I've been swimming across Tampa Bay in January for the past 8 years with two exceptions, more about that later. Each of those years every swimmer dedicated their swim to a fallen Navy SEAL. 5 of those SEALs died in Afghanistan, one died in Iraq, one died in a training accident, and one was murdered while trying to help a fellow veteran recover from PTSD. I've got their names on my desk to make sure they're not forgotten.

Why swim this challenging event?

I grew up in a family with a long history of military service running from the 1890s thru today...

My maternal grandfather was a Rough Rider with Teddy Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War. He was disabled in that war. A paternal uncle, who served in the Navy in the Phillipines, was a Japanese POW during WW II. Two other paternal uncles also served in the Navy crossing little islands across the Pacific during WW II. They were Seabees. My Dad was in the Army and served in Korea during the Korean War. He was disabled in Korea. Likewise, my Mom was in the Navy as a morse code intercept operator during the Korean war stationed stateside. She was also disabled as a result of a Navy Corsair that crashed into the intercept operations building engulfing the building in a rather spectacular fireball. And to continue the trend, my sister was career Army and died a 100% disabled veteran. Her son, my nephew, was injured by an IED in his tour of duty in Baghdad. He retired a 100% disabled veteran... (I served a very uneventful, but life-changing tour as an instructor in communication security & electronics in scenic Fort Monmouth, NJ.)

Given all that direct experience with disabled veterans I grew up well aware of the difficulties in dealing with the administrivia associated with military service.

You contribution to this fundraiser is sincerely appreciated - by the NSF and my family.

If you've read this far, you're probably wondering why we didn't swim 2 of the past 8 years... Heavy weather, high winds, ROUGH chop & more. The telltale? ALL the portapotties were horizontal, blown down by the high winds.

The Navy Seal Foundation, whose motto is "For their families, for their sacrifice, for their bravery, for their dedication." is a 501-3C corporation is founded and funded to support injured Navy Seals, their families, and the families of those Seals who were either killed in action (KIA) or killed in training (KIT).