Seal seals. What do they teach in the US Navy Special Forces?

"Seals" or, as they are also called, "seals"- the main tactical unit of special operations (MTR) of the US Navy. They are operationally subordinate to the US Special Operations Command.

The main purpose of the "Navy Seals" is reconnaissance, search and rescue operations, special and sabotage operations, air assault operations, hostage rescue operations, as well as other tactical operations - mining and demining, covering the main forces, combating terrorism at sea and with illegal crossing of US maritime borders.

The name "SEAL" is nothing more than an abbreviation for the names of the areas in which the SEALs will operate and in which they undergo training: Sea - sea, Air - air, Land - land. (Sea, Air and Land).

Navy SEAL teams are based not only in the United States, but throughout the world. Of course, in order to protect state interests.

Combat swimmers in the American Navy were used during the Second World War, including for reconnaissance and sabotage operations. In addition to them, the American Navy had teams of demolition divers who later took part in the Korean War.

In 1962, the SEAL team was formed. They recruited, first of all, proven fighters who knew how to shoot well, swim and wield bladed weapons. Knowledge of foreign languages ​​was an additional advantage.

Since then, SEALs have participated in all US military operations. Vietnam. Grenada. The Persian Gulf, Panama, Afghanistan, Iraq - these are the most famous chapters from their combat biography.

SEAL organizational and headquarters structure

As part of the SEAL, the main unit is a special forces detachment (battalion), which includes three companies of 40 soldiers each, and a headquarters.

The detachment headquarters includes: detachment commander (captain of the 3rd or 2nd rank MVS), chief of staff (lieutenant captain or senior lieutenant), operational officer, detachment intelligence chief, deputy detachment commander for combat training, deputy detachment commander for logistics , head of the detachment's medical service.

In addition, the detachment includes a support group - 2 platoons of 16-20 fighters and a logistics support company, as well as two reconnaissance and sabotage groups of 16 fighters, each of which is divided into combat subgroups of 4-5 fighters.

Who is accepted into the SEALs?

Navy SEALs are recruited from volunteer male U.S. citizens, at least 18 and not over 28 years of age, with at least 28 months of Navy service experience. A SEAL candidate must be healthy both physically and mentally, since service in this unit involves both physical and psychological stress. Long-term stay in a confined space or at great depth, under unfavorable weather conditions, or in swamp mud, in a hot desert or in the cold, sometimes alone, and at the same time solving a combat mission, while experiencing a lack of time.

In addition, the selection committee pays attention to the commanders' recommendations and service record. The decision is made based on the results of an interview conducted with the participation of psychologists and instructors.

The physical fitness test is relatively simple: run one and a half miles in eleven and a half minutes, swim 400 meters in the same time, perform at least 8 pull-ups on the bar, do at least 42 push-ups in two minutes.

However, this is just the beginning. The enlisted person is merely a SEAL candidate. At subsequent stages, many of them are eliminated. Only the strongest, most motivated and tenacious remain. The workouts are very challenging, and the difficulty of the workouts increases.

The specificity of this unit is also that the fighters view water not as an obstacle, but as a friendly environment. They land on the shore, and after completing the combat mission they go to sea. Therefore, the main emphasis in preparation is on actions in the water. Swimming. Sailing with a load. In water. With hands and feet tied. Blindfolded.

The training program for recruits includes three stages. The first one is called the Basic Re-Exam. Its duration is 9 weeks. Recruits continue to be tested for the first five weeks. The duration of the school day is at least 15 hours. And every day the recruits are checked, despite the fact that every day the tasks become more and more complicated. At the same time, the recruit is constantly provoked. They constantly put pressure on his psyche, giving him incorrect, illogical, and even downright stupid orders, which, nevertheless, he must carry out. In addition, instructors subject recruits to outright bullying, constantly insulting and humiliating them. “You are good for nothing!” “You will never serve in our troops!”

The sixth week is special. This is the so-called hell week. Traditionally, it begins at night, with ammunition explosions in the barracks. Over the next five days, recruits sleep no more than 4-6 hours a day. The rest of the time, they do all sorts of physical exercises all the time with minimal breaks. The “hell week” ends with a night landing in difficult weather conditions.

The first six weeks are where the most candidates are eliminated.

In the next three weeks, in addition to intensive physical training, candidates are taught to carry out hydrographic surveys, measure depth and draw maps.

In the second phase of training, called "Immersion" and lasting seven weeks, candidates perform combat missions in the water using diving equipment. This cycle begins with short descents and ends with swims of several kilometers in storms and cold. Soldiers are taught to swim for many hours in stormy weather, with a load. They learn to swim with their hands and feet tied. In this way, they are taught to feel natural in the water.

The third stage of training, “Land Warfare Techniques,” like the first stage, lasts nine weeks. Soldiers are trained to conduct reconnaissance, sabotage and combat operations. They study various types of weapons and practice interaction as part of a combat group. After completing this phase, all recruits who successfully pass the exam are sent to Fort Benning for three weeks to undergo parachute training. This is followed by 15 weeks of more “advanced” training, after which the fighters are sent to active SEAL teams for a six-month internship. Only at the end of the internship, more than a year after submitting the application, the candidate signs the first professional contract and enlists in 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 a second professional contract can a fighter be considered a full-fledged Navy SEAL.

The following basic physical training program, used in training centers for the training of Navy SEALs and commando units of the US Army, includes two cycles of 9 weeks each. It starts with relatively light loads. But then the loads grow, reaching truly prohibitive values. Not everyone can withstand it. So,

Training in the first 9 weeks

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5-6

Week 7-8

Week 9

Training for the next 9 weeks

Week 1-2

Week 3-4

Week 5

Week 6-9

It should be noted that approximately 80% of recruits drop out before completing their training. More “advanced” training includes strength and endurance exercises. To develop strength and speed-strength qualities, they practice sprinting, weight lifting and all kinds of plyometric exercises (jumping on car tires, throwing weighted balls, jumping). Bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, squats, pull-ups, and abdominal exercises are performed every day. Weight-bearing exercises are performed twice a week. It takes two months to work on strength, then three months to work on strength. Often, heavy logs and telegraph poles act as weights.

To develop endurance, a lot of time is devoted to running and swimming. Cross-country running and rock climbing are practiced. Physical training instructors, despite their brutal manner of behavior with their students (especially at first), are not at all dumb-headed physical trainers who can threaten a person to see how he suffers. They know their stuff. As, indeed, do the psychologists who control the educational process. The level of psychologists working in SEAL training camps is evidenced by the fact that active athletes at the level of national teams often come to them for consultations.

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 US history: the storming of 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 chose a small group from the Navy Seals tactical unit, which destroyed the leader of al-Qaeda during a firefight. (terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation - editor's note) on the night of May 1st.

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, after 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. They experienced their baptism of fire 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. Some of the most famous successes include the release of the transatlantic liner Achille Lauro, as well as the release of 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.

Context

ABC: The origins of the legendary special forces, Putin's iron soldiers

Special forces, SEALs and others

During selection, up to 90% of candidates are eliminated. During the tests, you need to run 24 kilometers, swim three kilometers in open-air reservoirs and withstand intense 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 particularly distinguished by their level of training: GRU special forces, which are 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 involves the use of live ammunition and explosives, which contributes to one of the highest mortality rates among special forces units 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 storming of a secondary school in Beslan on September 3, 2004, two days earlier captured by Islamist militants. 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.

Articles on the topic

The most secret unit in the USA

New Zealand special forces from the inside: how to raise an elite soldier (NZHerald)

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.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

Navy SEALs are an elite special forces unit that participates in operations conducted in any terrain. Particular emphasis is placed on training and equipping the detachment for operations in coastal and maritime environments. The name “SEAL” is an abbreviation for the names of the areas in which the squad is trained: Sea – Air – Land (sea – air – land). Their small, well-trained detachment silently carries out night operations of national importance. SEALs are deployed around the world to protect government interests. Navy SEALs and their high-speed boats, operated by their counterparts from the Special Small Combat Service, form the U.S. Navy's special forces units, which are led by the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command.

1. "Navy Seals" - Divers. (Photos are accompanied by lines from the Navy SEAL creed). In times of war or unrest, there is a special kind of warrior who is ready to come to the aid of his nation. An ordinary person with an extraordinary desire to succeed. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

2. "Navy Seals" - "Notorious Scoundrels." Forged by hardship, he stands among America's finest military special forces to protect the country, America's citizens, and their way of life. I am this person. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

3. A member of the Navy SEAL squad. My “trident” is a symbol of my dignity and honor. Given to me by heroes who have gone before me, it embodies the trust of those I am called to protect. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

4. "Navy Seals", these fighters will overcome any terrain. By accepting the Trident, I accept responsibility for my own choice of profession and lifestyle. It's an honor that I have to live up to every day. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

5. "Navy Seals" - Jumping Frog. My devotion to the Fatherland and the team is impeccable. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

6. "Navy SEALs" - Soldiers rushing to the limit. I humbly serve as the guardian of my fellow citizens and am always ready to stand up for those who are unable to defend themselves. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

7. "Navy Seals" - Fighters who are unstoppable. I do not extol the nature of my service or seek recognition for my service. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

8. "Navy Seals" - Night exercises. I willingly accepted the dangers of my profession, placing the welfare and safety of others above my own. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

9. "Navy Seals" - Fighters on a boat. I serve with honor both on and off the battlefield. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

10. "Navy Seals" - Graduates. The ability to control my emotions and actions regardless of the circumstances sets me apart from other people. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

11. "Navy Seals" - Paratroopers. Uncompromising purity is my standard. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

12. "Navy Seals" - Red Smoke. My character and honor are strong. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

13. "Navy Seals" - Divers and a submarine. My word is my bond. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

14. “Navy Seals” – The emergence of fighters from the water. We are ready to lead and be led. In the absence of command, I will take charge, lead my comrades and complete the operation. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

15. "Navy Seals" - Soldiers on a submarine. I lead by example in every situation. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

16. "Navy Seals" - Army Ninjas. I will never leave the service. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

17. "Navy Seals" - Sea fighters. I persevere and thrive in the face of adversity. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

18. “Navy Seals” – Smoke against the sunset. My people expect me to be physically and psychologically superior to my enemies. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

19. Sniper of the Navy SEAL squad. I will get back up again every time I get knocked down. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

20. "Navy Seals" - Red Flash. I will do my best to protect my comrades and complete the operation. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

21. “Navy Seals” – Sentinel in the sunset. I am always on alert. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

22. SEAL Team. We demand discipline. We are open to innovation. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

23. “Navy Seals” – Silhouettes of fighters. The lives of my comrades and the success of the mission depend on me - my technical, tactical skill and attention to detail. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

24. "Navy Seals" - Elite troops. My preparation will never be complete. We prepare for war and fight to win. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

25. “Navy Seals” – Silhouettes of fighters. I am ready to fight with full strength to complete the operation and achieve the goals set by my country. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

26. “Navy Seals” – Soldiers landing on the shore. The execution of my duty will be swift and brutal if necessary, but will always be guided by the very principles I serve. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

27. “Navy Seals” – Soldiers in a halo of sunlight. Brave warriors have fought and died for the high principles and fearsome reputation that I must uphold. (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

28. Soldier of the Navy Seals squad. In the worst of circumstances, the example of my comrades will strengthen my resolve and carry me silently through my every undertaking. I won't lose. (The end of the Navy SEAL creed). (Photo credit: Navy SEAL & SWCC)

The US Navy SEALs have a special exercise: they tie a person's hands behind his back, tie his ankles and throw him into a 3-meter deep pool.

His task is to survive for five minutes.

As is often the case in SEAL training, the vast majority of recruits fail. Many immediately panic and start screaming to be pulled out. Some try to swim, but go under water and have to be caught and pumped out. Over the years of training, there have even been deaths several times.

But some people manage to cope with the task, and knowledge of two rather contradictory rules helps them in this.

The first rule is paradoxical: the more you try to keep your head above water, the more likely you are to drown.

It is impossible to hold yourself on the surface of the water for five minutes with your hands and feet tied. Moreover, your erratic twitching will only help you drown even faster. The trick is to allow yourself to sink to the bottom of the pool. Then you should push off with your feet from the bottom and, when you are thrown to the surface, quickly inhale and begin the whole process again.

(At the age of 8, not yet knowing about the existence of the US Navy SEALs, I was thus rescued at sea in Zatoka, when I found myself in the depths and lost the inflatable ball that I had previously held on to.) I sank to the bottom and pushed myself up and down with my feet. side of the shore. In such leaps I jumped to the shallows)

Oddly enough, this technique does not require either superhuman strength or special endurance. You don't even have to know how to swim; rather, on the contrary, you are required to not even try to do so. You should not resist the laws of physics, you should use them to save your life.

The second lesson is a little more obvious, but also counterintuitive: the more you panic, the more oxygen you need, and the more likely you are to pass out and drown. The exercise turns your survival instinct against yourself: the more intense your desire to breathe, the less ability you will have to do so. And the more intense your will to live, the more likely you are to die.

Thus, this exercise is not about physical strength or willpower. It is aimed at the ability to control oneself in a critical situation. Will a person be able to suppress his instinctive impulses? Will he be able to relax in the face of potential death? Will he be able to risk his life to achieve some higher task?

Self-control is much more important than swimming. It is more important than physical strength, endurance or ambition. It is more important than intelligence, education and how good a person looks in a luxurious Italian suit.

This skill - the ability to not give in to instincts when you want it most - is one of the most important skills that any person can develop in himself. And not only for service in the navy. Just for life.

Most people believe that effort and reward are directly related. We believe that if we work twice as hard, the result will be twice as good. And if we pay twice as much attention to our loved ones, then they will love us twice as much. And if we shout twice as loud, our words will become twice as persuasive.

That is, it is assumed that most of what happens in our lives is described by a linear graph, and that for every “unit” of effort there is a “unit” of reward.

But let me tell you (me, who was hoping that drinking twice as much Red Bull would get this article over with in half the time) - that almost never happens. Most of what happens in the world does not occur according to linear laws. A linear relationship is observed only in the most primitive, monotonous and boring things - when driving a car, when filling out documents, when cleaning the bathroom, etc. In all of these cases, if you do something for two hours, you will get twice as much as if you did it for an hour. But this is due to the fact that there is no need to think or invent.

Most often, the linear relationship is not observed precisely because monotonous mechanical actions make up a smaller part of our life. Most of our activities are complex and require mental and emotional effort.

Thus, most activities follow a diminishing returns curve.

The Law of Diminishing Returns states that, after a certain point, increasing investments do not produce equivalent returns. A classic example is money. The difference between earning $20,000 and $40,000 is huge and completely life changing. The difference between earning $120,000 and $140,000 just means that your car will have nicer seat heaters. The difference between earnings of $127,020,000 and $127,040,000 is generally within the statistical margin of error.

The concept of diminishing returns applies to most all events that are complex or new. The more often you shower, the more chicken wings you eat at dinner, the longer you adhere to the ritual of annual trips to your mother - the less significant each of these events becomes (may my mother forgive me).

Another example: productivity studies show that we are only truly effective in the first four to five hours of our workday. This is followed by a sharp decline in productivity - to the point that the difference between working for 12 hours and working for 16 hours is practically invisible (save for sleep deprivation).

The same rule applies to friendship. A single friend is always vital. Having two friends is always better than having one. But if you add a 10th to 9 friends, this will change little in your life. And 21 friends instead of 20 only brings problems with remembering names.

The concept of diminishing returns works with sex, eating, sleeping, drinking alcohol, working out at the gym, reading books, vacations, hiring employees, consuming caffeine, saving money, scheduling business meetings, studying, playing video games, and masturbating—the examples are endless. The more you do something, the less reward you get for each subsequent action. Almost everything works according to the law of diminishing returns.

But there is another curve that you have probably never seen or heard of before - this is the inverse (inverted) yield curve.

An inverted yield curve demonstrates those cases where effort and reward are negatively correlated, meaning the more effort you put into something, the less you achieve.

And it is this law that operates in the example with the Navy SEALs. The more effort you put into staying afloat, the more likely you are to fail. Likewise, the stronger your desire to breathe, the more likely you are to choke.

Perhaps now you are thinking - well, why do we need to know all this? We are not going to dive into the pool with our legs and arms tied! Why do we care about inverse curves?

Indeed, there are few things in life that work according to the law of the inverse curve. But the few that exist are extremely important. I will even dare to say that all the most important experiences and events in life work according to the law of the inverse curve.

Effort and reward are directly related when performing primitive tasks. Effort and reward operate under the law of diminishing returns when the action is complex and multidimensional.

But when it comes to our psyche, i.e. about what happens solely in our own minds, the relationship between effort and reward is inverse.

Chasing luck takes you even further away from it. The search for emotional peace only makes you more agitated. The desire for greater freedom often makes us feel even more strongly that we are not free. The need to be loved prevents us from loving ourselves.

Aldous Huxley once wrote: “The more often we force ourselves to do something against our will, the less often we succeed. Knowledge and results come only to those who have studied the paradoxical art of doing without doing, of combining relaxation with activity.”

The fundamental components of our psyche are paradoxical. This is due to the fact that when we consciously try to induce a certain mood in ourselves, the brain automatically begins to resist it.

This is the “Reverse Law”: the expectation of a positive result in itself is a negative factor; being prepared for a negative outcome is a positive factor.

This applies to most (if not all) aspects of our mental health and relationships:

Control. The more we strive to control our own feelings and impulses, the more we worry about our incontinence. Our emotions are involuntary and often uncontrollable, and the desire to take control further intensifies them. And vice versa, the calmer we are about our own feelings and impulses, the more opportunities we have to direct them in the right direction.

Freedom. Ironically, the constant desire for greater freedom places more and more barriers in front of us. Willingness to accept freedom within certain boundaries allows us to independently determine these boundaries.

Happiness. Trying to be happy makes us less happy. Reconciliation with failures makes us happy.

Safety. The desire to feel safe creates insecurity in us. Coming to terms with uncertainty makes us feel safe.

Love. The more we try to make others love us, the less inclined they will be to do so. And, more importantly, the less we will love ourselves.

Respect. The more we demand respect for ourselves, the less we will be respected. The more we respect others ourselves, the more respect we will receive.

Confidence. The more we persuade people to trust us, the less often they do so. The more we trust others, the more trust we receive in return.

Confidence. The more we try to feel confident in ourselves, the more worried and worried we become. The willingness to admit our shortcomings allows us to feel more comfortable in our own skin.

Self improvement. The more we strive for perfection, the more acutely we feel that it is not enough. At the same time, the willingness to accept ourselves as we are allows us to grow and develop, because in this case we are too busy to pay attention to secondary things.

Significance: The more significant and deep we consider our own life, the more superficial it is. The more meaning we give to other people's lives, the more important we will become to them.

All these internal, psychological experiences work according to the law of the inverse curve, because they are all generated at the same point: in our consciousness. When you desire happiness, your brain is both the source of this desire and the object that should feel it.

When it comes to these lofty, abstract, existential considerations, our brains become like a dog chasing its own tail. This chase seems quite logical to the dog - after all, if with the help of the chase he gets everything else that is necessary for his dog's life, then why should this time be different?

However, a dog can never catch its own tail. The faster she catches up, the faster her tail runs away. The dog lacks breadth of vision; it does not see that it and the tail are a single whole.

Our task is to wean our brain from chasing its own tail. Give up the pursuit of meaning, freedom and happiness, because they can only be felt when you stop chasing them. Learn to achieve your goal by refusing to pursue this goal. Show yourself that the only way to reach the surface is to allow yourself to sink.

How to do it? Refuse. Give up. Surrender. Not because of weakness, but because of the understanding that the world is wider than our consciousness. Recognize your fragility and limitations. Your finitude in the endless flow of time. This relinquishment of attempts at control speaks not of weakness, but of strength, because you are choosing to give up those things that are beyond your control. Accept that not everyone will always love you, that there are failures in life, and that you won’t always find a clue as to what to do next.

Give up fighting your own fears and insecurities, and when you think that you are about to drown, you will reach the bottom and be able to push off from it, and this will be salvation.

These massacres became commonplace. A new way of warfare for the United States, in which there is no fighting on the battlefield, but rather the merciless killing of suspected militants. The most secret unit of the United States has turned into a global human hunting machine.

They plotted their deadly missions from 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.

The squad's role reflects America's new way of waging 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 the name, although some of their activities have been mentioned in recent years, mostly in enthusiastic messages. 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 unit was reorganized to carry out covert intelligence operations, and 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.

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 its findings 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

Even civilian observers within the military do not regularly check the unit's 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.

Since 2001, the SEALs have been showered with money, which has allowed them to significantly expand their ranks - their number has reached about 300 assault soldiers (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 bring out your worst and your best.”

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 (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation - editor's note), 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.

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.”

While declining to comment specifically on the SEALs, US Special Operations Command said that since the 9/11 attacks, 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 in the military." US forces."

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 a unit to occasionally engage in activities that violate international law, you certainly don't need publicity," says James Stavridis, a retired admiral and former Supreme Allied Commander.

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," said William Banks, an expert on national security law at Syracuse University, "then you're not responsible."

War at Close Range

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.

It was the SEALs' first major battle in Afghanistan, and Neal was the first casualty. Roberst's murder sent shivers through the very tight-knit team. The American “new war” will be ugly and will be fought 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 in the wake of the Phoenix Program (during the "Vietnam Era"), in which CIA officers and special forces carried out interrogations and assassinations 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 was receiving almost all of the Pentagon's attention and required a constant build-up of troops, including Navy SEAL operatives. Due to America's weakening military influence 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 nighttime raids and battles carried out by Team 6. The unit was assigned to lead special forces during some of the most brutal periods of what came to be known as America's longest 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. Another name for Team 6, the Special Rapid Deployment Sea 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 silencers that suppress the sound of gunfire and gunfire. 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 SEALs carry, the fewer enemies come out alive.

“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 said they were too bulky and less effective than firearms - while acknowledging that the battlefield was at times 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

The SEALs' isolated headquarters at Dam Neck at Oceana Naval Air Station, south of Virginia Beach, is 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 reconnaissance squad equipped with the latest surveillance systems. and surveillance around the world.

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,” says one former officer, adding that most of the SEALs “were just like him.”

Known for strictly following established rules, Delta Force members often start out as ordinary infantrymen, then advance into reconnaissance 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 in Hawaii - the SEALs can try to join to the sixth squad. 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 about their missions, and many current and former fighters are angry 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. The Naval Criminal Investigation Service is investigating 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.

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 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, SEALs were assigned to guard 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.

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.

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 ask yourself: “Did I overestimate her?” Do I think the guys intentionally killed those who didn't 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 professor at South Texas College of Law. “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 Capt. Scott Moore, the SEAL commander, 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. As the number of rules increased, things became more complicated.”

Rescue missions

Long before night raids in Afghanistan and landings on the battlefield, SEALs 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.

The first high-profile rescue mission came in 2003, when SEAL 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 the Indian Ocean 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 that operatives jump from a great height 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.

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, an aid worker. 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 the north-west of Pakistan - Newcomer's note) 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 the SEALs 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 the SEAL team 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. The former SEAL 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.

At the 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. Fearing the use of “shadow soldiers” after the defeat in the “Battle of Mogadishu” in Somalia in 1993, government officials now prefer to send teams like the Navy SEALs to resolve conflicts, regardless of whether the United States wants to advertise its presence or not.

"When I was in business, we were always looking for wars," said Mr. Zinke, a congressman and former member of Team 6. "And these guys found them."

Mark Mazzetti, Nicholas Kulish, Christopher Drew, Serge F. Kovalevski, Sean D. Naylor, John Ismay