NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE: TALKING TO “THE BULL FROG”

BY SCOTT R. GOURLEY

Special Operations Outlook’s Scott Gourley talks to “The Bull Frog,” Cmdr. Steven Elias. Enlisting on April 24, 1981, he received “The Bull Frog” title as the longest continuously serving active-duty U.S. Navy SEAL on June 8, 2017.

Special Operations Outlook: What is the history of The Bull Frog?

Cmdr. Steven Elias: During World War II when the Underwater Demolition Teams [UDT] were formed, the men were often referred to as Frogmen, and to this day that nickname is still ingrained into our heritage. In naval tradition, the word “Bull” refers to the senior ensign [O-1] at a command who is responsible for guiding junior ensigns at their command from embarrassing missteps – they are referred to as the “Bull Ensign.” In that vein, Rear Adm. Richard Lyon adopted the term “Bull Frog” as a parallel in our warfare specialty. The only requirement to become the Bull Frog is to be the longest continuously serving active-duty U.S. Navy SEAL on duty at the time of receiving the title from their predecessor.

How long have you been the Bull Frog?

I assumed the Bull Frog on June 8, 2017, when Capt. Rico Lenway turned it over during his retirement. I’m the 17th Bull Frog to receive the honor, and I will retire in January of 2023 when I will turn over with the next longest-serving SEAL.

Are there any perks/drawbacks to being the Bull Frog?

No perks, not even a parking space! I’m humbled just to have received a trophy with my name and the dates I served. The highlight really is just being called the Bull Frog by your teammates and former teammates who transitioned to the civilian sector. A lot of great people have served in the Navy, so they understand the tradition. Someone is always asking if you’re the Bull Frog. It really feels cool to say it now. I never thought I would be that man, but it happened. As for drawbacks, well the Bull Frog is generally the oldest in the teams. I don’t want to be known as the oldest. Most SEALs take pride in themselves staying in great physical shape, it’s part of the culture. I’m no exception, I may not be as strong or as fast as I was in the past, but I really am a competitive guy. I work hard to stay in shape to keep up with the younger Frogs. I like the challenge that comes with being a SEAL still to this day, and being that role model. Someone somewhere is constantly taking on a challenge with a teammate. We compete daily, and that’s what makes it fun. You can never really go on a casual beach run with a teammate, it always turns into a race. In hindsight, I may have taken the “never quit” a bit too far. I never quit, but the Navy has statutory retirement dates for officers, and that’s why I’m retiring.

Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alex Perlman, left, assigned to commander, Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC), photographs U.S. Navy SEAL candidates participating in Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training. NSWC is the maritime component of U.S. Special Operations Command, and its mission is to provide maritime special operations forces to conduct full-spectrum operations, unilaterally or with partners, to support national objectives.

Who were some of the other Bull Frogs?

Rear Adm. Richard Lyon, SOCM Al Huey, Capt. Ed Bowen, SOCM Rudy Boesch, Capt. Pete Wikul, Adm. Eric T. Olson, Adm. William H. McRaven, Cmdr. Brian Sebenaler, [and] Capt. Rico Lenway are among those I remember in my era.

Having gone through BUD/S as a student, what are your thoughts/ impressions about the changes over the years to the curricula and what is required to graduate?

The greatest common attribute in this community is our integrity to uphold standards. The standards when I went through are still the standards of today. What has changed is the people entering the program. When I went through training, only about 5% of the personnel had college degrees. Today, around 80% have some college experience or a degree. Our candidates are high-functioning and technically savvy students with cognitive, character, and leadership attributes that are of a different caliber than what I saw during my training.

U.S. Navy SEAL candidates participate in Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training.

What are the biggest changes you have seen in the BUD/S curricula since 1981?

With Navy Education and Training Command’s support – we disestablished the separate recruit rifle division at boot camp in December 2020. SEAL and SWCC recruit candidates are now fully integrated with the rest of their Navy shipmates in recruit training. This means SEAL and SWCC [Special Warfare Combatant Crewmen] candidates solve their first problems in the Navy together with teammates from the greater Navy. We also moved the Naval Special Warfare [NSW] preparatory school from Great Lakes to Coronado to concentrate our assessment and selection cadre, so they can conduct the same level of pre-assessment scrutiny already applied to officer candidates to enlisted candidates before their final approval to begin basic underwater demolition/SEAL [BUD/S] and basic crewman training.

Members of SEAL Qualification Training Class 336 wear their newly earned special warfare (SEAL) pins, known as Tridents, during their graduation ceremony at Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Center in Coronado, California, April 15, 2020. The Trident is a symbol of honor, integrity, and discipline that embodies the ethos Navy SEALs follow in their service to the American people.

Can you compare the BUD/S candidates who entered with you to those who are entering today?

How are they different? How are they the same? We are using new approaches to recruitment, assessment, selection, and training that underpin NSW’s overall transformation. In 2021, we began forming a new Echelon IV command – Naval Special Warfare Assessment Command – that will employ active-duty SEALs and special warfare combatant crewmen [SWCCs] to identify, engage, and enroll future candidates. This command will provide a more precise initial assessment of candidates and continually evolve assessment approaches across the continuum of NSW careers. With the establishment of this command, Naval Special Warfare no longer will rely on traditional recruiting methods to find future SEALs and SWCCs. We are identifying and engaging potential candidates from demographics that historically have not thought about joining our team. These efforts will give us an edge in leader selection and candid feedback for self-improvement and individual development. What is one – or a few – things people would be surprised to know about being a Navy SEAL? A lot of people think SEALs are invincible, but we bleed and get hurt like anyone else. There have been a lot of brave people that have gone out and put everything on the line and have lost. It’s our dedication and constant, consistent training that hone our combat skills to minimize loss and ensure success in conflict.

A U.S. Navy diver assigned to Naval Special Warfare Logistics Support Unit 1 (LOGSU-1) swims on the surface during a high-altitude dive. The exercise, organized by LOGSU-1, was designed to qualify and maintain Naval Special Warfare personnel’s altitude diving proficiency and provide opportunities for instructor qualification.

During the selection and assessment pathway, we were always told that being a SEAL in the teams was tougher than BUD/S; that is absolutely true … sometimes. When stationed at the SEAL Teams, you have time to recover between training and missions. The selection and assessment pathway, on the other hand, is designed to be selective in their processes to find the right operator, which can be a test of not only an individual’s physical endurance but also their cognitive, character, and leadership attributes. We are not superhuman. I believe most SEALs are humble, but we will lead when required. We do not compromise, our integrity is our bond, and we will never quit.

What are the most dramatic changes you have seen/experienced during your time in the community?

While the past two decades of combat shifted Naval Special Warfare’s principal missions to counter-violent extremist organizations [C-VEO] and counterterrorism [CT], we never left our “frogman” roots. Today, we are applying hard-earned combat lessons – identifying irregular opportunities; fusing operations and intelligence; planning missions; and rehearsing and integrating with the joint force, other agencies, the intelligence community, and reliable international partners – to expand deterrence options and decision space. With new and energized partnerships with U.S. Space, Strategic, and Cyber Commands, we are creating innovative capabilities and concepts to increase diplomatic leverage; influence adversary leaders to undercut their confidence in success; deliver war-winning access in conflict; and mitigate the political, strategic, and military risks the nation must assume to deter its adversaries.

Naval Special Warfare operators rehearse visit, board, search, and seizure tactics aboard the Lewis B. Puller-class expeditionary staging base USS Miguel Keith (ESB 5). Naval Special Warfare is the nation’s premier maritime special operations force, uniquely positioned to extend the fleet’s reach and deliver all-domain options for naval and joint force commanders.

Naval Special Warfare is implementing changes across its tactical formations for survivability, lethality, and relevance within joint warfighting concepts. At the core tactical maneuver-element level, we reduced the number of SEAL platoons from 72 to 48 over the past year – realigning end strength into the remaining platoons. These newer, bigger platoons now have a third subordinate maneuver element for organic cyber, electronic warfare, and multidomain unmanned system capabilities.

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Recently, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command decided to hold approximately a third of Naval Special Warfare’s combat-ready force in reserve for experimentation, concept development, and high-return deploy-for-purpose [DfP] missions. This is a significant change from the past two decades of deploying all our combat-ready forces. These DfP reserve elements increase our agility to respond to crises around the globe and – perhaps most critical – provide combat-ready forces to experiment and generate new concepts at lower training risk after they have mastered core mission-essential tasks. Allowing combat-ready forces to experiment with new tactics, techniques, and procedures for the most stressing hard targets and environmental conditions is helping answer the Navy’s and joint force’s key operational problems.

How have changes in technology affected and shaped NSW with regard to equipment and platforms during that time?

We merged Naval Special Warfare Group 3 and Group 10, two O-6 Echelon III major commands, into Naval Special Warfare Group 8, which fuses undersea capabilities [including SEAL delivery vehicle [SDV] teams] and advanced intelligence, cyber, electronic warfare, and multidomain unmanned systems within the special reconnaissance teams. This shift provides task force depth across joint warfighting functions, unity of command, and new irregular capabilities to counter peer adversary systems.

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Naval Special Warfare has long enjoyed a special relationship with the submarine force. Distinct stealthy NSW capabilities, combined with advanced stealthy submarines, create an unrivaled asymmetric advantage. Last summer, SEALs and SDVs conducted interoperability exercises in the eastern Mediterranean on board a Virginia-class submarine for a proof-of-concept with the U.S. Sixth Fleet, affirming the ability to adapt together for new strategic, multidomain options that expand national leverage. We also are partnering with the Marine Corps on complementary concepts, expeditionary sustainment, and staging for inside force operations in contested battlespace.

Naval Special Warfare members perform a high-altitude low-opening jump, during the 2022 Arctic Edge Exercise, March 9, 2022. Arctic Edge is a U.S. Northern Command biennial defense exercise designed to demonstrate and exercise the ability to rapidly deploy and operate in the Arctic.

As Naval Special Warfare continues to fulfill our enduring C-VEO and CT missions to protect the homeland from external attack, we are pushing to test, evaluate, experiment, and integrate scalable effects against critical adversary systems [including C5ISRT] of great power rivals. We are learning how to integrate our capabilities to complement the F-35 Lightning II, littoral combat ships, Zumwalt-class destroyers, Military Sealift Command assets, and Navy unmanned vehicles. Operating alongside these manned and unmanned platforms, we are testing new concepts, technologies, and tactics; contributing to the Navy’s unmanned task force mission; and amplifying the lethality, scalability, access, and precision of Navy combat power.

In your opinion, what is the most exciting initiative or new program on the horizon?

We have clearly honed our selection process over the four decades that I have been around. The new leadership assessment and selection program improves selection precision for all officer and senior enlisted milestone assignments at all echelons. We now conduct a four-day assessment – modeled after the Army’s new Battalion Commander Assessment Program [BCAP] and special operations forces’ special mission unit best practices – that includes robust cognitive and non-cognitive psychometric testing, written assessments, peer and subordinate evaluations, and double-blind candidate interviews that mitigate cognitive biases in leader selection.

We know the sacrifices spouses and families make. How does your family feel about your impending retirement after so many years in the Teams?

I’ve always been an active person. My wife has subtly mentioned to me several times, “You will need to find something to do to keep yourself busy when you retire.” I tend to get a little stir crazy when I sit idle. I still have two young men at home to keep up with, and they challenge me daily – mentally and physically. My 12-year-old son Liam is becoming a great swimmer who I absolutely love to watch compete. I see everything in him that I saw in myself at that age. My oldest son Neil, who is 17, will be going off to college this year studying marine science and playing baseball, so I want to spend as much time with him before he departs. As for my wife Kirsten, I would like to give her some time back as well. Throughout our relationship over 22 years, she had to endure multiple deployments and constant training exercises, and we are more than ready to start a new chapter in our life as a family. A renewed passion of mine is to inspire kids to be the best they can be and prepare them for life’s many challenges. Recently I started giving presentations on mental fortitude to young kids from different organizations, like baseball and lacrosse teams, and several high schools. I really enjoy the energy these kids have and watching them absorb information. It reaffirms to me that there is a younger generation willing to lead.

Do you know who will follow you as the next Bull Frog?

I believe it will be Cmdr. Joe Burns or Vice Adm. Collin Green, depending on their personal plans.

What is your parting message to the force?

The OSS, Scouts and Raiders, and Underwater Demolition Units led the way for the Underwater Demolition Teams [UDT] created in May 1943. These men quickly adopted the name of Frogmen. When I was young, I always watched movies and shows about the U.S. Navy in world wars, frogmen, and diving. I grew up around the Great Lakes in Ohio. I was a competition swimmer, sailor, and constantly around water. My Dad always used to say, “Steve, you can‘t make a living at swimming.” Be careful of what you say to young minds; they are impressionable and determined to make a mark and leave their legacy. I can’t say anything new or insightful that hasn’t been said before. I was inspired by great leaders who forged the way for our community. A great leader in my era was Adm. Bill McRaven; we were both “just UDT” at one point. We continue to have great leadership guiding us forward through unknown waters.

Navy divers assigned to Naval Special Warfare Command conduct operations with the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS North Carolina (SSN 777) off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.

When I retire, I will close an 80-year chapter of the history of the UDTs. I am the last of the UDT Frogman legacy still on active duty. The U.S. Navy SEAL Teams will carry on the Frogman tradition from here on out. There will be a far better trained force who will follow alongside our forefathers’ footsteps. They too will step up to the challenge, and if in the absence of leadership, lead the way in order to defend and extend this nation’s freedoms to the oppressed.

Stay humble but lead with dedication, be thoughtful of the people who support you, and treat people with dignity and respect that is afforded to everyone. Never tell your kids something they can’t do; they will certainly do their best to prove you wrong. Ensure you are surrounded by like-minded people, mentors, teammates, and swim buddies like I had in Bob McMeans, who swam alongside me through dark waters my entire 42-year career. He is the reason we both ended up in the teams as Frogmen.