Lone Survivor_ The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 ( PDFDrive )

understand and will comply. We say hooyah. It’s a BUD/S thing, and its origins
are lost in antiquity. There’s so many explanations, I won’t even go there. Just so
you know, that’s how students respond to an instructor, in greeting or command
acceptance. Hooyah.
For some reason, Instructor Reno was the only one who was unfailingly
addressed by his first name. All the others were Instructor Peterson or Matthews
or Henderson. Only Reno Alberto insisted on being called by his first name. I
always thought it was good they didn’t call him Fred or Spike. Reno sounded
good on him.
When he walked onto the grinder that morning, we could tell we were in the
presence of a major man. As I mentioned, it was pitch dark and he was wearing
sunglasses, wraparound, shiny black. It seemed he never took them off, night or
day. Actually, one time I did catch him without them, and as soon as he saw me,
he reached into his pocket and immediately put ’em on again.
I think it was because he never wanted us to see the expression in his eyes.
Beneath that stern, relentless exterior, he was a superintelligent man — and he
could not have failed to be amused at the daily Attila the Hun act he put on for
us. But he never wanted us to see the amusement in his eyes, and that was why
he never showed them.
On this dark, slightly misty morning he stood with his arms folded and gazed
at the training pool. Then he turned back to us and stared hard.
We had no idea what to expect. And Instructor Reno said without expression,
“Drop.”
“Drop!” we roared back. And we all struggled down to the concrete and
assumed a position for push-ups, arms extended, bodies outstretched, rigid.
“Push ’em out,” said Reno.
“Push-ups,” snapped the class leader.
“Push-ups,” we responded.
“Down.”
“One.”
“Down.”
“Two.”
We counted out every one of the twenty push-ups in the set then returned to
the rest position, arms outstretched. The class leader called out, “Instructor Reeno.”
“Hooyah, Instructor Ree-no,” we roared.
He ignored us. Then said quietly, “Push ’em out.” As he did twice more, at