Frogman Swim Honors Navy SEALs

For Tampa Bay Frogman Swim assistant race director Kurt Ott, the need to support U.S. Navy SEALs was no more apparent in 2011.

The elite military group was on the good side of the biggest story of the year — the death of Osama Bin Laden. The SEAL group, known as Team 6, was led by the CIA in an operation that killed Bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011.

According to the Washington Post, “The team is part of a counterterrorism group so specialized that no one can apply to join it. The operatives are recruited from existing SEAL teams. They are an elite group within the elite.”

Just a few short months later, there was tragedy. On Aug. 6, multiple SEALs were killed when a helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan.

MSNBC reported that, “One current and one former U.S. official said that the dead included more than 20 Navy SEALs from SEAL Team Six, the unit that carried out the raid in Pakistan in May that killed Bin Laden.”

On Jan. 8, Ott saw more than 120 swimmers brave the waters of Tampa Bay to swim from Gandy Beach in St. Petersburg to Tampa.

The third annual race doubled the amount of participants from 2011 to 2012 and has raised more than $120,000, which is up from $53,000 in 2010. All the money goes to the Navy SEAL Foundation.

“It’s important to raise awareness for the community and remembering their fallen brothers,” he said.

According to Ott, the swim not only supports Navy SEALs, but also their families. Ott’s father was a SEAL, which is why he got involved.

“I initially got involved in this in honor of my father and to help the Navy SEAL,” he said. “I just really to hope to help raise funds for the Navy SEALs.”

The Navy SEAL Foundation provides injursy assistance for SEALs and tragedy assistance, which helps pay for extended family members to attend funerals, buy computers for students, help pay for college, etc.

According to the organization, "Our goal is to build national awareness of the Naval Special Warfare community and become a key fundraiser of the Navy SEAL Foundation by building a premier annual event that challenges athletes with weather conditions similar to SEAL training." 

According to the organization, three-time Olympic Medalist Brooke Bennett, Swimming Triple Crown swimmer Craig Lenning and 14-year-old Olympic hopeful Becca Mann all participated in the race.

“I would just like to tell people that the event is over for this year, but unfortunately there (will be) other SEALs killed in action,” Ott said. “Go to our website and donate. Those funds will be needed as we move forwards.”