Introducing project “Military Insignia”, featuring top quality military heraldry designs. Here you will find designer apparel, accessories, custom postage and gifts decorated with insignia of the United States SEAL Team 1. The United States Navy SEa, Air and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force and is a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC) as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). The unit's acronym ("SEAL") is derived from their capacity to operate at sea, in the air, and on land – but it is their ability to work underwater that separates SEALs from most other military units in the world. The experience gained from operating in the ocean and freshwater battlefields has shaped their identity and, as a result, they are regarded as being amongst the most highly skilled and trained amphibious units in the world. Navy SEALs are trained and have been deployed in a wide variety of missions, including direct action and special reconnaissance operations, unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, and other missions. Without exception, all SEALs are male members of either the United States Navy or the United States Marine Corps. The CIA's highly secretive Special Activities Division (SAD) and more specifically its elite Special Operations Group (SOG) often recruit operators from the SEAL Teams. Joint Navy SEALs and CIA operations go back to the famed MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War. This cooperation still exists today and is seen in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in the finding and killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. SEAL training is extremely rigorous, having a reputation as some of the toughest anywhere in the world. The dropout rate for BUDs classes are sometimes over 90 percent. The average Navy SEAL spends over a year in a series of formal training environments before being awarded the Special Warfare Operator Naval Rating and the Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) 5326 Combatant Swimmer (SEAL) or, in the case of commissioned naval officers, the designation Naval Special Warfare (SEAL) Officer. SEAL Teams are organized into two groups: Naval Special Warfare Group One (West Coast), and Naval Special Warfare Group Two (East Coast), which come under the command of Naval Special Warfare Command, stationed at NAB Coronado, California. As of 2006, there are eight confirmed Navy SEAL Teams. The original SEAL Teams in the Vietnam War were separated between West Coast (Team ONE) and East Coast (Team TWO) SEALs. The current SEAL Team deployments include Teams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10. The Teams deploy as Naval Special Warfare Squadrons or Special Operations Task Forces and can deploy anywhere in the world. Squadrons will normally be deployed and fall under a Joint Task Force (JTF) or a Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) as a Special Operations Task Force (SOTF). Each SEAL Team is commanded by a Navy Commander (O-5), and has a number of operational SEAL platoons and a headquarters element. A SEAL Team has a Staff Headquarters element and three 40-man Troops. Each Troop consist of a Headquarters element consisting of a Troop Commander, typically a Lieutenant Commander (O-4), a Troop Senior Enlisted (E-8), a Targeting/Operations Officer (O-2/3) and a Targeting/Operations Leading/Chief Petty Officer (E-6/7). Under the HQ element are two SEAL platoons of 16–20 men (two officers, 14–16 enlisted SEALs, and sometimes two enlisted EOD Operators); a company-sized Combat Service Support (CSS) and/or Combat Support (CS) consisting of staff N-codes (the Army and Marine Corps use S-codes); N1 Administrative support, N2 Intelligence, N3 Operations, N4 Logistics, N5 Plans and Targeting, N6 Communications, N7 Training, and N8 Air/Medical. Each Troop can be easily task organized into four squads of eight 4–5 man fire teams for operational purposes. The size of each SEAL “Team” with Troops and support staff is approximately 300 personnel. The typical SEAL platoon has an OIC (Officer in Charge, usually a Lieutenant (O-3), an AOIC (Assistant Officer in Charge, usually a Lieutenant (junior grade), O-2), a platoon chief (E-7), an Operations NCO/LPO (Leading Petty Officer, E-6) and other operators E-4 to E-6. The core leadership in the Troop and Platoon are the Commander/OIC and the Senior Enlisted NCO (Senior Chief/Chief). Troop core skills consist of: Sniper, Breacher, Communicator, Maritime/Engineering, Close Air Support, Corpsman, Point-man/Navigator, Primary Driver/Navigator (Rural/Urban/Protective Security), Heavy Weapons Operator, Sensitive Site Exploitation, Air Operations Master, Lead Climber, Lead Diver/Navigator, Interrogator, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Technical Surveillance, and Advanced Special Operations. Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, a naval base in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is home to SEAL Teams 2, 4, 8, and 10. Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, a naval base in Coronado, California, is home to SEAL Teams 1, 3, 5, and 7. There is also a SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) unit, SDVT-1, located in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. SDVT-2 was based in Virginia; it was disestablished and merged into SDVT-1. SDV Teams are SEAL teams with an added underwater delivery capability. An SDV platoon consists of 12–15 SEALs. SEAL Team #1 is based out of Coronado, California and consists of eight SEAL platoons in total. The Team is headed up by a Navy Commander and focuses its work and efforts in Southeast Asia. In short, Navy SEAL Team #1 deploys said platoons in Guam to the Naval Special Warfare Unit One. It also conducts trainings known as DFTs or Deployments and Training in both the Pacific and Central theaters. On January 1, 1962, Navy SEAL Team #1 was put into operation. The first recruits consisted of men who were already skilled in Underwater Demolition and were part of UDT Teams 11 – 12. These men were then put through a variety of other trainings throughout various military schools in order to gain the skills necessary in order to operate within jungle based terrain, which was needed at the time. Though the first SEALs who made up Navy SEAL Team #1 were used to dealing with near-shore missions, they had to learn to operate in various elements including inland travel, which is why they were put through more rigorous training than other branches of the military. Throughout the history of SEAL Team #1, two officers were commissioned to travel to Vietnam in order to determine if the newly formed Navy SEALs could be of service in the area. After this meeting two platoons from SEAL Team #1 were sent to Vietnam where they served a six month tour, wherein they were responsible for training the Vietnamese in general military operations. It is recorded in history that Navy SEAL Team #1 was ultimately responsible for an estimated one-thousand confirmed kills and nearly another 400 probable kills during this time in the Vietnam War.