of the proposed operation. During the entire Vietnam campaign, SEAL teams lost only one soldier. The losses of their opponents were significantly higher.

By 1983, after the end of the operation in Grenada, UDT groups were transferred to the SEALs, and in 1988, the Naval Special Operations Command was created, subordinate to the Special Operations Command. All Navy special forces, including SEALs, were directly subordinate to him.

Today the SEAL consists of seven teams. The 1st, 3rd and 5th detachments are part of the 1st Special Forces Group, headquartered in Coronado (the group is designed to conduct special operations as part of the Pacific Fleet). The 2nd, 4th and 8th detachments are part of the 2nd Special Forces Group, headquartered in Little Creek (designed to conduct special operations as part of the Atlantic Fleet). The 1st and 2nd Special Forces Groups, in addition to the SEAL detachments, have a special transport vehicle unit (SDVU - SEAL Delivery Vehicle Unit), designed for covert transportation and evacuation of divers, and a squadron of special purpose boats (SBS - Special Boat Squadron) - for operations in coastal and river zones.

The 4th (Norfolk) and 5th (Point Mugu) Special Mission Helicopter Squadrons may be required for air support. In addition, Coronado is located The educational center recruit training, and Little Creek has a research and development group responsible for SEAL technical support. Finally, there is also SEAL Team 6, assigned to the Joint Special Operations Command and responsible for conducting anti-terrorism operations at sea. Only the President or Secretary of Defense can order the use of SEAL Team 6. It should also be noted that at the origins of the 6th SEAL team was the legendary Richard Marcisko, one of the best specialists in anti-terrorist actions in the United States.

A SEAL team typically consists of its own headquarters, ten combat platoons, and one service platoon. Each combat platoon consists of 16 people in two sections. The departments are divided into groups of four people, who, if necessary, can go into pairs. The service platoon consists of 20 people. A SEAL team consists of 200-210 personnel, with the exception of Team 6, which consists of five platoons divided into four groups of eight soldiers. The total number of SEALs, together with additional units, is, at various estimates, from 2000 to 2900 people.

Any volunteer ranging from sailor to lieutenant under the age of 28 with at least 28 months of Navy service experience can become a SEAL candidate. When selecting candidates, special attention is paid to the service record, recommendations of commanders, as well as the results of interviews with a commission of psychologists and an instructor.

The entrance test for physical fitness is quite easy: swim 400 meters in 690 seconds, run one and a half miles in the same time, do eight pull-ups on the bar and do at least 42 push-ups in 120 seconds. However, the ease of the physical fitness test is offset by the difficulty of the physical training exercises. The training program that new recruits undergo at Coronado consists of three main stages.

The first stage, called "Basic Conditioning", lasts nine weeks. For the first five weeks, testing of the physical and volitional qualities of recruits continues. Simply put, they are taken to starvation. The training day lasts at least 15 hours, during which the physical condition and endurance of newcomers are tested using a variety of tests. Every day the missions become more difficult - as the SEALs say, “the only easy day was yesterday.” In addition to the physical condition, the recruit's desire to serve as a SEAL is also tested, constantly provoking him to show dissatisfaction with training methods or commanders. For example, for this purpose, incorrect or unreasonable orders are often given, which, nevertheless, the fighter must carry out. Training and tests are interrupted only to give the recruits a short lecture or give them something to eat.

The sixth week of preparation, called “hellish,” deserves special attention. According to tradition, it begins at night, with the explosions of warheads right in the barracks, lasts about five days, during which recruits are unlikely to be able to sleep more than 4-6 hours, and ends with the most difficult training for landing on the shore at night in difficult weather conditions and under heavy enemy fire. During "hell" week, candidates are subjected to extreme psychological pressure and are subjected to constant physical exercise with short breaks. It is not surprising that most applicants are eliminated within the first six weeks...

The last three weeks of the first stage, in addition to ongoing physical training, are used to train candidates in the basics of hydrographic surveying, methods of sounding and charting.

The second stage of training, called "Diving", lasts seven weeks. Candidates learn to use diving equipment and perform various tasks with it. This stage is characterized by rapidly increasing demands on fighters. If during the first week there are mainly short dives underwater using simple equipment, then the cycle ends with swims of several kilometers in difficult weather conditions (storm, cold water, etc.).

The third stage of training - "Land Warfare" (ground warfare techniques) - lasts nine weeks. Soldiers learn to conduct reconnaissance, sabotage and combat operations, study weapons and auxiliary equipment, practice actions in groups.
After the third stage comes an “exam” in the form of tests on physical and tactical training. After this, all recruits who pass the exam are sent to Fort Benning for three weeks, where they undergo parachute training.

To improve their skills, fighters are sent to SEAL groups, where they undergo a six-month internship. And only at the end of the internship, more than a year after submitting the application, the candidate signs a contract and becomes part of one of the SEAL teams. However, for another three years he must undergo inspection by a special commission every six months, and in the SEAL unit he will not be allowed to participate in serious operations, using him only in secondary roles. And only after signing the second contract does the recruit become a full-fledged SEAL fighter.

The 6th SEAL squad also goes through all of the above stages of training, which allows, if necessary, to use this squad according to the specialization of the other SEAL squads - for reconnaissance and sabotage. SEAL Team 6's counterterrorism training is among the best in US Special Forces, allowing the unit to combat terrorists not only at sea, but also on land.

In almost every conflict involving the US military, SEALs have been in the thick of the fighting. Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, the Persian Gulf are far from full list places where SEAL guys worked. And almost always the fighters of this unit performed their tasks perfectly, time after time proving their right to the reputation of one of the strongest US special forces units. According to some reports, SEAL fighters more than once had to meet with combat swimmers of the USSR and Russia. How such “meetings” ended is unknown, since the data on both sides is kept strictly secret. However, it is known that it was SEAL soldiers who stole two new mines from a training ground in Peter the Great Bay in 1967.

Some sources believe that it was the SEAL unit that was behind the partially successful action in the Angolan port of Namib, when the Cuban cargo ship Havana was sunk and the Soviet transport ships Kapitan Vislobokov and Kapitan Chirkov were damaged.

Green Berets - "Green Berets"

Despite some misconceptions, "Green Berets" is not the name of one of the US special forces units, but the general name of the US Army special forces. The history of the Green Berets began on June 19, 1952, when the 10th SFG (10th Special Forces Group) was created, based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and consisting of 2,500 people. The main task of special forces in those days was to penetrate deep into the territory of a potential enemy and create partisan centers of resistance. By the time the unit was created, only ten of its members had training sufficient to be a special forces soldier - these were volunteers selected from among the best soldiers of the army: paratroopers, rangers and former special forces soldiers who participated in World War II. Almost all of them spoke at least two languages, had serious combat and parachute training, and reached the rank of sergeant. The 10th Special Forces Group was led by Colonel Aaron Bank, a former member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and an experienced World War II veteran.

Bank and his associates took seriously the training of their subordinates. In addition to creating pockets of resistance on enemy territory, special forces were trained for “deep penetration” missions, when long operations in enemy territory were planned, and the fight against enemy partisans. The most advanced techniques of that time were used to train special forces. All recruits had already received airborne or ranger training, but these skills were not sufficient. Future Green Berets were trained to remain in enemy territory for several months, sometimes without support from the base. To achieve this, special attention was paid to the study of the languages ​​and customs of the country where penetration was intended. In preparing the Green Berets, the United States actively cooperated with Great Britain. In particular, American special forces soldiers were frequent guests of their colleagues from the famous British Special Air Service (SAS - Special Air Service).

Green Berets in Afghanistan:

The origin of the name "Green Berets" is interesting. The Green Beret was not included in the special forces uniform. A batch of these hats was purchased by the fighters from a Munich tailor, and they wore them as a sign of involvement in one of the best units. Fort Bragg Commandant General Paul Adams even issued an order prohibiting commandos from wearing green berets that were not part of their uniform. However, after this order, the special forces began to put on their “insignia” with double zeal and showed them to everyone they met.

After some time, US President John Kennedy arrived at Fort Bragg. The president's entourage, consisting of several high-ranking generals, was infuriated that some special forces soldiers marched in the parade wearing banned green berets. One of them, Captain William Yarborough, was even going to be put on trial. However, President Kennedy was so impressed by the new Special Forces that he issued an executive order establishing the Green Beret as the official headdress of the US Army Special Forces.

On November 11, 1953, the 10th Special Forces Group was transferred to Germany for operations in Eastern Europe. At Fort Bragg, meanwhile, the creation of the 77th Special Forces Group (77th SFG) began. On April 1, 1956, the 14th Special Forces Operational Detachment (14th SFOD), based in Hawaii (and later in Thailand and Taiwan), was separated from this group. The specialization of the detachment was actions on Far East. Members of the 14th Separate Detachment were the first Army Special Forces soldiers to set foot in South Vietnam, sent there in June 1956 to train South Vietnamese Army soldiers. Following the 14th separate special forces detachment, the 12th, 13th and 16th detachments were created, also designed for operations in the Far East. On June 17, 1957, all of these units were combined into the 1st Special Forces Group (1st SFG) based in Okinawa, Japan.

In the 1960s, the pace of deployment of Army Special Forces accelerated significantly due to President Kennedy's positive assessment of this type of troops. On 6 June, the 77th Special Forces Group was redesignated the 7th Special Forces Group (7th SFG). On September 21, 1961, the 5th Special Forces Group (5th SFG) was created. In 1963, three special forces groups were created at once: on April 1 - the 8th group (8th SFG), on May 1 - the 6th group (6th SFG) and on December 3 - the 3rd group (3rd SFG).

Green Berets were active in the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Small groups operated in Bolivia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. In 1967, Green Berets were used to track down and capture famous Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.
The 70s turned out to be quite difficult for the Green Berets. In 1971, Army Special Forces units were withdrawn from South Vietnam (according to some sources, small Green Beret units continued to operate in Vietnam until the end of the war in 1975). In the United States, meanwhile, anti-war sentiment was at its peak. The Green Berets have undergone significant reductions - from a third to a half of their fighters have left.

The revival of army special forces began in the 80s. Today, the US Army is believed to have seven full Special Forces teams. Of these, five groups are combat, one specializes in psychological warfare, and one specializes in non-military operations. The groups and their constituent units are stationed at NATO bases around the world, which allows army special forces to quickly respond to a threat anywhere on Earth.

The basic unit of the Green Berets is the so-called A-Team, consisting of 12 people. The A-Team consists of two officers and ten sergeants, among whom are specialists in weapons, medicine, technology and communications. At the same time, there are at least two specialists of each specialization in the group, which allows, if necessary, to divide the A-team into two independent groups. Six A-Teams make up a Special Forces Company. Four companies and one air support detachment usually form a special forces group (SFG - Special Forces Group).

Green Beret candidates undergo a 17-week selection process, during which 30-40% of candidates are eliminated. After this, all those who have passed the selection begin training in courses in their chosen specialty. All Green Berets are assigned the rank of sergeant or higher.

1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta - 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - "Delta"

The 1st Special Forces Operations Detachment Delta, better known in the press simply as Delta Force, is perhaps one of the most classified US special forces units. Proof of this can be the fact that the US government has still not officially recognized the existence of Delta - the name of this unit has never appeared in official government documents. Even Mark Bowden's book Black Hawk Down uses the term "commandos" (although the later film of the same name refers to the Delta Force). Naturally, with such a level of secrecy, almost all information comes from unofficial sources - mainly from former members of Delta and from people who worked together with this unit. However, information from different sources often contradicts each other.

It is known for sure that Delta was created on the basis of the Green Berets in 1977. Delta was founded by Colonel Charles Beckwith, a former Green Beret and Vietnam War veteran. In 1962, Beckwith was sent under an experience exchange program to a one-year internship course in the Special Air Service (SAS). In addition to the excellent training of the British special forces, Beckwith was impressed by the procedures established in the SAS. Outwardly, the unit did not at all resemble military organization- rather, it was a large group of friends doing the same thing. Warm, relaxed relations reigned between subordinates and commanders. At the same time, the sergeant could always point out to the officer a mistake he had made and be sure that the officer would take the remark made seriously. In addition, the subordinate could even object to the commander if the order he gave seemed unreasonable. The SAS was not even traditional for many army units drills.

Special Forces Delta in the Afghan caves of Tora Bora in 2001.

A veteran of the Green Berets, a unit with strict discipline, could not even imagine such relationships within the unit. However, this freedom did not negatively affect the unit's combat training. Beckwith was so captivated by the SAS that, upon returning to the United States, he decided to create a similar unit within the American army. Beckwith's dream came true only a decade and a half later, when the increased threat of terrorism forced the US army command to begin creating units capable of effectively combating the new threat.

Today, Delta is supposedly one of the two main anti-terrorist units of the Joint Special Operations Command (the other unit is the famous 6th SEAL Team). Unfortunately, it is unknown how responsibilities are divided between Delta and the 6th SEAL Team, which is also involved in anti-terrorism operations on land. According to some reports, Delta and the 6th detachment often operate together, as, for example, in Bosnia.

There is also an opinion that the anti-terrorist orientation of Delta is just a screen, and in fact the unit is a secret reconnaissance and sabotage elite of the US Army special forces. It is impossible to confirm or refute this assumption in the absence of official data.

Delta personnel are recruited mainly from army special forces and rangers. Delta's first mission was Operation Eagle Claw to liberate the American embassy in the capital of Iran, Tehran (1980). The operation had to be curtailed due to a helicopter crash. After this, Delta was involved in anti-terrorist operations several more times. The unit also actively participated in almost all US military operations, from Grenada to Afghanistan.

The Pentagon carefully monitors the publication of any information about the Delta Force and refuses to comment on its secret missions. Delta operators are guaranteed unhindered mobility, flexibility and automation. They are unlikely to wear any regular camouflage, and civilian clothing is normal outside of missions. This was done in order to hide the similarities between the classified fighters. When they wear a single camouflage, there is no marking, no name, no rank. The style of hair on the head and face is allowed to be informal, consistent with civilian standards, so that in the event of an invasion the operator will not be recognized as a military person.

After publishing about the American Green Berets, I received numerous requests to talk about similar structures in the American army. People especially often asked to talk about the Delta Squad. However, it seemed to me more appropriate to talk about the naval analogue of the Delta, known to most readers under the name Navy SEALs. More precisely, about the elite of the Navy SEALs, codenamed SEAL Team 6.

The point is not that there is much more material on Delta, and those who are really interested in this topic will be able to “dig up” the necessary information on their own. An army unit that lives by army rules is more predictable than one that is a "ghost". The level of secrecy of Team 6 is such that even in the American press there is not much material. Most Americans talk about SEALs based on knowledge gained from feature films and interviews of former SEALs that sometimes appear in the press. And the very existence of this detachment can always be questioned.

Publicly, the Pentagon denies the existence of such a unit. SEAL Team 6, as the name of this top-secret unit sounds, is shrouded in such a veil of secrecy that it is sometimes surprising that there are any messages on this topic at all. There is no unit, but, for example, there is an interview with a fighter from this unit who “personally killed Osama bin Laden.” Therefore, if you look at media reports over the past 10-15 years, it becomes clear that the veil of secrecy is being torn. The desire to make money from PR of their exploits and talk about their own heroic life takes precedence over promises to remain silent.

And increasing the number of units does not help maintain secrecy. What two people know, a pig knows. And according to the estimates of the same American and our experts, today the number of Team 6 has grown to 300 commandos and up to 1,500 service personnel. True, the SEALs themselves do not call themselves commandos. Moreover, they don’t like this name in principle. Among themselves and in documents that sometimes “pop up”, the squad’s fighters are called operatives.

From this, a competent analyst can already conclude that Team 6 is not a purely naval structure. It is rather a symbiosis of naval intelligence and the CIA. With the appropriate attitude to the matter. I am referring not only to the restrictions imposed by military orders and regulations, but also to the "discretion" that comes with being a member of the CIA.

The detachment began not long ago. First of all, the name SEAL itself is interesting. It comes from a combination of three English words- Sea, Air, Land. This is what the diving team was called during World War II. However, it is impossible to consider the diving team as the prototype of the described unit. This is rather one of the camouflage methods adopted in reconnaissance and sabotage units during the Cold War.

By the way, Team 6 is from the same song. The Americans already understood during the formation of the detachment that Soviet intelligence officers Soon they will find out about the "seals". In fact, at the time Team 6 was created, there were only two SEAL units in the United States. Therefore, it would be logical to name the detachment Team 3.

When did "seals" appear? According to some information from open sources, the detachment was formed immediately after the failure of a special operation to rescue 53 hostages at the American embassy in Tehran (Operation Eagle Claw). Let me remind you that this happened in 1980. And the operation of the elite special forces of the US Army then ended in complete collapse. A military helicopter carrying special forces collided with a plane on the ground and exploded. 8 special forces soldiers were killed. The Pentagon was then put in a very delicate position.

The naval commanders thought the same thing. There was an urgent need to create a structure that could quickly and by any means resolve issues of the fight against terrorism. The goal, as you can see, is good, but its implementation was entrusted to a rather ambiguous person - commander (corresponding to the Russian naval rank of captain of the second rank) Richard Marcinko. During the Vietnam War, Marcinko earned a reputation as a rather cruel and merciless officer. (By the way, for those interested in his biography: Marcinko wrote the book “Rogue Warrior.”)

Team 6 is headquartered at the Dam Neck branch of Oceana Naval Air Station, south of Virginia Beach. This is where most of the SEALs are located today. To cover the base, other army units are also located there.

The commander did not particularly care about observing army regulations and orders. The first detachment was formed on the principle of personal courage (especially in the Vietnam War), friendship between soldiers and... readiness to carry out any order from the command.

How do you become members of Team 6? Typically the selection procedure is as follows. In SEAL units that perform routine missions, after several years of service, a casting call is held for those who want to join Team 6. There are three such places in the United States. They are perfectly “tracked” by numbers. "Even Numbers" is located in Virginia Beach. Odd Number Base in San Diego. Third place - Hawaii. There is another “secret” of the US Navy - a mini-submarine base. Typically the test dropout rate is 50 or higher.

The Team's officers usually come for one or two contract periods. And it changes quite often. Although, according to some reports, there are cases of returning to the Team several times. This practice somewhat reduces the importance of the officer corps, but increases the importance of sergeants.

According to the recollections of the unit's officers, many soldiers and especially sergeants tend to exaggerate their own role. Marcinko laid down exactly this style of service. Everyone can be everyone.

But on the other hand, this style of service gives rise to a certain bravado of Team 6. All other SEAL units for them are “white” or “standard.” Although, in fairness, it should be said that they perform the same tasks. However, any Team operative will always say: "If you need to take it from the bad guys atomic bomb, or save prisoners in a war zone, then only we can do it..."

This is exactly how two detachments (assault groups) of Team 6 were created. They received their names after the colors of the American fleet. Blue and gold. By the way, it was then that the fighters from the “blue” appeared. The fact is that the “Blue” group chose the “Jolly Roger” as their symbol. It is clear that the “pirates” soon became quite famous. They even received the unofficial name “Bad Guys in Blue.”

In order for you to understand the system of training units, it is enough to give a couple of examples known from open sources. The State Police has several hundred reports on Team members for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. And in the database of accidents there are many acts on the write-off of equipment that the operatives crashed during their training.

Former Team Member and now Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke recalls one of the exercises he participated in during preparation for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Then he accompanied the commander of the exercise, an American admiral.

“When we opened the door, what I saw reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Is this my fleet? Are these guys my fleet? - the admiral asked me.

Indeed, what he saw was a shock for the naval admiral. The top-secret, best-trained naval special forces unit looked like bandits from a Hollywood movie. Long hair, earrings, beards... And a corresponding attitude to the dress code. Each of the fighters dressed to perform “his” task.

After this episode, the detachment underwent a severe reorganization. The command staff of Team 6 has been thoroughly thinned out. And at all levels. Many officers and even admirals were transferred to other units or dismissed from military service. This also affected the sergeants. These reorganizations created SEAL Team 6 as it is today.

Today a lot is known about the detachment. Everything you read above is just the tip of the iceberg. The fact that some members of the squad “opened their mouths,” especially after the operation to eliminate bin Laden, became the basis for the initiation of many criminal cases on charges of treason. Readers may remember two names: Matt Bissonnette (author of two books about his time on the Team) and Robert O'Neill (who claims to have killed bin Laden). Both are charged today under this article.

After some excursion into history, we should probably talk about the peculiarities of the actions of this unit in a combat situation. What is the difference between the Team and the “white seals”? And they really do exist. And quite significant.

SEAL Team 6's biggest legacy was in Afghanistan. Therefore, analysis of actions in this country, in my opinion, will be most indicative for understanding the work of this special unit.

First of all, about the principles of the work itself. Those that were laid down by the founder. The first, which is fundamental to the operatives of SEAL Team 6, lies in the words of one of the former officers of this unit: “If you feel threatened for even a second, then you will kill someone.”

This principle applies strictly. As, indeed, in other special forces. "When in doubt, shoot." Moreover, not a single commando will pass by an already killed enemy without a control shot. For a formal report on an operation, the feeling of threat is enough to justify any losses.

True, in official papers, when it comes to the murder of civilians, the picture is absolutely ideal. As an example, I will quote the words of one of the Team commanders: “Do I think that something bad happened? Do I think that there were more killings than necessary? Naturally. I think that the natural reaction to the threat was to eliminate it; and only then "You wondered, 'Did I overestimate her?' Do I think the guys deliberately killed those who didn't deserve it? No, it's kind of hard for me to believe that."

The second principle of the Team's work was best expressed by retired admiral and former Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis: "If you want the team to occasionally conduct activities that violate international law, you definitely don't need publicity."

William Banks, a national security expert at Syracuse University, wrote about this even more specifically: “If you are not on the battlefield, then you are not responsible.”

It was not for nothing that I cited these two principles as the basis on which all further actions of the detachment are superimposed. Americans often use the latest technological advances to create a picture of a “honest” war for the whole world. Remember the TV reports about the use of precision bombs. When the entire bomb flight is broadcast live on television. Remember the drone footage that shows effective work American units anywhere in the world.

SEAL Team 6 has not yet passed its fate. Some operations are controlled by the headquarters at Dam Neck or the center for coordinating overseas operations using drones. And, as a rule, they end in failure. But those that are carried out according to a well-established scheme are often successful.

Operations are usually performed at night. Not only pistols and rifles with silencers are used, but also cold. Operatives sneak into places of concentration or residence (which was done much more often in Afghanistan) and simply slaughter everyone.

I think it is necessary to talk here about one scandalous operation of the “Bad Boys in Blue”, which was carried out at the very end of their stay in Afghanistan in 2008. And it went down in the history of the detachment under the code name “Panther”.

The “bad guys” were then in the Afghan province of Helmand. One of the most difficult militarily and is still considered the support of the Taliban. The main population of the province is Pashtuns. It is in this province that the largest opium poppy plantations are located. The southern border province, which has always caused a lot of trouble for everyone.

So, at the beginning of 2008, the elders of one of the Pashtun villages approached the commander of the coalition forces with a complaint that the SEALs had killed several peaceful farmers. Just like that, without any reason. The complaint was transferred to Captain Scott Moore, who commanded the SEAL unit.

Moore demanded an explanation from the commander of the unit directly conducting the Panther, Captain Peter Whaley. As always happens in such cases, “no civilians were killed.” I am not me, and the horse is not mine. To which Moore demanded that the Operations Center conduct its own investigation.

The result of the investigation was facts that shocked ordinary Americans. "Seals" destroyed all the men in the village! Base? They kept weapons at home. In addition, another unpleasant episode “surfaced”. It became known that one of the Team cut the throat of a killed Afghan. As one of the Blue commanders, Captain Slabinski, commented on this episode, “it was like he was mutilating a corpse”... By the way, the investigators also had questions about Slabinski himself. The fact is that, according to the testimony of some operatives, it was this commander who ordered the killing of all men indiscriminately.

The matter was eventually hushed up. Slabinski did not give any commands. And the operative who cut up the corpse, it turns out, was simply removing the equipment from the dead man. But to this day there is no exact information about the number of dead Afghans, nor about the purpose of the operation, nor about the exact location of the burial of the corpses.

Up to this point, I wrote about well-known episodes of the activities of SEAL Team 6. And now it is time to touch on another side of the work of this detachment. The fact is that, in addition to the “Blue” and “Golden” companies, the Team includes another unit - the “Black” company.

The history of the appearance of this squad as part of Team 6 is quite interesting. Initially it was a team of highly skilled snipers. And the task of this team was to provide fire support for the operatives’ actions. Accordingly, team members were assigned to perform specific tasks in the “Blue” or “Golden” companies.

The Saudis “facilitated” the transformation of the sniper team into the “Black” company. More precisely, those who organized and carried out terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11. Immediately after these events, it was decided that SEAL Team 6 should be a purely reconnaissance unit. Preparation of future operations of the Team not only does not exclude, but also completely justifies reconnaissance.

Today, operatives from the Black Company are scattered throughout the world. They are in American embassies not only in Africa, Latin America or Asia, they are also in European embassies. It is possible that we also have such specialists.

According to the stories of some former members of the Team, Black Hundred operatives make extensive use of diplomatic channels not only to collect and send intelligence, but also to deliver weapons and equipment to the desired countries. In addition to the official "roof", operatives of the "Black" company also work under the guise of local residents. In Afghanistan, too, local media reports often appear about the capture and destruction of unknown intelligence officers.

In addition to operative agents, the “Black” Company uses technical reconnaissance equipment. From specially equipped cars, to yachts and other supposedly civilian vessels, which are actually floating spy stations. UAVs have become commonplace.

There are only a few known cases when operatives from the “Black” company used weapons. According to internal orders, the use of weapons by operatives of this unit is possible only in emergency cases. And any such case is considered in detail by the command as a serious emergency.

But there is something in the “Black” company that is not found anywhere else and that causes the undisguised envy of the other operatives. Women serve in this unit! Moreover, female operatives work not only independently, but, most often, together with men. The tandem raises fewer questions among the intelligence services of the state where the couples are located. And if interest is detected in one of the operatives, another does the work. The first one “plays the fool.” In American intelligence agencies, this tactic is called “softening.”

Today, the “Black” company is a fairly serious intelligence structure. The rise to power of Donald Trump has made the work of some US intelligence agencies quite problematic. And most American politicians understand that this is just the beginning. It is doubtful that the president will simply back down. His position is too strong. The security service worked and works too well. Too little incriminating evidence is stored in “storage rooms”.

And the policy of focusing on internal affairs proclaimed by Trump speaks for itself. The American army will gradually wind down its operations abroad. However, American interests outside the United States have not been canceled. Business, and therefore politicians, will demand operations to ensure the “negotiability” of the leaders of other states. Whether Trump wants it or not. Whether America wants to advertise its presence or not.

Be that as it may, today the “Black” company is already quite numerous. More than a hundred operatives. Unfortunately, there is no information yet about the number of support units. And the company is constantly growing.

In general, SEAL Team 6 continues its activities in all corners of the world. With your problems, victories and defeats. And you can’t discount it. The Montana congressman Ryan Zinke I mentioned above once said an interesting phrase: “When I was in business, we were always looking for war. And these guys found it.” I don't think there's a better way to say it.