Richard Marcinko Richard " Dick " Marcinko ( born November 21 , 1940 ) , is a retired U . S . Navy SEAL commander and Vietnam War veteran . He was the first commanding officer of SEAL Team Six and Red Cell . After retiring from the United States Navy , he became an author , radio talk show host , military consultant , and motivational speaker . Early life and education . Marcinko was born in Lansford , Pennsylvania and is of Slovak descent . After attending Admiral Farragut Academy in Toms River , New Jersey , Marcinko enlisted in the United States Navy in 1958 as a radioman . Later commissioned as an officer , he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations from Auburn University and a Master of Arts degree in political science from the Naval Postgraduate School . Career . Vietnam War . On May 18 , 1967 , Marcinko led his men in an assault on Ilo Ilo Hon ( Ilo Ilo Island ) , where they killed a large number of Vietcong and destroyed six of their sampans . This action would be called “ the most successful SEAL operation in the Mekong Delta ” by the U . S . Navy . For leading it , Marcinko was awarded the first of his four Bronze Stars , as well as a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star . Marcinko returned to Vietnam with SEAL Team 2 after a few months stateside as Officer - in - Charge of Eighth Platoon . During the Tet Offensive , Marcinko ordered his platoon to assist U . S . Army Special Forces at Chau Doc . What began as an urban street battle turned into a rescue mission of American nurses and a schoolteacher trapped in the city ' s church and hospital . After completing his second tour in Vietnam and a two - year stateside staff assignment , Marcinko was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and assigned as the Naval Attache to Cambodia in 1973 . After serving in Cambodia for 18 months , Marcinko returned stateside and assumed command of SEAL Team Two . SEAL Team Six . During the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979 , Marcinko was one of two Navy representatives for a Joint Chiefs of Staff task force known as the TAT ( Terrorist Action Team ) . The purpose of the TAT was to develop a plan to free the American hostages held in Iran which culminated in Operation Eagle Claw . In the wake of the debacle , the Navy saw the need for a full - time dedicated counter - terrorist team and tasked Marcinko with its design and development . Marcinko was the first commanding officer of this new unit . At the time , the Navy had only two SEAL teams . Marcinko purportedly named the unit SEAL Team Six in order to confuse other nations , specifically the Soviet Union , into believing that the United States had three other SEAL teams that they were unaware of . He personally selected the unit ' s members from across the U . S . Navy ' s special operations community , including a special counter - terrorist tactics section of SEAL Team Two , codenamed MOB - 6 . SEAL Team Six would be the Navy ' s premier counter - terrorist unit , like its Army counterpart Delta Force . While typically a two - year command in the Navy at the time , Marcinko commanded SEAL Team Six for three years , from August 1980 to July 1983 . Red Cell . After relinquishing command of SEAL Team SIX , Marcinko was tasked by Vice Admiral James " Ace " Lyons , Deputy Chief of Naval Operations , with the design of a unit to test the Navy ' s vulnerability to terrorism . This unit was the Naval Security Coordination Team OP - 06D , unofficially named Red Cell . In 1984 , Marcinko hand - picked twelve men from SEAL Team Six and one from Marine Force Recon . This team tested the security of naval bases , nuclear submarine s , ships , civilian airports , and an American embassy . Under Marcinko ' s leadership , the team was able to infiltrate seemingly impenetrable , highly - secured bases , nuclear submarines , ships , and other purported " secure areas " such as Air Force One , and disappear without incident . These demonstrations showed that a vulnerable military resulted from the replacement of Marine and Naval Military Police by contracted private security agencies often staffed by retired military personnel . Marcinko has claimed , among other things , that Red Cell successfully captured nuclear devices from United States Navy facilities , and proved the viability of plans to : Former members of Red Cell , notably Steve Hartmann and Dennis Chalker , maintain that these exercises were a cover to move SPECWAR operators around the world for covert missions against real - world terrorists . Commander Marcinko retired from the Navy on February 1 , 1989 with thirty years , three months and 17 days of enlisted and commissioned active duty service . Personal life . Imprisonment . On March 9 , 1990 , Marcinko was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and fined $ 10 , 000 under charges of defrauding the government over the price of contractor acquisitions for hand grenade s . Marcinko maintains that he was the subject of a witch - hunt for his work with Red Cell and that the fraud committed revealed the weaknesses of military security . Marcinko detailed his arrest and confinement in the last chapters of his autobiography . Civilian life . Marcinko has since published a VHS and DVD movie account of his " Red Cell " operations . His experiences led him to write his autobiography , " The New York Times " best - selling " Rogue Warrior " , and subsequent fictional sequels , most of which are co - written with ghostwriter John Weisman . With Weisman he co - authored a three book series on leadership , management and team - building for business executives . He is currently CEO of Red Cell International and formerly of SOS Temps , Inc . , a private security consulting firm based in Washington , D . C . . He had a politically conservative talk radio show " America on Watch with Dick Marcinko " which was broadcast live . He is a spokesman for the Zodiac boat company ' s Zodiac Maritime Training Academy , and served as a consultant on FOX ' s television series " 24 " . He briefly collaborated with Strider Knives on a series of knife designs referred to as the " RW " signifying " Rogue Warrior " from 2008 to 2010 . Video game . Marcinko has partnered with Bethesda Softworks to publish " " for video game consoles and PC . Marcinko himself is the protagonist , voiced in the game by actor Mickey Rourke , trapped behind enemy lines in North Korea on a covert mission to assess the threat posed by North Korea ' s nuclear arsenal . The game received poor reviews , with critics citing poor AI , excessive use of expletives , numerous bugs , and shallow gameplay that featured only a 2 – 3 - hour single player mode and multiplayer that included only deathmatch and team deathmatch .