Part Two: Richard Marcinko: The Founder of SEAL Team 6
episodePreviously titled “Part Tw: Richard Marcinko: The Founder of SEAL Team 6” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 4, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome back to Behind the Bastards, the podcast that, again, I did the you're listening now bit. Anyway, I'm Robert, you know me. We're talking about Richard, the Navy SEALs guy, you know? And my guest is, again, Andrew T. Andrew, how are you doing, buddy?
Good. Still here. Still alive. Yeah. It's warm, but I'm alive.
This is great. It's warm, but you're alive, just like everyone else in the eternal summer that is increasingly gripping the world. Well, let's distract ourselves from our problems by thinking about a man who lived a charm and mirthful life of constant war crimes.
Right.
The SEAL Team 6 guy, old Dickie Marks, Richard Marcinko.
Can I ask a question? Not to be glib. Why is SEAL Team 6 like, is there, I assume, one through five? Or is this like a James Bond situation?
We'll talk about that. Don't worry. We'll talk about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's actually a fun story. All right. But yeah, at this point, initially there are like two teams, but each team is like hundreds of guys, right? They're divided into platoons and stuff. So it's not, when you hear like SEAL Team Six, you might think like, well, that's like six guys or 10. No, there's like hundreds of guys. Like SEAL Team Six, there's a lot of Team Six guys. Got it, okay. Okay, yeah, exactly. Right.
This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.
So when we ended last episode, the newly formed Navy SEALs along with newly made Navy SEAL Richard Marcinko had been shipped to Vietnam and started partnering with the CIA to carry out Phoenix missions all over the waterfront, right? And these are – you're killing informants and – like informants bring you info. You're killing and capturing guys. You're having them tortured by the CIA. You're getting more info. You're going after other guys. You know, it's this kind of self-perpetuating loop of targets. Right. That's what they create with with with Phoenix. And that's what the SEALs are. They're kind of fighting their own separate war that's occurring alongside the rest of Vietnam. But it's really just like the SEALs and the CIA murdering a fuckload of dudes.
Right.
Yeah. And based off of it now that we know also, it's like just because mostly because someone told them to.
Yeah, because some guys said like, yeah, this guy is definitely a facilitator for the Viet Cong or whatever. And often for less reason than that, as we'll discuss right now, because SEALs report to themselves, they can kill for the CIA without any issues or without abiding by any of the rules of war. Right. Like there's the SEALs are supposed to abide by the rules of war. They're not supposed to be any units in the U.S. military that are exempt from them. But practically, no. the seals don't have to abide by the rules of war, right? Right. These guys are nearly always, to go into battle on Dexedrine, they'll avoid sleeping for, that's speed. That's just like straight up old style speed. So they are wired as fuck on speed.
They're usually operating at night. And the fact that they're both high as tits, not sleeping for days, killing people at night means they screw up constantly. These guys kill the wrong people all the fucking time. Right. Phillips adds, the intel Seals received was often suspect. A farmer might finger his neighbor over an old grudge. A corrupt official might turn in someone to whom he owed money. Fishing boats the Seals ambushed because someone said they were used by Viet Cong couriers often turned out to be nothing but fishing boats. Purported Viet Cong bases burned to the ground were sometimes just poor collections of huts inhabited by simple peasants. So, you know, they're fighting a fun war. That's Richard Marcinko's baptism of fire.
A lot of that's on fire. In Code Over Country, Matthew Cole writes that from the jump, Navy brass were hesitant to embrace the SEALs because, among other things, they're not like working for the Navy a lot of the time. Right, right. Right. Right. SEALs often get a reputation of looking and acting like insane criminals. Cole quotes a SEAL captain at the time who told him, we had no status, no standing in the regular Navy.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:10
2
How did Richard Marcinko and early Navy SEALs get involved with the CIA Phoenix program in Vietnam?
5:10–19:00
3
Why did SEAL units split into 'Boy Scouts' and 'Pirates' and what does that mean for conduct in combat?
19:00–27:40
4
How did close-quarters violence and trophy-taking shape SEAL conduct in Vietnam?
27:40–1:08:29
5
In what ways did Marcinko embellish his Vietnam exploits and why does that matter?
1:08:29–1:08:47