Kathrine Frich
“There’s no feeling. Not a bit,” he admitted.
“There’s no feeling. Not a bit,” he admitted.
Ex-SEAL Reveals Haunting Truth About Taking a Life
Former Navy SEAL Donald ‘DJ’ Shipley III has opened up about the most difficult part of war: pulling the trigger.
He says some missions still weigh heavy on him even decades later.
From Teenage Recruit to SEAL Team 6
DJ enlisted in the Navy at just 17. By 23, he was a Navy SEAL — following in his father’s footsteps.
He later joined the elite SEAL Team 6, operating in the world’s deadliest combat zones.
“Just a Baby”: Sent Into Battle Too Young
He was “super young” the first time he faced mortal combat.
That raw inexperience left him shaken and changed him forever.
“You can’t be the same person you were, or you wouldn’t survive it,” he said.
Adrenaline, Terror, Then… Nothing
Shipley describes how killing in the moment triggered a flood of adrenaline — and sometimes, nothing at all.
“There’s no feeling. Not a bit,” he admitted. “It felt weird at first.”
No Time for Doubt — Or You Die
DJ says overthinking emotions in combat is dangerous.
“You can’t wrap too much human emotion around it or it will make you second guess the moment,” he said. “And you just can’t.”
Walking Past the Dead With Their Family
One memory still haunts him: walking a family past the body of a man he’d killed.
“That’s their dad. They feel the same way about him as I do about mine,” he said. “That one weighs on you.”
“You Can See It In Their Eyes”
He remembers the moment grief in the victims’ families turned to hatred aimed directly at him.
“Buddy, I didn’t want to. I’m human too… but if I didn’t, he was going to shoot me.”
“They Don’t Care He’s a Terrorist, They Just Hate You”
Shipley says civilians don’t see the combat details only the body.
“They don’t care if he has a suicide vest on. Now they hate you,” he explained. “That kind of thing sticks.”
The Human Cost of a Life in Combat
DJ’s honesty peels back the Hollywood myth of war. “It’s hard. The human aspect can’t be ignored,” he said.
Even for highly trained operators, the emotional toll never disappears.
War Rewires You
“You can’t go to war and come back the same,” Shipley said.
“You have to evolve to survive. If you just dropped normal 9-to-5 people into that, it wouldn’t work.”
