A prestigious American unit, SEAL Team 6 is actively engaged in the fight against terrorism through the intelligence and destruction operations it conducts.

All over the world, they ran espionage operations posing as civilian employees, relentlessly hunting down enemies of the United States. They engaged in battles so violent and intimate that they emerged with blood that was not their own.

Known for having piloted numerous manhunt missions (or targeted assassinations), the unit was brought to light by the hunt for the terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

Focus on a very secret unit whose methods sometimes experience some deviations.

The Omega program

His very name has never been publicly acknowledged by the Pentagon. SEAL Team 6 has conducted numerous missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, she also participated in operations whose soldiers were no longer really. For example, the team's sniper unit was trained to conduct covert intelligence operations. The military thus joined CIA agents in a program named Omega , which allowed them greater scope to track down their enemies.

The various operations that Team 6 carried out were aimed at eliminating military leaders and weakening terrorist groups. However, many of these operations also raise concerns.

During a mission in 2009, the SEALS joined the CIA and the Afghan paramilitary forces. During a raid they lead to free a hostage, several sources including a British commander will indicate that the team killed a large number of men indiscriminately .

When suspicions began to be raised, an investigation was opened by the Special Operations Command. However, as in many other cases, the case never reassembled.

Army civilian leaders themselves voluntarily leave scrutiny aside regarding Team 6 operations. Former adviser Harold Koh said this was an area where “Congress notoriously doesn't want to know too much” .

make up for losses

Since 2001, the team has benefited from numerous and significant financial aids. This allowed him in particular to recruit and swell his ranks: about 300 assault operators and 1500 support personnel.

These cash installments came at just the right time for the unit: more members had died in the past 14 years than in its entire history. Repeated missions and attacks, parachute jumps, explosions, clashes... These different parameters have resulted in many deaths and physical and mental injuries.

A former member of SEAL Team 6 veteran of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq testified: “It's moving, a human being kills other human beings for long periods of time. It will bring out the worst in you. It will also bring out the best in you.”

Team 6 knew, by its level of exception, to convince the last presidents to be deployed in various hot spots of the planet: Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen in particular.

This commitment in the most tense areas of the globe, however, had serious consequences for the unit. Accumulating the human losses , many believe that the team is overstretched. Former Senator Bob Kerrey reportedly even said that Team 6 "has become a kind of 1-800 number (emergency number) whenever someone wants something done."

Welded by death

We are in March 2002, at the top of Takur Ghar, near the Pakistani border. During a chaotic battle , Assault Specialist 1st Class Neil C. Roberts falls from a helicopter into an area held by the terrorist group Al Qaeda.

American troops begin a rescue operation. Unfortunately, before they can even get there, the enemies mutilate the soldier's body, leaving him dead in the snow.

The way the soldier is killed sends shivers down the spine of SEALS Team 6. War comes across as something ugly . Their strength is increased tenfold and the team accomplish dark tasks.

After the 2002 campaign, most of Osama bin Laden's fighters fled to Pakistan. The enemy they had been sent to fight had largely disappeared.

At the time, Team 6 was prohibited from tracking down Taliban fighters. The SEALS were confined most of the time to Bagram Air Base. This period was the source of much frustration for them.

The CIA on its side being subject to no restrictions , Team 6 joined them. Following this union, the rhythm of operations increased. The operatives were tasked with tracking down mid-ranking Taliban figures, hoping to find the group's leaders in Kandahar province.

Special operations troops hit a seemingly endless succession of targets. Between 2006 and 2008, according to SEALS, they went through intense periods in which their unit recorded 10, 15, sometimes even up to 25 casualties per night.

The death in the skin

The sequence of missions and the violence of the fighting mentally destroyed several SEALs. A former team officer said, “The guys got fierce. The killings had become a routine. Whether the target was a simple executor, a Taliban sub-commander, or a financier, it no longer mattered”.

The squadron appealed to the government and the command to make its operations faster, quieter: in a word, more lethal .

In this way, the gunsmiths of team 6 have equipped almost all weapons with suppressors, which help reduce gunshot noise and muzzle flashes. Infrared lasers have been added to allow SEALs to fire more accurately at night, as have thermal optics.

The team was also equipped with a new generation of grenade - a model particularly effective in destroying buildings.

Operator groups were also bloated: more SEALs better equipped only resulted in more deaths .

Some of the team's assault troops also used tomahawks. These objects were not only used as decoration, but as weapons.

Several former Team 6 members have said that some men carried the axes on missions. Moreover, a veteran SEALs declared: “What is the difference between shooting at our enemies, and taking out a knife or an ax to stab them?”

- End of part 1 -

To learn more about the training and selection of these men, we invite you to read this article.