With all the talk going on about assault charges hurled against three Navy SEALs for capturing Ahmed Hashim Abed, now may be a good time as any to revisit the story of a former Navy SEAL whose life so brutally came to an end one tragic day in Fallujah, Iraq.
His image will probably precede him, as he graced the cover of the Navy SEALs 1992 calendar. Scott Helvenston was the youngest to ever complete Navy SEAL training, after being given special permission at 16 years old to join the Navy and completing Navy SEAL training at 17.
He spent 12 years in the Navy, from 1982 until 1994, during which time he was deployed four times. He spent four years as a Free Fall instructor.
Aside from being a former Navy SEAL, Scott Helvenston rubbed shoulders with celebrities and stars; he served as Demi Moore’s personal trainer for her movie G.I. Jane, was a stunt man for the movie Face/Off, and was able to work with Anne Bancroft, Viggo Mortensen and Lucinda Jenney. He also appeared on reality TV, starring in Combat Missions and Man vs. Beast.
In 2004, Scott Helvenston worked for then Blackwater USA, a company owned by former Navy SEALs like himself. He was part of the Blackwater guards assigned to provide security for clients engaged in the food industry. On March 30, 2004, Scott Helvenston and three other contractors: Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona, and Michael Teague, were assigned to provide security to a convoy that was to travel from Baghdad to a military base to the west of Fallujah, Iraq. He was only 38 years old at that time.
Scott Helvenston left behind his mother, grandmother, and brother. He also left behind two children by his ex-wife, and a fiancée whom he was supposed to marry in Tahiti in June of that year.
The person who allegedly orchestrated the gruesome murders whose images sent shockwaves not only in America but all over the world is now accusing Helvenston’s comrades – for once a SEAL, always a SEAL – for punching him in the gut, and they are now facing a court martial for that. A promising life lost forever in the most brutal way imaginable, versus accusations of being at the receiving end of a punch — we invite you to take your pick regarding which is worse.
December 17th, 2009 - 4:05 am
Freedom is not free nor is it cheap. Freedom requires the blood, the sweat, the tears and at times the very lives of the selfless patriot.
Many are called but few will answer and as with the three brave SEAL’s who put their lives on the line and went in harms way to apprehend the cowardly terrorist Abed. Scott Helvenston sacrifice shall not go unnoticed and shall always be remembered and live eternally in the hallowed halls where patriots gather.
Going Ashore
Avast ye swabs, lands in sight-make haste in sail for we land tonight and in the morn at break of day, we’ll man the rails and gangplank way.
The Bos’ns pipe will trill and shrill—as we send a shipmate to the shore, there to remain forever more.
Tonight we’ll crack a keg or two, gather round and drink a toast to you.
We’ll lift our mugs away up high, for the many years that drifted by.
Remember throughout the many years, you sailed away amidst the tears of loved ones left behind, worried and hoping they’d be fine.
Of our shipmates too, my man, who followed you to many lands, in time their names and faces, will be forgotten as all those places.
But like the morning fog and dew, we’ll endeavor to remember you, and when morning sun lifts the haze, and we sail again for many days you’ll remember us as we will you, until the years leave only a few to recall the good old days, of sailing men o’re the waves.
May you have fair winds and following seas and may your big jib draw.
December 17th, 2009 - 5:43 am
[...] I pray America will wake up to the reality that Obama is not a friend of the United States Military. If he is, he sure is hiding it. Photo ops of America’s fallen returning home in flag draped caskets, undermining the work of the CIA, reluctantly placing a hand (if at all) over his heart when the National Anthem is played, intentionally concealing documentation that would prove he is a “natural born citizen”, bringing terrorist Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to New York for a show trial against the CIA and the Bush Administration, moving Gitmo to Illinois for more show trials, reports of using Offutt AFB as political blackmail pawn, and not naming the Ft. Hood attacker an Islamic terror attack do not show appreciation or respect for the American military. Scott Helvenston: Former Navy SEAL, Fallujah Ambush Casualty [...]
December 17th, 2009 - 6:39 am
Thank you, gentlemen, for remembering Scott and his contributions. Your tribute to his memory is very nicely done.
Steve Robinson
USN 1970-1978
SEAL Team ONE
December 17th, 2009 - 10:02 am
What is the U.S.A. coming to when it does not know the difference between a punch and brutal death?
December 17th, 2009 - 4:02 pm
Ironically, I was in Tahiti in June ’04 celebrating completion of a 4 week bluewater sailing cruise and a birthday. It was a gorgeous month in a gorgeous place, and I wish Scott could have lived to enjoy it with his intended.
Fair winds, brother…
December 17th, 2009 - 7:42 pm
It’s a sad day in America when our government cares more about a murdering terrorist than our brave SEALS doing their job. Perhaps the USA should adopt some of the Islamic ideas. Instead of giving the murderer a trial, just burn him alive, drag him through the streets and hang his body up for others to dance around and throw things at. Come to think of it, there are plenty in DC that need the same thing done to them or one of their family members. They may learn to APPRECIATE not PROSECUTE our SEALS and other TROOPS for doing their jobs.
December 18th, 2009 - 6:37 am
[...] Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Mike Teague and Wesley Batalona suffered the most horrifying of deaths, there is no question about it. Their suffering is matched only perhaps by the anguish that their respective families must have felt after learning the fate that their loved ones met. [...]
December 21st, 2009 - 1:27 am
This is evidently pathetic. This trial does indeed reveal more about those who are pursuing so-called justice than about the men who are being tried.
Who is in the right? Who is in the wrong? If the men did abuse the prisoner, technically and objectively they are guilty of assault.
The powers must balance the hand of justice, for this will be sign of severe resonance for cases to come. If these men are indeed tried for assault for minor crimes committed in war zone during a dangerous mission for the capture of a high-value target I would subsequently pose this question: Shouldn’t the various parties involved in cross boarder military action in Pakistan be tried for murder? Killing people inside a country outside the conflict seems slightly more serious an issue.
Then again this situation is far from ‘black and white’ as is this case of assault.
Hooyah
January 8th, 2010 - 11:27 am
Thanks so much for this reminder of the devastating consequences of the Fallujah ambush; your description certainly illuminates the absurdity of filing assault charges against the men who captured the mastermind of that brutal attack.
As an outside observer of the conflict, the ambush and subsequent response by the US–Operation Phantom Fury–has certainly been eye-opening. I recently watched an excellent documentary about the events in Fallujah called Perfect Valor (http://bit.ly/PerfectValor)–which was made by a group I work with–that mentioned that during the invasion, the insurgents used women and children as human shields. It certainly doesn’t surprise me to hear that people who believe in cowardly tactics like that aren’t above playing the sympathy card for a split lip, despite their own monstrous behavior.
January 23rd, 2010 - 3:58 am
[...] a man that has eluded many for quite some time and is thought to be behind the brutal murder of four U.S. citizens. He was said to be holed up in a safe house in Anbar province and slept – if he could sleep, that [...]
June 24th, 2010 - 8:41 am
I will never bring him to justice for what just apply the rules eyes for an eyes.