SEAL. There’s a difference.”
Saying nothing, Captain McCombie looked at Michael from head to toe for several seconds, then continued chopping wood.
“We can talk when I am finished.”
As he looked around, Michael noticed several big stacks of wood and another ax leaning against one of the stacks. He took off his jacket and tossed it on top of one of the piles, picked up the ax, and began chopping beside McCombie. Over the next several hours, the two exchanged some casual conversation as they worked. By midafternoon the work was finished.
McCombie invited Michael onto his back porch, where they talked for the next two hours. Michael laid out his background and discussed his studies and activities. McCombie learned that Michael was not only serious about becoming a Navy SEAL, but also a Navy SEAL officer. Michael explained that following graduation, he would enlist with the condition that he was accepted into Officer Candidate School (OCS) and Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training.
Having dealt with many wannabes over the years, McCombie was skeptical regarding Michael’s ambitious agenda; however, by the time their conversation ended, he was impressed with every aspect of the young man. As Michael was getting ready to leave, McCombie told him to contact Captain Andrew Bisset, the Recruiting District Assistance Council (RDAC) district coordinator in Stamford, Connecticut, who coordinated a SEAL training and mentorship program each month at the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in Kings Point, New York.
That night McCombie telephoned Bisset and hold him about his meeting with Michael, including his obvious work ethic, determination, attitude, and desire. Later McCombie said, “If Michael just had watched me work, I wouldn’t have given him the time of day. The fact that he picked up the other ax I had sitting there and helped me complete the work told me a lot about him. It turns out, I was right.”
Prep School for SEALs
Captain Andrew Bisset, a Navy SEAL with thirty-seven years of combined active and reserve Naval Special Warfare (NSW) experience, had served for five years
active duty with SEAL Team One and Underwater Demolition Team Twenty-one (UDT-21). While in the Naval Reserve (NR), he commanded two NR Special Warfare Group Two detachments, as well as NR SEAL Team Two and NR Special Boat Squadron Two, and ultimately served as reserve commodore of NR Special Warfare Command, the senior SEAL reserve position.
Following through on McCombie’s instruction, on Monday, November 9, 1997, Michael contacted Bisset, who invited him to attend the RDAC mentorship and training program beginning the following January. Bisset told him about the program’s standards and how it operated. He explained that meeting the U.S. Navy SEAL requirements was not enough to successfully complete the program; all candidates recommended to the Naval Special Warfare Command must far exceed the minimum SEAL standards. Undaunted, Michael accepted the invitation.
History of the SEAL Recruiting District Assistance Council (RDAC)
In the 1970s, with the increased demand for SEALs, the Navy lowered its training standards to increase the success rate, which was 25 percent, meaning that 75 percent of all those who began BUD/S training did not successfully complete the program. This lowering of standards concerned Captain Bisset, who strongly believed that by starting with a better-prepared BUD/S candidate, there would be a corresponding increase in the success rate.
Bisset founded the council in 1994. Its membership is composed of SEAL Naval Reservists and retirees who mentor SEAL candidates and prepare them for BUD/S. Statistics show that the cost of transforming a man into a Navy SEAL is very expensive—about $500,000—so efforts to produce a better BUD/S candidate could greatly increase the effective use of tax dollars and provide the Navy with better-qualified applicants. In addition to the mentors, the council
Saying nothing, Captain McCombie looked at Michael from head to toe for several seconds, then continued chopping wood.
“We can talk when I am finished.”
As he looked around, Michael noticed several big stacks of wood and another ax leaning against one of the stacks. He took off his jacket and tossed it on top of one of the piles, picked up the ax, and began chopping beside McCombie. Over the next several hours, the two exchanged some casual conversation as they worked. By midafternoon the work was finished.
McCombie invited Michael onto his back porch, where they talked for the next two hours. Michael laid out his background and discussed his studies and activities. McCombie learned that Michael was not only serious about becoming a Navy SEAL, but also a Navy SEAL officer. Michael explained that following graduation, he would enlist with the condition that he was accepted into Officer Candidate School (OCS) and Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training.
Having dealt with many wannabes over the years, McCombie was skeptical regarding Michael’s ambitious agenda; however, by the time their conversation ended, he was impressed with every aspect of the young man. As Michael was getting ready to leave, McCombie told him to contact Captain Andrew Bisset, the Recruiting District Assistance Council (RDAC) district coordinator in Stamford, Connecticut, who coordinated a SEAL training and mentorship program each month at the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in Kings Point, New York.
That night McCombie telephoned Bisset and hold him about his meeting with Michael, including his obvious work ethic, determination, attitude, and desire. Later McCombie said, “If Michael just had watched me work, I wouldn’t have given him the time of day. The fact that he picked up the other ax I had sitting there and helped me complete the work told me a lot about him. It turns out, I was right.”
Prep School for SEALs
Captain Andrew Bisset, a Navy SEAL with thirty-seven years of combined active and reserve Naval Special Warfare (NSW) experience, had served for five years
active duty with SEAL Team One and Underwater Demolition Team Twenty-one (UDT-21). While in the Naval Reserve (NR), he commanded two NR Special Warfare Group Two detachments, as well as NR SEAL Team Two and NR Special Boat Squadron Two, and ultimately served as reserve commodore of NR Special Warfare Command, the senior SEAL reserve position.
Following through on McCombie’s instruction, on Monday, November 9, 1997, Michael contacted Bisset, who invited him to attend the RDAC mentorship and training program beginning the following January. Bisset told him about the program’s standards and how it operated. He explained that meeting the U.S. Navy SEAL requirements was not enough to successfully complete the program; all candidates recommended to the Naval Special Warfare Command must far exceed the minimum SEAL standards. Undaunted, Michael accepted the invitation.
History of the SEAL Recruiting District Assistance Council (RDAC)
In the 1970s, with the increased demand for SEALs, the Navy lowered its training standards to increase the success rate, which was 25 percent, meaning that 75 percent of all those who began BUD/S training did not successfully complete the program. This lowering of standards concerned Captain Bisset, who strongly believed that by starting with a better-prepared BUD/S candidate, there would be a corresponding increase in the success rate.
Bisset founded the council in 1994. Its membership is composed of SEAL Naval Reservists and retirees who mentor SEAL candidates and prepare them for BUD/S. Statistics show that the cost of transforming a man into a Navy SEAL is very expensive—about $500,000—so efforts to produce a better BUD/S candidate could greatly increase the effective use of tax dollars and provide the Navy with better-qualified applicants. In addition to the mentors, the council
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