my best friend just got out the service as an Army SF operator. we grew up with completely polar opposite backgrounds, but strangely we're very similar.

He speaks 4 languages, double majored in college, and enlisted, not OCS after graduation. Looking at him, you'd never know the stuff he's done. He doesn't talk about it. He's one of those guys that can truly accomplish anything.

He just got picked up by an ANG unit to go fly and he's training for that now. He'll do great.

between 1973 and 93..
they did stuff...
and then some..
there's snake-eater on this board..
his past other lives & current life are 'interesting'..
but he won't talk or tell you squat...
other than..
been busy..

Rika

I had a PSG who was ex special forces, and who'd served in Vietnam. Quite frankly, i never really liked him, he was downright mean. His last posting before coming to our unit was as a drill instructor, and it took him a while to shake all that off and mellow out to a more permanent party appropriate level. Later on I grew to respect him, but I never really liked him.

Also had a company commander that was a former NCO, and a tabbed Ranger. Very, very loud and boisterous, but IMO a great officer and leader of men.

My last Bn Sgt Major was an ex Paratrooper. He was definitely of the "larger than life" sort. Very loud, high spirited, and extremely likable. Really funny too. Always had a great line for anything you said.

Also, my favorite drill sergeant in basic was an ex 75th Abn Ranger that'd served in Grenada. He was one of the most braggardly men i ever met in my life, but he was the real deal with his CIB and right hand 75th patch at a time when very few troops had such things, so to me as a 17yo Infantry trainee, it just made him seem even more god-like. He was short and stocky and loud and demanding, but honestly, i really admired and respected him. Probably my favorite Sgt of my entire time in the military.

I think there is a HUGE difference when you see these men operating among other soldiers in a unit, or out in the field, as a comrade in arms, as opposed to meeting them at a picnic or having coffee or a drink with one as a civilian.

How long was your entire time in the military?

My point is of the vast number of indivduals who serviced in elite units over the last 40 years, the actual number who didn't see any real combat is larger than those who have. And the number of those who saw some action and actual killed is every smaller, but every time I hear someones story about knowing a guy who was this or that ,they seem to alway imply they were stone cold killers who been thru the deep sh##.

I see. I didn't get that impression. Not that it really matters when discussing these very special guys, the only one I got to know pretty well was a SEAL, and he'd seen and participated in some pretty hairy action in Nam. So had his brothers that I came to know as casual acquaintances. They were all great guys and didn't talk about their jobs.

I saw some stats somewhere a few months ago that suggested 4 out of every 5 people who claim to be a vietnam vet aren't.

I am sure google could find it.

Fixed it for you.


BTW, sometimes the goal is not to "fire a shot".

i had a friend who was in nam the same time i was in-country. '68. his trip was "interrogation". he still gets quite drunk each and every night. he is convinced god is going to send him to hell because of the many murders he committed. excellent craftsman, model employee. gets wasted every night. i knew a welder, his son fell off a ladder and died. absolutely wasted each and every night. i worked for two years with the senior enlisted spec ops man in the navy. midget ninja. he was there in '68. training RVN. anyone ever deal with the PRU?

I betting that would be most of the guys with the cardboard signs.

I can't even think of a valid number for the number of people that I have known in my lifetime. It is a large number. I can count on one hand the number of people that I KNOW have served and seen action in the special forces. No doubt that many people I know have seen the elephant but never mentioned it.

I thank any and all veterans & active duty that I do meet for thier service to our country.

You have the SEAL's we have the SAS.

Trying to choose a better team would be like trying to choose between Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee, either way the bad guys would lose.

The one who knows don't tell ... the one who tells don't know.

man you want to hear how many guys were alleged u.s. navy seals.................go hang out on some dive boats. i have been diving for 34 years now, and i cannot tell you how many guys have stated "yeah i used to be a SEAL", as they are putting their valve on backwards on their scuba tank! i am not pooing you!


you knew within about 60 seconds the ONLY CLAIM TO FAME THEY HAD WAS the monicker....................."I AM A FLOUNDER/SQUID!" as they burn thru a single 80 cu ft tank in 15 minutes and havent a clue about decom tables.


i have watched u.s. navy seal training on coronado island. they iz the baddest of the bad and they earn that title U.S. NAVY SEAL! same as any special ops nut case. i ran into some HALO guys. talk about NUTZ!


HALO= lets jump out of a perfectly good aircraft at 30,000 feet on oxygen, into the middle of the damn ocean, with rebreathers, weapons(HK's) and then swim ashore undetected and kill/blow everything up and then swim off into the sunset!



talk about balls the size of beach balls!!!! SHEESSSH! MY HATS OFF TO THEM ANYDAY!

Those that can, do, those that do...STFU about it....

I used to know a special forces type guy.. he didn't talk about it much, but I do know he was on a LRRP team in Nam and did some nasty things that bothered him decades later. the nightmares and bad memories got to be too much for him. his boss called one day and said he had not been into work all week and could we check on him.. I found him in his bed 3 days after he put a pillow on his chest and blew a hole thru his heart with a 357. 3 days marinating Au Jus in a small apt with a/c off in louisiana summer... he was ripe

The company I work for makes "stuff" for the military and we have a few ex special forces and military people. I just found out that one of my coworkers who I have known for 15 years was a Green Beret. Very low key and calm. Another one was a Ranger and he is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. We have had plenty of people claim to be ex special forces but they don't stay very long when they realize the company they are in. We had a new guy a couple of years ago that had a Marine Corps sticker on his tool box. I asked him what he did in the service and he said he was in special forces. I said, " so you were Force Recon?" and he asked me what the fuch is that? I told him he would be wise to stfu because the real deal are present around him. We had another guy say he was an ex Navy Seal secretly employed by the government and was on call. He lived in a trailer park with his mom. I asked him what "Buds" stood for. It was funny watching him try to figure it out. It's pretty funny to watch these new guys come in and get humbled.

The guys that were the real deal aren't hanging out at the VFW telling stories over a beer. You also seem to assume that because we weren't at war our SOF spent their time on the couch eating chips and watching TV. The entire point of their existence is to accomplish missions in places they aren't supposed to be without anyone knowing they were there.

Seals are great, but are still human (i.e. not perfect). I wonder how the pilot of the downed secret stealth copter (the tail section of which is now surely on its way to China) feels after clipping the wall of the Osama compound and dropping it. It seems inexplicable that they didn't destroy the tail section along with the rest of the chopper. This, unfortunately, was a major F-up in what was otherwise a very successful mission.

i worked for an ex army super secret nam killing machine. he thought "incoming" meant mail call. in the south seas, i worked for an ex luftwaffe pilot. his father was ashamed of him. a real man fought from horseback with pistol and sword. what ever.