Scott Helvenston on the cover of the Navy SEALs 1992 Calendar
photo courtesy of Kathryn Helvenston-Wettengel

First and foremost, Scott Helvenston was a father, son, grandson, brother, fiance and friend. He was the youngest-ever graduate of the Navy SEALs, a fitness buff and an actor. He was a world-champion pentathlon winner. He had worked with Demi Moore and John Seitz on the 1997 film G.I. Jane as Moore's training instructor both on and off the set. He also served as a stunt man for the movie Face/Off. Other actors he worked with included Anne Bancroft, Hidalgo and Lord of the Rings' Viggo Mortensen and Lucinda Jenney. Most recently, he was a principal star of the USA Television reality series Combat Missions and Man vs. Beast. On Wednesday, the 38 year-old man was among four U.S. civilian military contractors burned to death, hanged and mutilated in Fallujah, Iraq by Iraqi beasts. An angry mob dragged his body and three others through the streets of downtown Fallujah. Two of the victims were strung on the side of a bridge.

Helvenston was working as a contract guard for Blackwater Security Consulting outside Fallujah when his convoy was hit with rockets and grenades. Blackwater provides security, training and guard services around the world. Blackwater President, Gary Jackson and two other company leaders are former SEALs.

At the age of 17, Helvenston graduated from the Navy SEALs' BUD/S program. Between 1982-1994, he was deployed by the SEALs four times, and served both in the elite special forces, and as a Free Fall instructor for four years.

Scott Helvenston was excited about his contracting job in Iraq and considered the stint a new beginning in his life. Helvenston went to Iraq to earn $60,000 in three months and to get a taste of combat that he had never seen in his 12 years in the Navy, friend Mark Divine said.

"Scott had a warrior mind-set," said Divine, 40, a Navy SEAL reservist who was trained by Helvenston in 1991. "When you're not in the game, you feel a little bit like a caged animal. Like training your whole life to be a pro football player and not getting to suit up for the game."

"This was a last hooray for Scott," said Divine, who lives in Encinitas, a beach town north of San Diego.

"It was his last opportunity to get back in the arena."

He didn't worry about the dangers, said Divine, who talked with Helvenston two days before he left for Iraq.

"His feeling was, 'If your time is up, there's going to be a bullet out there with your name on it.' "

Even though Helvenston-Wettengel didn't support the war in Iraq, she said her son believed in what the United States was doing.

The savage attack in Iraq was not unusual, but a mob dragging bodies through the streets, even hanging two from a bridge, was a shock, even for those Iraqis who despise Americans.

In Iraq, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations director for the occupation forces, said, "We will respond. It's going to be deliberate, it will be precise and it will be overwhelming."

Helvenston leaves behind his mother, Katy Helvenson-Wettengel of Leesburg, Florida, his younger brother, Jason, 32, his grandmother, Helen Helvenston of Ocala, Florida, his fiance, Kelly Kasun (who he was supposed to marry in Tahiti in June of 2004), his ex-wife, Patricia Irby, 40, and their two children, Kyle, 14, and Kelsey, 12 who live in Oceanside, California. Helvenston's father, Stephen Helvenston, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida, was killed in a car crash when Scott was 7.

Scott's ex-wife, Tricia told The Orlando Sentinel "I want everyone to know he died a hero, and what he was doing was very heroic and courageous. He was a wonderful father and a wonderful person. He will be missed by many." His brother Jason, who was only 1 when their father died, said about Scott, "He was a hero all his life. He was my hero all my life. And he was probably the best father I have ever known."

While his twelve years in the Navy made him tough, his family will always remember Scott's gentle side.

"Scott could command the respect of an entire Navy Seal squadron, and then he could pour his heart out to you and tell you he loves you," said Jason Helvenston.

Upon learning of his death, his family released the following statement about Scott: "He prided himself on strength, agility, speed, flexibility, balance, determination and toughness," the statement said. "Scott never quit anything in his life. After he broke his legs in a parachute jump, he tried to walk away from the scene."

Scott Helvenston, who managed getting his kids off to school every day, was known for often taking them camping and surfing. This is one of the ways his friends in his home town of San Diego, California will remember him.

"He was always really taking care of people, which is what he was doing there" in Iraq, said a family friend, Alice W. Brown, 51, of Del Mar. "Taking care of people — that was Scott."

Brown described him as a giver, and a man of dignity and morals. When she and her family would meet him to go rock climbing, she recalled "He would have a whole pile of children. I used to tell him, 'Scott, you ought to be teaching high school PE.' Because he was like the Pied Piper…. He just gave and gave and gave."

His ex-wife said Scott had a great sense of humor, was fun-loving and loved the outdoors. He inspired others to lead health-conscious, athletic, adventuresome lives. Through his Oceanside, California fitness consulting firm, Amphibian Athletics, he offered a SEAL-style workout for his customers. He had the perfect Hollywood image of a soldier which led to his success as a stuntman and as a trainer for movie and television actors. Unfortunately, the images we saw this week were no stunts.

In a message he left for his mom on Tuesday morning at 6 am, the day before he died he said, "Mom, I love you and miss you. Don't worry. I'm OK. I'm safe. I'll be home in June. We're going to have our quality time. I'm going to spoil you."

Scott Helventon's Mom, Katy with a Photo of Her Son photo credit: Stephen M. Dowell, Orlando Sentinel

It is hard to erase the horrible picture portrayed on the front page of The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle and most major publications around the world earlier this week. But the image that should be remembered is the one his mother shared with the Orlando Sentinel of a healthy, adventuresome, buffed sportsman who lived life and lived life well.

Scott's immediate family will be joining his mother and grandmother in Florida for a memorial service in his honor. A memorial with full military honors will be held at the National Cemetery in Bushnell.

America shares your pain, Katy, Jason, Helen, Kyle, Kelsey, Kelly and Tricia.

We also celebrate and honor the person Stephen "Scott" Helvenston was, and the hero he will always be.

~Jennifer King

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RealityTVWorld.com story by Wade Paulsen, 04/02/2004