"SEAL Team Six Does Not Exist"

Everyone has heard the news by now, Osama bin Laden was assassinated this past weekend in a top secret operation done cooperatively with the CIA and Navy SEALs. He was found inside a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, just 40 miles north of the capital of Islamabad and less than 1,500 yards away from Pakistan's biggest military training facility. As far as how much anyone in the Pakistani government knew about bin Laden's whereabouts is currently unknown, but the important things are he was found, killed, and buried at sea, a "mother lode" of intelligence was found at his home, and one of his wives and children are now in US custody being interrogated.

But perhaps the most intriguing part of this whole story is that bin Laden was not found due to the actions of our armed forces, but rather due to classic CIA intelligence gathering. The operation to find and kill bin Laden was carried out by armed forces, but these aren't any ordinary seadogs; they weren't even "ordinary" Navy SEALs. SEAL Team Six, the squad that carried out the operation to kill "Geronimo," as bin Laden had been codenamed, is made up of the most elite Navy SEALs. In other words, imagine your typical Navy SEAL: a guy in the late 20s to early 30s, probably buff, skilled in multiple martial arts, proficient in multiple firearms, and probably fluent in more than 3 languages. Now imagine that same guy, but multiplied times 100, and you have a typical member of SEAL Team Six.

SEAL Team Six is such a covert black ops squad that until Monday, it was US policy that SEAL Team Six does not exist, hence the headline. Coincidentally, a book about SEAL Team Six is coming to bookshelves later this month, written by a former member of the uber-elite squad. Even though it's now US policy that SEAL Team Six does exist, the name of the man who shot bin Laden in the head will probably not be revealed until either he dies or the moratorium on confidential documents runs out, whichever comes first. All you need to know about the guy who killed Osama bin Laden is that he is not a guy to be fucked with and could probably kill a room of 30 people with just a spoon.

The spotlight on the Navy SEALs is sure to get a huge boost, which is very important to the Navy's image. Until recently, the five branches of the US military have been stereotyped in various ways, but with the news of the existence of SEAL Team Six, it can expected that enlistment for the Navy will go up, with many young people hoping to become a member of the now legendary squad.