What the hell is going on with the SEALs?

[Sua Sponte]

SEAL charged with killing an insurgent that was being treated medically, steroid use, obstruction of justice.

https://taskandpurpose.com/navy-seal-war-crimes-charge-sheet/

Two SEALs and two MARSOC Marines charged with killing a Green Beret, obstruction of justice, hazing, and burglary.

https://taskandpurpose.com/charge-sheets-seals-raiders-green-beret/

[uhhello]

20 years of balls to the wall no shit combat deployments, an incessant demand for their skills, and a lot of operations or groups of them given very little left/right boundaries and I'm truly surprised it doesn't happen more often.  

[war007afa]

If you want to know something about the SquEALs, just wait for the book to come out. 

[Sua Sponte]

15 minutes ago, uhhello said:

20 years of balls to the wall no shit combat deployments, an incessant demand for their skills, and a lot of operations or groups of them given very little left/right boundaries and I'm truly surprised it doesn't happen more often.  

Valid. However, why doesn't the other SOCOM groups have these problems as bad as them? 

Edited November 17, 2018 by Sua Sponte

[BashiChuni]

Blame the DoD

[Craftsman]

1 hour ago, Sua Sponte said:

Valid. However, why doesn't the other SOCOM groups have these problems as bad as them? 

Maybe Green dot is working for them. Or those guys get help, or they are way better at hiding it. 

[brabus]

Culture difference I suppose...I've met a few good dudes who were SEALs, but by and large I much prefer working with the Army and other agencies.  They're all good at their jobs, but SEAL-level "shit show" seems to be rarely matched by other teams. The only thing I can think of is it comes back to their culture and what they value/think is OK.  

[pilot]

Took 2 seals and 2 marsoc guys to choke out 1 green beret in cold blood. Buncha POGs. Just sayin.  

[HarleyQuinn]

1 hour ago, Craftsman said:

Maybe Green dot is working for them. Or those guys get help, or they are way better at hiding it. 

Shots fired at Green DOT. Resiliency training is being revamped. They need some of that goodness. In fact, you all do. 

Edited November 17, 2018 by HarleyQuinn

[MooseClub]

2 hours ago, BashiChuni said:

Blame the DoD

Gotta blame it on somethin......

[Bigred]

8 hours ago, brabus said:

Culture difference I suppose...I've met a few good dudes who were SEALs, but by and large I much prefer working with the Army and other agencies.  They're all good at their jobs, but SEAL-level "shit show" seems to be rarely matched by other teams. The only thing I can think of is it comes back to their culture and what they value/think is OK.  

I work with all the various SOCOM dudes pretty much weekly.  When it comes to preparation, professionalism, and being ready to get in my aircraft, in order it’s MARSOC, Army SF, SEALs, and then Coast Guard (the MSRT dudes). PJs just intermingle so cant really say. 

More to your post, SEALs aren’t dumb as much as they are just really, really good at breaking shit. 

[FishBowl]

Also, “steroid” use in those communities (and military, in general) is a lot more common than most people seem to think. 

Edited November 17, 2018 by FishBowl

[Danger41]

Personal opinion is that SEALs look for and value different traits than Army SF. Army SF requires a much more intellectual approach and the members reflect that. SEALs have much more of a macho, insular culture from what I’ve seen. MARSOC are great and it’s pretty obvious working with them that they are more in line with Army SF mentality than SEALs. I suppose it comes down to mission with the UW of SF, AFO of MARSOC, and mass literary publication of the SEALs.

[JeremiahWeed]

28 minutes ago, FishBowl said:

Other than books by some of these operators, I have no clue about the reality of their missions.  But, as professional war fighters there are rules to follow.  Some "barbarian sh!t" is legal and some isn't.  Hell, the guy accused of killing the prisoner with a knife may have legally killed one of the POW's buddies the week before on a mission.  I'm sure some of those guys have a tougher time than others staying on the correct side of that line every time the opportunity presents itself.  This isn't a new problem - there's just a sh!tload more ways for this stuff to come out into the open now. If anyone thinks WW2 didn't have plenty of these types of events, they're kidding themselves.  There just wasn't some dumbass filming the sh!t with his iphone.  War is brutal and asking trained killers to turn off the brutality necessary to wage it properly and do what's necessary to win at the drop of a hat is only going to be expected by politicians and bleeding hearts who've never done it.

We ask a lot of these individuals and I'm sympathetic to a point.  However, if all these charges are proven, killing a prisoner in cold blood or a fellow soldier to cover a crime is wayyyy over the line.

[drewpey]

Culture.  Additional reading for those who missed it, but this isn't anything new unfortunately.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/world/asia/the-secret-history-of-seal-team-6.html

https://theintercept.com/2017/01/10/the-crimes-of-seal-team-6/

When you put your best on a pedestal and overlook negative behavior then it creates a skewed view of what is acceptable within an organization.  We've all seen similar effects within units, but luckily for us it usually manifests itself in other ways than guys collecting ears.

[war007afa]

10 hours ago, drewpey said:

Culture.  Additional reading for those who missed it, but this isn't anything new unfortunately.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/world/asia/the-secret-history-of-seal-team-6.html

https://theintercept.com/2017/01/10/the-crimes-of-seal-team-6/

When you put your best on a pedestal and overlook negative behavior then it creates a skewed view of what is acceptable within an organization.  We've all seen similar effects within units, but luckily for us it usually manifests itself in other ways than guys collecting ears.

It’s amplified in select-hire organizations. The beauty of being able to pick dudes who share your values comes with the curse of homogeneous values: right or wrong.