Stories from Bob's Life

In 1975 Hell Week was the fourth (?) of 32 weeks of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training required to become a Navy Frogman and SEAL.   Hell Week was also the primary rite-of-passage to get into the following phases of BUD/S training, and was notorious for its challenge, and as the primary obstacle to get through,…

I was living in a basement apartment on Atlantic Ave and 84th street near the ocean entrance to Ft Story. It was only a half block to the ocean, so on a weekend, I took a folding chair and or a towel put on my surfer beach shorts, grabbed a book and went down to…

At 72 years of age I had a serious bike accident which put me in the hospital for a week and in rehab for several months. I had just returned from a 3 day training camp with my bike club Padyak Racing Team (PRT) in Borrego Springs which included some hard rides and a lot…

I began Green Team training in September of 1989.  Green team training was meant to be very intense, to test the mettle as well as the tactical skills and aptitude of those who would be going into tactical positions in what were then called the Assault Teams, but are now called the Tactical Squadrons of…

I was in ST6 Green Team but was slated to be the command Operations Officer so the CO (Rick Woolard) was not as interested in me developing my tactical skills as he was in getting me ready to be his Ops Officer.  When he was directed to deploy into Panama for the invasion that was…

When I was in the 7th grade, attending Gunston Jr High School in Arlington Va in school year 1964-65,  I was in a drama class, and had a bit part in the play – A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  The drama teacher wanted me to sign up for another play and since I had had fun…

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…

Mary got pregnant in 1981 during our first year in Eckernfoerde,when I was stationed with the Kampfschwimmerkompanie on exchange with the German Navy.  We were living apart from US facilities, so our friends recommended a local midwife Frau Fredericks to help with the all the check ups and preps.  Turns out Frau Fredericks was a…

Though I do recall flirting with 4-square when I was young, and I was pretty serious about baseball and little league, one of my earliest athletic passion was shooting marbles.. Marbles?  Is that in any way athletic?  Yes, surprisingly so.   When I was in the 4th and 5th grade living at Naval Air Station Lemoore…

Sometimes it is hard to distinguish what I actually remember from what I was told by my parents.  But my earliest memories are living in Pensacola Fla. My father was a flight instructor at the Navy’s flight school, probably around 1955 when I was maybe 3 yrs old, my brother a baby,  my mother probably…