A typical SEAL? Think 007, not Rambo

By Chris Jansing, NBC News Correspondent The world looks very different from 40 feet up, hanging onto a rope wall. My advice? Don’t look down. A lot phenomenally fit people, including world-famous athletes and Olympians, have frozen at the top of the wall, which is part of the legendary obstacle course on the Navy SEAL base in Coronado, Calif. Who knew that vertigo routinely kicks in at 40 feet without a safety net? SEALs have a reputation as the fittest and most fearless of the miltary’s special forces. Their legend grew even more after SEAL sharpshooters — firing from a heaving ship at dusk — killed three Somali pirates and freed Capt. Richard Phillips after his ship had been hijacked in the Indian Ocean last year. When I traveled to Coronado the day after the operation against the pirates, the SEALs’ reactions were consistently matter-of-fact. “It’s what we’re trained to do,” was a typical response. To read more of Chris Jansing’s field notes, click here.