SEALs called Special Forces? - Page 2

blue02hd · 04-01-2009, 10:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atilla

(I have a sneaking suspicion that my friend and his comrade Frogs do this on purpose and that this feigned ignorance is in actuality a plausibly deniable way to get under the skin of "Green Berets".

I doubt anyone on this board will lose sleep over a SEAL waving his paddle in the air. Worked with a couple I liked, but most of the others had ego's larger than life.

**Team Sergeant** · 04-01-2009, 10:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue02hd

I doubt anyone on this board will lose sleep over a SEAL waving his paddle in the air. Worked with a couple I liked, but most of the others had ego's larger than life.

LOL, how else would you get an otherwise sensible man to go into freezing and shark infested water all the time???

LR27 · 04-01-2009, 10:09

Luttrell's book was an exciting read and he is a great American with a lot of heart.

But his book does have a few errors. One that I noticed off the bat was when he was talking about his medical training. He said that he attended the 'Eighteenth Delta Force Course at Fort Bragg.' Now, an educated reader knows he meant to say he attended a portion of the Special Forces 18D course, but I'm just surprised someone didn't catch that.

As far as him calling himself Navy Special Forces, I'm sure he just wants to sound like the SF studs that rescued him.

04-01-2009, 10:37

All of this happens, because Colonel Bank and LTC Volckmann chose a rather broad generic term in naming the unit.

Scimitar · 04-01-2009, 11:03

I'm not 100% sure on this, but on the standing up of SF, any of the other current SOF units or their predecessors didn't exist at the time..correct?

Perhaps they envisioned SF truly being broad spectrum?

S

**Razor** · 04-01-2009, 11:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by LongRange27

As far as him calling himself Navy Special Forces, I'm sure he just wants to sound like the SF studs that rescued him.

Easy now. Luttrel is a combat-tested warrior in his own right; I don't think he needs to ride anyone's coat tails to deserve respect.

LR27 · 04-01-2009, 17:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor

Easy now. Luttrel is a combat-tested warrior in his own right; I don't think he needs to ride anyone's coat tails to deserve respect.

Agreed. I wasn't being serious, Razor.

I have the utmost respect for him and any other American that can perform under fire as he did.

CRad · 04-01-2009, 17:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

LOL, how else would you get an otherwise sensible man to go into freezing and shark infested water all the time???

That's a dumb question. You call him an SF Combat Diver, yeah?

I know a Navy guy who calls himself a corpsman. What he actually is, to my mind, is a combat medic because he's a SEAL. (Verified btw) The Navy has a vocabulary all its own.

Given the recent state of affairs perhaps people understand SF better than SOF. Unless you are fixing to write a book that appeals strictly to the community you are going to use terms that are already in the common vocab of most people. Gives your book a much bigger audience.

Common sense tells you a guy from the Navy is going to have to write in a way the whole world can understand. It's that or write a freakin FM.

Richard · 04-02-2009, 10:54

Anybody consider that the SEALs might want to be called SF - many would consider it to be a step up for them, you know.

Richard's $.02

csquare · 04-02-2009, 11:03

S-sleep
E-eat
A-and
L-lift

That is all I ever seen the vast majority do.

SF-TX · 04-06-2009, 16:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc

He's a Brit isn't he? They call all theirs "special forces". Makes me wonder if Luttrell proofed the book before it was published.

At an NRA event, Marcus Luttrell refers to the Navy SEALs as Special Forces (10:14 and 12:03 into the video).

http://copthetruth.typepad.com/cop_t...-luttrell.html

CRad · 04-07-2009, 19:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard

Anybody consider that the SEALs might want to be called SF - many would consider it to be a step up for them, you know.

Totally worth considering.

Richard · 04-07-2009, 19:58

FWIW - lots of ffolkes get SF confused with SOF. The reasons are many - however, it's our job to correct their mistakes whenever we encounter them. It's a big job...and somebody's got to do it.

Richard's $.02

**Team Sergeant** · 04-07-2009, 20:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRad

That's a dumb question. You call him an SF Combat Diver, yeah?

I know a Navy guy who calls himself a corpsman. What he actually is, to my mind, is a combat medic because he's a SEAL. (Verified btw) The Navy has a vocabulary all its own.

Given the recent state of affairs perhaps people understand SF better than SOF. Unless you are fixing to write a book that appeals strictly to the community you are going to use terms that are already in the common vocab of most people. Gives your book a much bigger audience.

Common sense tells you a guy from the Navy is going to have to write in a way the whole world can understand. It's that or write a freakin FM.

Hey little Ms. Serious, it was a rhetorical question.

I fully understand Marcus Luttrell's reference to SF and SOF, and you know what, IMO Marcus can call it whatever he wants, he's walked the walk and earned the right, something you would not understand.

TS

Twinkdawg · 05-07-2009, 14:48

I know I'm adding to a lengthy thread, but when I was down range in '05 I was talking to a guy from one of them taskforces at the firebase; I made a generic comment about our team guys.

He told me that the only "Team guys there were, were the Seal Teams", He proceeded to argue with me about the point until I told him that we had John Wayne and they had Charlie Sheen. nuff said.