Richard "Dick" Marcinko, also known as "Rogue Warrior", "Demo Dick", "Mekong Shark", creator of the legendary Navy SEAL Team Six counterterrorist unit, died on December 26 at the age of 81. The information about the death of the legendary commander was confirmed on December 26 by his son Matt.

Richard Marcinko was born on November 21, 1940 in Lansford, Pennsylvania, to a family of Slovak immigrants (hence the familiar-sounding name), and in 1958 he enlisted in the US Navy, previously rejected by the USMC due to lack of education. In the US Navy, he earned the rank of second lieutenant commander, equivalent to lieutenant colonel in the land armed forces.

Marcinko's combat career in Navy SEALs falls mainly on the years of the Vietnam War. In 1961 he completed the training of the Underwater Demolition Team/Replacement (UDTR - Class 26), and in 1965 he was transferred to SEAL Team Two. With this unit, he made two tours in Vietnam, during which he commanded the famous operation of the attack on the island of Ilo Ilo, during which the Americans eliminated numerous Vietcong soldiers and destroyed six of their Saipan boats. Marcinko's seals also carried out a successful rescue operation of American nurses and a teacher during the infamous Tet Offensive.

Marcinko, however, is most often identified as the creation of the legendary Seal Team Six (now known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group - DevGru). The origins of the establishment of the unit can be found as early as 1979, when Marcinko became a member of the team whose task was to recover the American hostages held in Iran. Operation Eagle Claw, which was supposed to be carried out by the Delta Force, established in 1978, as most of us know, ended in a fiasco.

However, it was then that the US Navy decided that it needed a Delta-like unit within its ranks. Richard Marcinko was entrusted with its formation. The new unit was given the number 6 to confuse potential opponents as to the actual number of SEALs the US Navy had at the time, namely ST1 and ST2. Marcinko, commanded the unit for three years between August 1980 and July 1983, despite the fact that the standard term of a commander at this level is two years.

The DevGru project was developed further in the coming years, and its operators carried out, among other tasks, the elimination of Osama Bin Laden (Operation Neptune Spear).

It was allegedly Richard Maricnko and his style of command and demeanor that are responsible for how the DevGru operators look and act - from long hair and stubble to a sense of elitism and sometimes, impunity.

Another project of "Demo Dick" was the creation of a unit checking the security of US Navy bases in 1984. The group was named "Red Cell" and, according to the legend, along with its commander, it got under the skin of many US Navy top brass, ruthlessly exposing the gaps in the security of the American navy bases and installations. According to the source materials, it was the activities of this unit that caused Dick Marcinko's subsequent departure from the US Navy in an atmosphere of scandal. He was accused of financial embezzlement regarding the purchase of equipment for the unit and bad treatment of soldiers. The above accusations, according to some reports, were supposed to be a revenge of people offended by the effectiveness of Red Cell and a reproach aimed directly at its commander.

Marcinko, left the US Navy in 1989 and from that time until his death he was involved, among other things, in writing ("Rogue Warrior", "Red Cell", "Green Team"), security consultancy, film consultancy (G.I. Jane, The Rock, 24H series) and the production of television programs. He was also a motivational speaker and spokesman for the Zodiac company, which produces boats and pontoons, including models used by the military and uniformed services.

His service was recognized by many veterans, including Admiral Bill McRaven, Admiral Eric Olson, and the entire Navy SEAL community. The former operator of JW GROM Andrzej K. Kisiel also paid tribute to Marcinko.

A study by Mariusz Piwowar on the basis of:
navytimes.com, nytimes.com, nbcnews.com, nypost.com, dailymail.co.uk, wikipedia.org, facebook.com/andrzej.kkisiel