https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59812251

Richard Marcinko, who has died at the age of 81, made his mark on the US military as founding commander of Seal Team Six, one of America's elite special forces units which would later carry out a deadly raid against Osama Bin Laden.
A Vietnam War veteran, he led the group for its first three years, and was awarded more than 30 medals and citations during his career with the US Navy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Marcinko

Marcinko was born November 21, 1940, in Lansford, Pennsylvania and is of Croatian and Slovak descent.[1] His father was a Croat from Herzegovina, and his mother from Slovakia. At a young age, his family moved to New Brunswick, New Jersey.

After dropping out of high school, Marcinko tried to enlist in the United States Marines, who rejected him due to a lack of a high school diploma. Marcinko successfully enlisted in the United States Navy in September 1958 as a radioman. He was accepted into the Underwater Demolition Team/ Replacement (UDTR) training in June 1961, and graduated in class 26 in October 1961.[2] Marcinko served with UDT-21 until he was selected for an officer commission in 1965. After graduating from Officer Candidate School in December 1965, he was commissioned an ensign. He was later reassigned to SEAL Team TWO in June 1966.

https://www.wearethemighty.com/arti...mmanding-officer-of-seal-team-six-dies-at-81/

During the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979, Marcinko was one of two Navy representatives on the Joint Chiefs of Staff Terrorist Action Team task force. TAT was assembled to develop a plan to free the American hostages in Iran. The plan developed was the ill-fated Operation Eagle Claw. Following the failed rescue, the Navy realized the need for a full-time, dedicated counter-terror team and tasked Marcinko with its creation. Moreover, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Thomas B. Hayward selected Marcinko to serve as the first commanding officer of the new unit.

Marcinko named the new counter-terror unit SEAL Team SIX. At the time, the Navy only had two SEAL Teams. Marcinko reportedly selected the unit’s name to confuse hostile nations, specifically the Soviet Union, into believing that the United States had at least three other SEAL Teams that they were not aware of.

 

A friend at work passed a couple years ago. Took me quite some time to drag from him his Vietnam Seal Team service. Lots of great people we will never know or see in mainstream news who had an actual impact on our world.