From September 11, 1969 to September 10, 1975 Jesse Ventura served in the USN attached to UDT 12, an underwater demolition team. UDT 12 existed at the same time the SEALS existed. The UDTs were later broken up and some of the frogmen as they were called got additional training and became SEALS, some became SDVT and others became NDU and Navy Salvage Divers; but that was in 1983, 8 and a half years after Jesse Ventura, (then Jim Janos) left the US Navy.

Because he CONSTANTLY claims to be a SEAL, a real SEAL Commander Bill Salisbury, a 16 year SEAL team veteran and San Diego attorney wrote an article for the San Diego Reader that basically called him a liar and a phony. Here's the original article:

http://tinyurl.com/yczf3cu

This got reporters asking questions that Ventura tried to brush off or stonewall, finally, on a Minnesota public radio interview on December 14, 1999 Governor Venturas spokesman confirmed that Ventura was never a member of the Navy SEALs and his stated that the "Governor has never tried to convince people otherwise".

http://tinyurl.com/3y49upa

But that didn't stop Jesse. Oh no. After going on and on about how he had "hunted men" in Vietnam when he was a SEAL a TV station got a hold of a copy of his dd-214 discharge papers and noticed that he didn't have a combat action ribbon which was awarded to "those involved in a firefight or who went on clandestine or special operations where the risk of enemy fire was great or expected". The transcript is here:

http://tinyurl.com/yaebr2q

FINALLY, in January 2002, Ventura ADMITTED to the Pioneer Press and the Minnesota Star Tribune that he did not see combat:

http://tinyurl.com/ydmwbjp

Now he is back to ranting about his non existent SEAL service like nothing ever happened. Why is this important? Because during the time Jesse Ventura was in UDT 12 SEAL team one lost 34 men to combat in Vietnam. UDT 12 lost 1 man to a training accident in the Philippines.

http://tinyurl.com/y9to2m4