SEAL of Honor (21 page)

Little did anyone in that classroom realize that Admiral Olson’s words were not only reflective, but prophetic as well.

The final week was field based, at the NSW La Posta training facility, conducting leadership quick-reaction drills. These fast, hard-hitting drills were designed to teach tactical decision making in a simulated combat environment. The training was essentially continuous for five days, with the officers eating and sleeping in the field.

While Ensign Murphy finished the JOTC with great anticipation of SQT, he had to complete three more courses before getting there.

The range safety officer (RSO) course taught the essentials of using firearms in a safe and effective training environment. Conducted over a one-week period on multiple firing ranges, the training was designed to familiarize the students with all NSW shooting and training regulations and instruct them how to comply with those standards.

This one-week course emphasized compliance with all NSW training and diving regulations. While actual diving was an important aspect of this course, Michael and each of his fellow classmates also had to establish and supervise a diving evolution. This involved making sure that all of the students under their charge were properly checked out before entering the water.

Established by the Air Force at the end of the Korean War, SERE was extended during the Vietnam War to Army and Navy personnel. A course common to nearly all SOF operators, it is conducted by the naval aviation community at Warner Springs, California.

The majority of the SERE training focused on survival and evasion. Woodcraft and wilderness survival techniques in all types of climates were taught, including emergency first aid, land navigation, camouflage techniques, methods of evasion, communication protocols, and the making of improvised tools.

This segment was designed based on the experiences of former prisoners of war. It included training on how to resist the enemy and survive in the event of capture. The majority of this training is classified.

After spending five days in the classroom learning survival skills, assisting rescuers in the event they are caught behind enemy lines, and learning the U.S. military code of conduct as it pertains to prisoners of war (POWs), Michael and his class were placed in the field. There, for five more days, they applied the skills they had learned in the classroom. In a simulation of an actual event, they engaged in combat and were captured and detained as as POWs. Through this both physically and psychologically demanding course, Michael and his classmates got a small glimpse as to what might be in store for them as POWs.

Considered the capstone course, more money, time, resources, and talent are given to SQT than any other program conducted at NSW. As such, the pace and schedule are elevated several levels. Successful completion of all training up to this point does not guarantee a student his Trident. Only after succeeding in the fifteen-week SQT course is a student awarded the coveted Trident, the symbol of the SEALs.

For Michael and his classmates, after PT, the first evolution was combat medicine, called tactical combat casualty care, or TCCC. Here they learned how to treat combat casualties, prevent additionial casualties, and still complete their assigned mission. Overall, the best battlefield medicine is superiority in firepower. TCCC required the SEAL trainees to use BATS, a procedure that focused on bleeding, airway, tension pneumothorax, and shock, rather than the civilian ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) protocol. After Michael and his class successfully completed their classroom instruction and passed a written examination, they were placed in simulated combat positions under simulated fire conditions with single as well as multiple combat casualties with varing degrees of injury. The skills Michael Murphy learned during this training would serve him well in the years ahead.

Next was the land-navigation evolution, which began with two days in the classroom learning map reading and land-navigation techniques that include the use of a compass. During this phase of their training, Michael and the other students were also taught how to classify their equipment.

First line gear was what they wore: camouflage uniforms (known as cammies), boots, hat, and whatever they carried in their pockets, which should include a pencil, a notebook, a waterproof penlight, a map, a compass, a pocketknife, a strobe light, emergency rations (usually a PowerBar or two), and a survival kit. Primary and backup weapons were also considered first line gear.

Second line gear, also known as operational gear, was all the equipment carried on their H-gear. This included ammunition and grenades, a personal medical kit, a PRC-112 survival radio, twenty-four hours’ worth of rations, and two quarts of water. Also on the H-gear should be a weapons cleaning kit, insect repellent, water purfication tablets, a snap link, an IV pouch and extra field dressings, and a battlefield knife.

Third line gear consisted of their rucksack and its contents, which should include a sleeping bag, a ground pad, rations, water, socks, extra ammunition, demolitions, and grenades.

The students were taught to pack and secure all three levels of their gear to ensure it made absolutely no noise when walking, running, or jumping. Each of them was issued a basic set of first, second, and third line gear.

Following land navigation, they headed off to the NSW Mountain Warfare Training Facility in La Posta, California, to become combat shooters. Sight picture (properly aligning the target within the weapon’s sights) and trigger control were stressed, as well as the combat stance: feet apart, knees bent slightly, arms straight, shoulders rolled forward, elbows in tight. Thousands of rounds were fired by each student as he learned to get rounds downrange and on target.

From La Posta they traveled to the firing range at Camp Pendleton, California. Here they learned marksmanship for five days. Again, thousands of rounds were fired by each student, with minimum scores required.

After these evolutions the students moved on to Close Quarters Defense (CQD) training back at NSW. During this phase of their training, only a few hours were spent in the classroom; this training was all hands-on. Here they learned to manage and utilize aggression for self-protection in what are called Box Drills. Box Drills were one-on-one training exercises utilizing the hand-to-hand combat skills they had been taught. The action continued until one of the contestants was knocked out of the box. This training was all about the student dominating his space and fighting to win in a tactical situation. The instruction also included several sessions on prisoner control. Following their week of CQD, Michael’s class prepared for the next evolution, at Camp Billy Machen, NSW’s Desert Training Facility, located about 135 miles east of the Special Warfare Center. Camp Billy Machen is a Navy SEAL desert training facility located at the edge of the Chocolate Mountains in southern California named after the first Navy SEAL killed in Vietnam.

At Camp Billy Machen, Michael and his classmates began a three-week evolution that required them to demonstrate sound judgment, teamwork, and physical stamina. The first week was spent at the range for weapons training. During week two the men engaged in night evolutions, practiced hand and arm signals, and had a day of rocket firing training, They also had to survive the combat conditioning course, which included a thirteen-mile run that began at 3:00 AM, with
full gear and weapons. Several days of practice with military demolitions were followed by immediate-action drills, or IADs. Combat search and rescue (CSAR) was also covered. The last three days were devoted to the final mission problem, or final field training exercise.The final field training exercise was a full-scale exercise that required Michael to use all of the skills he had learned.

Camp Billy Machen was followed by the two-week Combat Swimmer Course (CSC). In a stark change from the desert heat, the students now endured the 60° waters of the Pacific. Here, they would learn about the placing of mines and the vulnerabilities of a ship’s hull, master underwater navigation, and hone their knottying and diving skills. To successfully complete this evolution, a dive pair swam into a harbor, attacked two ships with limpet mines, and exfiltrated to a pickup point without being detected from the surface.

On April 4, 2002, Ensign Michael P. Murphy acknowledged and signed his SQT Fitness Report and Counseling Record. The report noted Michael’s “solid performance as a student in SEAL Qualification Training (SQT) learning the full spectrum of Naval Special Warfare tactics, techniques, procedures, and equipment. He had participated in Medical Training, Land Navigation, Parachuting, Live-fire Weapons and Demolition Scenarios, Combat Diving, and Maritime Operations. He performed well in all aspects of this training and successfully completed all graduation requirements and was recommended for full duty at a SEAL team.”

With his family present, Ensign Michael Murphy graduated from the Naval Special Warfare Command Center wearing his golden Trident, the symbol of a Navy SEAL. It had taken him nearly six years of education, dedication, and training to get here.

No one graduated from SQT without the the approval of the officer in charge, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Mike Loo. At SQT he was referred to as “the Warrant.” Before graduation he provided each student with a handout that was headed “Rules to live by in Naval Special Warfare.”

1. Congratulations. You guys have completed a major milestone in your Special Warfare career. Here at the Naval Special Warfare Center you have completed BUD/S, Army airborne training, and SQT, and you have been awarded the NSW SEAL insignia, the Trident. SQT has taught you the SEAL tactics, techniques, and procedures required to successfully integrate into a SEAL platoon. You are now prepared to go in “harm’s way” as an operational SEAL. This course has laid the foundation of warfighting knowledge and skills you will use for your entire Special Warfare career. Mastering these skills should be your primary mission. Your lives and the lives of your teammates depend on it.

2. Don’t forget that Special Warfare is the number one maritime Special Operations Force in the world and arguably the number one Special Operations Force in the
world. Being number one in the world in anything means
paying a very high price
. You have to be more focused, smarter, work harder, and have more desire than anyone else in other SOF units. Accomplishing the many tasks and difficult assignments that are thrown our way requires great effort, dedication, and persistence.

3. When you get to your team you need to work extremely hard to prepare yourselves for real-world operations. You must be physically and mentally prepared—trained to win the gunfight and accomplish the mission. Stay focused, train hard, and be the professionals we expect you to be. Always maintain your own integrity and the integrity of the teams. This handout contains, in no particular order, a list of lessons learned and rules to live by in Naval Special Warfare. Some of these are my personal rules for success and others are from great leaders in NSW who have been mentors and role models in my life. Keep this handout! Refer to it now and then. Never forget that you are the future of Naval Special Warfare. Talk is cheap; action is everything. Put out the effort and take the action needed to keep our force the best in the world.