On April 3, 2002, Adam deployed for six months to Puerto Rico and South America while Kelley, pregnant with their second child, stayed in Arkansas. Adam returned in time for the birth of Savannah Nicole Brown on September 24, 2002. On deployment, he had earned his third Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and performance evaluations consistently ranked him among the top SEALs.

The family returned to Virginia Beach as Adam began his next workup. Adam supported the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, citing Taliban atrocities and Saddam Hussein’s reported use of chemical weapons. He taught Sunday school, playing with children and acting out Bible stories.

In late June, after drinking beyond his self-imposed limit, Adam relapsed using crack cocaine. When he didn’t return home, Christian and Paul searched unsuccessfully for him. Adam returned Sunday morning, ashamed. Kelley left him for 24 hours, placing Savannah in his arms and delivering a final ultimatum. Christian confronted Adam about trustworthiness. Adam swore it would never happen again.

Six weeks later, during training in Alabama, Adam was shot in his dominant right eye with a simulation round, destroying his cornea and surrounding structures. He refused a medical discharge and veteran pension, insisting he hadn’t fought for his country yet. Over subsequent months, his vision failed to improve beyond detecting shadows and movement. Adam learned to shoot using his non-dominant left eye.

In April 2004, Adam deployed to Iraq but was benched from direct-action missions due to his impaired vision. Assigned intelligence work in Mosul, he excelled at mission planning and analysis, contributing to the capture of 36 enemy fighters. On May 10, with the Abu Ghraib scandal dominating media coverage, he wrote a journal entry to his children affirming the war’s righteousness and his unit’s professional conduct.

In late May 2004, Adam helped a CIA case officer install a surveillance system in Mosul using parts from a bomb maker’s house. He met DEVGRU operator Dale, who encouraged him to attempt Green Team selection, explaining that failing to try was worse than trying and failing.

After being told he could not participate in front-line duties, Adam returned to Virginia Beach in early June, determined to get eye surgery and screen for Green Team. Unable to find affordable housing, the family camped in miserable summer heat at the Little Creek base campground until a deploying SEAL offered them his condo. Adam, Austin, and Christian all passed Green Team screening; Adam postponed his slot for a year to allow his eye more healing time, but a subsequent surgery worsened his vision.

Deciding the best training would be Sniper School, Adam enrolled despite having failed once before with full vision. Between January and April 2005, he learned to shoot left-handed and excelled at the course. A fellow student called the accomplishment a “near-godly” achievement. Adam and Kelley purchased their first house in Virginia Beach. In June 2005, Adam attended the memorial service of eight Little Creek-based SEALs killed in Afghanistan. On October 5, he deployed to Afghanistan, cleared for direct action. Before leaving, he hid dozens of love notes around the house for Kelley to discover.

Initially based at Bagram, Adam’s unit supported medical missions. The morning after discussing faith with FBI agent Billy White, their convoy was involved in a head-on collision. Adam’s Humvee flipped three times. Despite all four fingers on his right hand being severed, Adam immediately administered aid to the critically wounded Billy. After a corpsman bandaged Adam’s hand, Adam grabbed the provided cover, refusing helicopter evacuation until all other casualties were loaded.

After surgeries at Bagram and in Germany, Adam underwent finger reattachment at Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Kelley tended to his injury daily for four weeks. With Green Team beginning in less than six months, Adam’s primary concern was regaining enough dexterity to qualify. With his dominant hand now injured, he retrained his left hand to shoot in high-speed combat situations.

In early 2006, Adam volunteered for a mission, leading a team training Colombian marines. He received his fourth Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. Two weeks before Green Team began, Adam was medically disqualified due to his eye injury. After unsuccessful appeals, he approached his former commander, Captain Van Hooser, to plead his case. Van Hooser intervened and, after Adam’s record and reputation received high praise from peers, the decision was reversed. The commanding officer warned Adam he would be “under a microscope” but would have his chance (159).

The six-month course was designed to break students mentally and physically. During the Close Quarters Battle phase, Adam had to constantly swivel his head to compensate for his blind right eye, earning the nickname “Rubberneck.” Despite physical limitations, he maintained a positive attitude and met exacting standards. When a fellow trainee made a critical error and others reported him, Adam stood up and admonished the class for not handling it internally as a team.

Adam struggled with military free-fall, particularly to achieve stability upon exiting the aircraft. After being given one final chance, he called Billy White, who advised him to relax. After a sleepless night, Adam prayed for bad weather. A sudden thunderstorm canceled the jumps, giving him a day to rest. The next day, both Adam and fellow trainee Dave Cain successfully passed. Adam graduated in November 2006, joining an elite tier of the SEAL community.

After graduating from Green Team, Adam was drafted into a DEVGRU squadron. His publicly accessible military records end here; Blehm’s account relies on the testimony of family and colleagues. 

In February 2007, Adam deployed to a remote outstation in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, as assistant team leader. He pushed farther into enemy territory than others and used his joint terminal attack controller qualification to call in effective fire support. He showed compassion for local children, distributing meals and giving them rides on his ATV.

Returning home, Adam told Kelley he no longer felt fear, which terrified her. After training injuries, he required ankle surgery to remove bone fragments, then broke his leg and underwent reconstructive surgery, sidelining him for months while his squadron deployed to Iraq in January 2008. 

Adam served as operations chief in the US, which included notifying SEALs’ families of injuries and deaths. Late on February 3, Adam was paged that two squadron teammates, Nate Hardy and Mike Koch, had been killed in Iraq. The notification was the hardest thing Adam had ever done. He provided support and handled all funeral arrangements. Three days later, Louis Souffront was killed; on February 13, Tommy Valentine from another squadron died in a training accident. On February 15, Adam attended Hardy and Koch’s burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

Five days later, Adam joined his squadron in Diyala Province, sleeping in Nate’s former bunk. The mission was to dismantle IED and suicide bomber networks. Teammate Heath Robinson described the intense psychological demands of combining extreme violence against combatants with compassion for civilians. On March 22, the squadron hit two compounds, killing 17 enemy combatants. Afterward, Adam told Dave Cain he was troubled by having killed men on the Easter morning, the day of his “Savior’s resurrection.”

Between February and April 2008, Adam’s squadron killed 117 enemy combatants and captured 152. Adam received his first Bronze Star with combat valor. Blehm comments that these operations contributed to a 79% reduction in IED attacks in Iraq, a result largely attributed to an offensive by two DEVGRU squadrons, including Adam’s, involving fewer than 100 operators.