Don D. Mann
US Navy SEAL
ST-1, ST-2, and ST-6
Chief Warrant Officer (CWO3)
Corpsman ’77 – ‘98
US Navy SEAL
ST-1, ST-2, and ST-6
Chief Warrant Officer (CWO3)
Corpsman ’77 – ‘98
Don Mann was born in 1957 in Hartford CT. As a child, his family moved frequently. He lived in Connecticut for a short while, moved to Germany where he lived through 2nd grade, spent a good deal of his childhood in New England and eventually graduated from Amity High School in Woodbridge CT in 1976.
While he was growing up it never occurred to Don that he might join the military. He came from a very patriotic family and his father, two uncles and aunt all joined the military after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His father always talked about God, Country and Family but didn’t try to talk him into joining the military.
As a matter of fact, during his childhood Don ran with a tough crowd, belonged to a gang, drove a motorcycle as if he were “born to ride”, and had frequent encounters with the police. Don put his parents through some trying times, but he remembers them always being there when he needed them.
Don also loved motocross racing and devoted much of his time to practicing and racing throughout the New England and New York districts. One of his professional motocross buddies told him that he would need to be in excellent physical condition if he wanted to turn professional. Wanting to be the best he could be at Motocross racing, Don developed a passion for physical fitness to go along with his passion for music. He was a big fan of Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Deep Purple, Joe Cocker, Grateful Dead and Black Sabbath. Later in life he would meet Greg Allman at a book signing where Allman was signing his book and Don was signing a book he had written. He traded Navy SEAL T-shirts for Gregg Allmans book, “My Cross to Bear”. Gregg Alman wrote two personal letters to Don thanking him for the tee shirts.
Don recalled, when he was in 7th grade, when his mother asked him what he wanted for Christmas. He thought that he should get something that had to do with music or sports. He quickly decided, that while he loved music, he had very little talent. If he got the weights, he would begin dedicating his life to physical fitness. Don got the weights. He would come home at night, put his headphones on, blast his music and workout with his weights late into the night. And often early into the mornings “Music and sports fueled each other for me.”
Just before Don graduated from high school he recalled “I had this thing inside me that I knew that I should serve in the military. I also wanted to see the world”. Despite finishing at close to the bottom of his high school class Don and his family were elated he actually graduated. Don attended a year of community college, “but I didn’t want to sit in a classroom for another year or more. I thought, I’ll join the military, spend 4 years and get out.”
He went to the local recruitment center where Navy and Marine recruiters were in the same building. Don initially wanted to join the Marines because he wanted something physically challenging. He thought the Marines would be tougher and at this time there was not much known about the SEALS. He went in to speak to the Marine recruiter and he just wasn’t impressed. Don walked out and down to the next room where ‘Diamond’ Jim Brady was the Navy recruiter. “Diamond Jim had a crisp, white, pressed shirt and was very squared away”. Don found him to be very engaging and Diamond Jim talked Don into joining the Navy without trying. He also recommended to Don he consider being a corpsman. Don signed on as a Navy corpsman in August 1977.
During boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois Don saw the video about Navy SEALS called ‘Men with Green Faces’. Don said, “That video changed my life. That’s what I wanted out of life. Nothing else. I just wanted to be a SEAL. Period.” Don spent all his time physically preparing and learning about SEALS and what they did; shooting, diving, parachuting and their history. After bootcamp and A-school were completed, Don requested orders for SEAL training known as BUDS but was told that the SEALS didn’t want candidates fresh from Corpsman A-school. They wanted some level of practical medical experience. Don would need to spend at least a year practicing the skills of a Corpsman. He was also told he would have to decide if he wanted to be classified as a corpsman assigned to the Navy fleet or the Marines. Don selected the Marines because he thought it would be more challenging.
Don’s first duty station was the Naval Regional Medical Center in Newport Rhode Island where he was assigned to the ICU and Emergency Room. During this time Don was getting himself physically prepared for SEAL training by rigorously working out daily and competing in countless marathons, bike races and triathlons throughout New England. Don entered a triathlon in Connecticut where his father overheard some of the competitors discussing a new and more grueling triathlon called the Hawaii Ironman. In February 1980 he competed in his first Ironman.
When his time in Newport concluded Don was in peak physical condition and he felt he was ready for BUDs. That was not to be. A new regulation had been handed down requiring all Corpsman, who were classified to work with the Marines, to complete a five-week Field Medical Service school at Camp Pendleton, CA. Don attended this course, passed with flying colors and requested orders for BUDs. Once again, that was not to be. He was told that he couldn’t leave the Marines after they had invested so much time and training in him. Don needed to complete an assignment with the Marines before they would allow him to go to BUDs. Don received orders to Okinawa Japan to fulfill his time requirement with the Marines. Because he was an elite athlete at the time the Marines entered him into countless marathons, bicycle races and triathlons all over the world, to represent the USMC. “All I did was train and compete. It was the perfect preparation for BUDS.” He completed numerous Ironman Competitions and was ranked 38th in the world as a Triathlete at the time. Don also said competing in these arduous competitions changed his life. He realized that anything is possible if you work hard and prepare yourself. During this time, he started the practice of establishing micro goals and using visualization to help him prepare for BUDs. These are two mental techniques SEALS use to survive the grueling BUDs training. Finally, he received orders for BUDS and arrived in Coronado, CA on March 31, 1982.
BUDS is a 26-week program and considered the toughest training in the military. It is mentally challenging, physically demanding, designed to push candidates beyond their breaking point and designed to push them to quit. Don reported for BUDs feeling ready.
I asked Don what he considered to be the worst part of BUDs. “The cold water. I loved BUDs. I never wanted to quit but at times I was hoping I would pass out so they would pull me out of the frigid cold water.” I asked if there was anything that he learned in BUDS that helped him throughout his life. Don felt the thing that helped him the most in BUDS is something that he brought with him to the program, his mindset. “My mindset only strengthened while in BUDs”
138 men started in Don’s BUDs class and he and 22 others graduated. Don reported to SEAL Team 1 in Coronado California in December of 1982. At that time even the other SEALs had very little information on SEAL Team 6, the most elite team within the SEALs. Don eventually learned more about Team 6 and set his mind on being selected for that secret team.
Within 2 ½ years Don was selected for assignment to SEAL Team 6. This was quite an accomplishment because it usually takes about 5 years for a SEAL to be considered for assignment to Team 6. The members of Team 6 interviewed Don and recommended him for assignment to ST-6. When he arrived at Team 6, he started training all over again in what is known as Green Team. Don said this training was even tougher and longer than BUDs.
During the time Don was a member of Team 6 they trained constantly but received very few missions. However, in 1989 Don would get his chance to deploy as part of Operation Just Cause. At this time Manuel Noriega was the violent and corrupt dictator of Panama and was involved with trafficking drugs from Panama into the United States. Noriega was also using the country’s military, the Panamanian Defense Force, to intimidate the citizens of Panama and meddle in elections. President George H.W. Bush authorized Operation Just Cause and Don headed for Rodman Naval Station on the west side of the Panama Canal. Don was involved in numerous operations including capturing Noriega’s 40’ yacht and the attempt to control the airport to prevent Noriega’s escape by plane. Poor intelligence resulted in 4 SEALS dying while trying to take the airport.
Don spent 4 years in Panama patrolling the coast lines and inland waterways of Central and South America as part of the war on drugs. The SEALS, while effective in drug interdiction, were not as effective as they could have been. Most of the government officials in Central and South America were corrupt and protected all the sources of drug money. The DEA told the SEALS “we are basically just chipping away of an iceberg with a teaspoon”.
While in Panama Don also taught Jungle Survival Training and Sere (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) training. He also ran the Medical Civic Action Program (MCAP). MCAP established sites in villages in remote locations to provide free medical and dental attention for poor villagers who desperately needed these services. They also provided veterinary services for the local livestock. The makeshift jungle clinics always had big turnouts with some patients walking for several days to get treatments. The SEALS also gained critical intelligence that was valuable in planning future operations. Don established these sites in Honduras, Columbia, Bolivia, El Salvador, Perú and Nicaragua. At that time in El Salvador, there was a civil war between the government, supported by the US, and leftist rebels known as the FMLN. Grateful patients would provide the location of rebel strongholds and routes used to smuggle weapons.
Don was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer and returned to the US to serve briefly with SEAL Team 2 in Virginia before returning to Team 6 where he was given the role of WMD Officer (Weapons of Mass Destruction) and as the team’s Advanced Training Officer. Team 6 was involved in part of a larger mission with locating 200 missing nuclear weapons, “the lost nukes”, that disappeared when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1990. Many were recovered but several found their way to North Korea. They also located and recovered Soviet nuclear scientists who were selling their bomb making capabilities to other countries.
In 1998 at the age of 41 years old, Don retired from the SEALS to pursue a career in the US government and in the sport of adventure sports. As a “retirement gift” to himself, he decided to run 2 Ironman races in a single day (4.8 mile swim, 224 mile bike ride and 52.4 mile run) and 10 years later attempted to summit Mount Everest. Don formed a company called Odyssey Adventure Racing which put on a series of ultra-endurance adventure races that included hiking, mountain biking, trekking, ultra-marathons, etc. Don also moved on to producing the SEAL Adventure Challenge where civilians participated in a 24-hour event designed to resemble BUDs.
Don worked as a contractor for the CIA. It was a natural progression since the SEALs had all the skills the CIA needed for the global war on terrorism. While Don was not able to discuss much of what he did with the CIA, he did relate a few stories including a visit to “a big soccer stadium in Kabul.” Don recalled, “A Toyota truck driven by the Taliban pulls in and a little boy was pulled out of the back of the truck. A man began speaking on a microphone and announced that the little boy was accused of stealing bread for his family and that was a violation of Sharia law. They held the boy down and the driver drove the truck over the boy’s arm. Then they took other people accused of other violations of Sharia Law and cut off hands and feet depending on the crime. For the finale, they took a woman from the back of the truck, put her on her knees, put a covering over her and shot her three times. The entire time the people in the stands were cheering. They then cleaned up the blood and the soccer game began.”
“In the beginning we were looking for the big guys, such as Bin Laden and Kalid Shiek Mohammad, known as KSM. Bin Laden was the financier, but KSM was the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombings and was the worst of them all.” KSM was captured in March 2003 in a joint raid by the CIA and Pakistani Intelligence. “We had secret houses that we made into make-shift prisons throughout the world. The US Government hired two outstanding psychologists who had previously designed, and taught survival school training and they interrogated him.”
During this period of interrogation KSM revealed that he decapitated Daniel Pearl (a journalist for the Wall Street Journal). This information was relayed up the chain of command and in order to verify the truthfulness of his statement they asked KSM to show how he used his hands and arm and how he held the knife. The description matched the video of the event. Don recalled, “one of the interrogators asked him (KSM) if that was hard for him to do, meaning, mentally and emotionally difficult. KSM said ‘no, once I got through the artery and the blood stopped spurting and then when I got to his voice box he stopped screaming. The only hard part was cutting through his spine’. These extremists are not like we are. They have no regard for human life.”
Don loved the unity and the brotherhood of the teams but felt the Agency and the government didn’t have that same ethos such as “leave no man behind”. Don’s view is that the government didn’t look out for each other like the SEALs did. They were more concerned with following “the rules” to get the next promotion rather than doing the right thing.
While working parttime with the CIA he continued to follow his passions of physical fitness and pushing the boundaries of his physical and mental capabilities. He went on to become a world class adventure competitor and founder and producer of numerous ultra-adventure companies. These include CEO and founder of BattleFrog Obstacle Race Series, CEO of Primal Quest Expedition, CEO and founder of Adventure, SEAL Adventure Challenge and producer and host of the reality TV series Surviving Mann. Don is also an accomplished writer with over 20 books published and he is a motivational speaker. Don’s latest venture is what he sees as the natural progression of extreme endurance sports. He is CEO and founder of Terrain Adventure Racing (TAR). Don says TAR is a new sport that combines adventure racing, obstacle course racing and Navy SEAL bodyweight training. It is designed to test your limits in natural terrain conditions. The first events are scheduled for Nov 2021 in Georgia.
Thank you, Don, for your service to our country and defending liberty against evil and barbarism. You also provide us with an example of what mindset and determination can help you achieve. Know no bounds.
While he was growing up it never occurred to Don that he might join the military. He came from a very patriotic family and his father, two uncles and aunt all joined the military after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His father always talked about God, Country and Family but didn’t try to talk him into joining the military.
As a matter of fact, during his childhood Don ran with a tough crowd, belonged to a gang, drove a motorcycle as if he were “born to ride”, and had frequent encounters with the police. Don put his parents through some trying times, but he remembers them always being there when he needed them.
Don also loved motocross racing and devoted much of his time to practicing and racing throughout the New England and New York districts. One of his professional motocross buddies told him that he would need to be in excellent physical condition if he wanted to turn professional. Wanting to be the best he could be at Motocross racing, Don developed a passion for physical fitness to go along with his passion for music. He was a big fan of Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Deep Purple, Joe Cocker, Grateful Dead and Black Sabbath. Later in life he would meet Greg Allman at a book signing where Allman was signing his book and Don was signing a book he had written. He traded Navy SEAL T-shirts for Gregg Allmans book, “My Cross to Bear”. Gregg Alman wrote two personal letters to Don thanking him for the tee shirts.
Don recalled, when he was in 7th grade, when his mother asked him what he wanted for Christmas. He thought that he should get something that had to do with music or sports. He quickly decided, that while he loved music, he had very little talent. If he got the weights, he would begin dedicating his life to physical fitness. Don got the weights. He would come home at night, put his headphones on, blast his music and workout with his weights late into the night. And often early into the mornings “Music and sports fueled each other for me.”
Just before Don graduated from high school he recalled “I had this thing inside me that I knew that I should serve in the military. I also wanted to see the world”. Despite finishing at close to the bottom of his high school class Don and his family were elated he actually graduated. Don attended a year of community college, “but I didn’t want to sit in a classroom for another year or more. I thought, I’ll join the military, spend 4 years and get out.”
He went to the local recruitment center where Navy and Marine recruiters were in the same building. Don initially wanted to join the Marines because he wanted something physically challenging. He thought the Marines would be tougher and at this time there was not much known about the SEALS. He went in to speak to the Marine recruiter and he just wasn’t impressed. Don walked out and down to the next room where ‘Diamond’ Jim Brady was the Navy recruiter. “Diamond Jim had a crisp, white, pressed shirt and was very squared away”. Don found him to be very engaging and Diamond Jim talked Don into joining the Navy without trying. He also recommended to Don he consider being a corpsman. Don signed on as a Navy corpsman in August 1977.
During boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois Don saw the video about Navy SEALS called ‘Men with Green Faces’. Don said, “That video changed my life. That’s what I wanted out of life. Nothing else. I just wanted to be a SEAL. Period.” Don spent all his time physically preparing and learning about SEALS and what they did; shooting, diving, parachuting and their history. After bootcamp and A-school were completed, Don requested orders for SEAL training known as BUDS but was told that the SEALS didn’t want candidates fresh from Corpsman A-school. They wanted some level of practical medical experience. Don would need to spend at least a year practicing the skills of a Corpsman. He was also told he would have to decide if he wanted to be classified as a corpsman assigned to the Navy fleet or the Marines. Don selected the Marines because he thought it would be more challenging.
Don’s first duty station was the Naval Regional Medical Center in Newport Rhode Island where he was assigned to the ICU and Emergency Room. During this time Don was getting himself physically prepared for SEAL training by rigorously working out daily and competing in countless marathons, bike races and triathlons throughout New England. Don entered a triathlon in Connecticut where his father overheard some of the competitors discussing a new and more grueling triathlon called the Hawaii Ironman. In February 1980 he competed in his first Ironman.
When his time in Newport concluded Don was in peak physical condition and he felt he was ready for BUDs. That was not to be. A new regulation had been handed down requiring all Corpsman, who were classified to work with the Marines, to complete a five-week Field Medical Service school at Camp Pendleton, CA. Don attended this course, passed with flying colors and requested orders for BUDs. Once again, that was not to be. He was told that he couldn’t leave the Marines after they had invested so much time and training in him. Don needed to complete an assignment with the Marines before they would allow him to go to BUDs. Don received orders to Okinawa Japan to fulfill his time requirement with the Marines. Because he was an elite athlete at the time the Marines entered him into countless marathons, bicycle races and triathlons all over the world, to represent the USMC. “All I did was train and compete. It was the perfect preparation for BUDS.” He completed numerous Ironman Competitions and was ranked 38th in the world as a Triathlete at the time. Don also said competing in these arduous competitions changed his life. He realized that anything is possible if you work hard and prepare yourself. During this time, he started the practice of establishing micro goals and using visualization to help him prepare for BUDs. These are two mental techniques SEALS use to survive the grueling BUDs training. Finally, he received orders for BUDS and arrived in Coronado, CA on March 31, 1982.
BUDS is a 26-week program and considered the toughest training in the military. It is mentally challenging, physically demanding, designed to push candidates beyond their breaking point and designed to push them to quit. Don reported for BUDs feeling ready.
I asked Don what he considered to be the worst part of BUDs. “The cold water. I loved BUDs. I never wanted to quit but at times I was hoping I would pass out so they would pull me out of the frigid cold water.” I asked if there was anything that he learned in BUDS that helped him throughout his life. Don felt the thing that helped him the most in BUDS is something that he brought with him to the program, his mindset. “My mindset only strengthened while in BUDs”
138 men started in Don’s BUDs class and he and 22 others graduated. Don reported to SEAL Team 1 in Coronado California in December of 1982. At that time even the other SEALs had very little information on SEAL Team 6, the most elite team within the SEALs. Don eventually learned more about Team 6 and set his mind on being selected for that secret team.
Within 2 ½ years Don was selected for assignment to SEAL Team 6. This was quite an accomplishment because it usually takes about 5 years for a SEAL to be considered for assignment to Team 6. The members of Team 6 interviewed Don and recommended him for assignment to ST-6. When he arrived at Team 6, he started training all over again in what is known as Green Team. Don said this training was even tougher and longer than BUDs.
During the time Don was a member of Team 6 they trained constantly but received very few missions. However, in 1989 Don would get his chance to deploy as part of Operation Just Cause. At this time Manuel Noriega was the violent and corrupt dictator of Panama and was involved with trafficking drugs from Panama into the United States. Noriega was also using the country’s military, the Panamanian Defense Force, to intimidate the citizens of Panama and meddle in elections. President George H.W. Bush authorized Operation Just Cause and Don headed for Rodman Naval Station on the west side of the Panama Canal. Don was involved in numerous operations including capturing Noriega’s 40’ yacht and the attempt to control the airport to prevent Noriega’s escape by plane. Poor intelligence resulted in 4 SEALS dying while trying to take the airport.
Don spent 4 years in Panama patrolling the coast lines and inland waterways of Central and South America as part of the war on drugs. The SEALS, while effective in drug interdiction, were not as effective as they could have been. Most of the government officials in Central and South America were corrupt and protected all the sources of drug money. The DEA told the SEALS “we are basically just chipping away of an iceberg with a teaspoon”.
While in Panama Don also taught Jungle Survival Training and Sere (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) training. He also ran the Medical Civic Action Program (MCAP). MCAP established sites in villages in remote locations to provide free medical and dental attention for poor villagers who desperately needed these services. They also provided veterinary services for the local livestock. The makeshift jungle clinics always had big turnouts with some patients walking for several days to get treatments. The SEALS also gained critical intelligence that was valuable in planning future operations. Don established these sites in Honduras, Columbia, Bolivia, El Salvador, Perú and Nicaragua. At that time in El Salvador, there was a civil war between the government, supported by the US, and leftist rebels known as the FMLN. Grateful patients would provide the location of rebel strongholds and routes used to smuggle weapons.
Don was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer and returned to the US to serve briefly with SEAL Team 2 in Virginia before returning to Team 6 where he was given the role of WMD Officer (Weapons of Mass Destruction) and as the team’s Advanced Training Officer. Team 6 was involved in part of a larger mission with locating 200 missing nuclear weapons, “the lost nukes”, that disappeared when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1990. Many were recovered but several found their way to North Korea. They also located and recovered Soviet nuclear scientists who were selling their bomb making capabilities to other countries.
In 1998 at the age of 41 years old, Don retired from the SEALS to pursue a career in the US government and in the sport of adventure sports. As a “retirement gift” to himself, he decided to run 2 Ironman races in a single day (4.8 mile swim, 224 mile bike ride and 52.4 mile run) and 10 years later attempted to summit Mount Everest. Don formed a company called Odyssey Adventure Racing which put on a series of ultra-endurance adventure races that included hiking, mountain biking, trekking, ultra-marathons, etc. Don also moved on to producing the SEAL Adventure Challenge where civilians participated in a 24-hour event designed to resemble BUDs.
Don worked as a contractor for the CIA. It was a natural progression since the SEALs had all the skills the CIA needed for the global war on terrorism. While Don was not able to discuss much of what he did with the CIA, he did relate a few stories including a visit to “a big soccer stadium in Kabul.” Don recalled, “A Toyota truck driven by the Taliban pulls in and a little boy was pulled out of the back of the truck. A man began speaking on a microphone and announced that the little boy was accused of stealing bread for his family and that was a violation of Sharia law. They held the boy down and the driver drove the truck over the boy’s arm. Then they took other people accused of other violations of Sharia Law and cut off hands and feet depending on the crime. For the finale, they took a woman from the back of the truck, put her on her knees, put a covering over her and shot her three times. The entire time the people in the stands were cheering. They then cleaned up the blood and the soccer game began.”
“In the beginning we were looking for the big guys, such as Bin Laden and Kalid Shiek Mohammad, known as KSM. Bin Laden was the financier, but KSM was the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombings and was the worst of them all.” KSM was captured in March 2003 in a joint raid by the CIA and Pakistani Intelligence. “We had secret houses that we made into make-shift prisons throughout the world. The US Government hired two outstanding psychologists who had previously designed, and taught survival school training and they interrogated him.”
During this period of interrogation KSM revealed that he decapitated Daniel Pearl (a journalist for the Wall Street Journal). This information was relayed up the chain of command and in order to verify the truthfulness of his statement they asked KSM to show how he used his hands and arm and how he held the knife. The description matched the video of the event. Don recalled, “one of the interrogators asked him (KSM) if that was hard for him to do, meaning, mentally and emotionally difficult. KSM said ‘no, once I got through the artery and the blood stopped spurting and then when I got to his voice box he stopped screaming. The only hard part was cutting through his spine’. These extremists are not like we are. They have no regard for human life.”
Don loved the unity and the brotherhood of the teams but felt the Agency and the government didn’t have that same ethos such as “leave no man behind”. Don’s view is that the government didn’t look out for each other like the SEALs did. They were more concerned with following “the rules” to get the next promotion rather than doing the right thing.
While working parttime with the CIA he continued to follow his passions of physical fitness and pushing the boundaries of his physical and mental capabilities. He went on to become a world class adventure competitor and founder and producer of numerous ultra-adventure companies. These include CEO and founder of BattleFrog Obstacle Race Series, CEO of Primal Quest Expedition, CEO and founder of Adventure, SEAL Adventure Challenge and producer and host of the reality TV series Surviving Mann. Don is also an accomplished writer with over 20 books published and he is a motivational speaker. Don’s latest venture is what he sees as the natural progression of extreme endurance sports. He is CEO and founder of Terrain Adventure Racing (TAR). Don says TAR is a new sport that combines adventure racing, obstacle course racing and Navy SEAL bodyweight training. It is designed to test your limits in natural terrain conditions. The first events are scheduled for Nov 2021 in Georgia.
Thank you, Don, for your service to our country and defending liberty against evil and barbarism. You also provide us with an example of what mindset and determination can help you achieve. Know no bounds.