WTF is going on with the Navy SEALs?

[Regan MacNeil]

First, SEAL Team 10 is hit with a cocaine scandal:

Internal report exposes cocaine abuse, lax testing, inside SEAL Team 10

Then, SEAL Team 7 gets kicked out of Iraq for drinking on duty:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...eployed-officials-say/?utm_term=.d9713ffd5823

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Treat people like rock stars, they will behave that way.

 

[JC]

Or they are a fitter version of the normal population.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Also, too, the “they were sent home for drinking” story is generating a lot of LOLs among former military folks.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Vegas -- or at least Brent Musberger's VSIN -- has to be ready with odds on the next SEAL team to be implicated in a scandal.

 

[TigerVols]

Vegas -- or at least Brent Musberger's VSIN -- has to be ready with odds on the next SEAL team to be implicated in a scandal.

Even money says that’ll be Seal Team Cleveland State.

 

[DanOregon]

Navy SEALs Reported Their Chief For War Crimes. They Were Told It Could Threaten Their Careers

Don't forget this one.

 

[Driftwood]

As a Navy veteran - and I woke up to a banging trashcan in bootcamp 30 years ago this morning, btw - I get tired of hearing about the SEALs and them being the face of the United States Navy. It's a result of having sailors fight in the desert and mountains since before today's new recruits were born, but it pisses me off. I have kids ask me about my time in the Navy, and they scratch their heads when I start talking about life at sea. One kid asked me about PTSD one day. I had to explain that I was in the actual Navy, chasing Soviet submarines and not kicking in doors.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Wonder how much of this connects back to guys from DEVGRU’s Red Squadron being reassigned to other SEAL units to “spread experience around”?

The Crimes of SEAL Team 6

 

[justgladtobehere]

SEALs have suffered relatively huge losses in the last 20 years while being heavily deployed and increasing the number of active members. ****'s going to break down when you bring greater numbers into an elite group and the active members are facing greater stress.

 

[poindexter]

Heroes

 

[Driftwood]

SEALs have suffered relatively huge losses in the last 20 years while being heavily deployed and increasing the number of active members. ****'s going to break down when you bring greater numbers into an elite group and the active members are facing greater stress.

This is the thing. When I was in, the number of SEALs wasn't that large. They also received very little publicity.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Why have SEALs seemingly been utilized more than other special operations forces? I know that the group formerly known as Seal Team 6 is the most highly trained and was specifically created for very difficult situations, but are the other teams that much more qualified than Army SOF or the Marines equivalent?

 

[Inky_Wretch]

This is the thing. When I was in, the number of SEALs wasn't that large. They also received very little publicity.

What are you talking about? "Navy SEALS" starring Charlie Sheen came out in 1990! And Thomas Magnum was a SEAL and that show started in 1980!



Yeah, you're right. There for a bit, it seemed like every SEAL who left the service wrote a book about his time in BUDs, with the teams and his deployments. I miss the days of the quiet professionals.

 

[Slacker]

Why have SEALs seemingly been utilized more than other special operations forces? I know that the group formerly known as Seal Team 6 is the most highly trained and was specifically created for very difficult situations, but are the other teams that much more qualified than Army SOF or the Marines equivalent?

Just a guess, but maybe SEALS are even more rigorously trained because of possible underwater challenges?

 

[HanSenSE]

We're forgetting the GOAT SEAL.

 

[swingline]

Recon is the Marines equivalent to the SEALs, Green Berets, etc.

 

[Tarheel316]

This is the thing. When I was in, the number of SEALs wasn't that large. They also received very little publicity.

That's what Marine recon is like. Very little publicity. I remember when Dad was stationed at Camp Lejeune. Recon was quartered at the beach. Bad ass dudes. They swam in the ocean every day. I asked Dad why they weren't as well known as the SEALs. Dad said they didn't need the publicity and didn't want it.

 

[Neutral Corner]

SEALs got the pub, and writers go to what is known. In general the various SF types don't want any publicity.

Force Recon, Delta Force, all the rest, they are every bit as tough and selective as the SEALs are. Green Berets, Rangers, Paratroopers, they're a level down (and the source of the recruiting pool for the elites), but I have a very healthy respect for them and borderline awe for the elite SF teams.

 

[swingline]

The amazing thing about Bowden's "Blackhawk Down" was that he got at least one retired Delta soldier to talk to him for the book. As NC said, that almost never happens.