The Brotherhood

"There's a storm inside of us.  A burning, a river, a drive.  An unrelenting desire to push yourself harder and farther than anyone could think possible.  Pushing ourselves into those cold, dark corners where the bad things live.  Where the bad things fight.  We want that fight a the highest volume.  A loud fight.  The loudest, coldest, darkest, most unpleasant of unpleasant fights."
~Marcus Luttrell~

This past week, a family somewhere in the United States was notified that a father would not be returning home.  It is a scene somehow romanticized in documentry television and motion pictures.  The moment a family is notified of a soldiers death to exhibit the human side of war.  For those who have experienced it, war has no human side.  The winners and losers are more often than not decided on who survives the battle.  It is into this caldron of hate and violence that Americas most elite rush into.  They do it not for the glory of battle, for war is never glorious.  No, the reasons these best America has to offer charge into some of the most heated conflicts across the globe is for a devotion not only to the nation they cherish, but to each other as well.  For this is above all a brotherhood, a tight knit group forged in the cold, choppy waters of the Pacific and honed in the comaraderie and honor of being part of the "Team."  For all of the hollywood movies of the lone hero who single handedly charges the enemy and wins the battle, in reality it is the team that is what they live and die for.  From the begining they are taught to live, think and fight as a team.  So much so, that upon the final completion of your training, it is the team which decides if you have passed or failed in your attempt to break into this brotherhood.  After all, these are the men who will be putting their very lives in your hands.  It is in everyones best interests that your succeed in your training.  The team, not the individual, is what matters in the end.  Quickly rooted out are those with the gung ho attitude who would quickly abandon the team in battle for the glory of the individual soldier.  There is no room for that nonsense here.  In a large part, this is why the "Teams" have been so successful.

"Men, all this stuff you hear about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is alot of bullshit.  Americans love to fight.  All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle.  When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players and the toughest boxers.  Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser.  Americans play to win all the time.  That's why Americans have never lost nor ever will lose a war.  The very thought of losing is hateful to Americans."
~ General George S Patton~

It is no wonder that after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 that the United States would once again turn to the teams to seek out those who had brought terrorism to Americas shores.  The very first United States navy personel to arrive in Afghanistan after September 11th were indeed SEAL team personel.  If there was going to be a fight against those who had struck first against America, then the teams would deliver that first retaliatory blow.  I have no doubt that the very first and last Americans that Osama Bin Laden would see were our Navy SEALS.   It's not a fight which they started, but it is one the teams are tenacious enough to finish.
There is a tradition within the United States military that a fallen soldier is escorted home by a fellow comrade.  At times this escort is a member of the fallens own unit, other times it is another branch of our armed forces.  There has not been a United States soldier who has fallen in the war on terror that has not been escorted on their final journey home by a comrade.  This soldier stays with his fallen comrade throughout his journey home.  Not only does this guarantee that the fallens remains are transfered with honor, but that they were not alone on their final journey home.  You won't see this ceremony on television, for media coverage of said ceremonies has been banned since 2004.  It is  said that the escorting soldier is the first person the fallen soldiers family sees upon arrival.  This is the team.  These are the SEALS.  This is their brotherhood.

"When I go home, people ask me, 'Hey Hoot, why do you do it, man?  Why?  You some kinda war junkie?'  I won't say a goddamn word.  Why?  They won't understand.  They won't understand why we do it.  They won't understand it's about the men next to you...and that's it.  That's all it is."
~SFC Norm "Hoot" Hooten

~Scott~