The rise of the North Vietnamese-supported Viet Cong insurgency and eventual direct military involvement of North Vietnam expanded these roles to the point at which regular U.S. As anyone who's ever donned a military uniform can tell you, the "lowest bidder" joke wears off after you've ripped a hole in the crotch of your seventeenth pair of trousers.Against the background of the Cold War, the Vietnam War embroiled the United States, South Vietnam, and regional allies in a long and costly conflict against the regular forces of North Vietnam and the Communist Viet Cong guerillas.įollowing the end of French colonial rule in 1954 and break-up of the former French Indochina, the United States assumed the political mentorship and primary military and naval advisory roles in the young South Vietnamese republic. The SEALs were constantly on the move through rough and unforgiving terrain to complete their mission. This meant that they would infiltrate deep behind enemy lines and directly engage the enemy when they thought they were safe. Less than a year later, they were participating in the covert, CIA-sponsored Phoenix Program.ĭetails of the Phoenix Program are blurry (as covert CIA stuff tends to be), but what is known is that it involved the SEALs doing what they do best: Capturing and assassinating high-value targets. At the beginning of 1962, SEALs were mobilized into South Vietnam to take on an advisory role. These men were experts in hand-to-hand combat, high-altitude parachuting, demolitions, and foreign languages - all skills that would prove useful in Vietnam. Navy SEALs are truly masters of both hiding and seeking.
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