But what they are most proud of is that not a single member of their team was captured or missing in Vietnam. After the war, the SEALs emerged as the most decorated units of the conflict in Southeast Asia. Three SEALs won the Congressional Medal of Honor, and twelve more were awarded the Silver Star (Labich 92).
During peacetime, SEALs fight terrorism, have missions in foreign internal defense, train friendly forces, and have intelligence operations. Some famous missions SEALs have been involved in are Panama, Grenada, and Nicaragua. In Nicaragua they helped to capture Manuel Noreaga. One mission that stood out was Somalia in 1991, because the SEALs were on the defensive instead of their trademarkelement of surprise? offensive. In Mogadishu, Somalia, the U.S. Embassy was outgunned and outnumbered when terrorists yielding Ak-47s took to the streets and wide spread looting broke out. Since this was all happening during the Persian Gulf War, a Navy SEAL team on the U.S.S. Guam was nearby in the North Arabian Sea. This was just the force needed for a complex evacuation. When the SEALs landed in the compound, they were confronted by rebels who had scaled the wall. Fortunately, the rebels were immediately shot and the SEALs were temporarily out of danger. The team took to precarious positions on rooftops and throughout the yard. All they could do was wait for another rebel to scale the wall, because they were only allowed to fire upon rebels inside the walls of the embassy. When the SEALs learned that three American citizens were trapped 6 blocks from the embassy, they took two light armored utility vehicles and brought the citizens back to the compound (Mudd 46). Shortly thereafter, the rebels launched another attack, but quickly fled after causing little damage. The SEALs gained a huge advantage when the leader of the rebels requested a meeting with ambassador James. This meant he would be brought into the compound and isolated from his men.
