Elite Navy SEALs conducted bin Laden mission

By Gary Robbins, UNION-TRIBUNE

Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 11:40 p.m.

The Obama administration says Osama bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs, the elite special operations forces whose basic training starts at the Coronado Naval Amphibious Base.

The word SEAL is an acronym that refers to the ability of the warriors to operate at sea, on land and in the air. The SEALS were created in the early 1960s, during the Kennedy administration. But their roots date to World War II, when the U.S. military began to train explosive ordnance personnel from several branches of the military to identify and deal with obstacles that blocked troop landings on beaches.

There are units in several parts of the country, but the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado oversees the SEALs, whose members can sometimes be seen training not far from the Hotel del Coronado.

The SEALs became famous during the Vietnam War for their effectiveness in everything from ambushes to commando raids. Their skills led the enemy to call them “the men with the green faces.”

The SEALs’ duties have expanded over the years, and its special operations team now operate worldwide. They participated in the Persian Gulf war, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and in numerous anti-terrorist campaigns in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia and Somalia.

They’ve received a lot of attention in recent years for encounters with Somali pirates. In April 2009, SEALs aboard the destroyer Bainbridge shot and killed three pirates who were involved in the kidnapping Richard Phillips, captain of the U.S.-flagged ship MV Maersk Alabama.

Although the SEALS are regarded as one of the most respected outfits in the American military, the Navy has had to do a lot of recruiting in recent years to expand size of the force. The SEALs are famous for their rigorous tryouts, which involve grueling swimming, running and strength tests, conducted on the beaches of Coronado. But the Navy has been graduating more than 200 SEALs per year recently, indicating that they will meet recruitment goals.