I was using him as a reference because he experienced first hand the discrimination that the special operations community faced from many high ranking officers

I was using him as a reference because he experienced first hand the discrimination that the special operations community faced from many high ranking officers and even politicians. I wasn't trying to say that the SEALS were the first SF unit, I guess I wasn't very clear. Most of the SF type units were around in some form well before the Vietnam War. Even the SEALS were around in the 40's, they just weren't called SEALS yet.