Woods, James Andrew

============================================================
10/03/2006 

I greatly appreciate your interest in upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL Teams, and your search for the TRUTH. Before answering your questions I must make clear that I am a private individual, not affiliated with the US Dept. of Defense or any other government organization. Additionally, although I worked for/with the AuthentiSEAL verification organization for several years as an Investigator (and later as a Special Investigator dealing with the media), I ceased to work for that organization in late 2004. Due to a steadily diminishing number of available personnel, the members of that organization elected to formally disband in 2005.

If the name you provided is spelled correctly, I do NOT find a listing in the SEAL database for anyone named JAMES ANDREW WOODS JR. Be aware that I have also examined possible alternate spellings, and names with similar pronunciations. Although there are ten (10) men with the last name “Wood” listed in our database, NONE are named “WOODS”. In that total number of ten men, six (6) completed training before Mr. JAMES ANDREW WOODS JR would have been old enough for military service, two (2) completed training in 1988 (June and December respectively), one (1) completed training in 1997, and one (1) completed training in 2001. None of the ten men with the last name “Wood” is either listed as “Junior”, “II” (i.e. ‘the second’), or carries any other mark or notation signifying a sequential generation naming status.

Unless he has undertaken the unlikely action of a legal name change (an action for which there would be court documentation) since his claimed service with the SEAL Teams, and based upon the information you have provided, I can state conclusively that JAMES ANDREW WOODS JR has NEVER completed SEAL training, and he is not now, nor was he ever a US Navy SEAL or UDT “Frogman”. Please be aware that the SEAL database includes the names of all men who served with the Underwater Demolition Teams (“Frogmen”). Since 1983 when the UDTs were all re-commissioned as SEAL Teams it has been the convention within the Naval Special Warfare community to use the modern term “SEAL” when referring to all men who ever served in any of the SEAL ‘precursor’ units.

When members of the Naval Special Warfare community meet others who claim similar service, but whom they do not recognize, there is a conversational exchange of information that establishes the bona fides of each to the other. There is no set formula for this exchange, nor for the information that is exchanged, but it ALWAYS takes place, and the REAL Naval Special Warfare members can ALWAYS spot a phony as a result of this exchange. I urge you to ask Mr. WOODS three questions:

(1) What was his BUD/S class number?

(2) Where did his training take place?

(3) When did he graduate from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training?

The answers to those three questions may then be compared to hard, firm, comprehensive documentation to absolutely verify his claims. There are many other questions which could be asked to further establish the level of veracity or untruth regarding his claims, but those three questions are absolutes; the answers are totally UNCLASSIFIED, and every real SEAL will gladly provide that substantiating information upon request. If Mr. WOODS offers you any specifics which he claims answers these questions (or if he offers reasons why he cannot answer them), I would be very interested in learning about it.

It is quite common for those making fraudulent SEAL claims to cite a “secret” training class, “special selection and skills which allowed them to bypass BUD/S training”, or “secret missions” as an explanation for the lack of military documentation to back up their stories. SEAL imposters also tend to claim their military records are “sealed” and cannot be accessed. Occasionally inventive imposters claim their records were destroyed in a fire at the National Personnel Records Center . While that facility did experience a fire, no Navy records were involved, damaged, or destroyed. I would caution you that despite anything the man might have told you, there are NO secret SEALs. Before any classified operations may be undertaken, a man must first successfully complete the totally unclassified BUD/S Training program; the names of all those who successfully graduate from that training program are compiled in the SEAL database. Later participation in classified operations has no impact on whether or not a person is listed as a graduate of the training program. No one gets to the SEAL Teams without completing BUD/S training; there are NO EXCEPTIONS! The graduates of that training program are listed in the SEAL database – an unclassified document which is nonetheless considered “highly sensitive” and therefore not available for general public circulation. There are records of every man who has qualified for the title of “SEAL”; there have been and will continue to be secret missions, but there are NO secret SEALs… we know them all.

I might suggest that you also ask Mr. WOODS to specifically identify WHICH SEAL Team(s) he served on, and when. I am in direct contact with several hundred of my SEAL Teammates whose collective experience covers virtually all time periods from the Korean War to the present; I can quickly contact those individuals to verify any specific names, events, or other claims offered by Mr. Woods. If he feels that his name has somehow been mistakenly omitted from the SEAL records, I’d be pleased to speak with him and hear details of his service which would serve to validate his claims. The Director of the Naval Special Warfare Archives – a close personal friend and SEAL Teammate – is only a phone call away and standing by to amend the records if this is ever found to be true. However, I’ve made the same offer to more than 3,500 SEAL imposters in the last five years, and I’ve only heard from a handful… and none of them ever turned out to be valid SEALs. If Mr. WOODS subsequently suggests to you or others you know that he has contacted me, the Department of the Navy, or “the government” in some way and “straightened things out”, I’d be very interested in hearing from you again.

I checked another online database held by the Department of Defense and accessed through www.military.com under the Freedom Of Information Act by using their Buddy Finder. That database of over 10 million records is one of the most complete available to the general public, and is fairly accurate from about 1974 to the present day. That database originally began as a listing of all military service personnel who might have been exposed to Agent Orange while on duty in Vietnam , and was a means of keeping records for later possible monetary compensation. It was quickly recognized by the DoD as the start of a very comprehensive database of military personnel, and subsequently expanded to include virtually ALL members of the military in later years. The closer to the present time, the more detailed and complete the records in the database. I found two entries which appear to address the same person at different stages in his military career; first at pay grade E3 in the rating of HOSPITALMAN (a designated ‘striker’ for the Hospital Corpsman rating), and later at pay grade E4 in the rating of HOSPITAL CORPSMAN (NEC 8404 – a Field Medical Services Technician trained for assignment with the USMC).

Name: James Andrew Woods Jr
Service: NAVY
Pay grade: E3
Rate/specialty: HN (designated striker of HM “Hospital Corpsman” rating)
Naval Enlisted Classification (NEC) code: 0000 (no formal schooling for rate training)

Name: James Andrew Woods (no designation for “JR” found with this listing)
Service: NAVY
Pay grade: E4
Rate/specialty: HM (Hospital Corpsman)

Naval Enlisted Classification (NEC) code: 8404 (Field Medical Services Technician… some with this NEC also receive SCUBA/LAR Dive Certifications)

From the beginnings of Naval Special Warfare in early 1942 until the late 1960s, all medical personnel serving with the SEAL Teams (or their precursor units) were fully qualified graduates of UDT/SEAL training. Due to an urgent need for medical personnel, and the lengthy requirements of both HM training and SEAL training (which limited the number of individuals available for wartime service), for a brief period of about 4 years during the late 1960s and early 1970s the Hospital Corpsmen serving with the US Navy SEAL Teams were not required to attend the full BUD/S training program. They were drawn directly from the Field Medical Force (FMF) school graduate roster of qualified 8404 Hospital Corpsmen, and subsequently attended only a portion of BUD/S training. They were never granted full “SEAL” status as they were not qualified for the SEAL NEC or for duty as a “Combat Swimmer, SEAL” as specifically described by the Navy’s Bureau of Personnel (BUPERS). Prior to the end of the Vietnam War it was decided that the demands of SEAL service must preclude such abbreviated training, and all medical personnel serving with the SEAL Teams were subsequently required to successfully complete ALL of the BUD/S training program in addition to their regular HM schooling. All those men who served as Hospital Corpsmen with the SEAL Teams, in whatever capacity, including those who were not SEAL qualified but who served under the abbreviated training conditions, are listed in the SEAL database. Mr. James Andrew Woods Jr. is NOT listed with those names and never served with the US Navy SEAL Teams.

Searching the DoD online database does not by any means constitute an exhaustive search and full information regarding Mr. WOODS’ military career should be requested from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis , using a Standard Form 180. Unfortunately the online DoD database does not provide viewers with dates of service, but while absolute surety is not provided here, it is certainly possible that one or both entries listed in that database and the man named in your inquiry actually relate to the same individual. While it appears that he may actually have served in the Navy, he was most definitely NEVER A US NAVY SEAL!

Thank you again for your concern in this matter, and for your assistance in upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL Teams

Very respectfully,