Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) from San Diego provided demonstrations and boat rides to help recruit
new members to the special warfare community at the 101st annual Portland Rose Festival, June 7. SWCC teams are required
to use a combination of specialized training in navigation, radio communications, engineering, weapons, parachuting, first
aid and tactics in completion of special operation missions worldwide.
The SWCC crews explained their mission and showed off what their Naval Special Warfare Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) could
do to local civic and industry leaders who passed by their dock as a way to help Portland natives understand what the special
warfare mission is all about.
“We are in Portland to bring some exposure to our community and what we do,” said Chief Special Warfare Boat Operator (SWCC)
Dan Lawson. “This is important to the Navy because we are a both an unknown, or misunderstood, capability and we are trying
to bring some attention to the rest of the fleet and the civilian populace here at the Rose Festival.”
Lawson also said that the people in Portland seem to be really interested in what the Navy special warfare community is all about.
“It’s been going great,” said Lawson. “We have been by every day and there has been a lot of community involvement and we have
had a good time. The people seem to be really excited about the boats.”
The SWCC team and their boats generated a lot of interest in Portland, which helps the team access potential new members to the
community.
“We are here to recruit regular military to become SWCC and show off a little,” said Special Warfare Boat Operator 2nd Class (SWCC)
Brent McGough. “We need to recruit to let people know what SWCC is and let people know what we do. I found out about SWCC in boot
camp. They showed us videos and it looked like fun.”
Part of the demonstrations was a ride on their RHIB, while the boat driver conducted high speed turns and quick stops up and down
the Willamette River.