President John F. Kenedy is often attributed the honor of having ‘directed’ the US Navy SEALs to be established in 1962. The truth of the matter is much more complex and interesting. In short though it is understood that SEALs ‘grew’ out of the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) or Frogmen of the Korean war and the Scouts and Raiders and Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs) of WWII. However, the Scouts, NCDUs and the UDTs legacy was eventually absorbed into the newer SEAL Teams and by 1983 all the remaining UDTs had been reclassified as SEAL Teams. For Snorkel and Fin (SnF), two diehard ‘Frogmen’, the years between 1962 and 1983 afforded them plenty of time to rib their ‘younger’ cousins as we can see here in SnF #1 – Light Bulb.
For more information on the origin story of the ‘Frogmen’ please visit – https://www.navysealmuseum.org/naval-special-warfare
