You want
these guys on your side in combat… but if peace breaks out, heaven help us!!!
Richard Marcinko
Visit from
the Red Cell
Following
the commentary about the forthcoming book, No Easy Day, reportedly by a member of Seal Team
SIX, I thought it would be useful to revise and reissue a blog I published
April 23, 2011.
I was commanding a U.S. Naval Base in Sasebo ,
on the southern island of Kyushu ,
Japan Sasebo had long been an important
base for the Imperial Japanese Navy, and when the United
States occupied Japan
at the end of World War II, it became a U.S. Yokosuka
We were home port for several U.S.N.
submarines and amphibious ships, we had a large fuel depot, an ammunition depot and a
large Japanese-run shipyard that we used to repair our ships.
The Red Cell was the creation of a Navy Captain and
SEAL named Dick Marcinko and so he and his team of SEALS were
sent to Sasebo
SEALs are superb athletes and skilled
marksmen --- they can swim for miles, run, lift weights, and kill enemies with
their bare hands. They are very tough, mean dudes. These guys
are the ones you want on your side in a tough situation. Marcinko also formed Seal Team SIX, and,
after several years retired, and continued his various counter-terror training
programs as a civilian contractor.
He also began writing books. He is
the author of The Real Team; The Rogue
Warrior's Strategy for Success: A Commando's Principles of Winning; Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior,
and more. I looked at some of these, and
the ones I saw were loaded with pretty dirty language.
The
modern-day Seal Team SIX has distinguished itself in many missions all over the
world that have never been publicized, and it was that team that conducted the
raid in Pakistan
The Red Cell that Marcinko brought to Sasebo
Their
job would be to penetrate our security, and simulate blowing things up,
kidnapping personnel, and such.
In advance of their arrival, we
heard how the Red Cell had “attacked” the U.S. Submarine Base at New London , Connecticut
We had also heard that Marcinko was
a particular favorite of our new Pacific Fleet Commander, a four-star admiral
named “Ace” Lyons Lyons
And we had heard that the Red Cell
had a reputation for drinking a bit too much and raising hell.
About the time that the Red Cell was
scheduled to arrive in Sasebo Hokkaido Hokkaido
I had a team of Explosive Ordnance
Disposal (EOD) men, who are very much like SEALs. They are also superb swimmers and athletes,
and trained to plant demolition charges at enemy targets, swim ashore in enemy
waters and disarm or blow up explosives.
Every Navy ammunition depot had them, and their duties were usually just
disposing of outdated ammunition. Like
the SEALs, the rest of the Navy considered them “snake-eaters”, a term of great
respect and some awe.
Kokeshi Doll
I called my EOD team. They came and xrayed the
package. They couldn't detect its contents, so they did what EOD people
do whenever in doubt. They took it off a ways from my office and blew it up.
What they found was it was a
well-destroyed Kokeshi doll. My wife Marty was not happy with me, as it
was a doll she had ordered from a Japanese woman who had recently shown her
dolls at a craft show at the base.
Marcinko and his team arrived at the
base, and immediately went to work, with his men sneaking into secure areas,
and simulating what teams of terrorists might do. They were good, and they trained us
brilliantly. Our security people, our
Marines, our Seabees and I were learning very valuable lessons about how to
defend our base. Note that this was
1986, well before the more recent era, when attacks by foreign terrorists are
more common.
It was the final day of the Red
Cell’s visit, and we knew that there would be a “grand exercise” --- a major
terrorist attack that would require the whole base to respond. After several days with Marcinko, we knew
that he had a flair for the dramatic, so we expected this would be
impressive.
It just so happened that a retired
naval officer was visiting the base, and staying in our Bachelor Officer’s
Quarters (BOQ). He was a retired
Captain. In fact, he had commanded the
base just before me, and he was coming back to look into setting up a business
relationship with a local cultured pearl impresario.
My
predecessor, while he had been base commander, had apparently formed a rather
close liaison with his young Japanese secretary.
Marcinko decided that our Grand exercise
would be a terrorist takeover of our BOQ.
I got a call at my quarters at 3 in the morning. I dressed and rushed down to our security
headquarters where an emergency command post had been established. The Red Cell had locked down the whole
BOQ. They had “captured” a particularly
excitable young Navy lieutenant, and had attached an “explosive device” to his
head, and had made him take off all his clothes. The simulated explosive device was set to
“explode” if we did not comply with the Red Cell’s demands. This particular scenario was modeled after an
actual terrorist event that had occurred a short time before in the Middle East .
Along about daybreak, after several
hours of protracted negotiations, the excitable lieutenant decided to escape
from custody by the Red Cell and jumped out of a window, and ran, stark naked,
across the grass outside the BOQ.
There were several BOQ rooms full of
women at the time. These were the wives
of officers aboard a submarine that was out at sea, and, although the wives
were excused from this terrorist takeover of the BOQ, they were all awake and
watching as the lieutenant scampered past, with only a fake explosive device on
his head.
The Red Cell managed to capture the
lieutenant, and returned him to custody.
However now we had another problem.
The retired Captain, my predecessor,
had been “captured” in his BOQ room with the young Japanese secretary. Apparently she had spent the night there with
him, probably briefing him on events in Sasebo
All this got wrapped up into the
terrorist "event"--- and it became a task to get the girl out of his
room quietly. Of course, all the Japanese on the base, and all our Navy
people, found out about it.
Besides the drama with the retired
naval officer and the Japanese secretary, the Red Cell had taken many hostages
in an event that closely approximated real terrorist events that had recently taken
place. These guys were
good, and everyone learned a lot. Even the retired Captain.
After it was all over, we invited the Red
Cell to our quarters for a cocktail party. One thing I learned is never
to have SEALs come to your house for “a drink”.
--end--
Let's change the subject to some diverse books and printed material
I'm offering:
Asia, The American Magazine of the Orient,
June 1920 Concord, NH: Asia
Publishing Co. 96 pp. 23 x 30.5 cm. "Three Palaces" by J.O.P. Bland.
Author returns to Asia and describes old palaces in Peking, Seoul
and Tokyo , where leaders have gone, except for Tokyo Ther Village Afghanistan Siberia
in the Dragon Year of 1796" Edited by Stewart Culin. "Maharajas and their Jewels"
by Eleanor Maddock. "The Trojan
Horse Enters Damascus " by Lowell
The Home Angel, by L.B. Urbino (Levino Buoncuore, d. 1888) Boston , MA United States
American
Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1833 Fourth Annual
Volume 1832 Boston, MA: Gray and Bowen; and Carter, Hendee and
Co. Calendar of Celestial Phenomena for the Year; Red snow of the Alps, Showers
of Dust, Meteoric Stones, Mirage, Halos, Parhelia or False Suns, Lightning
Rods. Part II: Executive Government. President Andrew Jackson receives salary
of $25,000 per annum. Senate: Daniel Webster was Senator from MA; John Tyler
from VA, Thomas H. Benton, MO, Henry Clay, KY; John Q. Adams of Quincy, MA was
Congressman; Benedict J. Semmes was Congressman from MD, James K. Polk Congressman
from TN. John Marshall was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roger Taney was
Attorney General. Bank of the United States Commonwealth of Virginia
Chief Wets-It
Assiniboine (See "Glimpses of Indian Life" in
American
Monthly Review of Reviews
American
Monthly Review of Reviews, The; illustrated; October, 1898 Shaw, Albert, Editor New
York, NY: The Review of Reviews Co.,
13 Astor Place 126 + 81 pp. 18 x 24.5 cm. This issue is full of comment and
criticism of the United States Cuba and the Philippines Omaha ,
Chippewa, Cheyenne Mission
Lustige
Blätter
Lustige Blätter, No.24 XXXIII Jahrg. 202.
Kriegs-Nummer, 30 May, 1918 (Famed German weekly humor magazine, with World War I propaganda) Berlin , Germany Wilson Wilson
General
McClellan
Republican
Herald and Post, Providence, RI, Saturday morning, October 29, 1864.Providence,
RI: Alfred Anthony. Fascinating pre-election coverage of national and
local news: Campaign to elect Gen. McClellan, running as a Democrat against
President Lincoln; Republicans accused of cutting up McClellan flag in Newport , RI Shenandoah Valley . Speech by Pres. Lincoln praises
Marylanders on adoption of new constitution. Abraham Lincoln partizans (sic)
burn McClellan banner in Washington
Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net
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