Editing United States Navy SEALs (section)

=== Birth of Navy SEALs and the Vietnam War ===
{{Main|Vietnam War}}
[[File:Navy SEALS Juliet Platoon.jpg|thumb|Navy SEALS Juliet Platoon]]
President [[John F. Kennedy]], aware of the situation in Southeast Asia, recognized the need for [[unconventional warfare (United States)|unconventional warfare]] and [[special operations]] as a measure against [[guerrilla warfare]]. In a speech to [[United States Congress|Congress]] on 25 May 1961, Kennedy spoke of his deep respect for the [[Special Forces (United States Army)|United States Army Special Forces]]. While his announcement of the government's [[Apollo program|plan to put a man on the moon]] drew most of the attention, in the same speech he announced his intention to spend over $100 million to strengthen U.S. special operations forces and expand American capabilities in unconventional warfare. Some people erroneously credit President Kennedy with creating the Navy SEALs. His announcement was actually only a formal acknowledgement of a process that had been underway since the Korean War.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://navysealmuseum.com/about-navy-seals/seal-history-the-naval-special-warfare-story/genesis-of-the-u-s-navys-sea-air-land-seal-teams/ |title=Genesis of the U.S. Navy's SEa, Air, Land (SEAL) Teams |website=National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum |access-date=24 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222183844/https://navysealmuseum.com/about-navy-seals/seal-history-the-naval-special-warfare-story/genesis-of-the-u-s-navys-sea-air-land-seal-teams/ |archive-date=22 February 2014}}</ref>

The Navy needed to determine its role within the special operations arena. In March 1961, [[Admiral (United States)|Admiral]] [[Arleigh Burke]], the [[Chief of Naval Operations]], recommended the establishment of [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] and [[Counter-guerrilla warfare|counter-guerrilla]] units. These units would be able to operate from sea, air or land. This was the beginning of the Navy SEALs. All SEALs came from the Navy's [[Underwater Demolition Team]]s, who had already gained extensive experience in [[commando]] warfare in [[Korean War|Korea]]; however, the Underwater Demolition Teams were still necessary to the Navy's amphibious force.<ref name="Navy Seal History"/>
[[File:428-K-74894.jpg|alt=Navy SEAL team boards a Light SEAL Support Craft|thumb|220x220px|Navy SEAL team boards a Light SEAL Support Craft]]
The first two teams were formed in January 1962<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.navy.mil/viewVideo.asp?id=17950 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129161416/http://www.navy.mil/viewVideo.asp?id=17950 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 January 2013 |title=Video gallery: Forged by Adversity |date=2 January 2013 |publisher=United States Navy}}</ref> and stationed on both US coasts: Team One at [[Naval Amphibious Base Coronado]], in San Diego, California and Team Two at [[Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek]], in [[Virginia Beach, Virginia]]. Formed entirely with personnel from UDTs, the SEALs mission was to conduct counter guerilla warfare and clandestine operations in maritime and riverine environments.<ref name="Navy Seals History sealswcc.com"/> Men of the newly formed SEAL Teams were trained in such unconventional areas as [[hand-to-hand combat]], [[High-altitude military parachuting|high-altitude parachuting]], [[demolition]]s, and foreign languages. The SEALs attended Underwater Demolition Team replacement training and they spent some time training in UDTs. Upon making it to a SEAL team, they would undergo a SEAL Basic Indoctrination (SBI) training class at Camp Kerry in the [[Cuyamaca Peak|Cuyamaca Mountains]]. After SBI training class, they would enter a [[platoon]] and conduct platoon training.

According to founding SEAL team member [[Roy Boehm]], the SEALs' first missions were directed against [[Cuba#Revolution and Communist Party rule (1959–present)|communist Cuba]]. These consisted of deploying from submarines and carrying out beach reconnaissance in a prelude to a proposed US amphibious invasion of the island. On at least one occasion, Boehm and another SEAL had smuggled a CIA agent ashore to take pictures of [[Cuban Missile Crisis|Soviet nuclear missiles]] being unloaded on the dockside.<ref>{{cite book |title=First SEAL |first1=Ray |last1=Boehm |first2=Charles |last2=Sasser |year=1997 |location=New York |publisher=Pocket Books |isbn=978-0671536251 }}</ref>

The [[United States Pacific Command|Pacific Command]] recognized [[Vietnam]] as a potential hot spot for unconventional forces. At the beginning of 1962, the UDTs started [[hydrographic survey]]s and along with other branches of the US Military, the [[Military Assistance Command Vietnam]] (MACV) was formed. In March 1962, SEALs were deployed to [[South Vietnam]] as advisors for the purpose of training [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam]] [[commando]]s in the same methods they were trained themselves.

The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] began using SEALs in [[covert operation]]s in early 1963. The SEALs were later involved in the CIA sponsored [[Phoenix Program]] where it targeted [[Vietcong]] (VC) infrastructure and personnel for capture and assassination.

The SEALs were initially deployed in and around [[Da Nang]], training the South Vietnamese in combat diving, demolitions and guerrilla/anti-guerrilla tactics. As the war continued, the SEALs found themselves positioned in the [[Rung Sat Special Zone]] where they were to disrupt the enemy supply and troop movements and in the [[Mekong Delta]] to fulfill [[Brown-water navy|riverine]] operations, fighting on the inland waterways.

[[File:NavySeal1967Vietnam.jpg|thumb|left|SEALs on patrol in the [[Mekong Delta]]]]
Combat with the VC was direct. Unlike the conventional warfare methods of firing artillery into a coordinate location, the SEALs operated close to their targets. Into the late 1960s, the SEALs were successful in a new style of warfare, effective in anti-guerrilla and guerrilla actions. SEALs brought a personal war to the enemy in a previously safe area. The VC referred to them as "the men with green faces," due to the [[camouflage]] [[Body painting#Use in military|face paint]] the SEALs wore during combat missions.<ref>{{cite book |title=Point Man |first1=James |last1=Watson |first2=Kevin |last2=Dockery |year=1993 |location=New York |publisher=Avon Books |isbn=038071986X}}</ref>

In February 1966, a small SEAL Team One detachment arrived in South Vietnam to conduct direct action missions. Operating from [[Nhà Bè Base]], near the Rung Sat Special Zone, this detachment signalled the beginning of a SEAL presence that would eventually include 8 SEAL platoons in country on a continuing basis. SEALs also served as advisors for [[Provincial Reconnaissance Unit]]s and the Lein Doc Nguio Nhia, the Vietnamese SEALs.<ref name="Navy Seals History sealswcc.com"/>
[[File:Presidential Unit Citation SEAL TEAM TWO 1967-1969.jpg|thumb|1st [[Presidential Unit Citation (United States)|Presidential Unit Citation]] awarded to SEAL Team TWO for extraordinary heroism in Vietnam from July 1967 to June 1969]]

SEALs continued to make forays into North Vietnam and Laos and covertly into [[Cambodia]], controlled by the [[Studies and Observations Group]]. The SEALs from Team Two started a unique deployment of SEAL team members working alone with ARVN Commandos. In 1967, a SEAL unit named Detachment Bravo (Det Bravo) was formed to operate these mixed US and ARVN units.

[[File:Presidential Unit Citation SEAL TEAM TWO 1969-1971.jpg|thumb|[[Presidential Unit Citation (United States)|Presidential Unit Citation]] awarded to SEAL Team TWO for extraordinary heroism in Vietnam from July 1969 to June 1971]]

By 1970, President [[Richard Nixon]] initiated a plan of [[Role of United States in the Vietnam War#Vietnamization, 1969–1975|Vietnamization]], which would remove the US from the Vietnam War and return the responsibility of defense back to the South Vietnamese. Conventional forces were being withdrawn; the last SEAL platoon left South Vietnam on 7 December 1971, and the last SEAL advisor left South Vietnam in March 1973. The SEALs were among the most highly decorated units for their size in the war, receiving by 1974 one [[Medal of Honor]], two [[Navy Cross]]es, 42 [[Silver star]]s, 402 [[Bronze Star]]s, two [[Legions of Merit]], 352 Commendation Medals, and 51 Navy Achievement Medals<ref name="SEAL Combat Manual">{{Cite book |title=US Navy SEAL Combat Manual |year=1974 |page=xvi |url=https://www.federaljack.com/ebooks/US-Navy-SEAL-Combat-Manual.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.federaljack.com/ebooks/US-Navy-SEAL-Combat-Manual.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}.</ref> Later awards would bring the total to three Medals of Honor and five Navy Crosses. SEAL Team One was awarded three Presidential Unit Citations and one Navy Unit Commendation; SEAL Team Two received two Presidential Unit Citations.<ref>{{cite book |author=T.L. Bosiljevac |date=1990 |title=SEALs: UDT/SEAL Operations in Vietnam |pages=240–241, 250 |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=080410722X |url=https://archive.org/details/sealsudtsealoper00bosi }}</ref> By the end of the war, 48 SEALs had been killed in Vietnam, but estimates of their kill count are as high as 2,000. The Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida, displays a list of the 48 SEALs who lost their lives in combat during the Vietnam War.{{sfnp|Couch|2008}}