From Military.com:
“Navy SEALs Kicked Out of Iraq
Over 'Deterioration of Good Order and Discipline' “
A Naval Special Warfare platoon
has been recalled from the war zone after their leader lost trust in their
ability to carry out their mission -- an extraordinary move for a command that
has faced recent troubling discipline problems. The commander of the Special
Operations Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq ordered a SEAL
team platoon to return to San Diego "due to a perceived deterioration of
good order and discipline within the team during non-operational periods,"
officials with U.S. Special Operations Command announced in a Wednesday night
release. "The Commander lost confidence in the team's ability to
accomplish the mission," the release adds. "... All Department of
Defense personnel are expected to uphold proven standards and to comply with
laws and regulations. Alleged violations are thoroughly investigated." While
officials did not say in the statement which SEAL team the unit belonged to,
the San Diego Union-Tribune reported it was the West Coast-based SEAL Team 7.
The SEALs were sent home for drinking while deployed, the Washington Post
reported. The elite team was involved in the military's fight against the
Islamic State group. Commanders in Iraq have worked to fill the void left by
the SEAL platoon's sudden departure, officials said. No additional details
about the cause were immediately available. Officials with SOCOM and Navy
Special Warfare Command could not be reached for comment. The news comes a day
after an explosive report from Navy Times about six special warfare operators
from SEAL Team 10 popping positive for cocaine after command-led drug testing
in April 2018. SEALs told investigators they considered the command's drug
tests a "joke," Navy Times reported, saying they were easily able to
skirt or beat them. The SEALs said they weren't often screened when they were
deployed, and some said when they were tested, they'd use someone else's urine
or even replace the sample with water from a urinal. SEALs have also been
involved in several high-profile legal cases. Two SEALs were connected to the
death of Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar, a 34-year-old Green Beret with whom they
were deployed to Mali; Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam Matthews, a former
member of SEAL Team 6, was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty
to several charges in connection to Melgar's death. Chief Special Warfare
Operator Anthony DeDolph, another SEAL Team 6 member, is also facing charges. During
a briefing with senior leaders at the Pentagon Wednesday, the top enlisted
member of Special Operations Command, Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Gregory
Smith, was asked whether his community is "plagued with a culture of
lawlessness." Smith denied the problems being widespread. "Do we have
an issue? No. We have challenges, we have fraying," he said. "But are
these things systemic? No. ... Is there room for improvement? Is any one
ethical breach too much? Yes." Thomas Modly, who's currently serving as
the acting Navy secretary, said something similar about the SEAL community last
year. "We're a huge enterprise and so ... we have problems just like every
other huge enterprise," he told reporters at an event in October. "So
when these types of problems arise, we have very, very good processes to go
through a legal adjudication of them, and I think we do that very well." Though
rare, this is not the first time special operations troops have been suddenly
removed from the war zone. In 2007, members of Marine Corps Forces Special
Operations Command's Fox Company were booted out of Afghanistan after they'd
been wrongly accused of killing civilians. While cleared of wrongdoing about a
year later, they contended that leaders did little to set the record straight.
After a lengthy battle for vindication, the Marines finally had their records
wiped clean this year, the Washington Post reported.
^ I am a military brat and have family
members currently stationed in the Military. I usually support the men and
women of the US Military, but that doesn’t mean I blindly give them Carte Blanche
to do whatever they want to. The US Military as a whole is a great, effective
and professional fighting force that protects men and women around the United
States and the rest of the world but risking their lives for us. Any man or
woman that does not follow the professionalism of the US Military does not
deserve to be a solider, sailor or airman/woman. I hope this group of Navy Seals
can learn their lesson and any “bad apples” within their ranks will be removed
so that the rest can continue to serve. ^
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.