The Making of a Navy SEAL
By Brandon Webb
By Caleb Heims
About the Author
KWL Chart
What I know
- Navy Seals are special trained and are "elite" soldiers.
- Training to become a Navy Seal is hard.
- A team of Navy Seals killed Osama Bin Laden.
What I Want to Know or Think I’ll Learn
- What exactly a Navy Seal does.
- How to Become a Navy Seal.
- The differences between a Navy Seal and other ranks in the military.
- Stories from Navy Seals.
What I learned
- What a Navy SEAL does.
- What you need to do to become a Navy SEAL.
- The stories of some great Navy SEALS.
- Some things that the Navy SEALS were responsible for.
- How the different courses in the navy seal training (especially sniper school) was refined by Brandon Webb and others.
Bell
M-14 Iron Sights
Pacific Ocean
SEAL Trident
Zhawar Kili Complex
Beach
Timeline
- June 12, 1974, Brandon Webb was born.
- 1980, the Webb family declared bankruptcy and moved from Canada to America.
- 1989, the Webb family tried to sail around the world. Brandon was thrown off the boat into the ocean.
- March, 1993, Brandon enters navy boot camp.
- 1997, Brandon enters BUD/S training.
- August 14, 1998, Brandon graduates SEAL tactical training and earns his SEAL trident.
- June 12, 2000, Brandon graduates from basic sniper training on his 26th birthday.
- Sunday, January 6, 2000, Brandon and his platoon are deployed into the Zhawar Kili complex.
- 2002, Brandon was promoted to petty officer class E-6
- Summer of 2003, Brandon was asked to help redesign the basic sniper training course.
Brandon Webb
Quotations
The Attack on the USS Cole
"I talked with a few survivors to find out exactly what happened, and how this...had penetrated the Cole's security. The answer was.. Security? What security?...as protection they'd set up a few guys on the ships rail with unloaded M-14s...they were protecting a billion dollar vessel by standing on its deck with weapons that were unloaded...I soon learned that...this was standard security...Soon the military was making it mandatory for at least 30 percent of every ships crew to be actually trained in force protection." I think this is important because this changed the way the military protected its ships. If this didn't happen, the military might have not strengthened their security.
While Brandon was training on base
"...As I stepped out of the Humvee I happened to glance down at the rear tire...I bent down slowly to get a closer look. It was a det cord...So I called Brad, one of our EOD guys, over to take a look...Very slowly, very carefully they checked the whole scene out..."Okay guys," Brad finally said..."...We have parked directly on top of an antitank mine. Which happens to be tied directly tied to three antipersonnel mines."...We stood in place while Brad...dismantled the whole mess...Brad came over to us...and said, "Whoever set this thing up missed one step. They didn’t set up the drum correctly. As a result, the pressure plate didn’t rotate properly and it failed to initiate the charge. Which, all things considered, is a good thing." I think this is important because Brandon could have been killed right there.