Death Came Brutally to a Man Who 'Never Quit'
By Deborah Schoch, Julie Tamaki and Monte Morin Times Staff Writers
Stephen "Scott" Helvenston was Hollywood's image of a soldier — blond, bronzed and broad shouldered. In fact, the 38-year-old former Navy SEAL trained health-conscious Californians how to pump iron like commandos and coached movie stars to play the role of combat-ready recruits.
Days after the private security contractor and three colleagues were killed by an angry Iraqi mob, friends and colleagues recalled Helvenston as a man whose energy and athleticism helped him parlay his military service into work as a film consultant, a fitness guru and an international hired gun. But as family members prepared Friday for the return of Helvenston's remains, relatives lamented that the patriotic soldier and devoted father they once knew had become a symbol of American foreign policy.
"You know what they did to him? I can't talk about it," his mother, Kathryn Helvenston-Wettengel, of Leesburg, Fla., told the Orlando Sentinel. "What happened to him is so horrendous."
Helvenston, of Oceanside, was the divorced father of two children, Kyle, 14, and Kelsey, 12, and had served 12 years in the U.S. Navy (news - web sites)'s elite special forces. He was working for a private security firm, Blackwater Security Consulting, when he and three colleagues were ambushed in their cars and killed by rocket-propelled grenades. In grisly images broadcast around the globe, a crowd of Iraqis in Fallouja hacked at their remains and hung two charred corpses from the trestles of a bridge.
Friends found the images difficult to comprehend because they believed Helvenston to be unstoppable.
"The guy pretty much didn't know the word 'quit,' " said Markus Heon, a physical trainer based in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. "If he were to go down, I wish he had gone down in a different way. I know, for a fact, if he did, he would have taken a lot of those guys with him."
"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."
"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 man of dignity and morals.
"I had that sick feeling yesterday morning that Scott was one of those guys," Brown said. "All Americans are just outraged about this. I hope we'll send more troops over there. I think we're just understaffed over there. We need to reinstate shock and awe over there."
After leaving the Navy, Helvenston settled in Oceanside and helped start a fitness consulting firm, Amphibian Athletics, that promised a Navy SEAL-style workout for his customers. He also found success in Hollywood as a stuntman and as an instructor for movie and television actors.
His credits include the movie "G.I. Jane," in which he showed Demi Moore how to endure the rigors of military training, and the television shows "Combat Missions," and "Man vs. Beast."
The other victims have been identified as Jerko "Jerry" Zovko, 32 of Ohio; Wesley J. Batalona, 48, of Hawaii; and Michael Teague, 38, of Clarksville, Tenn.
Zovko spoke five languages and joined the Army at 19. "He loved people," said his mother, Danica Zovko. "He wanted the world to be without borders, for everybody to be free and safe."
Batalona grew up one of 10 children in Hawaii and joined the Army after high school. "We gave him two choices," said his mother, Shibata Batalona. "Either go to school and become a policeman or join the service."
Teague served 12 years in the Army and was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan. His wife, Rhonda Teague, described him as "a proud father, soldier and American."
Woulard recalled Helvenston's love of snowboarding and climbing and described him as a dedicated father who took his kids with him wherever he went. "He'd always have my kids, too," he said.
Brown recalled Helvenston's love for his children as well. She first met him in the late 1990s when she signed up to take what she believes was his first "Navy SEALs fitness boot camp," offered through a Del Mar gym.
By Deborah Schoch, Julie Tamaki and Monte Morin Times Staff Writers
Stephen "Scott" Helvenston was Hollywood's image of a soldier — blond, bronzed and broad shouldered. In fact, the 38-year-old former Navy SEAL trained health-conscious Californians how to pump iron like commandos and coached movie stars to play the role of combat-ready recruits.
Days after the private security contractor and three colleagues were killed by an angry Iraqi mob, friends and colleagues recalled Helvenston as a man whose energy and athleticism helped him parlay his military service into work as a film consultant, a fitness guru and an international hired gun. But as family members prepared Friday for the return of Helvenston's remains, relatives lamented that the patriotic soldier and devoted father they once knew had become a symbol of American foreign policy.
"You know what they did to him? I can't talk about it," his mother, Kathryn Helvenston-Wettengel, of Leesburg, Fla., told the Orlando Sentinel. "What happened to him is so horrendous."
Helvenston, of Oceanside, was the divorced father of two children, Kyle, 14, and Kelsey, 12, and had served 12 years in the U.S. Navy (news - web sites)'s elite special forces. He was working for a private security firm, Blackwater Security Consulting, when he and three colleagues were ambushed in their cars and killed by rocket-propelled grenades. In grisly images broadcast around the globe, a crowd of Iraqis in Fallouja hacked at their remains and hung two charred corpses from the trestles of a bridge.
Friends found the images difficult to comprehend because they believed Helvenston to be unstoppable.
"The guy pretty much didn't know the word 'quit,' " said Markus Heon, a physical trainer based in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. "If he were to go down, I wish he had gone down in a different way. I know, for a fact, if he did, he would have taken a lot of those guys with him."
"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."
"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 man of dignity and morals.
"I had that sick feeling yesterday morning that Scott was one of those guys," Brown said. "All Americans are just outraged about this. I hope we'll send more troops over there. I think we're just understaffed over there. We need to reinstate shock and awe over there."
After leaving the Navy, Helvenston settled in Oceanside and helped start a fitness consulting firm, Amphibian Athletics, that promised a Navy SEAL-style workout for his customers. He also found success in Hollywood as a stuntman and as an instructor for movie and television actors.
His credits include the movie "G.I. Jane," in which he showed Demi Moore how to endure the rigors of military training, and the television shows "Combat Missions," and "Man vs. Beast."
The other victims have been identified as Jerko "Jerry" Zovko, 32 of Ohio; Wesley J. Batalona, 48, of Hawaii; and Michael Teague, 38, of Clarksville, Tenn.
Zovko spoke five languages and joined the Army at 19. "He loved people," said his mother, Danica Zovko. "He wanted the world to be without borders, for everybody to be free and safe."
Batalona grew up one of 10 children in Hawaii and joined the Army after high school. "We gave him two choices," said his mother, Shibata Batalona. "Either go to school and become a policeman or join the service."
Teague served 12 years in the Army and was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan. His wife, Rhonda Teague, described him as "a proud father, soldier and American."
Woulard recalled Helvenston's love of snowboarding and climbing and described him as a dedicated father who took his kids with him wherever he went. "He'd always have my kids, too," he said.
Brown recalled Helvenston's love for his children as well. She first met him in the late 1990s when she signed up to take what she believes was his first "Navy SEALs fitness boot camp," offered through a Del Mar gym.
