Nate Hardy’s SEAL journey started as early as the sixth grade when he wrote this in a school assignment:
That goal helped him get through hard times, especially after his oldest brother Josh died in January 1993 after a 17-month battle with brain cancer. Nate had a quick temper, and quicker fists, with anyone except Josh, who he loved and admired.
A few months after high school graduation in 1997, he entered the Navy. By May 1998, he was in Coronado, California at Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training—BUD/S.
A 1st phase instructor who mentored 1000 or more candidates, later wrote this about Nate:
“Nate immediately set himself apart from his classmates as an extremely honorable, focused, and dedicated warrior. I was always impressed by the fact that I never once saw Nate attempt to take a short cut during training and always took every task head on and like a man.“
Nate was humbled when Medal of Honor winner Tom Norris pinned on a Trident in 1999.
After three deployments with Team 8, he successfully screened for DEVGRU and was selected by Gold Squadron, where he met Mike Koch. They immediately became fast friends.
In July 2007, Nate and Mindi welcomed Parker Hall Hardy into the world. Nate soon taught Parker the proper pose for free fall jumping. He had learned this from his mother when he was a baby.
In early 2008, Nate’s troop was in Iraq, hunting the very top elements of al Qaeda in Iraq. He was killed in action on February 8. The letter we received from his commanding officer said this about Nate:
“He had participated in over 15 separate combat operations against the most dangerous Al Qa’ida Forces during the month of January. He and his teammates were fighting an Al Qa’ida suicide bomber cell in As al Atiyah, Iraq when he was fatally wounded. On this night his team killed 15 enemy, including two key Al Qa’ida leaders. Nate died heroically while assaulting an enemy building with a fellow teammate, Mike Koch, who was also killed in action on this target. Nate and his team bravely entered an enemy held building after it had been bombed repeatedly. Tragically, the enemy was well barricaded during the bombing and still able to fire on Nate’s team from a covered position as they entered the building. Nate was hit but valiantly attempted to move both himself and Mike out of the area of fire before he was overcome by his wounds.“
We take solace in the fact that Nate and Mike are buried side by side in Arlington National Cemetery.
They are also memorialized by Operation Hat Trick, still working together to help their country.
