Richard Marcinko (November 21, 1940 – December 25, 2021) was a U.S. Navy SEALcommander and Vietnam War veteran. He was the first commanding officer of SEAL Team Six. After retiring from the United States Navy, he became an author, radio talk show host, military consultant, and motivational speaker.
Early life and education
Marcinko was born November 21, 1940, in Lansford, Pennsylvania, and was of Croatian and Slovak descent.[1] His father was a Croat from Herzegovina—the southwestern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina along the border with the Croatia, which is mostly inhabited by Croats—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.[3]
In January 1967, Marcinko deployed to Vietnam with 2nd Platoon, SEAL Team Two for a six-month tour of duty. On May 18, 1967, Marcinko led his men in an assault on Ilo Ilo Hon (Ilo Ilo Island), where they killed a large number of Viet Cong and destroyed six of their sampans (wooden boat). This action would come to be called the "most successful SEAL operation in the Mekong Delta" by the U.S. Navy. For leading this mission, Marcinko was awarded the Silver Star, the first of his four Bronze Stars, as well as a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.[5]
Marcinko returned to Vietnam with SEAL Team Two after a few months stateside as officer-in-charge of 8th Platoon from December 1967 to June 1968. During the Tet Offensive, Marcinko ordered his platoon to assist U.S. Army Special Forces at Châu Đốc.[1] What began as an urban street battle turned into a rescue mission of American nurses and a schoolteacher trapped in the city's church and hospital.[6]
After completing his second tour in Vietnam and a two-year stateside staff assignment, Marcinko was promoted to lieutenant commander and assigned as the naval attaché to Cambodia in 1973. After serving in Cambodia for 18 months, Marcinko returned stateside and assumed command of SEAL Team Two from 1974 to 1976.[7]
SEAL Team Six
During the Iran hostage crisis in 1979, Marcinko was one of two Navy representatives for a Joint Chiefs of Staff task force known as the TAT (Terrorist Action Team). The purpose of the TAT was to develop a plan to free the American hostages held in Iran which culminated in Operation Eagle Claw. In the wake of the debacle, the Navy saw the need for a full-time dedicated counter-terrorist team and tasked Marcinko with its design and development.
Marcinko was selected by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Thomas B. Hayward as the first commanding officer of this new unit. At the time, the Navy had only two SEAL teams. Marcinko purportedly named the unit SEAL Team Six in order to confuse other nations, specifically the Soviet Union, into believing that the United States had at least three other SEAL teams that they were unaware of. He personally selected the unit's members from across the existing SEAL and Underwater Demolition Teams, including a special counter-terrorist tactics section of SEAL Team Two, codenamed MOB-6. SEAL Team Six would be the Navy's premier counter-terrorist and hostage rescue unit, like its Army counterpart Delta Force.[1][8] While typically a two-year command, Marcinko commanded SEAL Team Six for three years, from August 1980 to July 1983.[9]
Red Cell
After relinquishing command of SEAL Team Six to Captain Robert Gormly, Marcinko was tasked by Vice Admiral James "Ace" Lyons, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, with the design of a unit to test the Navy's vulnerability to terrorism. This unit was the Naval Security Coordination Team OP-06D, unofficially named Red Cell.[9]
Personal life
Kickback trial and imprisonment
Marcinko was indicted for conspiracy, conflict of interest and lying to the government on July 13, 1989, in connection with a kickback of $113,000 paid to Ramco International, a company set up by Marcinko and former SEAL John B. Mason, by Accuracy Systems, a Phoenix, Arizona-based arms manufacturer owned by Charles M. Byers.[10][11] Byers was convicted of conspiracy and conflict of interest on October 20, 1989, but Marcinko was acquitted of conflict of interest.[11]
Marcinko was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government on January 24, 1990.[12] The jury in that trial also acquitted Marcinko of a separate count of bribery.[12]
On March 9, 1990, Marcinko was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and fined $10,000 under charges of defrauding the government over the price of contractor acquisitions for hand grenades.[13] Marcinko maintained that he was the subject of a witch-hunt for his work with Red Cell and that the fraud committed revealed the weaknesses of military security. Marcinko detailed his arrest and confinement in the last chapters of his autobiography.[1]
Civilian life
Marcinko published a VHS and DVD movie account of his "Red Cell" operations.[14]
His experiences led him to write his autobiography, The New York Timesbest-sellingRogue Warrior, and subsequent fictional sequels, most of which are co-written with ghostwriter John Weisman.[1] With Weisman he co-authored a three-book series on leadership, management and team-building for business executives.[15][16]
In 2005 he wrote an op-ed criticizing what he called "the liberals attack on the activities at GITMO prison, or Abu Ghraib detention centers", claiming that "manipulation is what has been practiced at our detention centers".[17]
At the time of his death, he was CEO of Red Cell International and formerly of SOS Temps, Inc., a private security consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. He had a politically conservativetalk radio show, America on Watch with Dick Marcinko, which was broadcast live. He was a spokesman for the Zodiac boat company's Zodiac Maritime Training Academy, and served as a consultant on FOX's television series 24. He briefly collaborated with Strider Knives on a series of knife designs referred to as the "RW" signifying "Rogue Warrior" from 2008 to 2010.[18]
Death
Marcinko died from a heart attack at his home in Fauquier County, Virginia, on December 25, 2021, at the age of 81.[19][20][21][22]
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Lieutenant, Junior Grade Richard Marcinko, United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as Platoon Leader of 8th Platoon, SEAL Team Detachment Alfa, on 14 and 15 May 1968. As patrol leader, he led a squad size patrol to a known Viet Cong infiltration route through 2,000 meters of uncontested enemy terrain and established an ambush site. Three groups of Viet Cong soon approached and set up in the area. With no feasible escape route, the squad was surrounded by 85 armed Viet Cong for over four hours. Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Marcinko ordered artillery to stand by and directed air strikes on the Viet Cong within 300 meters of his own position. When the enemy force started to retreat toward the Cambodian border, he led an attack on a group of 43 Viet Cong and through bold and unselfish tactics quelled the enemy's efforts to outflank and subdue his squad. Enemy fire from a nearby tree line was countered by Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Marcinko's M-60 Machine Gun, his daring companions and the air strikes he directed on the enemy. A reconnaissance, conducted immediately after the enemy broke contact, revealed many heavy blood trails, one Viet Cong killed, and one SKS rifle abandoned and numerous bundles of hot food and clothing within 20 meters of the ambush site. A sweep held at first light brought the total assessment of losses to the enemy force to 24 Viet Cong killed, 41 Viet Cong wounded and six automatic weapons captured. His courage, valor under fire, dedication to duty and accurate prediction of the enemy's tactics were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.[23]
Marcinko's fiction adventure novels depict himself as recounting the events of the story as they happen, in a timeline with his autobiography as the starting point. John Weisman co-wrote with him from Red Cell to Detachment Bravo in 2001. Jim deFelice became his writing partner from Vengeance to Blood Lies.
Red Cell (1994) – Three years after his conviction, Marcinko works as a security expert in Japan. A chance run-in with a nuclear smuggling operation at Narita Airport leads to him being brought back into the Navy to investigate. His team of SEALs uncover a plot by a former Secretary of Defense to deliver American nuclear warheads to an ultra-right wing Japanese movement.
Green Team (1995) – A British aircraft carrier is bombed at its decommissioning ceremonies, killing the head of the British Admiralty and the US Chief of Naval Operations. Marcinko's group, now called the Green Team, are sent to track clues that the bombing is part of a plan by a British noble of Arabic descent to incite a major Islamic fundamentalist campaign against the West.
Task Force Blue (1996) – A few months after the events of Green Team, Marcinko's group rescues the Secretary of the Navy from a violent militia group but runs afoul of cowardly politicians. With covert backing from the current JCS Chairman, the team probes the militia's connections into a subsequent theft of weapons from National Guard armories. They discover that the weapons are meant to arm militias across the country for an American Revolution-style war whose kickoff is timed with the anniversary of the Waco siege.
Designation Gold (1997) – When Marcinko discovers that one of his close friends (whose son Marcinko agreed to be a godfather for) is killed in Russia, he goes off on a mission to find out who did it. Further digging uncovers clues to a plan to arm Syria with weapons of mass destruction and use it on Israel.
SEAL Force Alpha (1998) – Marcinko's SEALs raid a Chinese freighter in the South China Sea and discover that it was shipping weapons to rebel movements across Southeast Asia plus carrying several advanced US-made electronic countermeasures systems. The plot, led by a corrupt U.S. ex-diplomat and a high-ranking PLA General, ultimately requires the SEALs to stop a planned invasion of Taiwan by China.
Option Delta (1999) – An entrapment operation in the Mediterranean uncovers evidence that leads into recent neo-Nazi activity in Germany, their connections with a leading business magnate, and a planned coup d'état. With the help of a friend leading Germany's elite KSK special forces group, Marcinko's men attack a castle in the Black Forest where some stolen nuclear weapons are being stored.
Echo Platoon (2000) – Marcinko is contracted to train Azerbaijan's security forces after a successful rescue operation on an oil complex in the Caspian Sea. When further evidence points to an Iranian-Russian plan to corner the Caspian's oil deposits, it is up to the Rogue Warrior's team to turn the tide.
Detachment Bravo (2001) – Several top executives in the US and Britain are killed in high-profile attacks by the Green Defenders, an Irish Republican Army splinter group that wrecks the Good Friday Peace Accords. Now running a joint US-UK group of special operations soldiers with support from the FBI and NSA, Marcinko scrambles to stop the Green Defenders before they carry out another international terrorist attack - with the only problem being a lack of details on when and where the attack will take place and who's the target.
Violence of Action (2002) – Marcinko takes some time off for self-reflection. When a nuclear shipment is hijacked, Marcinko springs into action with his team of security experts to stop a former Army colonel threatening nuclear annihilation of Portland, Oregon.
Vengeance (2005) – Marcinko's private security team is contracted to run anti-terrorist security exercises at various US facilities to test their vulnerability (to the consternation of the Department of Homeland Security). However, someone is sending Marcinko certain messages of revenge directed at him - and he discovers that a loved one of someone he once killed is out for his head.
Holy Terror (2006) – Marcinko's private security company, Red Cell International, oversees a top NATO conference in the Vatican when he kills a waiter attempting to bomb the meeting. He later sees the attack as part of a major campaign against the Catholic Church.
Dictator's Ransom (2008) – Having read all of Marcinko's books, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il hires him to bring back an illegitimate son who's gone missing. Marcinko's subtly convinced by the CIA to take up the assignment (after initially resisting the temptation of Kim's $64-million reward), but things get muddled when the lover of one of his associates holds the missing child hostage in return for a North Korean nuclear weapon.
Seize the Day (2009) – When a casual observation of Marcinko leads one to believe that he can pass off for a slightly younger Fidel Castro, the CIA has him as the lead talent in a fake video of Castro's last will and testament and send it to Cuba for circulation, with some insights from one of the former dictator's barbers. However, a deathbed-ridden Castro his own game to play: using Cuban refugees to the US as viral carriers - and Marcinko's own illegitimate son is in the crossfire.
Domino Theory (2011) – Marcinko's security company is hired to oversee security preparations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India. An explosion at a nearby Indian Army base gets his attention, as the base was a nuclear-weapon storage site. It is discovered that a Pakistani group aims to hijack India's nukes.
Blood Lies (2012) – Marcinko is contracted to head down to Mexico and rescue a former SEAL's daughter kidnapped by Mexican drug cartels. Investigations of a real-estate subdivision south of the border that has scammed American senior citizens later point to the cartels sheltering Hezbollah militants and a plan to kill the US Secretary of State (alluded to as Hillary Clinton)
Rogue Warrior: Curse of the Infidel (2014) – a botched CIA sting operation targeting an al-Qaeda-backed terrorist cell deep in money laundering - with Marcinko's Red Cell International somehow included in the mix - leads to SEAL Team Six coming to the rescue. Little does everyone know that cell is connected to a plan to detonate a cruise liner right inside a US harbor. Marcinko's private security operatives join forces with SEAL Six to stop the threat - and this time, bring in some of Six's original SEALs into the battle.
Articles
"Ethics in the War against Terrorism" for World Defense Review, July 15, 2005
Marcinko partnered with Bethesda Softworks to publish Rogue Warrior for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Marcinko himself is the protagonist and is voiced by actor Mickey Rourke. In the game, Marcinko is sent on a classified mission into North Korea to disrupt an anti-ballistic missile program.[24] Released in December 2009, the game was critically panned, with critics citing poor AI, excessive use of expletives, numerous bugs, poor graphics, a short single-player mode and limited multiplayer mode.[25] Since its release, Rogue Warrior has been listed as one of the worst video games of all time.[26]
^Bosiljevac, T. L. (1990). SEALs: UDT/SEAL operations in Vietnam. Boulder, Colorado: Paladin Press. p. 81. ISBN978-0-87364-531-7.
^Keith, Thomas H.; J. Terry Riebling; Michael E. Thornton (2010). SEAL Warrior: The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday. Macmillan. pp. 37–39. ISBN978-0-312-62803-1.
^Halbertstadt, Hans (1995). US Navy SEALs in Action. Osceola, Wisconsin: Zenith Press. p. 44. ISBN978-0-87938-993-2.
^ abChalker, Dennis; Dockery, Kevin (2003). One Perfect Op: An Insider's Account of the Navy Seal Special Warfare Teams. New York: William Morrow Publishing. p. 130. ISBN0-380-97804-0.
