Navy operators seem to be everywhere this Veterans Day. The man who claims to have shot Osama bin Laden sat down for an interview with Fox News, and "No Easy Day" author Mark Owen dropped his second book, "No Hero." Many find these public accounts fascinating, but disconcerting.
Over on PBS television, however, you'll see a different side of Naval Special Warfare, told by the men who lived its early days. "Navy SEALs — Their Untold Story" goes all the way back to the frogmen of World War II, tracing the SEALs history through Korea and Vietnam to today's Global War on Terror.
Producer and former Hospital Corspman 2nd Class (SEAL) Jeff Bramstedt spent 11 years in the teams, doing multiple deployments to Asia. With help from Naval Special Warfare Command, Bramstedt and executive producer Carol Fleischer compiled never-before-shared firsthand accounts and footage of the SEALs who came before the blockbusters and tell-all memoirs.
In a Nov. 3 interview with Navy Times, Bramstedt shared the story of the documentary, and what he thinks of his fellow operators cashing in on their service.
Q. What was it like, sitting down with these old-school SEALs?
A. When we were building this documentary, we were trying to dive into the SEAL community and how we got to where we are now. And it has everything to do with the foundation: the [Underwater Demolition Team] guys, the Scouts and Raiders, the others who were at Normandy.
When they were told, "You probably aren't coming back from this," they still put their hands in the air. That's the story we wanted to tell. I think we were successful. ... You see their humor, you see their mindset, you see how they are just ride-or-die type fellas.
Q. What did you learn that you didn't know?
A. They had very little to work with. Oftentimes, their wetsuits were made in a Quonset hut next door. They were given a haversack full of explosives and they were pointed — "Go that way. There's going to be a bunch of obstacles. Blow those." These guys are right in the line of enemy fire, trying to sneak in there and make it safe for landing forces to come ashore.
Are Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer or Steven Spielberg going to be knocking on your door? Probably not. Are you going to get a big movie and book deal? No. That wasn't even an option then.
Q. Why is this different than revealing the bin Laden raid details?
A. For a lot of these guys we were interviewing, the older generation of SEALs, we saw a degree of cathartic talk. It was almost as though they were saying, finally, it's no longer classified.
There are still classified things that go way back to whenever, and those guys are professional enough to be able to stay off those things. There is a degree of professionalism that went into this. There probably were things that guys said that they shouldn't have said, but you won't see it in this. That's going to end up in the NSW library somewhere.
Q. Is there a classy way to profit from your service?
A. I'm not going to [criticize] guys who are out there, writing books or telling their stories. They have their reasons for doing that, and I have no idea what they are. These guys are my friends; I know them personally. There's a lot of schools of thought on should they or shouldn't they, and I just don't get involved in that.
When you leave that lifestyle, you've spent the majority of your adult life doing something that's set apart. When they come out, they're kind of curious. They're not going to stray too far from the pack. So they're going to use the skills that they developed.
Q. Why are SEALs such a hot topic now?
A. They've almost got superhero status. The Bat Signal goes off and these guys show up on the scene and do their job with mind-boggling accuracy. I think the common person out there thinks these guys just return to the Bat Cave, attach themselves to the ceiling, hang upside down and wait for the Bat Signal to go off again.
It doesn't happen like that. In between those enormous moments of action are weeks, months and years of nothing but training. When a tennis player wins Wimbledon, it's not because of the [between the legs] shot. They mastered the forehand and backhand.
When it airs
"Navy SEALS – Their Untold Story" premieres on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, and will be rebroadcast multiple times. For more on the documentary, visit www.pbs.org/veterans/stories-of-service/stream-tv/a-to-z/navy-seals.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
