Behind the Scenes

Each rubber band contains all the notecards for a chapter. There are several boxes.

Before a single sentence is even attempted, the battle space must be prepared…

This is one of the first reports to articulate the concept of a Navy special operations unit. Note the date and the explanation of the SEAL acronym.

Here is an example of a secondary source that can also be a primary source. The Naked Warriors is a history book on the Navy’s first frogmen which means it is a secondary source. But it was also co-written by a former UDT commander who, in the writing process, occasionally veered off into editorial comments which means that the book can also be a primary source. Not only that, but this copy also includes a forward by Admiral R. Kelly Turner, the architect of the UDTs in World War II. In other words, this secondary source has loads of primary source material. ‍

The author in 2003 visiting the Normandy Battlefields for the first time. Next to him is his first platoon commander and Rob O’Neill.

The author in 2019 at Omaha Beach.

Never underestimate the research potential of your local library.

Or your local pub. Here’s one of the author in his most natural habitat, The Red Lion Pub in Lincoln Park, with the only therapist he trusts.

On one of my first trips to the Navy’s archives at the Washington Navy Yard, I was required to wear my uniform because of a ludicrous rule that only permitted access to active duty researchers. Sharing this table and taking the picture was my literary agent: world-renowned naval historian, James Hornfischer. Hornfischer had spent countless hours at the Navy Yard archives researching his previous books but on this occasion was only allowed to access because I assured the staff that he was my "research assistant." Cue eye roll. At the end of the day, the archive staff was lined up at our table so Jim could sign their copies of Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.

Not all archives are as well-organized as NARA. Here’s the author on one of his trips to the SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida, which was under construction at the time. Because of the archive’s disarray, I was initially not going to be allowed access but I overcame this by resorting the historian’s most tried and true method of entry. I begged.

Here is an inside shot at one of our country’s greatest jewels, the National Archives and Records Administration in College Station, Maryland, also known as NARA. I made numerous research trips to NARA over the years. Each day I'd be standing in line waiting for the doors to open and wouldn't leave the building until they turned the lights off. Pro-tip: Pack a sandwich.

This is how the archivists at NARA bring the records to you. Prior to this, you have spent hours combing NARA’s database to select various boxes and folders but you really don’t know what you’re going to get until you crack these open. Sometimes it’s the disappointment of a dry hole. Sometimes it’s like opening a chest of pirate’s treasure.

Here is an example of a treasure chest. Before finding this I was at a dead end in my research for my chapter on Korean War Rangers; specifically, on one particularly mission, the Virginia I raid. On the verge of abandoning the idea, I made a long shot FOIA request on a document I only suspected that existed: the POW record of Ranger, Martin R. Watson. Through experience I knew that many of these records were only one or two pages and usually didn't provde much information but I submitted the request nonetheless. (Not a totally pain-free process.) What I received was more than 700 pages on Watson and the Virginia I raid that no one had seen since the archivist boxed them up more than 60 years earlier. Each rubber band contains all the notecards for a chapter. There are several boxes.