COMBAT LEGEND: Navy SEAL Drago Dzieran | From Communist Prison to Elite American Warrior

I didn't go to Iraq to win hearts and Minds I went there to kill them the the bad guys I went to terrorize the terrorists I consider myself terrorist Terrorizer because I believe this is the most effective way to wage the war on terror you can't negotiate with with murderers and bandits you just have to eliminate them you are about to Embark upon the great crusade to meet this mounting aggression and make no mistake about good will prevail I was born in 1960s behind iron curon in communist Poland and this is the time that we all know how dangerous these communist system systems were in Eastern Europe so political prisoners political murders assassinations censorship uh that was Norm the fraudulent elections that was nor intimidation by the state intimidation of political opponents intimidation of their families and their friends and yes I encountered that too and eventually I was forced to leave Poland in 1980s after spending time in communist prison as a political prisoner what did you do that got you arrested or what did they accuse you of doing that got you imprisoned what happened is in 1981 in December 1980 when there was Comm system was crumbling the economy was in shambles they decide to impose martial law so on December 13 at midnight they arrested they already had a list of uh political opponents prepared like year or years ahead so that December 13 they arrested around 25 there are different estimates from from 25 to 60,000 people so basically secret police military and police uniform police were raiding citizens homes and arresting them pulling them out sometimes the children were left in the house in the apartments with no supervision because the parents were detained arrested so that's where this I start to get engaged even more uh in the opposition this is where me and friend of mine friends of mine were uh printing Underground we call it underground it was just buletin we call it newspaper but it was basically leaflet with two pages just telling people what is really going on collecting information who is getting arrested and uh they try to disseminate to people so people know what is uh what's happening and the information is the most dangerous thing to totalitarian socialist system so we are very promptly I think tracked down and arrested that's how I end up with a three years three years prison sentence and sent to the harshest polish prison at the time to kuub show very INF famous prison where I U yeah where I spend my time as a political prisoner now you came to America in 1984 you said 5 years later you see the Iron Curtain come down yes from a distance what was that moment like when you saw that at this time um in 1991 became US citizen this is I think the greatest moment in my life and yeah when I was watching the the the the iron curon crumbling when I was watching the Communists being kicked out of the governments that was like a pretty uh it was a relief for me because I know that these systems will never threaten free people will never threaten America again so that was like a good feeling all right so let's move to 1991 you said the best moment of your life you became an American citizen yes I be I became American citizen and this is something that is uh again there's like moments in my life that sometimes bring tears to my eyes so I became American citizens but also at the time America was fighting a war first Persian War so I there was my moral obligation to support my country my America the best I can and for me the the most effective way to do so was to join military so I decid to pick a rifle and fight the war on behalf of America and my America my American on behalf of my fellow American citizens this is how my adventure I would say with military started though my never my intention was never to stay in military 20 years like I did and for for me my first idea was America is fighting War I want to be one one of them one of the military personal supporting America and fighting that war on behalf of America but after the war since by this time I had a really s life great life in America my intention was to come back to my normal life and uh well it happened I never did I stay in military for 20 years in the US Navy I'm very proud of it and we're very grateful for it uh when you joined the Navy did you already know you wanted to become a seal well I didn't know what the seals were there not most uh eventually I learned that there is a unit called Navy Seals but my intention was to join military and uh serve wherever America needs me that was not my uh intention just to go and be an NCL eventually I I when I learn more about navycs yes I wanted to serve within Navy teams and eventually I made it I became Navy C and I fought the when did you go to buds training my class was 185 in 1993 I was already 1992 I was already 32 years old so I was four years over the age limit but I'm so grateful to this nation that actually I was that gave me the waiver and I was able to actually attend the collection but eventually I become instructor there at the end of my career American Veteran Center is proud to announce that this video is sponsored by aa.com Ora makes it their mission to provide an all-in-one intelligent safety solution that makes it simple to understand and easy to use have you ever Googled yourself and were shocked to see your personal information Exposed on public listing sites data Brokers are making a fortune selling your information to robocallers spammers and others that want to learn more about you like even where you live Ora can identify data Brokers exposing your information and submit opt out requests on your behalf Brokers are legally required to remove your information if you ask them to but they make it super hard to do let Ora handle this for you or also does so much to protect you and your family from online threats that you can't see you can either let these people continue to exploit and profit off your private information or you can go to ora.com for / American Veterans Center to start your two-e free trial also that will be linked in the description below tell me what buds training was like as a as a man who was older than the typical uh buds trainee so what did you expect it to be and what was it really like well what I expected to be is a little bit different than the reality was I expected to be I was thinking at the time that sence those are special forces I will be locked up for entire six months months somewhere on basee and I will be training training training well I told myself I spent almost two years in communist prison so that couldn't be that bad well turned out to be that it is the training is actually uh training and selection that you are not confined to base or to some kind of prison environment that you are you are working during day at night time whatever that do the training that needs to be done but then you are free to go to your either apartment on town or go to your barracks so uh that was big surprise for me and um but the other aspects were a bit more difficult because I was older and I was I was in selection with people 18 20 21 years old so no matter what bab you get by this when you are that young you just recovered next day and can good to go for me it was a little bit more difficult so when my uh uh friends uh call them teammates in BS um left party after the work day or on the weekend I was recovering in bed with Ben Gay Rob all over my body trying to survive the next day so I think that was the big challenge for me as far as the stress is concerned it really didn't face me there was nothing there that uh I just I expect to be very harsh I expected very harsh treatment so there was nothing surprised to me nothing phased me out phed me that of this kind so those was that part was little bit easier well you said 1993 you got your Trident yes right okay and what happened next so I was assigned to uh initially to CL Team 2 and at that time the process of becoming SE was a little bit different than is today today you go to through the B selection then you go to uh jum School Army Jam school go to sqt and then you go or vice vers or in different order but you so it's B uh sqt jum school and then you assign to CL team when you graduate from sqt CL qualification training you have a tried and you are full-fledged seal uh with a little experience but you are considered a seal you get 5326 NC assigned to you but at my time there was a little bit different because you had to go you were assigned to se team too you have to go to the that time was stt what they call it the seal tactical training versus seal qualification training today after a seal tactical training you were assigned to seal platoon on Pro probationary uh period and then they after passing uh the the board in front of the Chiefs Master Chiefs and officers you were U then after successfully uh passing that probationary period you then you were assigned the Seal insignia and 5326 NEC so there's not only enough to finish graduate all the courses but you have to prove yourself in the Seal team that yes you are the man these people this uh experience seales want to work with and then you were assigned a seal thing that's how that was my my road to become a seal how did your fellow SEAL team members accept you as an older seal was it just once you're a seal you're a brother uh well once you're a seal your brother just you are a new guy so you are not that quite so brother yet well it is but your place in the seal platoon is not very uh you are still new seal everybody knows there's so much things to learn and that process is fairly long so until the first uh deployment when you deploy overseas with seal platoon you are still a new guy and they call you basically new guy fngg B I want to say the that word here I know what that means right so that's that was my way but eventually you prove yourself and uh and then yeah you see like there's no difference with in my case because uh my accent and my age that was maybe a little bit odd but I was always I the I always have the support of my fellow teammates I was never treated differently for them uh it was and that's what we learn all in the US Navy we are all the same we are just Americans who have the same color red white and blue that's that's all we need to be concerned we look in our hearts we don't look how we look outside as you do your job right you perform you are good sale that's fantastic talk about the bond that forms when you spend all this time together well this is something that is very unique uh every community that is so tightly knitted will have this Bond or similar Bond but with the sale teams please remember that every day whether it's combat or in training we do something something they can kill us and that's create the very unique Bond especially within the SEAL Teams so we we are we become like a Brotherhood we don't call each other hey Navy SE so we call hey brother so that this is Brotherhood but we also realize that that that Brotherhood of Navy Sals is encompassed by the bigger Brotherhood the Brotherhood of our military our veterans and that Brotherhood is encompassed with the greatest Brotherhood the American Brotherhood American citizens Brotherhood so that's fantastic where were you first deployed this is the mid 90s so we're not to 911 yet so what kind of operations and locations were you my f my first deployment was to uh Bosnia not to Bosnia was to uh Italy it was the time that one of our Pilots was shut down over Bosnia so this is where one of our missions was to go and find him and not only our unit was looking and supporting the operation of recovering him but those our I think entire military was trying to find and save this our pilot so we as I was we were flying over Adriatic quite often and uh waiting for for a call that didn't happen actually another unit was able to rescue our pilot and um but I'm proud I participate in it oh of course of course where were you on 911 and what do you remember about that day a very tragic day and I remember like today I I was in the Seal team too in the gym we're working out and I remember one of our teammates uh came in the gym say hey there's a airplane that hit the one of the towers and I was like well some inexperienced pilot in small airplane got lost and very tragic but well let's go back to work out and then we hear there's a big there was a big airplane there was a jetliner uh so with that time we stop what we were doing I think when all we went to quarter deck where was big TV and we start watching it and actually I seen the second plane hitting the tower so we knew we will'll deploy will will be used we we'll go after these bastards how did that change your training how did that change your mission as a Seal Team and and when did you find out where and when you were being deployed um at that time there was another Coast deployed to war when the war started I was on the east coast and um we were actually deployed to South America and Central America when the call came in for me specifically that I need to pack my staff and go to Baghdad to help coordinate our uh missions with Polish special forces that were Gro that they were working with us in BD that I was I'm polish speaker I can speak Polish Russian and Japanese so with uh this u i was task to help coordinate and facilitate uh uh polish Special Forces grome with within the our missions and this is where we start working with them very closely and to the point that we're doing missions to together the same missions my primary job in SK teams was always a breacher so my expertise as are explosives my expertise is just being able to gain access to Target to to an object to my seal platoon my Seal Team so that was my my job and so when it comes to breaching you developed a method to reduce and limit casualties of non-combatants so I don't know how much detail you can give but how is breaching generally done and how did you adjust it so what what happened in Iraq uh we were going after the Harden targets often people who are terrorist didn't have a problems hiding themselves behind children and women so that initial explosion as stuns them allows us to enter it and eliminate the threats and but we also knew uh that the women and children are on target most of the time time most of the targets that we hit were uh with women and children uh between and the terrorist hiding behind them so we didn't really have much option because the explosives that we use the way that we use these explosives they were in that they were uh indiscriminately uh throwing the fragments and fragmentations of the door wall ceiling or Florida and depends which way we're going inside um and could potentially injure women and children so I had to devise a method of Entry that would not throw their man uh fragments inside but also it allow us shorter standoff from the explosion so quicker access to the Target I don't want to go into details how the charge work and what the charge was that's that that's irrelevant but yes I was instrumental in developing also different tactics that will allow us to be more effective uh assaulting targets with terrorists what if they somehow knew you were coming did that ever happen and how did you deal with that if they had a they were ready to defend themselves well like Spartans 2,000 years ago used to say uh you fight you waged the war for maybe three years after three years you are teaching your enemy and of course we seen them too we seen them responding to our uh actions and trying to counteract it they were never effective because we are extremely well trained and were extremely effective so they had no chance but yes we can see the countermeasure they tried to take and uh and and and try to uh do harm to us but didn't work but please remember too that I didn't go to Iraq to win hearts and Minds I went there to kill them the the bad guys I went to terrorize the terrorists I consider myself terrorist Terrorizer because I I believe this is the most effective way to wage the war on terror you can't negotiate with with murderers and bandits you just have to eliminate them what did that involve besides what we've already talked about the breaching and the and the and the taking into custody well I would say we're inviting the terrorist terrorists to prison if they didn't listen we just eliminated them but if they were able to apprehend them we prefer to apprehend them because uh the information that we can gain eliminate more and more of these terrorists so um we we try to apprehend them but we couldn't we just eliminate them did they talk much when you had them in custody oh the terrorist yes oh yeah they like to talk they they they said they will sell their own mother father grandfather anybody just to save their skin uh but um they yeah they were very Toka although usually on target they tend to pretend they don't speak English no English no English so this is where I devised so-called Drago accelerated English course for terrorists you give me 10 minutes with a terrorist and through persuasion and very nice treatment he I guarantee he will be speaking uh English sometimes the facts were so so amazing they were speaking with better accent that I can say it so that's uh did your tactics become standard procedure not these tactics uh with being super nice to a terrorist and kind of convince him to speak English uh that is just my things that I maybe will patent one day but not that were not that was my trade secret did anything surprise you about being at War not really because everything that I've seen in the war that I might a different way I haven't seen anything in the war that Navy did not prepare me to see I didn't do anything in the war that Navy did not prepare me to do so it was like well old machine that you just you you yeah were there moments where you thought to yourself that's why they had them that's why they had us do this in training so we could be ready for something like this yes that there were moments like this too there like almost like revelation okay now I understand uh but um but also I remember when I left the war zone when I became seal instructor and uh in in that selection in famous famous or inFAMOUS however depends how you look at it selection I I I I apply some of these lessons that I learned to make our uh students better to prepare them better for combat to prepare them to be a better seal so I'm very proud of it how many deployments did you have in Iraq I did three deployments back to back 2003 2004 2005 well 20 years uh in the United States Navy most of that time as a Navy SEAL but now nearly 40 years Living in America and more than 30 years as an American citizen so what's your message um about why you appreciate America and and why the rest of us should too and I will use this opportunity here to thank American people for my freedom I never had a chance to do it on the bigger scale so now I I would like to use that and say thank you for my freedom but also I would like to point something out see America was built on goodness on personal freedom it is so ingrained in American people that they just don't see so transparent to them this is the way they are they are just good people because they were brought up to be good people good citizens and they don't think much about it but what I would ask is take a step back and look for when I look from outside I see beautiful country run by beautiful awesome people who are cherish who cherish their freedoms cherish their America cherish their country St take a stick a back and look at America look how beautiful unique and special country it is and this is my view of America I'm I'm I'm proud to be an N seal but you don't see me wearing this little Trident here like most of the people seals many seals do and riously so they deserved it they earned that honor to wear the Trident but I wear only American flag because American flag encompasses everything that is good encompasses this Navy SEAL Trident as well and also when I when when I want people to see me not as a Navy SEAL I want them to see me as American there is no h in front of this American I'm just an American I'm proud American that was the proudest thing that was my biggest achievement in my life

Channel: American Veterans Center

Views: 838,111

Keywords: AVC, American Veterans Center, veteran, veterans, history, army, navy, air force, marines, coast guard, military, navy seal

Id: FWY_D-JIrtI

Length: 25min 24sec (1524 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 28 2023