Thread: Field modifying service weapons

Originally Posted by bunji

"What an amazing story, thank you for sharing. I’m somewhat familiar with the stories of SOG and some of the incredible individuals involved, I’d love to do some more reading on the role SEALs played during the conflict, are there any books you can recommend?"



@hamish9701 I actually have not read many, as l have it locked in as a project of collecting & reading up on the Teams blokes l met & became friends with & have a library & photo display of those good times in a corner of the Man Cave l have marked out to build up on a hill behind the farm house, once l retire as well .

Capt Ron is mentioned in a couple of books but usually with ID kept incognito,during his time fighting in Vietnam he was lucky not to be killed during a assault on a position ,when what the SEALs on the ground believe was a Russian satchel charge but was officially listed as a large grenade,exploded basically right next to him, but with a pile of rubbish in between ,which in the words of the guys who seen him being treated made him look like a pin cushion & they were sure he would die, as up until then they had never seen anybody with that many badly bleeding wounds live. While he was recovering he was tasked with testing, improving & involved in internal security in Special Forces (there was a high level breach by the Russians that was covered up )years before the official formation of the infamous "RED CELL" ,the SEAL team tasked with testing/Breaching security at various top secret /High Security Military & Civilian facilities.

If you keep in mind he was Commanding officer of UDT 21 & SEAL Team 6 & a Platoon Commander of SEAL Team 2 during the "Men with Green Faces "Vietnam War era,then you realize who is being talked about ,he was also the guy who was portrayed as the SEAL Team 6 COM for that Charlie Sheen movie SEALs & apparently the Director spent a couple of days with him on the phone pleading with him, after Capt Ron demanded a couple of scenes were cut about his Submarine mission exploits,he still used to chuckle about that as the Hollyweird types could not believe he would not agree to be portrayed as the all American Hero .

The books l can recommend are the ones the actual SEALs who were there told me to read as they were accurate ,so Dick Marinko's book Rogue Warrior,Dick was the other SEAL Platoon Commander in those first years in Nam ,he is a great bloke but a nutter ,me & him got on like a house on fire because he was very much like my favorite Uncle who was a Korean War Vet & went on to be a leader of a well known World Wide motorcycle gang in Australia & while never a member l have ridden bikes since l could sit on one & partied with the best of them.So Dick comes across as a wild man, but if you just give as good back & refused to be intimidated , he was cool & he loved his bikes as well so we had a lot in common, he is extremely loyal & he has a heart of gold .

In his book Rogue Warrior, Dick was Platoon Commander of ST6(SEAL Team 6) & because Capt Ron was made Commanding Officer of ST6 & was brought in to clean up ST6, as they were cowboys under Dicks "leadership",in Dicks book Rogue Warrior, Dick disguised Capt Ron Yeaw identity as Don Pitch, in Old School Navy tradition (get it ron -don & Pitch, Roll and YAW of boats) & called him "ass kissing intel weenie." for getting the new rules laid down on how SEAL Team 6 would operate & its direction & purpose from then on,but in reality Capt Ron was told if he did not bring them to heel, ST6 would be disbanded (imagine how that might have changed history ) .

Another book recommended by the SEAls & a really great bloke & friend was Harry Constance who wrote what l think is the best SEAL book of all Good To Go .Capt Ron ST2 platoon commander at the time Harry Constance's wrote about in his "Good To Go." book,that includes a chapter on the big firefight they were in while hunting for the POW's & when Capt Ron was badly wounded when a satchel charge/grenade basically landed on him. Harry called him a pin cushion after seeing his wounds & it stuck with Capt Ron from then on.Other books the SEALs recommended are Brave Men Dark Waters and Never Fight Fair,they were very disappointed about how much Garbage has been printed over the years .

Capt Ron wrote of his time in Vietnam incognito for a couple of the original SEALs who put out books, including the foreword in "Good To Go." & hated doing it ,that is why the family had so much trouble in dragging info out of him. Harry Constance was renowned for calling a Spade a Spade & his book ruffled a lot of feathers in the SEALs & SF community for calling out team guys who he felt did not perform under combat,he always spoke highly of Capt Ron when he was out of ear reach ,which wasn't far for Capt Ron as what getting blown up didn't destroy of his hearing,deploying out of torpedo tubes at maximum depth did .


I should also point out so there is no confusion ,although Capt Ron & Dick Marcinko clashed when Captain Yeaw took over SEAL Team 6 ,they remained life long friends right to the end & Dick Marcinko being the wildman he is, always spent time with the Yeaw family when his running amuck was catching up with him Stateside.

To show you what sort of guys they are back in 2014-15 my wife & l were ticking off a Bucket list item of Sailing around the South Pacific.we did it in a old yacht l brought cheap after the financial melt down in Singapore & restored it while it sat at anchor in Singapore harbor,l get a phone call out of the blue asking did l want to join a couple of the Nam era SEALs Captain "Pete" Peterson & Captain Rick Woolard with a group of others & might need a hand for a few days,so l grabbed a cheap flight & ended up being part of this .Although thankfully l am only briefly shown in the background a couple of times,carried my ratty old stoney creek pack. loaded up with cartons of cigarettes with packet wrappers like they had in the 60-70's ,to be dispensed at will to authorities blocking our access & gifts ,l became known as Smoko to the locals much to the others amusement .

if you have not seen this documentary l highly recommend it ,this also shows what great people these guys are,who even after having seen & done unimaginable horrors they are great men with hearts of gold .Have you ever seen or heard about the documentary" A Bond Unbroken- The Why Of Minh- "about the Vietnam War era SEALs & Brown Water Navy guys on a mission to find their Vietnamese combat interpreter,who was lost during the confusion of the evacuation & never heard of for decades after the Vietnam war had ended ?

-A write up on it -


"A reunion 40 years in the making. After decades of wondering what became of their combat interpreter, a group of U.S. Navy SEALs attempts to find Nguyen Hoang Minh, left behind in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. When they discover him living in abject poverty, the bond they forged during the conflict is so strong that the entire SEAL community takes up funds to ensure that Minh has financial security for the rest of his life. The film documents the circumstances that created that bond, the reunion, and the impact on the Vietnamese-American community"


Capt Ron & a lot of the guys l have been talking about are in this as well & it has some really good home movie style combat footage of SEALs ,Brown Water Navy & Seawolves -Worth watching if you have not & some great Home movie Combat footage -

" A Bond Unbroken- The Why Of Minh- "


https://vimeo.com/185166669

Thank you for the book recommendations and the film too, I’ll definitely be consuming them all. Smoko, I like that, funny how nicknames stick. You are lucky to know such incredible men, I’d love to know more about how you came to meet them, you mentioned guiding?
And again thank you for sharing CPT Ron’s story. A man dies twice, once when his heart stops beating and once when he is forgotten, Capt Ron will not be forgotten.
Cheers