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It's Not Your Normal Tad Assignment. Cmdr. Chris

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It's Not Your Normal Tad Assignment. Cmdr. Chris IT’S NOT YOUR NORMAL TAD ASSIGNMENT. CMDR. CHRIS CASSIDY’S FIRST TRIP OUT OF THIS WORLD JUNE 13 INVOLVES A STOP AT THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. DOES ANYONE KNOW THE PER DIEM RATE THERE? ETHOS 1 8 SEALS IN SPACE Cassidy ... sits at his desk ... and stares. 2 THE DUKES 7QUIET OF PROFFESION- HAZARDOUS BIKES SEALsALS don’t typically seek individual praise or acclaim. The NSW bike team is a little known secret. In fact, they shun it. Being THE NERDS OF NSW The best part? They’re really good. 13 appreciated for being the Even tough guys can be nerds. Read more about best is thanks enough as the how NSW loves its video games. media and world audience recently discovered. 28 COURAGE ISN’T JUST A COWARDLY DOG 16 IN THE CROSSHAIRS It’s a virtue. It’s fundamental to good character. With a Range Program Office now established But, really, what is our community without courage, at the headquarters, NSW has set its sights on physical and moral? putting the right pieces in place to ensure long-term An essay by retired SEAL Bob Schoultz. range sustainability, a critical element to combat raediness. TRACKING THE PRODEV THE MOST SUPER OF FROGS OF OUR OFFICERS 22 26 The SuperFrog triathalon brings athletes of all ages and NSW’s tactical training is some of the best, but abilities to Coronado each year. Some come to win, but according to a survey of mid-level officers, their most just come to cross the finish line. professional development track was missing some rails. Not anymore. COMMANDER > Rear Adm. Edward Winters III PRODUCTION MANAGER > MC1 (SW/AW) Andre Mitchell FORCE PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER > Cmdr. Gregory Geisen ASSOCIATE EDITOR > Ms. Mandy McCammon DEP. PAO/EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS > Lt. Nathan Potter LAYOUT AND DESIGN > Ms. Mandy McCammon, MC2 (PJ) Michelle Kapica DEP. PAO/INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS > Ms. Patricia O’Connor STAFF > MC2 (SW/AW) Arcenio Gonzalez, MC2 (SW) Shauntae Hinkle-Lymas, EDITOR > MCCS (SW/AW) Scott Williams MC2 (SW/AW) Dominique Lasco , MC2 (SW/AW) Erika Manzano Ethos is an authorized official production of the Naval Special Warfare Command Public Affairs Office, 2000 Trident Way, San Diego, Calif. 92155-5599. Send electronic submissions and correspondence to [email protected] or call (619) 522-2825. STAFF Front cover photo courtesy NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Image by Reto Stockli, enhancements by Robert Simmon. Data and technical support by MODIS. Table of contents image, above: Cmdr. Chris Cassidy runs a simulation in a trainer at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Photo by MC2 Dominique Lasco Back Cover: Members of NSW’s Flyin’ Frogs mountain bike team train at Mission Trails in San Diego. Photo by MC2 Dominique Lasco A dramatic confluence of events marks this first anniversary of the publishing of Ethos magazine. In April, our operators flawlessly rescued an American freighter captain held captive at sea by Somali pirates. Scan Eagle UAV footage and eyewitness reports quickly revealed to the world what may ordinarily have been a clandestine operation. Suddenly, NSW found itself in the limelight. THE MEDIA FRENZY began in earnest but was met with stony silence from our community. Requests for interviews with the operators were denied. Photo ops didn’t materialize. Navy officials confirmed the operation and the fact that Naval Special Warfare was involved and let it go at that. This type of reaction to a showering of media love was absolutely baffling to the world, but we understood. Glory-seeking isn’t in your ethos. You didn’t get into this business to draw attention to yourselves or launch a reality television series. In fact, the way this was handled only reinforced what you stand for – quiet professionalism. The humble approach to meeting personal and professional challenges is what distinguishes operators from the vainglorious “specops” caricatures portrayed in movies. It takes physical and moral courage to do dangerous jobs with professionalism and be satisfied. No accolades necessary. In this issue of ETHOS, our contributing academic writer, retired SEAL Capt. Bob Schoultz, provides an insightful analysis of the difference between the two virtues on page 28. At this point, it should be no surprise that in the quest for professional excellence, one of our own is now quietly preparing for a whole new unearthly challenge: space. NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy – Navy commander and SEAL, no less – will depart on a mission to the International Space Station next month. While other operators are training or performing real-world missions, he will be on un-Earthly space walks. Check out the full story on this most rare of events beginning on page eight. Personal challenges are a daily task for the special warfare community, even off-duty. Competitiveness reaches a whole new level with the feats accomplished by the NSW bike racing team. You can check out how they take on the competition, themselves and Mother Nature’s most formidable terrain via two wheels and leg power on page two. With this issue we begin our second year of publishing Ethos. We have gone through some dramatic changes of our own as we attempted to find the right words and pictures to portray this special community of people. We strive to communicate the commander’s intent, which is to ‘promote the character, culture and actions that define our Naval Special Warfare way of life, and examine the issues that shape our community.’ We remain open-minded to input because this is, after all, your community magazine. There is no other publication wholly owned by and meant for NSW, so if you have a story suggestion, criticism or question please contact us at [email protected] or call the WARCOM Public Affairs Office at (619) 522-2825. - MCCS(SW/AW) Scott Williams ETHOS 1 We’ve uncovered a little secret. Until recently, it was kept under wraps by the sometimes dirty dozen involved. Now the story -- and it’s a good one -- is revealed. Twelve SEALs who compete in endurance mountain bike races -- they do it for fun, family and even NSW recruiting. It’s a hot, sticky Saturday night in Temecula, Calif., and Chief Special Warfare Operator Mike Everett should be at home enjoying an evening with his wife. Instead, he’s eating rock and dirt, mixed with sweat as he navigates his full suspension mountain bike down a rugged, dimly lit, nine-mile trail. He has managed to avoid breaking his bike chain (unlike the unlucky soul he passed a few miles back) and he has narrowly missed falling on some sharp rocks and breaking a collar bone (like the guy he saw being carted off in an ambulance). Sounds dangerous? Well, it is. And Everett loves every minute of it. 2 ETHOS Flyin’ Frog members Curtiss (left) and Skalski practice thier skils on a local path. MC2 Dominique Lasco ETHOS 3 As a member of the Navy SEAL Flyin’ Smith was talking about Lt. Eric Skalski, Frogs mountain bike team, this scene is quite a SEAL attached to SEAL Team One. He familiar to Everett, who races with the 12-man reinvigorated the team, developed a rigorous crew. Since they began nearly four years ago, schedule and brought in younger, very the team has been a well-kept secret at Naval competitive mountain bike racers. Special Warfare. Made up of both enlisted and “So the good news for the old guys was that officers, the team has taken winning titles in the team was getting faster every time one of races as close to San Diego as Temecula and the young guys showed up,” Smith said. “The as far away as Conyers, Ga. Those include the bad news for us old SEALs was that staying Suzuki National 24-hour race series in Utah on that A-team got really tough!” and Georgia and the 12 Hours of Temecula Once the Flyin’ Frogs team was formed, race series. Smith, who was director of recruiting for the But being a part of a winning team is only a NSW Center at the time, saw its great potential piece of the story. as a no-cost NSW recruitment tool. “Mountain bike racers are used to pushing themselves to the limit in less than perfect According to Flyin’ Frogs member Capt. conditions. Those are the type of people NSW Duncan Smith, there was an unofficial squad is seeking, so where better to find potential of NSW mountain bike riders that would SEAL candidates than at a down and dirty, occasionally get together and race for fun butt-kicking mountain bike race.” around California. They were decent technical Having a presence at races also gave riders but inexperienced when it came to potential SEAL candidates the opportunity organized cross country mountain bike to sit down with a BUD/S instructor, a SEAL racing. sniper or a command master chief and get real “It was kind of joke. We were a bunch insight into life within NSW. of old guys just racing for fun and we were “We wanted to make sure they got to know surprising ourselves by actually winning once a SEAL,” Smith said. “That they were able to in a while!” said Smith, a SEAL attached to recognize that some of the things they were Naval Special Warfare Command. “LT Skalski doing everyday in their life as an athlete gave came on board and really professionalized them a higher likelihood of success at SEAL (the team).” training.” BIG WIN The Flyin’ Frogs accepts a trophy after winning the Suzuki National 24-hour race series in Moab, Utah in October 2008. Their most recent win came April 25 at the Hurkey Creek 24 Hours of Adrenaline held in Riverside County, Calif.
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