BUD/S Class 361 during Hell Week. Only about 20% of SEAL candidates successfully complete this training phase. Here's a breakdown: Duration: Five and a half days of continuous training. Sleep Deprivation: Fewer than four hours of sleep allowed in total throughout the entire week. Intense Physical Training: Involves running over 200 miles, performing calisthenics for more than 20 hours per day, navigating obstacle courses, and conducting demanding exercises with boats and logs. Cold and Wet Conditions: Trainees are constantly exposed to the cold ocean water and sandy beaches of Coronado Island, California, causing cuts, chafing, and making it difficult to warm up. Mental Pressure and Hallucinations: The constant stress and sleep deprivation push candidates to their mental breaking point, leading to hallucinations and requiring them to make sound decisions and function under extreme pressure.

Today we honor Senior Chief Kyle Milliken. DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6) Silver Squadron. A Falmouth, Maine kid who ran track and field at the University of Connecticut, graduated in 2001, and enlisted in the Navy the following year with one goal: becoming a Frogman. He earned his Trident, served at SEAL Teams on the East Coast since 2004, and was eventually selected for Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU/SEAL Team 6). Across 15 years of service, Kyle conducted at least 48 combat missions in Iraq alone, including one in which he helped evacuate three wounded teammates while under fire. His decorations told only part of the story: four Bronze Stars with Valor, two Joint Service Commendation Medals, and a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Valor, among others. On the night of May 4, 2017, Kyle and a small DEVGRU element from Silver Squadron, alongside Somali Danab commandos, were inserted into the village of Daarasalaam (Barii) on the Shebelle River, about 40 miles west of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their target was Mahad Karate, a senior al-Shabaab commander believed to be hiding in the village. Kyle’s team moved silently through the town, leaving boot prints in the wet clay and at least five dead enemy fighters in their wake. As Kyle stood over two enemies he and his team had just engaged, an al-Shabaab fighter concealed beneath a low-hanging mango tree opened fire. Kyle was struck. The team conducted a hasty evacuation and medevaced him to neighboring Djibouti, but Kyle died of his wounds on May 5, 2017. He was 38 years old. He was the first US service member to be killed in action in Somalia since the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, the running gunfight immortalized in the book and film “Black Hawk Down.” His family said it best in their statement: “He was a devoted father and son, a true professional, and a wonderful husband.” Some warriors fall on a battlefield the world remembers. Kyle fell on one most Americans had forgotten. He was no less worthy of being remembered.

Rangers from 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment (3/75). Bagram Airfield, 2015.

Rare footage of Christian Craighead (SAS) during the extraction of hostages at the DusitD2 complex in Nairobi, 2019.

U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven (far right) alongside Command Sergeant Major Chris Faris and two operators from the UK's 22 SAS Regiment. During the hunt for high value targets in Iraq, the SAS fought shoulder to shoulder with America’s most elite units, 1st SFOD-D (Delta Force) and SEAL Team Six. Under the umbrella of Task Force 714, the JSOC led campaign dismantled the leadership network of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.