Episode 221: TFR 218 - Navy SEAL Ben Milligan of Water Beneath the Walls - Rise of the Navy SEALs Book (History)

The new book by Ben Milligan, By Water Beneath the Walls – The Rise of the Navy SEALs is not your typical Navy SEAL book, in fact there is not a single mention how the author successfully completed the toughest military training in the world – BUD/S – Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL training. This is first a well-researched study of history dating just after World War I when the political and economic situation of the times required conventional leaders to think out of the box and create soldiers, sailors, and marines who were “raiders, commandos, and amphibious operators.” It is second, an entertaining storyline detailing incredible “special operations” missions conducted by brave and larger than life Americans throughout World War II, Korea, and Vietnam from all of the services – not just the Navy. These missions and lessons from the Army Scouts, Army Rangers, Special Forces, Marine Raiders and RECON, and the Navy’s own Navy Combat Demolition Units (NCDU) and Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) were the historic backbone of today’s Navy SEAL Teams.  The building of today’s CIA from the World War II Office of Strategic Services activities by pioneers such as William Donovan also played a significant role in creating a maritime special operations unit that would inevitably be run by the Navy thanks to brilliant thinker / leaders as the Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke. 

By Water Beneath the Walls is more of a joint special operations history book than an individual Navy SEAL book as great military and even political minds were key to taking advantage of the geo-political and military situation by forcefully influencing the need for such unconventional war fighters. The internal military and political battles many of the founding fathers of today’s special operations were won and lost throughout the decades between World War II and Vietnam Wars with many early special operations units being disbanded. But what has emerged today as a joint group of specialized military personnel within today’s Special Operations Command (SOCOM) are the results of unconventional leaders sending brave men on harrowing missions behind enemy lines. The mission successes and failures and larger than life egos that were often a double-edged sword for the fledgling organizations were soon becoming the most decorated units within the military. The need for small unit tactics were proven repeatedly until the military found the formula for peace time training (versus disbandment) and war time operational tempo. 

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