Stricken 6 year-old ‘earns’ SEAL trident

Blake Stilwell
Apr 2, 2018 9:40 AM PDT
1 minute read
Navy photo

SUMMARY

Six-year-old Mason Rudder of Kansas City, Missouri was born a Escobar Syndrome, a rare genetic neuromuscular disorder that causes muscle weakness and joint deformities. There is only one thing he ever wanted to be when he grows up: a U.S. Navy SEAL…

Six-year-old Mason Rudder of Kansas City, Missouri was born a Escobar Syndrome, a rare genetic neuromuscular disorder that causes muscle weakness and joint deformities. There is only one thing he ever wanted to be when he grows up: a U.S. Navy SEAL.


"I want to save the country and I want to save people," Mason told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His condition affects his bones and joints and restricts his range of motion, but that didn't stop him from clearing a house with his fire team.

Mason's SEAL training began when his parents reached out to Asymmetric Solutions, a St. Louis-based tactical training company, staffed with former special forces operators of all varieties, even boasting some Israeli commandos. Asymmetric Solutions' ex-SEAL Jared Ogden trained Mason at a tactical training center near Farmington, Missouri.

The company agreed to host a "Navy SEAL for a Day" event just for Mason. The little SEAL cycled through rounds of firearms training, including M4 and AR-15 rifles, and setting off a wall bomb that blew the door of a building. His training culminated in the house raid that "killed" a "Taliban leader."

Ogden pinned a SEAL trident to the boy's sweatshirt as a symbol of completing the training.

"You wear that with pride," Ogden said to Mason. "Good job, team leader."

See Mason's Trident Pinning at stltodday.com.

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

Sign up for We Are The Mighty's newsletter and receive the mighty updates!

By signing up you agree to our We Are The Mighty's Terms of Use and We Are The Mighty's Privacy Policy.

SHARE