In March 1962, the SEAL teams were deployed to South Vietnam to put anticommunist commandos through the same training they had just undergone themselves. Their mission was to establish the Navy's capabilities for covert and unorthodox ops, becoming the maritime equivalent of the Army's Special Forces. When conflict in Vietnam became inevitable, President Kennedy took some of the most decorated and best qualified UDT members and formed SEAL teams 1 and 2. Each of these groups provided an innovation in warfare-from the flexible diving fins of OSS swimmers to the beach recon tactics of the Scouts and Raiders-that is integral to modern SEAL teams. SEALs share the heritage and traditions of six World War II clandestine groups whose bold tactics established the mind-set of the SEALs: Army Scouts, Navy Raiders, Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs), OSS Operational Swimmers, Navy Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) and Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons. Their name-cobbled from the first letters of each environment they work in, SEa, Air and Land-reflects their incredible effectiveness in every context. Kennedy in 1962, have been dedicated to conducting unconventional warfare ever since. The Navy SEALs, established by President John F. This article, and others that present an intimate portrait of America's most elite fighting forces, is included in a Newsweek Special Edition, Special Ops.
A utility clandestine force, Navy SEALs are prepared for any possible terrain, and their missions vary from extractions of POWs to reconnaissance to counterterrorism.
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