Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL (23 page)

Fifth Platoon of SEAL Team Four and elements of the French Foreign Legion conduct parachute insertion into Beirut, July 1983. That’s Hooterville below.

Claude Salhani

Bad Karma. The author, aboard an LCU of Assault Craft Unit 2, following a foot patrol of West Beirut.

Author’s collection

A 155-millimeter howitzer of Charlie Battery, 24 MAU, fires against Shiite gun positions in the Shouf Mountains.

Claude Salhani

Seafox SWSC (Special Warfare Support Craft) off Beirut. Frequent repainting of the shark’s mouth led both Israelis and Lebanese to conclude that the U.S. had as many as four boats patrolling off the city. In actuality, the white enamel we used for the teeth kept flaking off the Seafox’s carbon fiber hull. Every time we repainted the teeth, the mouth came out differently.

Frank Giffland

The corniche, Beirut, 1983. Looking east from the Duraford building.

U.S. Marine Corps

The author in militia costume.

Author’s collection

A marine CH-46 helicopter departs the pattern from LZ Brown at Beirut International. This low-level flying was made necessary by the amount of RPG and small arms fire coming out of Hooterville.

U.S. Marine Corps

The battalion landing team headquarters, Beirut International Airport. The truck bomb that would destroy the building smashed through a security gate and drove straight up the main drive and into the building.

U.S. Marine Corps

On October 23, 1983, at 0623 hours, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in the history of warfare destroyed the battalion landing team headquarters at Beirut International Airport. To gauge the size of the explosion, note the airport’s control tower and a pair of Boeing 707 jetliners in the foreground. This photograph was taken seconds after the blast, from the marine positions at the north end of the runway. The photographer was nearly a mile from ground zero.

U.S. Marine Corps

Moments after the blast, marines begin the search for survivors. For the next two days, snipers from Hooterville would pour fire on rescuers and victims alike.

U.S. Marine Corps

Firefight in the Ash Shuafat. In the foreground is the wreckage of the battalion landing team headquarters.

U.S. Navy

Leaving Beirut.

U.S. Marine Corps