Navy Seals

The Navy SEALs who ended the pirate-hostage drama off Somalia with three deadly sniper shots began their training on a strip of the beach known as the Silver Strand. Every aspiring SEAL must pass a grueling six-month regimen at the facility here. Attrition is high: Only a quarter to half make it. Those who do then undergo another six months of advanced training. Given the elite nature of the SEALs, no one here was surprised at the success of the rescue mission, said Capt.

She might be 13 and beanpole-thin, but Lauren Hagedorn can compete with any Navy SEAL. Hagedorn, a runner and swimmer from Manhattan Beach, stuck out in the crowd of mostly muscled, 20-something guys grunting and sweating through a series of grueling exercise events set up by the SEALs for the public on the UCLA campus Saturday morning. After knocking out a 500-yard swim, 85 push-ups, 58 sit-ups, 12 pull-ups and a 1.5-mile run, Hagedorn panted, smiling at her strong finish.

Tears glistening on his face, President Bush posthumously presented the Medal of Honor on Tuesday to a Navy SEAL from Garden Grove who saved the lives of American snipers in Iraq by throwing his body on top of an insurgent's grenade. Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor, 25, died during a firefight on Sept. 29, 2006, in an Al Qaeda-controlled section of Ramadi.

Everyone agrees that Danny Dietz died a hero. The Navy SEAL perished in the mountains of Afghanistan two years ago, holding off militia fighters for 45 minutes during an ambush. The helicopter coming to rescue his four-man squad was shot down, and Dietz, though wounded, resisted so ferociously that one of his comrades was able to escape. Petty Officer 2nd Class Dietz, 25, was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the service's second-highest honor, for his valor.

In a somber, understated ceremony in the White House East Room, President Bush on Monday awarded the Medal of Honor to a Navy SEAL mortally wounded two years ago on a hillside in Afghanistan after he sent out an emergency call for reinforcements and continued firing at Taliban insurgents. The medal, given to Lt. Michael P. Murphy, 29, of Patch- ogue, N.Y., is the nation's highest military honor. This is the first one the president has bestowed for action in Afghanistan.

When Navy SEAL Marc Alan Lee talked to his wife last week from Iraq, he was upbeat as always, discussing their future, his SEAL team's planned return to Coronado, Calif., in October and the prospect of starting a family. The next day the 28-year-old Lee, a petty officer 2nd class, was killed in a prolonged firefight with insurgents in Ramadi, making him the first SEAL killed in Iraq. Two other SEALs were wounded in what a reporter embedded with U.S.

Court-martial proceedings were postponed Monday for a Navy SEAL accused of prisoner abuse in a case that implicates the CIA in a detainee's death at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. The unnamed SEAL is accused of punching an Iraqi detainee in the arm and allowing his men to abuse the prisoner, who later died during CIA interrogation. The trial was postponed to give attorneys time to resolve several issues, including how they will use classified material and witnesses.

The Navy SEALs assigned to capture or kill suspected terrorists in Iraq were warned to treat prisoners humanely and not take mocking pictures of them, two military lawyers testified Wednesday at a court-martial. Yet three members of Foxtrot Platoon of SEAL Team Seven have testified that within days of arriving in Iraq the commandos were kicking and punching prisoners and taking "celebratory photos," including one in which a handcuffed prisoner was forced to wear a jack-o'-lantern mask.

The music was loud and the beer was flowing, but there was an undercurrent of sadness this weekend at McP's, a legendary hangout for Navy SEALs. One of the U.S. military's smallest and most secretive combat units, the SEALs had just suffered the worst one-day death toll in the group's history. Eight SEALs were killed last week in the crash of a Chinook helicopter in the mountains of Afghanistan while on a rescue mission. But the news may get worse.