SEAL of Honor (32 page)

 

 

 

T
he core concept of the SEALs is TEAM. To a SEAL, nothing is more important than his teammate. It is that mind-set that keeps all SEALs as safe as possible. It is that mind-set, and the level of training that goes with it, that makes the Navy SEALs the most formidable fighting force on Earth.

While this work would embarrass Michael Murphy, it would be a grave disservice to his legacy not to remember here those members of the SEAL community and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), the Night Stalkers, who answered his call for assistance on June 28, 2005. Those sixteen men willingly ran to their helicopters to undertake their dangerous rescue mission.

Michael was all about TEAM. The following pages are dedicated to the memory of those who paid the ultimate price answering his call. Truly, to paraphrase President Abraham Lincoln’s famous words, these men gave their last full measure of devotion.

The only child of retired Navy rear admiral Edward Kristensen, Erik was born on March 15, 1972, in Portsmouth, Virginia. He was accustomed to life on the road, having lived in Japan, Guam, and Washington, D.C. Known as “Spider” to his teammates, he considered Washington, D.C., his home, and graduated from Gonzaga High School in 1990 with academic honors. While at Gonzaga he excelled at football and lacrosse and was musically gifted as a trumpet player, having earned
the ranks of first chair, section leader, and co-concert master. An Eagle Scout, he earned numerous academic awards that he never picked up.

Following high school, he attended the academically challenging Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, for a year before attending and subsequently graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1995 with academic honors. During his time at the Academy, Erik majored in English and minored in French, and earned his varsity letter in heavyweight crew.

Following his graduation from the Naval Academy, he was commissioned as an ensign and served in the engineering department of the USS
Chandler
, a now-decommissioned guided missile destroyer, in Everett, Washington, as fire control officer. While in the
Chandler
, he earned his surface warfare officer designation. He subsequently served as an officer in the Fleet, with tours as the officer in charge of the Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat Detachment at Naval Special Warfare Boat Unit Twelve (SBT-12) in 1999. After his tour of duty with the SEALs, he returned to the Naval Academy and taught English and began graduate studies at St. John’s College in Annapolis.

In 2000, after five years of service, Erik knew he wanted to be a Navy SEAL but was told that he was too old and would not be able to make it. Instead of listening to those who said he could not make it as a SEAL, he chose instead to redouble his efforts to achieve his goal. After failing once to make the SEALs, he tried again. As the oldest member of Class 233 at age twenty-seven, he graduated BUD/S in March 2001.

Overcoming numerous injuries and obstacles, he finally realized his dream and became a SEAL. His first assignment was as the officer in charge of a sixteen-man SEAL platoon at SEAL Team Eight. He then deployed to Afghanistan as a task unit commander for SEAL Team Ten in support of the U.S. Global War on Terror. In that position, he was not obligated to board the rescue helicopter that fateful day in June 2005; however, consistent with the SEAL Creed, there was absolutely no way that he would permit the rescue team to leave without him and his weapon downrange. Erik would never send his men into harm’s way without leading them.

Single and fluent in French, Erik had been selected by the George and Carol Olmsted Foundation as an Olmsted Scholar to attend graduate school at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, France, and was scheduled to begin his schooling there in 2006.

With full military honors, the funeral of thirty-three-year-old Lieutenant Commander Erik S. Kristensen was conducted at 10:00 AM on July 19, 2005, in the chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He was buried in the Academy’s cemetery, located on the peninsula overlooking the Severn River and College Creek. There, he remains on permanent station in Section 01-008.

The Honor Man of BUD/S Class 230, Lieutenant Michael M. McGreevy Jr. was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 24, 1975. His family moved to Portville, New York, a small town just north of the Pennsylvania border, soon after he was born. While attending Portville High School, he was involved in everything, including the student council, the National Honor Society, wrestling, soccer, ice hockey, and track, setting a school record for the eight-hundred-meter run. While in high school he wanted to take the state Regents exam in German, but his school did not offer that language. Undaunted, he bought German-language books and taught himself so well that he passed the exam. Tall and very thin, he ran more than three miles to school each morning to be there by 6:00 AM so that he could get in a session of strength building before classes started. Accepted for early admission to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, he declined, seeking instead a spot at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, which he received. He served as secretary of his class, graduating in 1997 with a B.S. in mechanical engineering.

Upon receiving his commission, he served aboard USS
Oak Hill
(LSD-51), a
Harper’s Ferry
-class landing ship, as the surface warfare officer. His passion was to become a SEAL, however, and so he entered BUD/S training in late 1999, graduating with Class 230 in August 2000 after his second attempt. Known as “Groove” by his friends, he served with SEAL Team Four, volunteered to attend the Army Ranger School, and graduated as Top Ranger, the Rangers’ equivalent of Honor Man.
⁷

He then deployed to Southern Command and conducted foreign internal defense missions and multiple joint-combined exercises with several foreign special operations forces. Upon returning from this deployment, he volunteered for an emergent deployment with SEAL Team Eight to the Crisis Response Element, Joint Special Operations Task Force-Horn of Africa as the assistant officer in charge. Following that tour he transferred to SEAL Team Ten as officer in charge (OIC) of Echo Platoon. As OIC, he deployed in April 2005 to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Lieutenant McGreevy is survived by his wife, Laura, and his daughter, Molly. A private funeral service was conducted at the St. John the Apostle Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Lieutenant Michael McGreevy Jr. was laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, “Where Valor Proudly Sleeps,” on October 20, 2005, in Section 60, along with several other of his comrades who perished on June 28, 2005.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Daniel R. Healy was born on January 17, 1968, in Exeter, New Hampshire. He was the first of five children of his parents, Henry and Natalie Healy. He graduated from Exeter High School in June 1986. After exploring his entrepreneurial spirit by owning his own landscaping business and working as a journeyman electrician for four years, he enlisted in the Navy in 1990, graduating from BUD/S in 1992 with Class 196.

He was assigned to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One (SDVT-1) at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from 1992 to 1996. A year of intensive language training at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, followed. He then served at SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two at Little Creek, Virginia, before returning to SDVT-1 at Pearl, where he led a training platoon.

On July 9, 2005, Senior Chief Daniel R. Healy was buried with full military honors at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma, California. His funeral was attended by Admiral Joseph Maguire, along with many of his SEAL brothers stationed at Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado and his teammates from SDVT-1 in Pearl Harbor.

Dan’s family organized an East Coast memorial service at Rye Harbor State Park, five miles from Exeter, overlooking the turquoise blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. More than a thousand people, including Judd Gregg, U.S. senator from New Hampshire, and his wife, Kathy, attended the event, which was held on Sunday, July 17, 2005, beneath a beautiful cloudless sky.

In his memory, Dan’s mother established the Daniel R. Healy Memorial Foundation to assist a graduate from Exeter High School who was entering the military or the building trades.

In 2008 the bridge on New Hampshire Route 101 between Manchester and Hampton Beach was renamed the Senior Chief Daniel R. Healy, U.S. Navy SEAL Bridge. That same year the pool in the local park in Exeter was renamed the Senior Chief Daniel R. Healy Memorial Pool.

Eric Shane Patton, born on November 15, 1982, at the Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego, California, was the second of six children of Valerie and “JJ” Patton. When his parents divorced in 1994, Shane and his brothers moved to Boulder City, Nevada, with their father, a Las Vegas Municipal Court marshal and a former Navy
SEAL. At Boulder City High School, he was a member of the baseball team and played guitar in a band called True Story. He also enjoyed skateboarding and surfing. Immediately upon graduation, he enlisted in the Navy with the goal of becoming a SEAL like his father. He graduated with BUD/S Class 239.

He was assigned to SEAL Team One in Pearl City, Hawaii, before his deployment to Afghanistan in April 2005. Originally scheduled to be part of Lieutenant Murphy’s four man reconnaissance unit, he was on the rescue helicopter struck by the RPG in the Korangal Valley on June 28, 2005. His remains arrived under military escort at McCarran International Airport on Thursday, July 6, 2005. Visitation was held on Friday, July 7, 2005, at the Palm Mortuary in Boulder City.

With full military honors, Shane Patton was buried at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City, Nevada, on Saturday, July 9, 2005.

Electronics Technician First Class Lucas was born on September 17, 1971. While growing up in Corbett, Oregon, he chose his career path early—in the fourth grade, when he wrote a paper about the Special Forces (Green Berets), the Rangers, the Marine Corps’ Force Recon, and the SEALs. He had his eyes set on the SEALs because “they were the best.” After graduating from high school in 1989, he immediately enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Upon completing recruit training and Electronics Technician school, he transferred to Naval Submarine Training Center Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. From there he transferred to the Branch Medical Clinic, San Diego, California, from May 1991 to June 1993.

He entered BUD/S in June 1993 and graduated with Class 191 in January 1994. Upon completing his SEAL training, he reported to SEAL Team One in Coronado, California, where he was stationed from 1994 to 1999, before transferring to the
East Coast in 1999 to Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) in Dam Neck, Virginia. He then transferred to SEAL Team Eight for a year before again transferring to SEAL Team Ten in March 2002. A leading petty officer (LPO), he had ten years of experience as a SEAL, allowing him to create an extensive list of qualifications, including sniper, sniper instructor, and military free-fall parachutist.

He was married to his wife, Rhonda, for twelve years. They had one son, Seth, who was four years old when his father was killed in action.