Be Inspired:
CLAY PENDERGRASS BY CRAIG COLLINS
HIS DISTINGUISHED CAREER AS A NAVY SEAL BEGAN IMMEDIATELY AFTER CLAY PENDERGRASS – TEAM SOCOM’S CAPTAIN FOR THE 2019 WARRIOR GAMES – GRADUATED FROM C.E. BYRD HIGH SCHOOL IN SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA, IN 1989. HE ENLISTED IN THE NAVY AND GRADUATED FROM BASIC UNDERWATER DEMOLITION/SEAL TRAINING IN 1990, AND IN HIS FIRST ASSIGNMENT, WITH SEAL TEAM 3, HE COMPLETED TWO DEPLOYMENTS IN AND AROUND THE PERSIAN GULF. His service earned him selection for an ROTC scholarship, and Pendergrass reported to the University of San Diego in 1995, graduated three years later with a degree in foreign affairs, and was commissioned an ensign in 1998. Ensign Pendergrass reported to SEAL Team 2, where he deployed as liaison officer for the Marine Amphibious Ready Group (MARG) and the assistant officer in charge of platoons for the European Command. His next assignment was at Naval Special Warfare Unit 2 as the Future Operations and Maritime Craft Air Delivery System (MCADS) officer. After his service with SEAL Team 2, Pendergrass reported to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, where he learned French, and then completed his tour as platoon officer in charge, SEAL Team 1, with a deployment to Iraq that ended in 2008. His next assignment, with SEAL Team 17, saw him completing tours as the operations and executive officer from August 2008 to May 2012. Pendergrass then deployed to Afghanistan as the current operations officer for the Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan (SOJTF-A) that was formed in the summer of 2012 and became fully operational in July 2013. After completing this assignment, he reported to U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) headquarters in Tampa to serve as director of operations for the J3-AFG – the general staff for Joint Operations in Afghanistan. “I’ve deployed to both coasts, on multiple teams, and deployed overseas a number of times,” Pendergrass said. “In fact, I’ve deployed to every theater – to CENTCOM, EUCOM, PACOM, SOUTHCOM, and AFRICOM. So I guess I’m a jack of all trades, master of none.” Before you’re tempted to believe Pendergrass mastered no trades as a special operations warrior, consider that his personal decorations have included the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Bronze star (with valor), the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon.
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2019 Warrior Games
A new phase of his career began in 2012, when Pendergrass, now holding the rank of commander, took command of the Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School (NAVSCIATTS) at the John C. Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, northeast of New Orleans. According to Pendergrass, the school, which has evolved from a Coast Guard command established in the Panama Canal Zone in 1961, probably needs a new name. “A better way to understand it,” he said, “is to think of it as our Special Operations International Training Command. It’s the only command in the Department of Defense that is 100 percent focused on training our partners.” NAVSCIATTS instructors include SEALs, Navy civil engineers, and Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen. In his current assignment, which he undertook in 2017, Pendergrass works from SOCOM headquarters in Tampa to achieve the broader goal of Security Force Assistance – organizing, training, equipping, evaluating, and advising partner-nation military forces. The logistics of setting up and delivering training can be difficult in overseas theaters, such as in Africa, he said: “It’s often very complex and very time-consuming, and adds more burden on the force. So I was brought in to look at a different way to include CONUS – continental United States – locations to train partners, as opposed to us always deploying forward and do training in austere environments, often without ideal platforms.” Nobody understands more acutely than Pendergrass why it’s so important for partner nations to share the burden of special operations. Life as a SEAL has taken a toll on his body, from the time he injured his knee during training to last year’s spinal infection, which put him in the hospital for more than three months. In his 30 years of service, he’s undergone 24 surgical procedures. “Five in the left shoulder,” he recounted. “Three knee surgeries. Three elbows. Four on the back, two on my neck, three on my face. I’m probably
