A good SEAL story...

[chuckman]

Bravo Zulu, Mr. SEAL. I was born and raised in Morehead City; the rips off that beach can be a real bitch.

https://taskandpurpose.com/unsung-heroes/navy-seal-saves-kids-from-drowning-atlantic-beach#:~:text=Navy%20SEAL%20who%20saved%203%20kids%20from%20drowning%20receives%20medal%20for%20his%20heroism&text=An%20East%20Coast%2Dbased%20Navy,combat%20decoration%20awarded%20for%20heroism.

[maximus83]

That is an incredible story. Makes you glad to read it, that we still have people like that in our country.

Also a side note, which should not detract from the main story: the media are seriously a-holes. All of them. The way they trashed the kids' father before they knew the facts should be criminal.

[lowprone]

Professional a-- holes at that, worse than back alley gossips and way more destructive.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

That is an incredible story. Makes you glad to read it, that we still have people like that in our country.

Also a side note, which should not detract from the main story: the media are seriously a-holes. All of them. The way they trashed the kids' father before they knew the facts should be criminal.

It must have been comforting to the man’s family that a SEAL, a hero SEAL, called Him a hero.

The interesting thing I find in most of these stories is that there is an act, “and then”... Most people would be done saving the kid. Going back out for the other? The other is the “I’ve had it worse” And continuing on.

[SteyrAUG]

Shame the father didn't make it.

And while not trying to criticize, if you live on or near the beach make sure your kids know how to swim lateral to rip currents. Did a lot of free diving years ago and have been towed out a few times, but if you get out of the rip lanes you will be fine. Most people try to swim back to shore directly against these stronger currents and they burn all their gas and pretty much stay in place.

Also, if you are going out past the shoulders, bring a float. I used to hang my dive flag and game bag from a boogie board, there were a couple times when I was glad I had it. There was one time somebody got themselves in too deep and they were flailing pretty good. As I was out in the water I was closer than anyone so I swam over to them and pushed them the boogie board because I didn't want her to sink me too.

I was able to tread water 10 feet away pretty easy. She got ahold of it, settled down and when she was ready to go I took her in by the lead until she could walk. Rescuing people can be scary business and I had no kind of special training for it other than "don't let them drown you too."

Sucks about the father, but has to feel good knowing you brought in three kids and you were best candidate for the job at the time.

And of course social media was right there to make the father the bad guy. Imagine being one of those kids who just lost their father and having to read that vile shit. I really wish there was a way to take some people's internet away when they use it to be a jackass.

[Bulletdog]

With a boogie board to hang on to, I'm having trouble understanding how the father died? Was he trying to tread water instead of hanging on to the board? I grew up at the beach in the heavy rough surf of Southern California. Caught in more rip tides than I can count. They just push you out until you swim parallel to the shore long enough to get out of them. They don't pull you under. Did the guy panic and freak out? Its just so terribly sad.

[SteyrAUG]

With a boogie board to hang on to, I'm having trouble understanding how the father died? Was he trying to tread water instead of hanging on to the board? I grew up at the beach in the heavy rough surf of Southern California. Caught in more rip tides than I can count. They just push you out until you swim parallel to the shore long enough to get out of them. They don't pull you under. Did the guy panic and freak out? Its just so terribly sad.

I'm going with tried to put his kids ON the board and when that didn't work managed to panic himself to death. If he was alone he'd have probably done fine, throw someone's kids in the mix and common sense usually gets ejected first. I knew a very experienced diver who died when his kid ran into trouble on a scuba dive. It was probably one of those "calm down, clear your mask and get to breathing again" things but the guy decided instead to try and do it for his kid, then apparently went to buddy breathing and things went downhill from there.

He tried to swim it in with his kid but in his effort to make sure his kid survived he put himself at enough risk that he didn't survive. Really sucked, good friend of the family and we all liked his kid. But if he had simply counted to 3 and had done a bit more emergency / equipment drills in the past it could have turned out fine.

Every version of the story I ever heard sounded survivable, but I don't think anyone ever told his kid that. We all simply told him that his dad loved him so much he made sure he was gonna make it in ok.

Again, if you live in or near the water, make sure your kids know more than how to just swim. Make sure they understand the worst things that can happen in the water (rips, man or war, big bad fish, etc.) and what to do about them. And always, always take a buddy who can rescue you IF you go out farther than you can stand.

My brother got lit up by a man o war really bad one time and he couldn't swim at all. If my dad hadn't been right there to get him up and breathing and back to the boat it would have been really bad. He was in pretty shit shape all weekend.