The Late Night History podcast returns in 2023 with Cmdr. Robert “RJ” Thomas. RJ served 32 years in the US Navy (30 of those years within Naval Special Warfare). In this episode we discuss RJ’s life story. It began growing up hunting on his family’s cattle ranch in central California. He had always wanted to become a US Navy frogman, but back in the early 1960s, one had to go to the fleet before arriving at UDT training. Eventually, RJ would pass UDT training and become a frogman. After that, he moved to SEAL Team 2 and deployed to Vietnam. At the time, he was among the best shooters in the Navy. His skills were tested after his helicopter was shot down and he had to defend the crash site with only a M1911 handgun. He would be recommended for the Medal of Honor, however, the award was downgraded to the Navy Cross. Additionally, we also cover the history of Naval Special Warfare through RJ’s eyes. We discussed his tours with UDT-22, his experiences with SEAL Team 2, and later, his career as an officer. Beyond his deployments, RJ is also a distinguished competitive shooter and was instrumental in the development of the SEAL sniper courses as well the .50 caliber sniper rifles, .300 win mags, and other SEAL Team specific gear. This is an episode that you don’t want to miss!
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