Ice Cold Leader

CHAPTER 4Within an Inch of My Life, Again

THE AMOUNT OF TIME YOU CAN GET EIGHT SEALS UP A ladder obviously varies depending on sea state, speed of travel, the height of the ladder, etc. Suffice it to say, the speed at which a proficient SEAL platoon can board a ship safely is impressive. Our platoon was proficient, which is why it was extra shocking to see how the sea state and height of the ladder were negatively impacting the platoon's ability to board the ship quickly.

As I observed the second squad climb the ladder, several things were going through my mind. The first thoughts were operational. Was the boarding too slow? Would we be able to maintain the proper stealth and surprise? Was it inherently unsafe given the sea conditions, even though the boarding was happening in what appeared to be a safe manner?

The next thing going through my mind was how much trouble the best in the world at VBSS were having climbing the ladder. It was unbelievable. SEALs will generally self-regulate operational proficiencies. In other words, to conduct a VBSS on a pristine day, our platoon would have at least three men on the ladder at the same time to ensure maximum speed. Today, even though we had thirty feet of ladder on which to operate, the men naturally went no more than two on the ladder at a time. This was naturally safe and intuitive to the operators, which was good. But it slowed us down, which is obviously not so good when we are trying to achieve maximum effect through speed and ...