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Story:Richard Marcinko
Richard "Dick" Marcinko (born November 21, 1940), is a retired Commander in the United States Navy and a former Navy SEAL. He was the first Commanding Officer of SEAL Team Six and Red Cell. After retiring from the Navy, he became an author, radio talk show host, military consultant, and motivational speaker.
A number of nicknames have been ascribed to Marcinko, including "Rogue Warrior", "Demo Dick", "Shark Man of the Delta" and "The Geek"
'United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group'
The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), commonly known as DEVGRU and informally by its former name SEAL Team Six (ST6),[1][2] is one of the United States' four secretive counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units (SMUs).
The vast majority of information about DEVGRU is highly classified, and details of its activities are not commented on by either the White House or the Department of Defense.[3] While DEVGRU is administratively supported by the Naval Special Warfare Command, it is operationally commanded by the Joint Special Operations Command. It is based at Training Support Center Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach, Virginia, known as FTC Dam Neck until 2004.
Marcinko was born in Lansford, Pennsylvania and is of Slovakian descent. After attending Admiral Farragut Academy in Toms River, New Jersey, Marcinko enlisted in the United States Navy in 1958. Later commissioned as an officer, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations from the Naval Postgraduate School and a Master of Arts degree in political science from Auburn University.
Vietnam
On May 18, 1967, Marcinko led his men in an assault on Ilo-Ilo Island, where they killed a large number of Vietcong and destroyed six of their sampans.
Marcinko returned to Vietnam with SEAL Team 2 after a few months stateside as OIC of Eighth Platoon. During the Tet Offensive, Marcinko ordered his platoon to assist US Army Special Forces at Chau Doc. What began as an urban street battle turned into a rescue mission of American nurses trapped in the city's church and hospital.
After completing his second tour in Vietnam and a two-year stateside staff assignment, Marcinko was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and assigned as the Naval Attache to Cambodia in 1973. After serving in Cambodia for 18 months, Marcinko returned stateside and assumed command of SEAL Team Two.
'SEAL Team Six'
During the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979, Marcinko was one of two Navy representatives for a Joint Chiefs of Staff task force known as the TAT (Terrorist Action Team). The purpose of the TAT was to develop a plan to free the American hostages held in Iran which culminated in Operation Eagle Claw. In the wake of the debacle, the Navy saw the need for a full-time dedicated Counter-Terrorist Team and tasked Marcinko with its design and development.
Marcinko was the first commanding officer of this new unit. At the time, the Navy had only two SEAL teams. Marcinko purportedly named the unit SEAL Team Six in order to confuse other nations, specifically the Soviet Union, into believing that the United States had three other SEAL teams that they were unaware of. He personally selected the unit's members from across the US Navy's Special Operations community, including a special counter-terrorist tactics section of SEAL Team Two, codenamed MOB-6. SEAL Team Six would be the Navy's premier counter-terrorist unit, like its Army counterpart Delta Force.[1][2] While typically a two-year command in the Navy at the time, Marcinko commanded SEAL Team Six for three years, from August 1980 to July 1983.
Red Cell
After relinquishing command of SEAL Team SIX, Marcinko was tasked by Vice Admiral James "Ace" Lyons, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, with the design of a unit to test the Navy's vulnerability to terrorism. This unit was the Naval Security Coordination Team OP-06D, unofficially named Red Cell.[3] In 1984, Marcinko hand-picked twelve men from SEAL Team Six and one from Marine Force Recon.
This team tested the security of naval bases, nuclear submarines, ships, civilian airports, and an American embassy. Under Marcinko's leadership, the team was able to infiltrate seemingly impenetrable, highly-secured bases, nuclear submarines, ships, and other purported "secure areas" such as Air Force One, and disappear without incident. These demonstrations showed that a vulnerable military resulted from the replacement of Marines and Air Force Security Police by contracted private security agencies often started by retired military personnel.
Marcinko has claimed, among other things, that Red Cell successfully captured nuclear devices from United States Navy facilities, and proved the viability of plans to:
penetrate and attack nuclear-powered submarines
destroy subs by using them as dirty bombs
capture launch codes for nuclear weapons aboard the subs by using mild torture techniques on personnel in charge of launch codes.
Former members of Red Cell, notably Steve Hartmann and Dennis Chalker, maintain that these exercises were a cover to move SPECWAR operators around the world for covert missions against real-world terrorists.
He retired from the Navy with thirty years of enlisted and commissioned service in 1988.
United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group
The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), commonly known as DEVGRU and informally by its former name SEAL Team Six (ST6), is one of the United States' four secretive counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units (SMUs).
The vast majority of information about DEVGRU is highly classified, and details of its activities are not commented on by either the White House or the Department of Defense. While DEVGRU is administratively supported by the Naval Special Warfare Command, it is operationally commanded by the Joint Special Operations Command. It is based at Training Support Center Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach, Virginia, known as FTC Dam Neck until 2004.
Edited by unimatrixzero - 10/10/11 at 4:57pm
