Leap Frogs—Forged by the Sea, Air and Land

By Robert Guerra | Photos courtesy of the U.S. Navy

Features
Sunday, December 1, 2019

The U.S. Navy Parachute Team, the Leap Frogs, has represented the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) community for decades, slowly and steadily developing their craft. The team began in 1969, when Navy SEAL (Sea, Air and Land) and Underwater Demolition Team members began volunteering at weekend airshows. Soon, the chief of naval operations realized the team’s value and officially commissioned it as the Leap Frogs in 1974. Now, with the mission of demonstrating Naval excellence throughout the country, the Leap Frogs represent their elite community at airshows; perform at events such as the X-Games and major league football, baseball and soccer games; provide demonstrations for schools, clubs and nonprofit agencies; and run a robust tandem program.   

The road to becoming a Leap Frog is not an easy one. The first step on this journey (which could take up to 63 weeks to complete) is to become a United States Navy SEAL Special Operator or Special Warfare Combatant Craft (SWCC) Crewman. Eighty percent of those who enter the pipeline to become one of these highly specialized and elite warriors—skilled in weapons, demolitions, land navigation, small-unit tactics, survival, evasion and freefall parachute operations—don’t make it. After entering the NSW community, prospective Leap Frogs demonstration jumpers must not only complete a military freefall course, but they must also conduct real-world operations prior to applying for the team. Each applicant must then interview and undergo screening before receiving approval from the Leap Frogs for orders. 

“Our training to become SEAL and SWCC starts and ends with the rigors of being able to perform individually and as a team in and around the maritime setting in constantly dangerous and high-stress situations,” said Chief Special Warfare Boat Operator Luke Howard-Vesci, the senior enlisted advisor of the U.S. Navy Parachute Team. “Being an NSW maritime operator places extreme demands on you due to the harsh nature of the environment in which we thrive.”

“In a community of ‘silent professionals,’ the Navy Parachute Team’s mission breaks the mold,” said Chief Aircrew Survival Equipmentman Andrew Young, one of the team’s riggers. “We take the key attributes of professionalism, teamwork, discipline and honor rooted in the foundation of NSW and mix it with courage, commitment, strength and precision to represent our community to the American people.”

Small but Mighty

Although the team no longer consists solely of SEALs as it once did (it has diversified to include SWCC Crewmen and others within the NSW community), the harsh nature of training, the attrition rate of entrants and the small pool of qualified candidates presented for selection and approval means that the U.S. Navy Parachute Team is one of the smaller military demonstration units touring the country. The team—which just expanded from 10 members to 12 (including the first billeted Navy diver)—travels extensively throughout the country performing at events from April through December. Young said, “Having members on the team with experience in a variety of Naval communities allows us as a team to speak from experience when representing the Navy and all of the potential career fields offered to future sailors.”

“I was inspired to join the military by a fighter pilot at an airshow,” said Special Warfare Operator First Class (SEAL) George Monteverdi, one of the team’s demonstration jumpers. “Now, I embrace the opportunity to be an encouragement to the next generation of service members.”  

Although the team has an active tandem program, its small size lends itself toward specializing in other areas of skydiving. The team particularly excels at demonstrating complicated canopy formation skydiving maneuvers. “The Leap Frogs are masters of canopy relative work [aka canopy formation skydiving] and present a unique demonstration on every jump,” said Howard-Vesci. “Due to our rigorous training program and the desire to consistently improve our capabilities, we strive to give the crowd the most exciting performance and experience possible.”

“There’s no other demonstration team that has the capabilities that we do,” said Monteverdi. “We’re constantly working to better ourselves, adapting and overcoming whatever we can in order to continuously refine our skill.”

Connecting With the Audience

Perhaps one of the most defining characteristics of any Leap Frog demonstration occurs once the jumpers are no longer in the sky. The team members pride themselves on their hands-on involvement with their audiences once they touch down on the ground. They routinely make time to interact with spectators at venues following every performance. “With large scale shows we are able to maximize our outreach,” said Aircrew Survival Equipmentman First Class Aaron Robison, one of the team’s riggers, “but with the smaller events we take part in, we have the ability to make the demonstration more personal through our audience interaction.”

“We don’t want to be this untouchable entity,” Robison continued. “When we communicate with the audience after making a jump, they see we are not much different from them. If that can help just one person make the decision to become a part of the Navy or NSW community, then it’s a success.”   

More information about the Navy Parachute Team, Navy SEALs and SWCC is available at sealswcc.com.

About the Author

Robert Guerra is a mass communication specialist first class with the U.S. Navy and is the public affairs officer for the U.S. Navy Parachute Team, the Leap Frogs.