John Weisman is one of a select company of writers to have had books on both the New York Times fiction and nonfiction best-seller lists. His best-sellers include Rogue Warrior (written with Richard Marcinko) and Rogue Warrior's eight fictional sequels. A former journalist, Weisman has worked in more than three dozen countries. His latest work, the Black Ops novel SOAR, is now available through HarperCollins/William Morrow. He is currently completing the second Black Ops novel, Jack in the Box, for release in 2004. He can be emailed at: blackops@johnweisman.com
I was recently at an informal gathering of old SEALs and retired Frogs held at the Punta Gorda, Florida, home of Roy Boehm, the maverick mustang lieutenant who was instrumental in creating the U.S. Navy’s SEAL program back in 1961.
Roy enlisted in the Navy in April, 1941. By the spring of 1942 he was diving for body parts and ordnance on the USS Arizona. In October, 1942, his ship, the USS Duncan, sustained 58 shell hits and went down during the battle of Cape Esperance. Boehm was in the water for 13 hours before he was rescued. His wounded shipmate Dubiel was ripped from his arms by a shark.
By the time Boehm retired in 1971, he’d fought in three wars. But the battle that almost did him in was not against the Japanese, the North Koreans, or the Viet Cong. It was the unrestricted war he fought with the U.S. Navy during the time he was secretly training a group of volunteers from Underwater Demolition Team 21 in the black-ops skills they’d need as SEALs.
Indeed, by the time SEAL Team Two was commissioned in January, 1962, Boehm was the subject of five boards of inquiry pending courts martial stemming from the fact that he put his mission and his men first. In fact, it was only after a clandestine meeting with President John F. Kennedy that the charges mysteriously evaporated.
And what had Boehm done to deserve those boards of inquiry and the threat of prison and dishonorable discharge?
He’d stood up for his men is what he’d done. He’d bent the rules to ensure they got the AR-15s they’d need for this new form of warfighting after some four-striper at BUWEAPS told him to make do with M-14s. He’d bought reliable rebreathers instead of accepting the unreliable ones foisted on him by the Navy purchasing system. He went behind his superior’s backs to get his men HAHO and HALO jump qualified and give them the advanced SERE training they’d need in order to survive and prevail behind enemy lines.
That was more than 40 years ago. But it’s déjà vu all over again so far as the military establishment is concerned. Far too many of the guys with scrambled eggs on their hats are still, it would seem, more interested in getting an additional star on their collar or stripe on their sleeve than in demonstrating any kind of loyalty down the chain of command.
The case of Lt. Col. Allen B. West is indicative. West put his mission and his men above his own career. For that demonstration of loyalty down the chain of command, West’s superiors smacked him as hard as they could.
But West’s case is not unique. Back during Operation Just Cause in 1989, a U.S. noncom was brought up on murder charges because he killed a Panamanian soldier who threw a hand grenade at his squad. His superiors had him charged because they thought he’d used unwarranted violence of action.
So, how should the military deal with the sorts of risk-taking, loyalty-down-the-chain-of-command, audacious behavior that currently brings censure and courts martial? Maybe an object lesson from the Israeli navy will demonstrate.
It was, as I recall, sometime in the late 1980s that a young Israeli naval lieutenant in command of a patrol boat intercepted a PLO boat filled with weapons and explosives. The youngster fired at the boat. He killed some of the Palestinians and disabled the vessel. The remaining terrorists jumped into the water. The lieutenant swung his craft around so he could pull the survivors into his patrol boat and interrogate them.
But as he drew close he saw what he thought was a hand grenade held by one of the swimming Palestinians. Immediately, the lieutenant ordered his crew to fire on the men in the water. He cut them to shreds--killed them all.
Let’s pose the same questions about the Israeli officer I posed in my column about Lt. Col. West. Was he:
A: given a commendation.
B: promoted for showing initiative under pressure and loyalty to his troops.
C: told to resign his commission immediately or face a court martial.
The answer, happily, is “B.” In the Israeli’s case, the lieutenant was promoted on the spot to the rank of captain. His superiors understood that he put his mission and his men above his career. They understood that in war, the object is to win, and to bring your men home. They understood -- as far too few do today -- that Patton’s remark that it’s better the other sonofabitch should die for his country than you die for yours, is how officers should think on the battlefield.
Roy Boehm’s battles with the Navy establishment didn’t make him very popular on Admiral’s Row. But when he asked for volunteers to jump with him into Cuba during the period we call the Missile Crisis, every one of his men stepped forward. He’d put his life and his career on the line for them -- and they were willing to do the same for him. It was, he says now, his proudest moment as an officer.
Boehm has always said that leadership can be defined in two words. Those words are “Follow me.”
Like Roy Boehm, Lt. Col. West put his Soldiers above his career. The Army should follow the Israeli pattern in how it deals with him, and with all the other Warriors who put their mission and their men first.
