A Deserter’s Dying: Former US Navy SEAL Killed in Ukraine


Fall of a Former SEAL

In line with US army officers, a former US Navy SEAL, Daniel W. Swift, died on Wednesday, January 18th, 2023, as a consequence of wounds suffered in fight operations in Ukraine. He was 35 years outdated. In a message to Rolling Stone, the Navy said that Swift had been labeled as an lively deserter and has been carried in that standing since March 2019. An lively deserter is a servicemember who’s absent with out depart (AWOL) and has no intention of returning to obligation.

Swift (far left) is proven right here in Ukraine with Grygorii “Greg” Tsekhmistrenko (heart proper, holding cat) and Adam Theimann (far proper). Photograph courtesy of Adam Theimann through YouTube and The CRUX.

Swift’s dying was first reported by Time Journal, which said that he died as the results of accidents sustained whereas serving with a Ukrainian unit that got here below heavy assault from Russian forces. They didn’t know the way lengthy he had been in Ukraine or his motivation for preventing there. It’s potential that Swift joined the Worldwide Legion of Protection of Ukraine (ILDU) below an assumed id to cover his deserter standing.

Concerning the previous Particular Warfare Operator, the Navy launched an announcement saying merely, “We can’t speculate as to why the previous sailor was in Ukraine.” US State Division officers initially confirmed to the press {that a} US citizen had died preventing in Ukraine, however they might not make public the main points of his dying. A Division spokesman mentioned, “We’re in contact together with his household and offering all potential consular help. Out of respect for the privateness of the household throughout this troublesome time, we’ve nothing additional so as to add.” 

In line with Time, the native Oregonian had enlisted within the Navy in 2005 and was assigned to a Naval Particular Warfare (NSW) Chilly Climate Detachment in Alaska in 2007. This was adopted by obligation with two west coast-based particular warfare models between the summer time of 2007 and 2014. The Navy didn’t specify which Groups Swift was assigned to, however we all know the odd-numbered Groups are assigned to the west coast, in order that narrows it down a bit. His service information present an unexplained break in service from the beginning of 2014 to the top of 2015. Additionally they present that he was stripped of his Trident.

Though he was an lively deserter from the Navy, Swift wrote and self-published an e-book in 2020. It’s titled “Fall of a Man.” In it, the previous SEAL describes his troubled childhood and the way his mum or dad’s divorced, prompting him to run away from residence. He married at a younger age and had his first little one at age 20. He would go on to father three extra youngsters. The union led to divorce.

He Penned A Guide

Swift used his e-book as a tool to vent his frustrations with the army and famous that he was there when a colleague of his, Eric Shellenberger, died throughout a coaching accident whereas diving in 2009. As well as, he chronicled deployments to each Iraq and Afghanistan. Within the former, he said that SEALs ceaselessly knew the place their enemies had been however weren’t allowed to kill them. Apparently, his time in Afghanistan was with out incident. He wrote, “Afghanistan was, and nonetheless is, my greatest deployment, and that’s all I’ll say about it. I’ve nothing dangerous to say about my time in Afghanistan.”

The previous SEAL sits at the back of a pickup on this undated photograph. Picture courtesy of Adam Theimann through ABC News.

A Ranger’s Story

Adam Theimann is a former US Army Ranger who had beforehand served in Ukraine with Swift. In interviews with Rolling Stone Journal, he tells how he stayed involved with the ex-SEAL and others in his former platoon by means of telephone calls and textual content messages. Theimann said that it was throughout a late-night mission not lengthy after midnight on January fifteenth when Russian troops launched a rocket-propelled grenade at Swift and two others with him. All three males had been severely wounded and evacuated to the hospital. An American intelligence official, talking below the situation of anonymity, said that Swift had suffered a considerable traumatic mind damage because of the RPG assault. Theimann tells how native medical personnel, regardless of being stretched skinny, did their greatest to maintain his injured colleague alive. Nonetheless, his accidents had been too extreme, and he succumbed to them. The opposite males injured within the assault are therapeutic and, ultimately report had been in steady situation.

In line with the Related Press, Swift is the sixth American to be killed preventing alongside Ukrainian forces.





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