Don McClure, Rick Kaiser and Admiral William McRaven [Photo: Denise Ritchie]

Adm. William McRaven, the ninth commander of the United States Special Operations Command, was the honored guest speaker at an exclusive dinner at the Quail Valley River Club this past Presidents Day. The invited crowd of nearly 200 gladly contributed a hefty donation for the privilege of mingling with some of the greatest U.S. Navy SEAL warriors of our time, while supporting the Navy SEAL Trident House Charities and the men and women who serve.

“Our mission is to preserve the history and legacy of the Navy SEALs,” said Master Chief SEAL (Ret.) Rick Kaiser, executive director of the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum. “Sometimes I’m asked why the museum is in Fort Pierce, and I respond by saying that you can’t move the Alamo and you can’t move the museum from the birthplace of the Navy SEALs. This is where it all started 75 years ago.”

Noting that the museum is continually evolving, Kaiser said “we get new artifacts every day. Unfortunately, we also add names to our memorial wall each year. Our wall is the only one in the United States that names all of the fallen frogmen from the NCDUs (Naval Combat Demolition Units) in the 1940s to the UDTs (Underwater Demolition Teams), to current-day Navy SEALs.”

Raven, the museum’s mascot and a military working dog, wowed the crowd with a performance of agility and discipline, climbing a ladder and commando-crawling through a tunnel. Military dogs begin their training as early as 5-weeks-old and serve for 10 to 12 years, health permitting, as invaluable members of the team, willing to fight to the death if commanded to do so.

McRaven regaled guests with personal stories about the people, incidents and soldiers with whom he served, as taken from his best-selling memoir “Sea Stories – My Life in Special Operations.”

McRaven said his first role model was his father, a World War II fighter pilot who taught him an early lesson in honesty and integrity.

“In 1967, we were living in an Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas,” said McRaven. “My friends and I decided to raid an ammunition storage facility, so we took our BB guns and my Roy Rogers pearl-handled toy pistol and set out on Operation Volcano. We didn’t make it far before the military police were on to us, so we ran home.”

When questioned by his father, McRaven said he lied, replying he didn’t know anything about it. His father left without a word, but later placed the Roy Rogers pistol on the nightstand. It had been found at the scene of the crime.

“He kept his silence, but I carried the burden of lying for the next 57 years. That was the first and last time I lied.”

McRaven credited a high school football coach, for helping him achieve a record-breaking track time, and Navy SEAL training classmates, who stood strong with hope and solidarity in the face of extreme adversity. Each incident and word of encouragement strengthened his character and changed the course of his life.

“Each and every one of you will have the opportunity to inspire someone and change their lives and the lives of those they touch forever,” McRaven concluded.

“Never ever pass up that opportunity.”

Event proceeds went directly to such Trident House Charity programs as Trident House, which offers a reprieve to active duty Special Operations forces and the families of Navy SEALS who sacrificed their lives; military family support; scholarship and education programs; and a canine project that pairs working dogs with veterans of the Special Forces community to help them assimilate back into civilian life.