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In the 1993 film, Gettysburg, Lieutenant General James Longstreet says to Harrison, the actor/spy from Mississippi, “You know what’s gonna happen here in the morning?” Longstreet was attempting to convince Harrison that participating in General Lee’s attack toward the center of the Yankee lines on July 3, 1863, might not be in the best interest for his health and general well-being. He was also pointing to the fact that Harrison, while motivated to the cause, was incredibly naïve. US Defense Watch to President Obama, Ash Carter, Ray Mabus, Eric Fanning and the Joint Chiefs… “You know what’s going to happen...

CORONADO, Calif. (NNS) -- The first Special Warfare Combatant Craft (SWCC) class for the new rates of Special Warfare Boat Operator (SB) and Special Warfare Operator (SO) graduated during a commencement ceremony at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado Nov. 9 The new ratings replace previous source ratings, which had been used to distinguish SEALs (Sea, Air, Land) and SWCC by job classifications, and will allow SEALs and SWCC to take advancement exams relating to their own rating. All active-duty graduates of Basic Underwater Demolition School and Basic Crew Member School officially became SOs and SBs Oct. 1. The changes for Navy...

Outsiders often view SEALs as supermen. Perhaps they are in the sense of infused commitment to both achieving the objective and never quitting. But ordinary, according to insiders, in the sense that they are just highly trained men doing extraordinary things. “Definitely not Supermen, my classmates particularly,” says Worthington. “One guy, however, could hold his breath five minutes. Another was a two-pack-a-day smoker who still survived BUDS. “BUDS, incidentally, is between your ears. Sure, you have to make times on the O-Course [obstacle course], the four-mile run, etc., but the kid who sticks in there, survives. It’s a mindset of...

All sailors are not created equal. And in the purest sense of the word, the best-trained “sailors” in the world may well-be the U.S. Navy’s Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC). They are certainly some of the most skilled seaborne warriors in the U.S. Special Operations Command. Yet few outside of military circles have heard of them, and those who have, see them only as post-9/11 bluejackets driving fast boats in dangerous waters. They are much more.