The key to being a Navy SEAL is that they must prove themselves as asymmetrical warfighters. The first line in the SEAL ethos reads, “In times of war or uncertainty, there is a breed of warrior ready to answer our Nation’s call.”
SEALs work best in small teams operating under the military doctrines of surprise, speed, and violence of action. Legendary SEAL missions like the high-profile rescues of Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton, Grenada Governor Paul Scoon, PFC Jessica Lynch, and Captain Richard Phillips, to the capture of Stevan Todorovic and the neutralization of Osama Bin Ladin have all involved surprise, speed, and violence of action.
Bill Brown was a SEAL during the attacks on 9/11 and was a first responder to two suicide bombings by violent Islamists in Baghdad’s Green Zone in Iraq, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004, which killed 10 people. He raced down the street to intercept the second suicide bomber but failed to catch the jihadist and stop him from detonating explosives in the middle of an open street bazaar. Brown has served with Brian Bill, Danny Dietz, John Faas, Jacques Fontan, Nate Hardy, Michael McGreevy Jr., Thomas Ratzlaff, and Lance Vaccaro - all Navy SEALS who were killed by Islamist militant terrorists.
These experiences have shown Brown the dangers to our great nation and humanity in not fighting intolerant ideologies. Brown continues this fight for us all today. The only difference now is that he is done fighting on the battlefield, but continues to fight to this day. He is using the same grit, determination, and conviction to fight other battles back here at home.
After Brown left the Navy in 2005, he pursued his personal goal of attending college, where he earned a law degree from Rutgers University, the largest state university of New Jersey.
That same warfighter mentality followed him into college, and it wasn’t long before he found a fight worth pursuing. Brown soon realized just how liberal and woke universities and the majority of professors have become with the promotion of critical race theory and gender fluidity – and he disagreed with the premise, especially with how it related to free speech.
“The idea of real free speech and open dialog at Rutgers here, they shut down plenty of people here - throwing red paint at people, cursing them out, harassing them outside the door so they can't come in. That all happened here. And then you have professors saying some really outrageous, racist stuff,” Brown told LET.
He continued, “Now there's actually infringements on free speech and a lot of things. I believe in the open market of ideas and free speech to me - if you don't have free speech, what right do you really have? If you don't have the ability to talk about something you truly believe in, something that affects your life every day, then what right do you really have? Are you really free if you can't freely express yourself?”
Inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Brown learned during his studies on social movements at Rutgers University that MLK Jr. used an intelligent and effective means to spread his message with a tactic he called "taking the moral high ground." It is simply meeting resistance, oppression, and/or conflict with an adversary from a position of higher moral standards. Instead of sinking to the level of your opponent, you rise to a higher moral standard.
During an anti-war rally on the Rutgers University campus, Brown refused to stand idly by. But he didn’t merely show up and protest the rally; he and several other veteran students had a plan.
“The first thing I did, I had a two-pronged attack, and I used the exact same format that MLK did in Montgomery, Alabama. If you notice all the movement I am a part of, we’ll always have flags, and we’ll always hold the moral high ground,” Brown said.
Brown and his fellow veterans also held the high ground literally. His team arrived at the rally ahead of everyone else and made a point to find the highest point in the area to establish their position. From there, every student and professor can clearly see them, and more importantly, their message.
“We came prepared with our American flags and signs that read ‘support the troops’. There was no mistaking our message,” Brown said.
As a student, Brown was permitted to get in line to speak at the rally. As he waited there, he knew what to expect.
“I had my BDU [Navy uniform] top on that shows I’m a SEAL because I had my trident on there. The stuff they [students and professors] were saying was disgusting. Now they start saying some horrific things to me – ‘I’m a killer, I’m a baby killer’… all the things that were said to Vietnam guys coming home. All this crazy stuff,” he said.
Brown never got the opportunity to speak. The crowd was so wild that the campus police had to escort him away from the area for his own safety. He still wanted to speak despite the risk, but by then, it didn’t matter.
“I didn’t want to get arrested, but I knew I already won. We had our flags there and we had our signs that said ‘support the troops,’” Brown said.
But this was just one fight.
Challenging a Bully Governor
In 2011, the state of New Jersey had plans to merge two of its largest state universities, Rutgers and Rowan University. There was considerable debate over the idea, with many students and staff opposing the merger. Their reasons varied, but they all agreed on one thing – their voices were not being heard by anyone from the state, particularly the then-governor, Governor Chris Christie.
During an unrelated high-profile press conference with Gov. Christie, Brown took to the microphone and, on behalf of thousands of students, repeatedly questioned the governor in public about the university merger. He blindsided Gov. Christie, who was caught off guard and seemingly embarrassed in front of the media.
It forced the governor to fire back by saying, “If you decide what you want to do and put on a show today, let me tell you something, I can go back and forth with you as much as you want!”
The media later chimed in and said, “He [Gov. Christie] may have met his match in an x-Navy SEAL.”
“One of the things I do, is I follow the SEAL tactic of ambushing decision makers. I got a strong history of checking motherfuckers,” Brown proudly told LET.
That’s true to SEAL form.
Rally For a Fellow Warfighter
Shortly after the decisive presidential victory back in November, Donald Trump selected combat veteran Pete Hegseth for the position of Secretary of Defense. Hegseth has spoken widely against woke policies that intrude on the American armed forces prior to his nomination as SecDef. This was known publicly and a large part of Donald Trump’s decision to nominate him.
They both, along with Brown, believe that woke ideology has no place in the United States military – and rightly so (just look at the recruiting numbers since Trump took office!).
Brown, who has been organizing the Navy SEAL Foundation’s NYC SEAL Swim across Hudson River swim every August, had Hegseth as a regular participant in the event. So it was time for Bill to support Hegseth.
It was important for Bill to have Hegseth as the SecDef not just because he was a friend, but because he knew that Hegseth would rid the military of the far-left agenda that dug its claws deep during the Biden administration.
Brown called on his army of patriot veterans to meet in Washington DC to rally in support of Hegseth during the confirmation hearing.
“We wanted to exercise our First Amendment rights and show our nation’s leaders and senate where the warfighter class stood,” Brown said.
Brown, along with many others from the SEAL community, was unhappy with many of the Pentagon’s decisions. They knew Hegseth would no longer put up with them.
“The withdrawal in Afghanistan gave over $7 billion worth of military equipment to jihadists and the Taliban who have American blood on their hands,” Brown said.
He added, “None of the intellectuals in the Pentagon had the courage to speak up and say, ‘maybe we shouldn’t have an open border because it’s a national security threat.’ All these reasons rallied us to the cause.”
Brown and the veterans made their way into the Capitol building during the hearings, where they showed up in force, all in support of Hegseth.
There is no doubt that the fight in Brown played a role in helping Hegseth get confirmed. It’s the same fight in him that he displayed in college, against a bully governor, and to support the incoming SecDef.
Fighting Workfare
In fact, Brown is still fighting for veterans and free speech today in a lawsuit against his former law firm, McCarter & English, LLP.
Brown said one of the first things the Nazi Party did when it rose to power in in 1930’s was restricting Jews from the professional fields, higher education, and freedom of expression in the open market of ideas. Brown believes leadership within the Democratic Party has been dominated by woke ideologists who have been following a similar pattern in using cancel culture to destroy opposition to their ideology in our nation’s universities, professional fields, and the open market of ideas.
Brown said he was chastised by firm leaders for advocating for equal pay and opportunities for veterans and asking why the firm’s DEI Committee did not send out an email honoring and remembering those lost on 9/11. Brown was subsequently fired after he proudly made online comments about his views on the root causes for repeated patterns of attacks like 9/11 and 10/7 by Muslim extremists and cited his veterans advocacy and the law firm’s wokeness as the reason he was fired.
Brown has already won by speaking out. You can win too by speaking out. The more of us that do, the better we will all be. We are confident he will continue to win.
If there is one thing Brown has taught us, it’s that if you have the spirit of a warfighter, you will be victorious.
And Bill Brown is a true American warfighter.
Now be men, my friends! Courage, come, take heart! - Homer
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Writer Eddie Molina is a veteran and has over 25 years of combined LEO/military service. He owns and operates the LEO apparel and accessory company www.BuyHeroStuff.com
