Centreville Photojournalist Travels With Navy SEALs Through War Zones, Training

When Greg Mathieson Sr. isn't at home in his quiet Centreville neighborhood, it's usually because he's been busy photographing the U.S. Navy SEALs in Iraq, Afghanistan, snowy Alaska mountains, or even underwater. 

Mathieson, who's traveled to Iraq numerous times over the past 17 years, has put together a book on the SEALs that shows the elite group of warriors during training and missions. The book, "United States Naval Special Warfare/U.S. Navy SEALs," comes with an opening from former President George W. Bush, a forward from former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, and chapters written by high-ranking retired Navy SEALs. 

The comprehensive history and extraordinary amount of access granted to one of the military's most secretive groups make the book a unique effort. 

"It's never been done, it'll never be done again," said Mathieson, who started NSW Publications, LLC, to publish the 10-pound, 403 page-long hardcover book. 

Mathieson said that while he's run into the SEALs on assignments for about two decades, he gained much of the necessary access over the last five years. But it's quickly gotten quite a bit of traction in social media—a Facebook page for the book already has over 34,000 "likes."

While it might seem intimidating to keep up with the SEALs—Mathieson took some pictures while diving underwater—it helped that he had spent over a decade in the Army himself. 

The book has over 900 original photographs by Mathieson and photographer Dave Gatley. In addition to the action shots, it also shows the SEALs as they train in more normal settings like the gym, and documents the group's history. Copies of previously classified documents having to do with the creation of the Sea, Air, Land Teams and historic photos are included in the book.

There's also space devoted to SEAL gadgets and illustrations of equipment that may be produced in the future, like a flying Humvee. 

"They make James Bond look like nothing," Mathieson said of the SEALs. 

More information about the book is available at http://sealsbook.com.

A previous version of this story gave an incorrect number of "likes" for the book's Facebook page.