Stories from Bob's Life

When I returned from 2 years as the exchange officer with the German Kampfschwimmers, I found that a group had formed within SEAL Team Two – my former command – under Dick Marcinko, the former Commanding Officer of Seal Team Two.  The group was forming a new command with a focus on cutting edge tactics in maritime special operations to counter terrorism.  This was part of our nation’s response  in the wake of the Iran Hostage fiasco.  The core of that command was then known as “Mob Six.”    Marcinko’s Executive Officer in Mob 6 was Norm Carley, who had been the first Exchange Officer with the Kampfschwimmers (I had been the 3rd) and had heard from his friends in Germany that I had done well there. Norm talked to me and recommended that I screen to be part of Mob Six while he was there and could vouch for me.  After returning to the states from Germany i had actually planned to get out of the Navy, and had asked for a job that would help me transition.  I was assigned to the staff of NSW Group TWO, still a Lieutenant.  But when Norm asked me to screen for Mob 6, I was intrigued and decided to go thru the screening process.

The screening process at that time involved me putting on my dress blues and going for an interview with Dick Marcinko in a quonset hut behind the old SEAL Team Two compound.  This old WW2 quonset hut was Mob 6’s temporary quarters, while the new command was being formed and new facilities were under construction.  When it came time for me to be interviewed, I was escorted in to the quonset in my dress blues, while Marcinko sat in civilian clothes behind an old gray metal Navy desk, that had a chair facing him in front of the des – for me.   Also in the large room in the quonset hut were some old-style aluminum bleachers where sat maybe 15-20 members of Mob 6, mostly NCO’s, perhaps a few officers, also in civilian clothes.  A number of these NCO’s were Marcinko’s teammates from when he had been CO of SEAL Team Two and probably a couple from his time in Vietnam 15 or so years earlier.

The interview was short.  Marcinko asked me a few questions and asked if I had any questions for him, and I recall asking him what their wartime mission was – I don’t recall his answer but it was a stupid question for that setting – a typical staff officer question, not an operator’s question, I now realize.   After the short interview, I was told to go outside the room and wait.

Maybe 10-15 minutes later, Norm Carley came out to tell me they’d be in touch, but I could tell by his demeanor that it would not be positive.  I don’t know, but I suspect that I got a solid thumbs down from the crowd in the bleachers, based on my les than stellar performance as Platoon commander several years earlier in SEAL Team TWO, which several there were either aware of or had observed personally.  Norm Carley’s testimonials from his friends in Germany didn’t carry a lot of weight against the personal experiences of several old NCOs with combat experience in VIetnam.

I was angry and disappointed when I found out that I didn’t screen, since during my time in Germany I had done little other than hone my operational skills in parachuting, diving, shooting and other aspects of tactical SEAL ops.  I felt that I was more operationally current than many who had screened, and  I would never be more ready.   In retrospect though, I’ve realized that not screening was a blessing in disguise. I was not experienced enough, nor professionally confident or mature enough to have been able to handle the environment that Marcinko had created at ST6.

Subsequently as a staff officer in NSW Group Two I was assigned to be the focal point officer to provide staff oversight and draft for the Commodore responses to email to issues regarding ST6.  This was an interesting time,  since the new command had been completed at Dam Neck, Marcinko was indicted for misuse of government funds. During that window I had to help manage a number of other challenging incidents, usually related to Marcinko’s unorthodox behavior and disregard of Navy Norms. Several good officers and others I knew who were working for or with him at ST6 were hung out to dry and their careers either ruined or put in great jeopardy because of Marcinko’s  disregard for standared Navy protocols.  At that point in my career, if I had screened positively,  I am certain that i would not have fared well at that command. Marcinko was eventually relieved – his time was up and he had angered a lot of senior officers in the Navy.  He was relieved by Bob Gormly.

While I was still the focal point officer, and after Gormly had taken command, ST6 was called on to insert into Granada for Operation Urgent Fury during which 4 of their team died on insertion, they boldly  recaptured the Governor’s mansion and had other close call operations.  It was clear to me that ST6 was the place to be if one wanted to be called upon to perform the most interesting and demanding SEAL Missions. I still had the itch to be part of the elite group that had the most exciting demanding mission in NSW.

Several years later, after Bob Gormly had relieved Marcinko, and Tom Murphy had relieved Gormly and then resigned, Rick Woolard was given command of SEAL Team Six.   I had worked with Rick at UDT 21, SEAL Team TWO,  NSW Group Two and even the Kampfschwimmerkompanie.  We were then (and still are) good friends.  By this time I had completed my XO tour in Machrihanish Scotland and had been serving on the Second Fleet staff,  for nearly a year.

I learned that RIck had requested Joe Maguire to be assigned as his OPS officer, but the Bureau of Personnel would not let Joe leave his job early as the NSW detailer to take the job. After nearly a year at COMSECONDFLT, I  was bored and uninspired and called Rick and told him I was very interested in the job, and if he wanted me, and could get me out out of my staff position at COMSECONDFLT, I’d be honored to be his OPSO. He didn’t have a lot of other options so he started working the system.

When I told my then boss at C2F, VADM Jerry Johnson what I wanted to do, he strongly recommended against my leaving his staff to go ST6, since he’d seen all the notoriety surrounding that command during and immediately after the Marcinko era, and he believed it would not serve my career well.  He also noted how the job I was doing then for him would certainly serve my career.  I responded that if being at the SEAL command that was most likely to get real-world tasking would be bad for my career, I was willing to take the chance – I felt it was the right thing to do.  I believe that response resonated with him and he supported my request to leave his staff early.  I worked with the detailes and we found and arranged for Wayne Vagts to come in as my replacement – with (I assume) a bit of help from Joe Maguire.

So I reported to SEAL Team Six in the fall of 1989 to go through their Green Team – their own specific and unique on-boarding and assessment program, which was nearly as demanding (but iin different ways) as BUD/S. That was the beginning of one of the most difficult, challenging and rewarding (though by a long shot, not the most enjoyable) tours of my career.