By Ashley Brasfield, Daily Caller News Foundation | May 26, 2025
Navy SEAL Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Andrew “Sully” Sullivan was influenced by the Vietnam memorials and flags he often saw along the highways growing up in Massachusetts, helping to spark his interest in military service.
It was the events of 9/11 that solidified his sense of purpose. The very next day, on September 12, he sought out a Navy recruiter.
Speaking with Daily Caller reporter Ashley Brasfield on Thursday, Sullivan wanted to honor Memorial Day by highlighting the ultimate sacrifices made by members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
After nearly two decades of service in the Special Operations community, he continues to serve through Community First Project, a nonprofit he founded to provide law enforcement agencies with no-cost training.
“Once I joined, started deploying, went to war and began losing friends, it became a very different experience for me,” Sullivan said when asked how his perspective on service has changed singe joining the SEAL teams. “I tell people my Memorial Day is every day. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about the friends I lost overseas.”
He admitted that the holiday — often associated by many Americans with the start of summer and barbecues — also brings up emotions like survivor’s guilt.
Sullivan went on to reveal that Thursday was the eighth anniversary of the day he was shot in combat, an added weight in a week already heavy with commemoration leading up to Memorial Day.
When asked if there was a moment he feels embodies the brotherhood and honor in the teams, he referred to “Extortion 17.”
“To see how a community as small as the Tier 1 SEAL teams — and the SEAL teams in general — pull together to support the families, and help the survivors from the squadron adapt to a new normal without the guys,” Sullivan said, “it really showed the culture of who we are, how team-oriented we are, and that we’ll do anything for our brothers. Anything we’d do for those guys, we’d do for their families too.”
Sullivan shared that his best friend was one of the SEALs on board.
“He died doing what he loved to do. As much as we mourn his loss, we also celebrate his life,” he said when asked what he hopes people will remember about his friend. “He was among the best of our community. He was standing in the door when the helicopter got shot — he was going to be the first one off, which was just symbolic of how he lived his life”
“He wanted to be the guy to help, the guy to solve the problem, the guy in harm’s way,” Sullivan continued. “Because he felt like he was protecting other people by doing that.”
When asked what he believes younger generations should understand about Memorial Day and what it represents, he emphasized the importance of recognizing the sacrifices and selflessness of those who put themselves in danger for the country and urged them to look beyond the noise of social media.
Sullivan also shared how he carries forward the legacy of those who didn’t make it home.
Navy SEAL Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator and Founder of Community First Project, Andrew “Sully” Sullivan.
“For me, how I live my life is representative of how they lived theirs,” Sullivan said, adding, “I get to carry on my legacy and their legacy from our time in service, and apply it to a different mission. My mission now is law enforcement — making sure they are trained to respond to some of the incidents we’re seeing domestically.”
He concluded: “Not a day goes by that I don’t wake up and wish I had some of those guys by my side now, working with me.”
Ashley Brasfield is a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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