Navy Seal and Lessons for the United States

While there are substantial questions about the transparency (few facts are known, as they should be in secret opts), legality (shooting unarmed terrorist, violating Pakistan sovereignty), and operational success (one chopper down, no after action de-briefing report) of the Bin Laden kill or capture operation, the Americans are falling heads over heel over the Seal Team training and methods.

In a separate blog here – Bruce Lee Movie and Special Force Operations, I have sounded off my reservations on our infatuation for and resulting unrealistic expectations of the Seal Team, in real combat situation.

This comment is devoted to what we can learn from the Seal Team, to make USA strong and powerful.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM SEAL TEAM (OR PARENTING?)

In order to be SUCCESSFUL in life, such as being a good parent, we must learn from Seal Team (ST):

(1) WILLINGNESS: ST members are all volunteers. They are self-driven. They are not compelled to stay. In fact you can DOR (drop on request) during the hell week by sounding off.

(2) MOTIVATION: ST members are very motivated. They will do everything in their power to be successful, from one more push up to ten more miles, but always one step at a time.

(3) PERFECTIONIST: ST members are perfectionists. They demand the best out of themselves. Second best is not good enough; it is a failure.

(4) FOCUSES: ST members are focused and single minded in getting the job done. They will not be disoriented or distracted.

(5) COMMITTED. ST members are committed to ST causes, be they training or operations. They will not change their mind, once their objective is set.

(6) PERSEVERANCE. ST members do not quit. They know that Rome is not build in one day.

(7) DISCIPLINEDD. ST members know that that to big think they need to be disciplined and mind, body and spirit. They must say no to their body and mind, when their body and mind are no working in tandem with or cross purpose from ST regiments.

(8) SMART: ST members are smart people. They know that muscle and guns are no match for brain, experience and wisdom. One can lose a battle, to win a war. In the end, it is better to negotiate peace, than get into a fight.

(9) TEAM WORK: ST members know that in order to be successful, they must work as a team and not individuals. More importantly, members must trust each other and be prepared to sacrifice one’s self-interest for collective goods.

(10) INESTMENT ST members know that “the more one sweat in war, the less one bleed in war.” Dramatic success operations is build upon year and year out of demanding training and day in day out of gruesome practices. Practice makes perfect, is the rule.

(11) HUMBLE: ST members know that in battle as in life, there are more uncertainties and failures than one can count, or imagines. Thus it is more important to be humble, than boastful. If truth be known, success in battle have to face up to a lot of contingencies, and requires a lot of luck. ST can fail, notwithstanding their training, competency and toughness, as in the ill-fated Iranian rescue under Carter. In fact it is not unfair to say, the price of success is failure, after failure, after failure..

(11) SELF-CONFIDENCE. ST members, as the best trained soldiers, know at heart what they can and cannot do. For those situations they know they can do the job, they will move ahead, confidently. For those situations they know they cannot do the job right, they will try other ways, as secured in their judgment. There is no shame in falling back, to fight another day.

In essence, ST values, cultural and attitude are very (old style) American; long on action, few on words; seeking self-satisfaction, not public-adulteration. More Bush than Palin. More Carter than Edwards.

MAKING SEAL TEAM CULTURE TO IMPROVE USA

Seal Team success in war making in foreign land teaches US a lot about how to improve peace making at home.

If the nation can learn from the SEAL TEAM in – willingness, motivation, perfection, commitment, focused, perseverance, investment, discipline, teamwork, smartness, humbleness, confident, the United States will be strong and successful in whatever she does.

Starting from today, can we start applying the SEAL TEAM lessons first to family (reduce divorce, respect for parents), education (improve graduation rate, perfect scholarly achievements), and economy (increase productivity, reduce deficit).

Seal team can help us to rejuvenate USA, against China, Germany, Japan, and anyone standing in our way to greatness!

What is stopping us: OURSELVES!!!!!!!