Damn Few: Former Navy SEAL On Military's Top Secret Unit Coming Out Of The Shadows

ABC News offers an interview with former Navy SEAL Rorke Denver.

It used to be that Navy SEALs didn't just operate in the shadows. They trained in them too. Their whole story stayed shrouded in mystery. Their secret missions stayed secret to the rest of us.
But when they got Osama Bin Laden, snatched back an American cargo ship taken by pirates and rescued two air workers held hostage in Somalia, then suddenly, it seemed that SEALs were headline-makers.

Add to that some SEALs wrote books about SEAL adventures and even acted in a movie about the SEAL experience using live ammunition when they made "Act of Valor." They can't quite be called "the military unit that no one ever talked about" any longer.

Rorke Denver played Lt. Commander Rorke in "Act of Valor," a film that used dozens of SEALs and went on to gross $80 million at the box office. Now, with the help of a writer, Denver is doing some pretty decent storytelling in a new book, "Damn Few: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior."

You can read the piece and watch the video via the below link:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/navy-seal-us-militarys-top-secret-unit-coming/story?id=18539935

The Selling Of The Navy SEALs: My Piece On America's Newest Heroes

My piece on America's newest heroes, the U.S. Navy SEALs, appears in the latest issue of Counterterrorism magazine.

You can read the piece below:

'Act Of Valor' Star Roselyn Sanchez Perferred Working With Navy SEALs To Hollywood Actors

Hollie McKay at FoxNews.com offers an interesting piece on the new film Act of Valor.

An unprecedented action-adventure film,“Act of Valor” stars a group of active-duty U.S. Navy SEALs in a fictionalized portrayal of real anti-terrorism operations. But for star Roselyn Sanchez, who plays a CIA operative held captive, it wasn’t just the story line that piqued her interest – it was also a welcome change to star alongside real American servicemen as opposed to Hollywood actors.

You can read the rest of the story and watcha video clip via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/02/17/act-valor-star-rosalyn-sanchez-preferred-working-with-navy-seals-to-hollywood/

Time To Get Your Frogman On: 'Act Of Valor' Film Is The Real Deal, Navy SEALs Say

Howard Altman at the Tampa Tribune wrote an interesting piece on the upcoming film Act of Valor.

Act of Valor uses active duty Navy SEALs rather than actors and the feature film, inspired by true events, is reported to be the most realistic film made about SEALs and Special Operations.

Act of Valor" centers around a platoon of SEALs on a mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent; in the process, the group learns about an imminent threat against the nation. But more than just an action shoot-'em-up, the movie shows the scope of special operations missions, from emotional goodbyes to jumping out of airplanes to the first time the Navy ever allowed one of its few nuclear subs to be used in a movie.

Beyond the SEALs, the film also uses other real military personnel, including sub and ship crews and Army special operations aviators.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2012/feb/10/act-of-valor-flick-is-the-real-deal-real-seals-say-ar-357189/

You can watch the film's trailer via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnlPgo9TaGo

You can visit the Act of Valor web site via the below link:

http://actofvalor.com/  

You can also read about the 50th anniversary of the Navy SEALs via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2012/01/navy-seals-turn-50-elite-frogmen-muster.html

Hollywood Tries A New Battle Plan

John Jurgensen at the Wall Street Journal wrote an interesting piece about how, after a string of anti-American, anti-military films failed at the box office, a new crop of pro-military films will soon be showing on TV and at the movies.

On a 2010 training exercise, a team of Navy SEALs converged on an ocean rendezvous point. Crouched beside the sailors on a bouncing Zodiac speedboat was a filmmaker, dressed in camouflage with his camera rolling as a submarine broke the surface. "We ran those boats right up on the back of that nuclear sub," said director Mike McCoy.

For years, war movies have centered on conflicted, disillusioned soldiers. John Jurgensen on Lunch Break looks at a new crop of films that aim to make a fictional drama with real-life Navy SEALs.

His team came to film the SEALs perform an underwater exit from the sub, then spent a week alongside its crew when rough seas dragged out the two-day shoot. For two years the filmmakers had inside access to the Navy's elite and secretive force for an unusual assignment: to create a feature film that starred real-life SEALs—not actors—in lead roles. The movie, "Act of Valor," is not a documentary. Instead, it straddles reality and fiction, military messaging and entertainment. It features strike scenes written by the SEALs themselves, jarring live-fire footage and a body count that would rival any '80s action flick. Yet the movie, to be released in February, was designed to set the record straight on a group that the military says has been routinely misrepresented in film.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576528293606172306.html

You can read an earlier post on the Navy SEALs film via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/06/act-of-valor-new-fictional-film-on.html

You can also read my interview with former Navy SEAL Dick Couch via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/DickCouchInterview1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/DickCouchInterview2.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/DickCouchInterview3.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/DickCouchInterview4.jpg

Act Of Valor: New Fictional Film On The Exploits of U.S. Navy SEALs Features Real SEALs As Leading Men

Paul McHugh wrote an interesting piece for the San Francisco Chronicle on Act of Valor, the new film about U.S. Navy SEALs that actually has real SEALs in the leading men roles.

Considering the public's huge interest in the Navy SEALs due to the Navy warriors' take down of America's Public Enemy Number One, Osama bin Laden, this film should do very well.

The film offers a fictional account of the SEALs in action, but this fact-based film provides viewers with a realisticic portrayal of a SEAL mission.

The above photo by Paul McHugh shows Navy SEALs (left) conferring with filmmakers Mike McCoy (second from the right) and Scott Waugh on the set on Act of Valor.  

You can read the newspaper piece via the below link.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/07/MN301JPQVF.DTL&tsp=1