From the Ranks: Former SEAL hooks TV gig - Entertainment, TV, Television - Army Times

From the Ranks: Former SEAL hooks TV gig

Sometimes it’s good to be a former Navy SEAL.

Mike McCarthy, who normally works as a special operations liaison for a research-and-development company, found himself in Norway on the set of the popular adventure series “Man vs. Wild” recently, teaching TV survivalist Bear Grylls how to use a SEAL team grappling hook.

McCarthy, 50, left the Navy in 2000 after spending most of his 21-year career on SEAL Teams 2 and 4. Since then, he has been at the nonprofit Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio.

McCarthy helps Battelle’s engineers understand the needs of today’s SEALs.

One such piece of gear is the Tactical Air Initiated Launch system, a pneumatic gun that can fire a titanium grappling hook more than 120 feet into the air. SEALs use the system for ship-boarding and urban operations.

Discovery Channel had Grylls use one to cross a river in the Norwegian wilds. But because of safety concerns, Discovery officials agreed to let Battelle send McCarthy with the hook to serve as a technical adviser for Bear on set.

Sweet gig.

“I had a blast. I was looking around thinking, ‘This is unbelievable,’” McCarthy said.

He got to spend about a week and a half in Norway, making sure Grylls knew how to use the system properly for the episode that first aired March 4.