'All of a sudden, I bumped into just a huge mass of muscle with a big low grunt, and that wasn't in my awareness,' he said. He and others in his unit would patrol closely together so they could reach out to each other every few steps. He also endured more than 50 leeches while on an ambush mission one night, and on another occasion, he bumped into a water buffalo. Mosure recalled lungfish, which he described as 8 to 15 inches long with a head like a grasshopper that would skitter across mudflats, sometimes over SEALs' legs. In addition to facing an enemy, Mosure's unit had to contend with Vietnam's wildlife. Then we would set up for an ambush or to snatch the target.' 'We'd get inserted by boat and arrive on location after patrolling 1,000 to 1,500 meters. 'We would typically go out at night after dark and arrive on our location,' he said. The area was remote and secluded but was within a stronghold of North Vietnamese and Vietcong fighters. Mosure was aboard the Seafloat, a large Mobile Advanced Tactical Support Base stationed on the Song Cau Lon River in Ca Maul Province, on the southern tip of Vietnam. His primary mission, he said, involved finding and engaging Vietcong leaders. The Kilo platoon, which Mosure described as a direct-action platoon, performed raids and ambushes. Upon arrival in Vietnam in July 1969, Mosure was stationed primarily in the Mekong Delta region and worked with the LDNN (Lien Doi Nguoi Nhai), which Mosure described as the Vietnamese equivalent of SEALs.

The platoon also learned to detect and disable explosive devices. During pre-deployment training, the platoon practiced patrol tactics, using live-fire maneuvering and practicing hand signals and radio communication with support elements. In 1969, Mosure joined SEAL Team 1's Kilo platoon, which comprised two officers and 12 enlisted men, split into two squads, he said. Navy SEAL Team 1 at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in Coronado, California.Īn Ohio State University student at the time, he enlisted in February 1968, shortly after the Tet Offensive - a North Vietnamese campaign of roughly 85,000 troops whose mission was to destroy larger South Vietnamese cities and annihilate U.S. 'Ted' Mosure of Westerville is a 69-year-old Vietnam War veteran who was part of the U.S.

Us navy seal during the vietnam war