It’s pitch black; you cannot see; you’re airborne, falling at 65mph for 400 milliseconds… you impact the next wave, the 35, 60, or 100 g impact sends jolts throughout your body, brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver… all the organs ripple with microscopic explosions. The body’s skeletal structure seemingly almost crumbles. Every second, another cycle, 3600 impacts in an hour. The mission lasts for 14 hours. You’re exhausted, mentally dazed with slight confusion. Everything hurts, and your urine has blood in it. There were many times you thought your team would die from the violence of the seas, coupled with the speed, stealth, and whiplash every second wearing NODs and comms. The SEALs are glad to get off the boat, looking at the dirty boat guys thinking, that shit was crazy. We took down the target and captured some bad guys; no one knew we were even there. Our war is without a war, as many SOFS do missions globally 24/7, 365 days a year.
The next group has tonight’s mission. You get to recover, but tomorrow, it starts all over again. The rotation lasts for months, and so do the brutal beatings.
I’m Anthony Smith, a retired Special Warfare Combat Crewman (SWCC). I served in the U.S. Navy for 24 years. Most of my time was spent in Naval Special Warfare, on the boat teams. As a fast boat operator, or “Dirty Boat Guy,” I can attest that the deployments and training cycles are often brutal in violent seas on fast boats. We break boats, gear, and bodies regularly. I accumulated over 12,000 hours on SWCC fast boats and probably 3 to 4 million sub-concussive impacts. Not to mention probably shooting over a million rounds through twin -50 machine guns. It’s a well-known fact that NFL players experience 1500 concussive impacts in a season and accumulate enough impacts that later in life, researchers are finding CTE or Encephalopathy in their brains. Imagine the potential for SWCC brains that have endured several million sub-concussive impacts if you will. Most doctors at DOD clinics refuse to think about the obvious. So, I am uncovering it on my own in my research.
Today, at 58, I’m a walking disaster like 100% of my SWCC brothers. I have 23 vertebrae with injury and degenerative changes, leading to potential Autonomic dysfunction. I have cervical stenosis, T4, T5, and T8, all 50% height loss, and most vertebrae have end-plate fractures. I need surgical intervention at my C5 and C6, which are both 9mm around my spinal cord, and T10 has a protrusion into the spinal canal. My spine is a wreck. I’ve had 12 major joint surgeries and need both knees replaced. I’m trying to wait and have a full year without surgery to enjoy workouts and the things I love to do.
I’ve spent four weeks at Tulane’s TBI clinic. I’ve been told I have TBI, PTS, depression, anxiety, migraines, headaches, seizure disorder, sleep apnea, insomnia, central processing disorder, vestibular dysfunction, endocrine dysfunction, severe memory issues, low testosterone, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and a list of many other things. As an SWCC operator, I am the poster child for what is now called “Operator Syndrome.” I’ve had issues regulating my sympathetic nervous system and so many other things.
Recently, I thought I would venture into research and conduct a survey of retired and former SWCC to discover if I’m an anomaly or if the constellation of injuries and illnesses I experience is common among SWCC fast boat operators. My online survey attracted over 314 participants. 299 were SWCC, representing 3,585 years of SWCC fast boat experience. Also, a couple of SEALs, and several other support personnel who operated on the boats with us participated as well.
The results of my survey were staggering. All the guys had a constellation of 30 issues or more from fast boat wave pounding, with 100% showing evidence of TBI. To dig deeper, 28% of the respondents admitted to having processed suicidal thoughts at some point. In conversation, some guys expressed they had issues with suicidal ideation but would not admit it in a survey for obvious fears in reporting. I would venture to say the number is more accurately 50%.
The average age was fifty (50), the average number of years served as SWCC was eleven (11), and the average number of deployments was five (5). 100% of respondents had service time on SWCC fast boats and are now living with the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI), whiplash-associated disorders (WAD), and musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), including cognitive impairment, neuroendocrine dysfunction, sleep disorders, chronic pain, and psychological disorders.
99.98% experienced concussion symptoms during fast boat operations indicative of repetitive sub-concussive as well as concussive impacts. 99.99% experienced whole “body slamming” on fast boats, which are connected to TBIs, MSDs, and WADs 84% experienced what they perceived as whiplash, which is associated with WADs and TBIs. 53% of respondents report over 3 million career blast overpressure exposures related to heavy weapon systems use or close proximity to heavy weapon systems use in training and on missions.
The highest rates (>80% of respondents experienced in the last month) of TBI-associated symptoms reported include: insomnia (88%), difficulty staying asleep (90%) [with 49% of respondents holding the diagnosis of sleep apnea], anxiety (92%), irritability (96%), impulsivity (81%), aggression (85%), mood swings (83%), anger (93%), mental fatigue (96%), difficulty relaxing (88%), difficulty concentrating (92%), short term memory issues (92%), tinnitus (93%), difficulty hearing (83%). The survey data further characterizes the rates and most common types of musculoskeletal injuries, issues, and surgeries experienced by respondents.
I also conducted and cataloged over 25 SWCC Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Interviews,
(currently available on YouTube https://youtu.be/ZVXpSKk7RAs?si=BNRG2_1VjDcdsnS6 ) to capture the lived experience of SWCC veterans struggling with Allostatic Overload (Operator) Syndrome. These videos and the survey results paint a vivid picture of the exposures, experiences, and health challenges endured by SWCC veterans and anyone involved in maritime mobility operations (including SEALs, other Special Operations Forces [SOF] Operators, and combat service support members).
In the past decade, we have had several SWCC operators commit suicide; one more recently, in 2022, shot himself in the chest. He donated his brain to the Brain Bank in Bethesda. During his autopsy, it was determined by Dr. Perl that this individual suffered from CTE. More recently, one of my buddies was diagnosed with presumptive CTE via a spinal tap, among other methods. And several guys my age are suffering from Dementia.
The purpose of my story is to bring attention to a small group of warriors who seemingly all suffer the same fate of brain and body injury that accelerates with age, leaving us all 100% disabled. And I also want to make it known to the SOF community that Ive discovered several treatments that make life much more tolerable, given the constellation of medical issues I face.
Through partnering with non-profits like Task Force Dagger, I got help with the Stellate Ganglion Block procedure, which has been life-changing for me. Some other SWCCs have gotten HBOT therapy through other groups, which has also been life-changing for them and slowed down the progression of their neurocognitive issues. Being part of an SOF team that traditionally does not get used in the same manner as most SOFs, our community has had roadblocks to highly needed treatments. Thanks to non-profits like TFD, we can move forward, heal, and save some lives.
