So we are on FTD facts most of you viewers have noticed that we've been learning about many different organizations and
militaries from around the world
I've talked about how much power certain countries have like the European countries and have also looked at their Special Forces Air Forces and different
Departments within these militaries. However today I figured we'd take a look at the world famous group
That is across the pond from our regular viewers in
Southeast Asia or in Europe and look at the Navy SEALs from the United States of America and understand not only its history
But some unique facts about them. Hey everybody. How's it going?
Welcome to FTD facts the channel where I look at people cultures some places and military divisions and stuff from all around the world
I'm Dave Walpole and one of the questions that I really want to ask first when it comes to the Navy SEALs is are the
Navy SEALs a special forces unit or more identified as frogmen well
Theoretically both and as a matter of fact if you're unfamiliar with the frogmen term most frogmen groups
which are experts in diving and underwater missions are generally classified as Special Forces units and
Especially when it comes to the United States Navy SEALs
They pretty much came from the frogmen groups from the Second World War and with that in mind
We got to go way back to the Second World War as a matter of fact, August 15
1942 to be exact this was the date that the army organized what is known as the
Amphibious scout and Rader school and was located in Fort Pierce, Florida
Now this was a small
Group where the soldiers that were a part of it came from different divisions of the Navy and it was at that time they began
Training at the amphibious training base in Little Creek, Virginia
now one of the first major
Important individuals that I should talk about is Phillip H of buck Lou Philip H buck lou served in the first amphibians
And was considered the father of US Special naval warfare
This was because fours efforts in the European theater as an amphibious troop
He was granted two decorations of the Navy Cross
Which is the second highest achievement one can get so one of the very first
operations of this new amphibious group was during Operation Torch
which was an operation that happened in between November 8th and 16th of 1942 and
Carried out in French Morocco and French Algeria side note with Operation Torch. This was also the very first major
Involvement with the United States in the North African and even European theater and on top of that it was also the first major
airborne assault conducted by the United States of America and besides the amphibious Scout and Raiders
They also had a few other groups that were trained in amphibious assaults. One of the most notable of these was the naval combat
Demolitions unit these were demo experts and they were present throughout all of the war and began in
1942 as a matter of fact
These guys were very important to blowing obstacles and lines on the beaches of Normandy for Operation Overlord as well the father of naval
demolitions originated from this group and that was Lieutenant Commander Draper al
Coffman and he also indeed helped set up this group in the first place on top of that the Office of Strategic Services or the
OSS had themselves a maritime unit as well
And with those three units that I just mentioned they all had their own speciality
You had the naval demolitions who were in charge of obviously demolitions you had Scouts and Raiders who were also really good at
Pathfinding and of course you had the OSS who were really good at intelligence as well
But however one group that really stands out that makes you think of the Navy SEALs to a tee is the underwater
demolitions team known as the UDT
basically after the United States had a major loss during the Battle of Tarawa in November of
1943 the Navy decided to put together this group organized of nine teams of men and their mission very similar to the naval combat
Demolitions team they were in charge of going in ahead and blowing out as many obstacles as they possibly can
Oh, yes, and of course, they were also in charge of recounting the area as well
So when the major forces came in they would know what's ahead of them
but oddly enough although a few of these men came from these Scouts and Raiders programs and other programs in amphibious training a
Big chunk of them were what you call Seabees. Now. What were Seabees they were basically the
Engineers at the sea they knew how to build naval bases
Repair things that sort of thing as a matter of fact throughout the Second World War. They see that there was approximately 300
85,000 Seabees for the Navy but one interesting aspect of the team known as UDT
These guys were considered naked all the time. Okay
I don't mean they were actually naked they were pretty much wearing, you know swim trunks the entire time
This is because throughout the Second World War their behavior broke against what was known as the Fort Pierce
Protocol because of that they ignored their orders to stay in their boat and jumped out in their bathing suits
To survey the area as well
They also operated in broad daylight which was a very uncommon thing and considered a very dangerous thing to do
The reason for this is because they say they'd be able to spot things
underwater a lot easier during the day than at night by the end of the war the UDT had 34 teams in which
two guys usually work together on a coast and I just think it's amazing that these guys were
You know military dudes and they were still just wearing bathing suits, you know
A couple of flippers and of course some goggles and that was pretty much it of course, though
That is just the second world war
That is just a basis of where the Navy SEALs came from because it wasn't until the 60s that the Navy SEALs
Actually formed this was because on May 25th 1961 during. John, f kennedy's very famous. Speech
He mentioned how he was going to invest a hundred million dollars into Special Forces training numbered of a side note
Some people think that John F. Kennedy came up with the whole idea of the Navy SEALs
well
There are another argument that people say the Navy SEALs was an idea that was thought of even as far back as the Korean War
however
You can say because John F Kennedy decided to push more Special Forces training
The Navy SEALs came to be because it was shortly after John F Kennedy
Speech that in 1962 the first two Navy SEAL Teams were formed now
This is where the whole Special Forces team sort of comes in because they were created as a naval counter to the army special forces
Units and although this may not be official but according to the founding SEAL team member known as Roy Boehm
he stated that the very first missions that the SEALs were a part of was in the communist country of Cuba, but however in
1963 the CIA started using the Navy SEALs in
operations in Vietnam
Keep in mind this was well before America even decided to enter the war because that was in 1965
Also a little bit of a side note when it comes to these CIA
missions a lot of them weren't actually really that successful and the only time they became successful is when the Navy SEALs
Got their own
independence and were capable of doing their own missions and it was after that the Navy SEALs started getting the
Reputation of being a quite capable force because when they were under I guess you could say the eye of the CIA
they really weren't doing that well and to give you an idea of how successful and courageous these guys are during the war from
1965 to
1975 the Navy SEALs received one Medal of Honor to Navy crosses
42 Silver Stars four hundred and two Bronze Stars to legions of merit and 352 accommodation medals and
51 Navy achievements as well
They apparently had a kill count of over 2,000 and had only lost
42 to 48 men and to go into some darker history commander Robert J Fay was the first Navy SEAL to lose his life
During Vietnam after a mortar round had struck him and this happened on October 28th
1965 however
The first Navy SEAL to lose his life in combat was Billy machen who was a radar man and he lost his life on
August 16
1966 moon rail on let's look at some of the more modern aspects of the Navy SEALs because quite a lots changed since
Vietnam, of course
firstly the Navy SEALs have actually took part of many different operations from around the world and
Just because they're known as the Navy SEALs doesn't mean they always operate in water
As a matter of fact, they do a lot of land operations as well and including Vietnam
they were a part of Lebanon Desert Storm the Somalia Civil War the
Yugoslav war and of course were in Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom
They were also in Grenada and many anti-piracy missions such as the 1985
Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking
And of course the Somalia Marist, Alabama hijacking in 2009 and a lot more and yeah
Maybe some of you guys already know that they were a part the mission to take out Osama bin Laden
but what you might not know is they actually built a
One-to-one scale size replica of the house that they were taking and they trained in that house
Every single day a lot of times now. Okay. What does it take to be a Navy SEALs?
Well, let's take a look at some of the requirements for this to get into the Navy SEALs
Not only does one have to be physically fit. But you also got to be mentally fit as well
We don't want any crazies with the guns. They got no. Thank you
First of all, you have to commit and do a 500-yard swimming in 12 minutes and 30 seconds
You also have to do 50 pushups in two minutes 50 sit-ups in two minutes and ten consecutive
Pull-ups in two minutes as well on top of that
There's also a 1.5 mile run that has to be done in less than 10 minutes and 30 seconds
This is during what they call hell weekend. Oh my god. Hell week is just a nightmare
If you go into describe it all of this, of course falls under what they call the buds or the bee
UDS training which is your basic underwater demolition
SEAL training and within this they say the very first phase of the training only
33 percent of the people move on to phase number two and with that there are three different phases
Of the Navy SEAL training which is 24 weeks long this of course does not include the Naval Special Warfare
Preparatory school that is eight weeks and also candidates have to be anywhere between 18 to 29 years old for me. I'm 32
So I'm out. Yeah guys. I know I don't look 32. Yeah
Oh, yeah, put my age guests down there, you know if you guys say 22
I'm gonna feel real good about myself of these first three you got phase 1 which is physical conditioning phase 2 is combat diving and
Phase 3 is land warfare
Of course
It's not over after that because then you got to go on to a three-week parachuting school yikes then of course
There is a 26 week long Navy SEAL qualification program which by the way, I know some of you guys are saying man
There are so many courses
Just to let you know
It's a lot of people that fail during the first phase as a matter of fact all the phases after that
They have a very high succession rate as a matter of for all the groups over
87% of people pass and of course after that there is also
Individual training programs task group training programs and other things like that
and as for the size of this elite force they say there is
approximately two thousand four hundred and fifty
Active-duty seals, which is just about one percent of all of Navy personnel. So thanks for watching guys
That is all the information that I could give you on the Navy SEALs for this video
Which before you guys get out of here? Just let you know if you guys are really loving military topics
Maybe you guys are from the United States and you want more?
Military videos maybe on the army maybe on
Paratroopers or anything like that?
Be sure to give this video a big like because the more likes then I know hey
I should do more of this content. That being said normally here on FTD facts
We do everything in playlists by countries and their militaries
So because this is the first time that we are doing a military video in America
I will have a playlist out for you guys. It just might not be available if it is
It's in the cards or in the description box below or at the end of this video
If not, it might just be a link to some of the other cool Special Forces units and other units from around the world
So feel free to check those out, but thanks for watching guys
I'm Dave wopo hit that subscribe button, and I'll see you guys in the next one. Bye. Bye
So, like I said guys here's some of the great playlists that we have
Especially if you like learning about military groups from around the world, so feel free to check these out other than that
Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you in the next one. Bye