Pfarrer was born April 13, 1957, in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Charles Patrick Pfarrer, Jr., a career naval officer, and Joan Marie Pfarrer, a registered nurse.[2]
Pfarrer entered active duty with the United States Navy in October 1980 and completed Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I in 1981. After his commission as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy, he reported to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training (BUD/S) at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. After six months of training, Pfarrer graduated with BUD/S class 114 in September 1981. Following SEAL Tactical Training (STT) and completion of six month probationary period, he received the 1130 designator as a Naval Special Warfare Officer, entitled to wear the Special Warfare insignia and spent the next five years as a Navy SEAL. His initial assignment was to Underwater Demolition Team TWENTY ONE (UDT-21) at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virginia.
Pfarrer deployed numerous times as a military advisor in Central America, trained NATO forces in Europe and the Mediterranean, and completed a combat deployment in 1983 to Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War when UDT-21 was redesignated as SEAL Team FOUR. As SEAL Assistant Platoon commander assigned to the Multi-National Peacekeeping Force, he witnessed the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut. In September 1984, Pfarrer reported to SEAL Team SIX in Training Support Center Hampton Roads to begin an eight-month specialized selection and training course to become a counterterrorist operator. Pfarrer ended his naval service in June 1986 as Assault Element Commander at the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU).[3]
Pfarrer's screenplay, Crash Site, was in development as a feature film by ALCON media. It was to be directed by Academy Award-winning director Charlie Gibson[11] and produced by John Bladecchhi and Alcon co-chiefs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.
Fiction
His first published novel, Killing Che, was released in 2007.[12]
Pfarrer was active in the 2004 effort to recall Writers Guild of America president Charles Holland, who had falsely claimed to be a wounded combat veteran, intelligence officer and Green Beret. Holland later resigned.[13]
Pfarrer's best-selling autobiography, Warrior Soul, The Memoir of a Navy SEAL, was published in 2003.[14]
Pfarrer is the author of the 2011 book SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden, a New York Times best-seller,[15] which was controversial because he gave a different account of the raid than had the government.[16]
