Subscribe

Truth from the Trenches Since 2012

Team Room

Inside the Team Room: Drago’s Story – From Communist Gulag to BUD/S to Navy SEAL

BY Guy D. McCardle / December 17, 2023

Defying the shadows of his past and the limitations set by others, Drago, a former political prisoner turned fervent patriot, shattered expectations by becoming a Navy SEAL, embodying the resilience and determination that define the American spirit.

Drago in Baghdad, Iraq at Christmastime.

In this episode of Inside the Team Room, we are introduced to the story of Drago Dzieran. Drago was a 30-year-old immigrant from Communist Poland when he decided he wanted to fight for his new country. He did not consider himself to be any kind of hyphenated American…just an American.

Despite the fact that his father was a high-ranking Communist government official in Warsaw, Drago was a staunch anti-Communist and spent two years as a political prisoner in a Communist gulag before coming to the United States in 1984. He believed it was his moral obligation to support his country in every way possible.

Even though he was told he was too old to become a Navy SEAL, he persisted and graduated from BUD/S at the age of 32.

Drago is proof positive that if you can dream it, you can do it.

Listen to His Story in His Own Words

Two ways to continue to read this article.

What readers are saying

Generating a quick summary of the conversation...

This summary is AI-generated. AI can make mistakes and this summary is not a replacement for reading the comments.