Prologue

Petty Officer 1st Class David "Locksmith" Locke US Navy 5th ASEAN Fleet / US Navy SEAL Team 4

I started off as a simple US Sailor, a Helmsman for the USS Warden, a new Destroyer for the US Navy. I never really left my post, mainly because of the number of Sailors who wanted this position, which was none...almost none. I wanted to be a Helmsman because it made me feel like I was sort of in control of the whole ship, even though I only steered it. I always had a knack for wanting to feel important. The USS Warden was a new addition to the US Navy’s 5th ASEAN Fleet, patrolling the ocean with 2 submarines, 2 other destroyers, and an Aircraft Carrier, the USS Arcadia, a new US Supercarrier. My friend Paul, or as everyone calls him “Tick”, worked as a sentry when the Arcadia is docked on some days, and on deployment, he was a Quartermaster for the USS Arcadia. He was pretty much the assistant driver of the Arcadia when the Helmsman was called away from his post. He also distributed supplies and food rations to the sailors aboard the Arcadia, or the Warden, or any other ship in the fleet. Paul and I kept in contact when we could, and you would always see us together when we were on leave when the fleet docked at a foreign country. But that was when I was a simple 3rd Class Petty Officer, and Paul a Seaman. When the Fleet docked in Spain back in April of 2015, Paul and I caught the eyes of a few SEALs, who were well into their 7th-14th year of service to the trident. We learned what the SEALs did that wasn't classified or secret...which wasn't much, but it was something. The SEALs described what they did, which was more along the lines of unconventional warfare, counter-terrorism, and hostage rescue, and a little more that can’t be disclosed to civilians. Since that day, Paul and I worked constantly for hours upon days to the maximum level to train for the trident. The fact that the SEALs had more and better positions than the regular Navy really said something about all of this. If you died, or got discharged or changed jobs, the Navy could replace you with another Helmsman, or Quartermaster, or a Navy Diver, whatever your MOS was. In the SEALs, nobody could replace you, because nobody did your job better than you. That's what set my will on fire, I wanted to be the SEAL that kicked the most a*s at what I did in the field, I wanted to be the SEAL that saved lives from across the world without anyone else having a single clue how close to destruction they were. I had that opportunity, and I took it. BUD/S felt impossible to accomplish, but along the months of training that each of us went through, those remaining finally earned the trident. I would always look down, even to this day, and see the SEAL trident that I worked to earn. Never in my life has something smaller than my palm meant so much to me. I remember everything that I did, at my own will, to earn that trident. I am a United States Navy SEAL, and the only easy day was yesterday.

Author's Note

This is the prologue for the book, It should give you some idea as to what the book is about. If anything seems off, or if there isnt enough information, or maybe even too much, please comment about it!