The very first fire fight involving Seawolves was on October 31, 1966, when two Navy PBRs (Patrol Boat River) encountered a superior force of 80 enemy boats (sampans and junks), transferring a Viet Cong battalion from one side of the Nam Thon River to another. After encountering fierce enemy fire from both sides of the river, as well as from some of the enemy river craft, the Navy boats retreated while requesting a new asset, Navy air support. The newly commissioned Seawolves were scrambled, arriving overhead in 15 minutes.
Dusk was fast approaching as the PBRs and Seawolves began a very bold and intensive attack on this much larger enemy force. The battle lasted into the night for about 3 hours, until there was no return fire from the enemy who had scattered into the surrounding dense cover. The results of this initial Seawolf battle were astonishing. Over 60 enemy junks and sampans had been sunk by the PBR/Seawolf team, and six had been captured. The navy force suffered no fatalities, although a few PBR crewmen were wounded, while the enemy suffered very heavy losses. One of those wounded crewmen was Petty Officer First Class James E. Williams.
The Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded to Petty Officer First Class James Elliot Williams for his heroic leadership and courage displayed during this intense battle of October 31, 1966. James E. Williams, who had also led coastal raiding parties in the Korean War, was the most decorated enlisted man in the history of the United States Navy. In 2004 the USS James E. Williams (DDG-95) was commissioned in his honor. Williams was a South Carolina native.
“The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training…sacrifice. In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those divine attributes which his Maker gave when He created man in His own image. No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of Divine help which alone can sustain him”. General Douglas MacArthur
This is the very best way to love, put your life on the line for your friends. — Jesus, John 15:13 (The Message.) 44 Navy Seawolves and 48 Navy SEALs were killed in action in Vietnam. Their sacrifice demonstrated the highest standards of service set by Jesus and echoed by General MacArthur. I knew a few of them…one was in my wedding…others I had trained with. All were young, all were brave, all were shipmates, all loved life, all were warriors and…all gave all.
I am convinced that such a review will be very useful in the planning and execution of strategic and tactical spiritual warfare campaigns in 2025. For Christians to prevail over such formidable, entrenched evil forces, we must move from a widespread, anemic spiritual welfare to a purposeful and dynamic spiritual warfare. To change from welfare to warfare is the quest.
The Seawolves were created for the war in Vietnam in 1966 as part of the Navy Special Warfare Group that included SWIFT Boats and SEAL teams. As such, there was neither a previous unit history nor traditions to bring forward, except for the rich traditions of naval aviation. In hindsight, I believe this was a blessing, because we were free to use only tactics that had been tested and proven in this combat arena. This concept would certainly be useful in spiritual warfare planning… sometimes called missions outreach, getting out of our silos, aka our buildings, and out into the culture…the marketplace of life.
The Seawolves had the high honor of being identified by their enemy as Fire From the Sky and this name was used to design the squadron insignia. The mythical German wolf, “Lowenbrau” is depicted standing on his hind feet in an erect fighting stance. The fire breathing wolf is aggressively holding a trident with the right paw and a shield, depicting the ace of spades with the left. The trident represents the heritage of the sea, and the ace of spades is the card of death. The fire represents the power to sustain. Thinking about this…each of these has a very specific spiritual warfare application. Check out: 1 John 3:8b, 2 Corinthians 10:4 and Ephesians 6:10-17.
The Seawolves represented their insignia well. They were numbered among the most feared, and were the most highly decorated Navy squadron of the Vietnam War. During the squadron’s short life, 1966-1972, Seawolf pilots and door gunners flew over 120,000 combat missions. Seawolves were awarded five Navy Crosses, 31 Silver Stars, 2 Legion of Merit, 219 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 156 Purple Hearts, 101 Bronze Stars, 142 Vietnam Gallantry Crosses, over 16,000 Air Medals and numerous lesser awards and citations. Their innovative, skillful and aggressive actions kept the enemy off balance, while maintaining a kill ratio of approximately 200:1.
Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy. General George S. Patton (1885-1945) So very, very true.
During the Vietnam War, South Vietnam was divided into four geographic areas by the Pentagon. The most northern area was I Corps, and the most southern was IV Corps or the Mekong Delta. It was here that the United States Navy had established a strong presence called the “brown water Navy.” The delta was of strategic importance, being the home for vast, innumerable rice paddies, and was the “breadbasket” for the entire country, much like the American Midwest. Navy Special Warfare Group further divided the Mekong Delta area into nine regions, and placed two Seawolf gunships in nine remote staging bases called detachments. SEAL units, Swift Boats and Patrol Boats (PBRs) were often strategically located with the Seawolves.
Our AO was bordered by the Gulf of Thailand on the west, where I and my crew had to ditch one morning due to an engine failure. The infamous triple-canopied U-Minh Forest (Forest of Darkness) was the north border, where a sizeable French force disappeared in the 1950s. Detachment-1’s very active AO was on the south, and hundreds of square miles of canals, villages, and rice paddies was to the east. Our mission included daytime interdiction patrols, support of allied Riverine units such as swift boats, allied fire support bases, Navy SEAL team operations, and neighboring Seawolf Detachments which sometimes needed some extra fire power.
I was initially assigned to Detachment-6, along with a good friend with whom I had trained for twenty months. He also just happened to have been the best man at my wedding a few days before we left the United States. We “newbies” joined 8 other seasoned pilots and 8 door gunners, who comprised the wolf pack of Det-6, just as two of these veterans were about to end their tour. In the fire of daily air strikes that followed we newbies, out of necessity, were forged into this living band of brothers. “Making disciples” was not a program…it was a necessity!
At some point, after a month or so on Det, I realized that, almost without exception, I was surrounded by men with a warrior spirit and men who lived by a warrior code. However, these brothers were not arrogant, boastful war mongers. They were husbands and sons who believed in our cause, loved each other deeply, and their country and their families dearly. They were men who showed emotion and a reverence for God, especially at memorial services.
The Seawolves were men like Stephen Mansfield described in his great book, The Faith of the American Soldier. He writes, “The warrior code takes a soldier and makes him a knight. It connects the natural life of a fighter to the supernatural understanding of the warrior calling. His duties are transformed into holy sacrifices; his sense of self is reformed into an image of the servant in pursuit of valor. He becomes part of a fellowship, a noble tradition that flows through him and carries him beyond the mediocre and the vain.”
General George Patton once said, “War develops a soul in a fighting unit, and while there may not be many of the old men left, it takes very little yeast to leaven a lump of dough.” The General must have been aware of 2 Timothy 2:2-3. In our case there was a lot of leaven, a lot of faithful men, and just us two new lumps of dough. I learned early on of the concept, “area of operation or AO,” and that I was to know it better than the back of my hand. The reason was that we Seawolves were responsible for responding swiftly and decisively to any enemy activity in our AO, be it day or night. A laudable goal for Christian men in 2025.
Our AO was also our “AR”, or area of responsibility. Each gunship required 2 pilots and 2 door gunners. Tactical doctrine dictated that we always launch as a fire team of 2 gunships. (Sounds like Luke 10:1) Therefore, each mission required about half the detachment either to be on alert or in the air, and we usually were on duty for 24 hours, then we were off duty for the next 24 hour period.
When not on the flight schedule there were always other duties to tend to, such as reviewing intelligence reports, logistical matters, administrative support, physical fitness, reading letters from home and writing home, or building rapport with the locals. During my one-year tour I flew 507 combat missions, some more memorable than others. My new normal was the austere, alive, violent, challenging, dangerous, thrilling, and very real living brotherhood. Life became very simple, very alive, and very precious. Indeed, I longed to see and touch my wife and children once more. A couple of very special photographs were always in my flight suit.
I experienced all the excitement of a Samurai warrior, and all the adventure of a knight of the realm. A recently beleaguered outpost once dubbed us “the cavalry,” and I thought “Yeah!” My sole purpose in life was to fly with warriors and assist the good guys while often ruining the day of the bad guys. It was like being John Wayne or King David every 24 hours. That, and maybe Zorro or the Lone Ranger, except there was no mask. Certainly no one had dreamed of coming to Vietnam, but as a little boy, most had experienced the dream, to come riding in, guns a-blazing, to save the day. For Seawolves, this was our defining purpose—one in which failure was not an option. We men must know that we have a purpose...and know how to clearly articulate that purpose with action!
I believe such a life in spiritual martial matters is our calling and would be pleasing to our King. It can be a life of excitement and adventure in 2025. It would indeed be Jesusesque! We would no longer need to go to the movies to see artificial renditions of things we dream about doing. We would be the movie. Born to be a warrior—it was my dream as a young boy when I donned my Roy Rogers hat and Gene Autry double holster and pistols. It was my dream throughout much of my career in the navy and later in law enforcement, and it is still my dream as a soldier of the Cross.
In general, we Seawolves were always on the prowl in our AO, looking for enemy units to engage by surprise or otherwise. We could launch as part of a SEAL team operation, we might be responding to a call for help by army troops, or from an ambushed river convoy in contact with enemy elements. Our AO was a “target-rich environment” and our primary mission was to provide close air support to suppress or eliminate the immediate threat whenever and wherever that threat occurred. This is the same picture in Matthew 9:37-38, a target-rich environment.
The enemy was comprised of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regulars, whose fathers had fought the Japanese and later the French for the same terrain, and various contingents of Viet Cong (VC) all of whom were generally well-trained and disciplined fighters. “Charlie,” or “Chuck” as we referred to enemy combatants, would usually attack under the cover of darkness in a clandestine and insurgent manner. This might include a mortar or rocket attack on our base or some other allied base, followed by a ground attack, or probe of our perimeter.
A more subtle terrorist type of attack would be a homicide bomber, with satchel charges strapped to their body, attempting to breach our perimeter, kill off duty personnel, and perhaps create a diversion for another attacking element. Therefore, whoever owned the night would prevail each night, control whatever territory was in question and in general, live a longer and fuller life. I do not recall any of our tactical doctrine that was based upon a concept of “owning the day.” However, the enemy was normally not foolish enough to expose their position in daytime. Pause and consider how true this is in spiritual warfare, 1 Peter 5:8-9.
In closing, having a “Seawolf mindset” could have some very practical applications for the Christian man in 2025. Consider these possibilities: Personal identity with a grand and honorable tradition of men, Christ-followers; Personal relationship with a living band of action-minded brothers; Personal fellowship with a small group of men who genuinely love each other and are willing to die for you; Personal friendship with a coterie of men with whom you would want in your wedding party; Personal friendship with brothers who have intimate trust-based relationships; and Personal commitment to a common goal of “owning the night” and restoring harmony to every manifestation of evil and chaos. Perhaps this is best summarized in Stephen Mansfield’s The Warrior Code on page 4 above.
Barney Barnes, 02-16-2025, Former Promise Keepers National Ambassador for the Military and Prisons