Lifestyles: Rorke Denver the Ultimate Warrior
Navy SEAL and Syracuse alum Rorke Denver ran 192 combat
missions in Iraq
by Matt White | LaxMagazine.com | Twitter
Note: A shorter version of this Q&A
appeared in the November 2014 issue of Lacrosse Magazine. To begin
your subscription, join US Lacrosse today.
Rorke Denver has always taken the hard way.
Raised in California in the 1980s when lacrosse was rare there,
he became an All-American defenseman at Syracuse. After college, he
joined the Navy to be a SEAL and led multiple combat deployments to
Afghanistan and Iraq. Now in the reserves, he has written a book
("Damn Few: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior"), starred in a movie
("Act of Valor") and speaks to corporate audiences about his
experiences.
You grew up in California's Bay Area. How did you find the game
and end up at Syracuse?
I played water polo in high school and was being recruited by
big California schools to play that sport. My sophomore year, there
was a sign outside my English class that a lacrosse club was
starting. I took to it fast, and the game really clicked for me.
After my junior year, my dad said, "Just for fun, do you want to go
to a camp this summer?" I went to Syracuse's lacrosse camp, and it
was wild. I thought I was going to get eaten alive out there. At
end of the first week, coach Roy Simmons Jr. came up to me and
said, "You're from where?" He said, "You're big and fast and can
definitely play at this level." It all fell into place.
It worked out. You were an honorable mention All-American in
1996.
I'm really proud of this. It's kind of a strange concept, when
you go on to do things like SEALs. But I feel like for those
lacrosse lists, the names are sealed in the envelope before the
season starts. I didn't have a pedigree. I was just grinding it
out.
When did you decide to become a SEAL?
My granddad was a B-24 Liberator guy in the Pacific and was
killed in action, as most of those guys were. So I had it in the
family, but it was not a lifelong calling as it is for some
people.
My senior year at Syracuse, my dad sent me a paperback copy of
Winston Churchill's "My Early Life." [Churchill] was in the
Frontier wars in the Pakistan-India border wars, and the Boer wars
in Africa, where he was captured and escaped. I just put that book
down and knew I wanted to serve.
I heard about a little program where they make Naval commandos
down in Southern California where about 80 percent of the people
don't make it. Those sounded like the right odds to me.
What action did you see?
The most aggressive and violent tour was summer of 2006 in Iraq.
I was a platoon commander in Al Anbar. Just unbelievable events and
output from our team, with Medals of Honor and too many Silver and
Bronze stars to even count. Very kinetic engagements, taking out
bad guys but also partnering with some of the sheiks and tribal
warlords to get those tribal awakenings to happen. We went from a
time when you couldn't go outside the wire without being in a
gunfight to, six months after our deployment, people are walking
around Rhymadi with no body armor.
We ran 192 combat missions in those seven months: sniper
overwatch, direct-action assaults every other night, just full
kinetic, which doesn't win wars, but it does move the needle.
A study commissioned by the SEALs found that, statistically,
lacrosse players fare well in training. Why is that?
It is a warrior game. Having gone to Syracuse, I know [Onondaga]
Chief [Oren] Lyons and some of the tribal elders who care for this
game. And while they don't say it's a war game, it has those
combative roots, a gift from the creator that was based on
toughness and physicality.
You got all these positions: defensemen, attackmen, faceoff
specialist, goalie. Same thing in a special ops team: You got
snipers, you got your breachers, you got communications
specialists, a medic in there. It's the ultimate sport for any
military service, and definitely for special operations.
|
In 14 years as a Navy SEAL officer, Rorke Denver faced drug
lords in Latin America, violent mobs in Liberia and terrorists in
Iraq and Afghanistan. From Hell Week to hero, Denver’s book,
“Damn Few: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior,” takes you
inside an elite brotherhood and demonstrates the challenges of
modern warfare.
Lacrosse fans will find familiarity in anecdotal references to
Denver’s time playing for legend Roy Simmons Jr. at Syracuse
(1993-96) and his appreciation for Native American culture.
“Damn Few,” co-authored by Denver and Ellis Henican,
made The New York Times best seller list in March
2013. |