He was UDT before the SEAL program started. Back in the Vietnam days
So very wrong. Travis probably gets tired of typing out the explanation.
Jesse “The Liar” Ventura was not a SEAL for one day in his life. From 62 to 83, there were both UDT and SEAL teams in parallel, but on separate tracks. If Ventura was a SEAL, what SEAL Team was he assigned to? None, never.
When he was in the teams, both future SEALs and future UDT frogmen attended BUD/S (BASIC Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training.) After their BUD/S graduation, they split, with some going to one of the two SEAL Teams (one on each coast) and most going to UDTs, with several UDT teams on each coast. UDT men were given the USN specialty code 5321, SEALs were given 5326. They had different post-BUD/S training, tactics, equipment etc. UDT guys rode ships and supported the fleet on amphibious ops.
Even new BUD/s graduate “tadpoles” assigned to SEAL Teams were NOT SEALs until they passed additional combat training specific to SEALs, and went on to deploy with a SEAL platoon. Only after all of this did anybody become a SEAL. UDT men in 1972 were great guys, hairy chested UDT frogmen, but they were NOT SEALs. During this time, SEALs were engaging in combat in Vietnam, while Ventura was a bouncer in SoCal strip clubs on his time off, and when deployed, he didn’t go to Vietnam, instead, his UDT platoon went to places like Subic Bay in the Philippines.
Here is the best article I’ve read about the team history of Jesse “The Liar” Ventura.