Retirement Ceremony
Commander Michael Wood
United States Navy

Naval Special Warfare Command
Naval Amphibious Base
Coronado, California
14 March 2003

Michael Wood
Commander, U.S. Navy

CDR Wood was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1950 and raised in a small town Pico Rivera near Los Angeles. He is the oldest of six children, three brothers and two sisters. He attended St. Marianne’s Grade School and St. Paul High School lettering Varsity three years in track and cross-country. His first employment was working at Santa Catalina Island for a summer where he developed his love for the ocean surfing, skin diving and scuba diving. This combined with inspiration from the Mike Nelson’s SEA HUNT TV show contributed to his strong desire to be a Frogman.

Soon after this, CDR Wood received his draft notice and promptly enlisted in the Navy with a guarantee of attending BUD/S training. He completed Navy Boot Camp in San Diego, CA and followed that with Gunner’s Mate A School at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Chicago, IL. He then returned to San Diego and started BUD/S training with Class 55 in the winter of 1969.

Soon after BUD/S CDR Wood completed Army Jump School attaining Distinguished Honor Graduate of 400 students. He was assigned to SEAL Team ONE where he promptly started SEAL platoon training with VICTOR Platoon as a point man. VICTOR platoon deployed to Vietnam in 1970 where CDR Wood participated in over 26 missions and personally led, as a Petty Officer third Class, one very successful mission that led to the attainment and elimination of very high-level personnel in the Viet Cong Infrastructure. For these efforts he was awarded two Bronze Stars with combat V and one Navy Commendation medal with combat V.

CDR Wood’s return to SEAL Team One allowed him to change his profession to photographer and attend Photographer’s Mate A School in Pensacola, FL. He then was assigned to Inshore Undersea Warfare Group ONE at NAB Coronado as a Marine Mammal Trainer. There he trained California Sea Lions to locate and recover inert war reserve ASROC missiles and participated in two live-captures of young sea lions at the rookery on San Nicholas Island. He applied his photography skills to produce underwater and above water photography of the Marine Mammal Geographic World Magazine. This led to his acceptance to the yearlong Military Photojournalism program at Syracuse University, Newhouse School of Communications in Syracuse, NY.

Now a qualified Military Photojournalist, CDR Wood served as the Photographer’s Mate First Class staff photojournalist at Chief of Naval Technical Training in Millington, TN. There he provided photojournalist coverage of all the Naval Technical Training Schools including BUD/S training. In this short two-year period, he achieved Runner-up Military Photographer of the Year two years in a row, and publication in many national magazines and newspapers. During this period he also completed his Bachelor of Science Degree in Occupational Education, which led to his acceptance to Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI.

CDR Wood was commissioned the last day of fiscal year 1980 and assigned to UDT TWELVE for his first duty as a Naval Officer. He was assigned as Assistant UDT Platoon CDR of Second Platoon where he completed two WESTPAC deployments. He was then assigned to BUD/S training as the Diving Tower Officer and Assistant Diving Phase Officer where he developed and established the first formal training program for Submarine Lock-in and Lock-out Diving Supervisor and Operator courses and developed the first 637-class submarine lock-out chamber in the Diving Tower.

His next assignment was to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE as the Dry Deck Shelter FOXTROT Platoon CDR where he completed the first DDS WESTPAC Deployment. His DDS platoon also innovated the original Mass Swimmer Lock-out procedures for SEALs mass exiting a submerged and underway DDS and submarine. His DDS platoon also trained and certified the first East Coast DDS platoon and completed the intensive Mobility Improvement project in Puerto Rico for which his platoon received a Navy Unit Citation and CDR Wood his second Navy Commendation Medal.

CDR Wood’s career brought him back to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE as the Diving Officer, SDV BRAVO Platoon CDR, Operations Officer while achieving the rank of LCDR. During his SDV platoon they completed a classified special project and one WESTPAC deployment aboard a submarine. While at SDV Team ONE he also deployed to DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM as the NSW Task Unit Central Operations Officer and as the SDV Task Element Officer where his NSW element was the forward most deployed unit in the Northern Arabian Gulf on board the Kuwaiti Ship Sawahil. During this period his SDV Task Element completed seven combat SDV operations, a Kuwaiti harbor hydrographic reconnaissance and search and recovery of human and aircraft remains of a downed AC-130. For these efforts he received his third Bronze Star with combat-V and an Airforce Commendation Medal. Ten months later, CDR Wood was assigned as the NSW Task Unit CDR aboard the USS TARAWA Amphibious Ready Group WESTPAC and Gulf deployment, where the TARAWA ARG participated in the initial phase of the Somalia Operation supporting flying Pakistani Security forces into Somalia and the initial TARAWA ARG liaison with the Somali Warlord Aideed prior to the invasion of Somalia.

CDR Wood was then assigned as the Officer-in-Charge of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE Detachment Hawaii (SDVT-1 DET HI). This was an Executive Officer level assignment with Commanding Officer level responsibilities including non-judicial punishment authority. He led his 75-100-man detachment through a multitude of SDV and DDS operations and deployments aboard 637-class and 640-class submarines throughout the Pacific Theater. There he developed the NSW and Submarine 80-40 day deployment concept for submarine, DDS and SDV forces. For this he was awarded his third Navy Commendation Medal and assignment as the NSW Officer at Commander-in Chief U. S. pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor HI. As the CINCPACFLT NSW Officer he was responsible for coordinating Pacific Theater support of NSW Patrol Coastal ship deployments to the Pacific Theater. CDR Wood was also responsible for the development, drafting, briefing and approval at the highest level, of the first Navy strategic level Military Deception concept of operations in support of Korean military operations. This tour culminated with his advancement to the rank of CDR and receiving a Meritorious Service Medal.

In December 1997, CDR Wood returned to Coronado to the staff of Naval Special Warfare Command. While at CNSWC, he has served as the N5 Plans, Policy and Doctrine Department, Future Concepts Officer; the N3 Operations Department, Current Operations Officer; N3 Operations Department, Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations; and finally as the Command and Force Special Technical Operations Chief, Information Operations Officer and Undersea Warfare Officer. Throughout this tour CDR Wood continued his dedicated and innovative efforts. As the Operations Officer he provided oversight on expansion of SDV forward deployed forces to U.S. Central Command and Patrol Coastal Ship expansion to Central Command, European Command and Pacific Command theaters of operation. His efforts as Special Technical Operations Chief (STO Chief) led to an over 200% increase in NSW STO billets force wide with first-time ever expansion of STO billets to Component Commands. As the IO Officer he developed the initial NSW role in Information Operations and operational concepts for NSW forces. His innovative efforts were especially evident in his development of a NSW role in preemptive Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR). This led to the development of a maritime ISR Network operational concept called SEA EAGLE, which transitioned into the first NSW Advanced Concept technology Demonstration proposal to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. CDR Wood was a key player in the development of an Operational Requirements Document for a remotely-operated fiber-optic-linked Unmanned Underwater Vehicle capable of clandestinely penetrating denied areas and leaving behind a variety of ISR components and capabilities.

CDR Wood retires from the Navy following 34 years service, participation in three conflicts and eight overseas deployments. He also served for 5-years at Naval Special Warfare Command. His wife Joyce Wood, son Lance, and daughters Amy and Catherine shared closely his many years of service, as well as 2 of his 3 conflicts and 7 of 8 of his overseas deployments. They upheld the home-front allowing CDR Wood the honor of service to the United States of America.

The Following information was taken from Michael Wood’s LikedIn Page: www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-wood/17/a17/392

Background
Summary
Commander Michael P Wood retired after 34 years of active duty from Commander, Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Command (CNSWC) as Operations Officer responsible for coordination of Naval Special Warfare forces deployment WORLDWIDE. He continued to serve NSW from 2003 to 2014 as a senior consultant and subject matter expert in Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance assisting NSW forces to "find, fix and finish" enemy forces.

45 years experience transpired across several SEAL, UDT, SDV, NSW and Navy commands and allowed him to serve in Vietnam, DESERT STORM and Somalia conflicts.

Calling upon his extensive early military career as a photojournalist, Michael has transitioned into the Publishing World.

Thanks to a TV show “Sea Hunt” with Lloyd Bridges and a movie “Frogman” with Richard Widmark, Mike decided he wanted to be a frogman and hoped that he could integrate his love for photography and especially underwater photography into a career.

Sometimes your life goes by in a blink. On the way back from Vietnam he stopped in Japan and purchased his first 35mm camera a Nikonos II Underwater system for an unbelievable price of $60.00. From his first photos (before photo training) of Gooney birds on Midway Island to today, Mike has found a love of chronicling his travels to exotic locations.

Specialties

• World wide Travel Writer/Photo Blogger
• Stock photography
• Non-fiction military author and public speaker
• Feature Article photojournalist
• Military Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance

Recent Books
"U.S. Navy Seals in San Diego"
"Project Quick Find-Memoirs of a U.S. Navy Seal Training Sea Lions" Upcoming Release

Experience
Writer, Photographer and Speaker on Military, Underwater, Nature and Travel Escapades
APPL Services (Author, Photojournalist, Publisher & Lecturer)
January 2014 – Present (1 year)Panama City, Florida Area
Mike writes military fiction and non-fiction, feature stories, travel escapades, and underwater and nature adventures from the perspective of a former Navy SEAL and UDT Frogman. His views are influenced by his previous oversea exploits in naval special warfare, underwater demotions, submersible operations and combat in Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm and Somalia Conflict,

Senior Operations Analyst
Espial Services
October 2010 – December 2013 (3 years 3 months)Panama City, FL
Originated, planned, obtained over $40M in Joint Concept Technology Demonstration (JCTD) funding and managed Maritime Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Tagging, Tracking and Locating (TTL) technolgy projects in support of Naval Special Warfare operational requirements and Intelligence Community requirements.

NSWG-3 Maritime ISR
Naval Special Warfare Group THREE (NSWG-3)
2004 – 2009 (5 years)Coronado, CA
Origniated, planned, obtained funding and managed Maritime ISR and TTL technology projects in support of Naval Special Warfare operational requirements and Intelligence Community requirements.

Force Protection Response Group Contractor
USDS
2003 – 2004 (1 year)Overseas
Conducted terrorism surveillance detection operations overseas in permissive to semi-permissive environments.

Operations Officer, Assistant Operations Officer, and Informations Operations Officer
Commander Naval Special Warfare Command
1999 – 2003 (4 years)Coronado, CA
Served as the CNSWC Information Operations Officer, Assistant Operations Officer and Operations Officer through the 9/11/2001 terrorism attack and the beginning phases of both Afghanistan and Iraq operations.

Naval Special Warfare Officer and Strategic Military Deception Planning Officer
Commander Pacific Fleet
1995 – 1997 (2 years)Pearl Harbor, HI
Served as the COMPACFLT Naval Special Warfare advisor and as a Strategic Military Deception Planner.

Officer-In-Charge (OIC)
SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE Detachment Hawaii
December 1992 – June 1994 (1 year 7 months)Ford Island, Pearl Harbor Hawaii
As OIC led 100 plus SDV, Dry Deck Shelter (DDS), SEAL, Special Boat Unit (SBU) , maintenance and staff personnel in the daily training, maintenance, readiness and operations of SDV, DDS, SEAL and SBU personnel throughout the Pacific Command and Central Command theaters of operations.

Operations Officer & SDV Platoon CDR
SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE (SDVT-1)
February 1988 – December 1992 (4 years 11 months)Coronado, Pacific Command and Central Command AO
Mike served in many capacities at SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE:
- SDVT-1 Operations Officer, Acting Executive Officer and Acting Commanding Officer
- SEAL Delivery Vehicle Bravo Platoon CDR
- Completed both PACOM and CENTCOM deployments.

Naval Special Warfare Task Unit Commander
USS Tarawa Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)
April 1992 – November 1992 (8 months)Pacific Command and Central Command Area of Operations (AO) Overseas
Mike served as the NSW Task Unit CDR on the USS Tarawa ARG deploying to the PACOM & CENTCOM AO supervising a SEAL platoon and a Special Boat detachment. This tour included TARAWA ARG support to the early operations in Somalia to fly in Pakistani forces for UN support against Warlord Aideed.

SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) Task Element Commander
Naval Special Warfare Task Unit SIERRA
November 1990 – March 1991 (5 months)Kuwaiti Navy (KUN) Sawahill - Northern Arabian Gulf
SDV Task Element CDR supervising SDV operations during DESERT STORM on board the KUN ship Sawahill as the most forward ship in the Northern Arabian Gulf during the conflict.

Foxtrot Dry Deck Shelter Platoon (DDS) Commander
UDT-12 Recommissioned SDV Team ONE
September 1984 – September 1986 (2 years 1 month)Coronado, CA
Mike served as the Foxtrot DDS platoon CDR conducting the first full DDS western pacific deployment and a deployment to Puerto Rico.

2nd Phase Diving and Tower Officer
Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training (BUD/S)
1982 – 1984 (2 years)Coronado, CA
Served as a 2nd Phase Officer and Instructor for diving and dive tower instruction. Conceived, drafted and implemented the first submarine lock-in/lock-out diving opertions training, provided oversight and guidance to 2nd Phase instructors and students and managed the daily training, operations and maintenance of the 50' dive tower.

2nd Platoon CDR & Diving Officer
Underwater Demolition Team TWELVE (UDT-12)
1980 – 1982 (2 years)Coronado, CA
Served first as the command Diving Officer and then as the 2nd Platoon Assistant Platoon CDR for two separate deployments to WESTPAC and CENTCOM.

Student 2nd Battalion CDR
Officer Candidate School (OCS)
June 1980 – September 1980 (4 months)Niewport, RI
OCS student and 2nd Battalion CDR.

Staff Photojournalist
Chief of Naval Technical Training (CNTECTRA)
August 1977 – May 1980 (2 years 10 months)Millington, TN
Mike served as a staff photojournalist for CNTECTRA. Served the Admiral and staff as a military photojournalist writing and photographing stories about each of the military training schools within the CNTECHTRA chain of command. This resulted in being published in numerous military and civilian newspapers, magazines and other publications such as National Geographic World, Skin Diver, Readers Digest, Popular Mechanics/Science, Providence Journal, All Hands and many others. Achieved photojournalist awards as Runner-Up Military Photographer of the Year two years running.

Military Photojournalist Student
Syracuse University, Newhouse School of Communications
August 1977 – May 1978 (10 months)Syracuse, NY
Attended Syracuse University, Newhouse School of Communications Military Photojournalism Program in Syracuse New York.

Occupational Education Student
Southern Illinois University
September 1975 – May 1977 (1 year 9 months)Coronado Extension Campus
Obtained a Bachelor's of Science degree in Occupation Education while on active duty.

Marine Mammal Trainer
Inshore Undersea Warfare Group ONE
1972 – 1977 (5 years)Coronado, CA
Served as a sea lion trainer in Project Quickfind. Project Quickfind trainers and marine mammals were used to find and recover inert Navy ASROC missiles drawn from the national inventory, quality assurance test fired and returned to service standby.

Victor Platoon Pointman & Armory Ordnance Petty Officer
SEAL Team ONE
April 1970 – June 1973 (3 years 3 months)Coronado, CA & Vietnam
Served as the Victor Platoon pointman in Vietnam 1970-71. Later served as in the command armory as the Ordnance driver and training Petty Officer.

Photographer's Mate "A" School Student
Naval Air Technical Training Unit, Pensacola, FL
September 1972 – February 1973 (6 months)Pensacola, FL
Attended and graduated from the Navy's Photographer's Mate "A School.

Student - Class 55
Basic Underwater Demolition-SEAL Training
1969 – 1970 (1 year)
Student, also referred to by Intructors as "Tadpole".

Gunner's Mate Guns "A" School Student
Naval Training Center, Great Lakes
June 1969 – October 1969 (5 months)Chicago, IL
Graduated from GMG "A" School at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, IL.

Navy Boot Camp Student
Recruit Training Command, San Diego, CA
March 1969 – May 1969 (3 months)San Diego, CA

Bell Hop, Maintenance Man and Maid
Hermosa Hotel - Santa Catalina Island
June 1968 – September 1968 (4 months)Santa Catalina Island
Summer hire straight from High School graduation. The work was gritty manual labor preparing me for Boot Camp. Though hard work the fun made it all worth it. Here is were I got my passion for snorkeling, spearfishing and plans for scuba certification.

Student
St. Paul High School
1964 – 1968 (4 years)Santa Fe Springs, CA

Honors & Awards
1st & 2nd Bronze Star Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device
President of the United States
1971
3rd Bronze Star Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device
President of the United States
1991
1st Navy Commendation Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device
Secretary of the Navy
1971
Airforce Commendation Medal
Commander, Airforce Special Operations Command
September 1994
Outstanding Achievment 4 March 1991.
2nd Meritorious Service Medal
President of the United States
February 2013
1st Meritorious Service Medal
President of the United States
November 1997
3rd Navy Commendation Medal
Secretary of the Navy
November 1994
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Personal Award
Viet - Nam Cong - Hoa
June 1971

Publications
U.S. Navy SEALs of San Diego an Images of America Book(Link)
Arcadia Publishing
2009
A photographic history of the Underwater Demolition and SEAL teams of San Diego from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf and up to the beginning of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Military and Travel Photo Website(Link)
Phojo-Frog
January 15, 2014
Portfolio of military and travel photographs.
Travel Photo Escapades Blog(Link)
Michael P. Wood
January 15, 2014
Sharing stories and photos of past and recent travel and photo adventures internationally and in the U.S. providing both photographic and travel information and insights.
Adventure Wanted(Link)
Diver Magazine Volume 39 Number 3
April 2014
Diver Magazine published a story and photos I wrote about taking underwater photographs of SSN/DDS/SDV operations back in 1994.

http://travelphotoescapades.com/adventure-wanted-d...olume-39-number-3-2/

Projects
Michael Wood(Link)
I am writing a book about my tenure at Project Quick Find including training California Sea Lions to recover ASROC missiles and training Mines as well as conducting two authorized captures of Sea Lions at San Nicholas Island. It will be filled with photos and you can see an example of the photos at the Project URL.

Skils & Expertise
Security Clearance
Military
Special Operations
Navy
DoD
National Security
Top Secret
Force Protection
Military Operations
C4ISR
Program Management
Counterterrorism
Reconnaissance
Surveillance
Operational Planning
Interagency Coordination
Operations Management
Government Contracting
Organizational Leadership
Counterintelligence
Combat
Strategic Planning
PowerPoint
Project Planning
Defense
Information Assurance
Military Experience
Military Training
Army
Electronic Warfare
Microsoft Word
Government
Intelligence Analysis
Weapons
Tactics
Homeland Security
SIGINT
Physical Security
Planning
Military Leadership
Word
Writing

Education
Syracuse Univiversity, Newhouse School of Communications
Military Photojournalism Certification, Photojournalism
1976 – 1997
Attended and completed the Military Photojournalism Program.

Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Bachelor of Science (BS), Occupational Education
1975 – 1976

Interests
My current interests and goals are writing military non-fiction and fiction books. I also very much enjoy photographing and writing feature stories on interesting people, places and activities especially if it involves scuba diving, travel, nature and underwater photography. I will gladly speak with groups interested in my military and photography background.



Michael Wood’s Obituary taken from Joyce Wood’s FaceBook Page.

Michael P. Wood, Cdr, (Ret), passed away on January 13, due to complications from a recent surgery. He was a hard working and hard partying U.S. Navy SEAL. He was loved by his fellow SEALs, his family, his co-workers, fellow writers, photographers, and all who knew him. He is survived by his wife, Joyce, his daughters, Amy McCrory and Catherine Louiselle, his son Lance Poulson, and seven grand children, Gwyneth, River, Timothy, Michael, Ryan, Dean and Sarah. A Celebration of Life is planned for Michael on February 17, at our home. All who knew him are welcome to join us and share a fond memory of Mike. He is to be cremated and buried at sea at the National UDT SEAL Museum during the Muster on Veteran’s Day this fall.