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By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press Julie Watson, Associated Press Wed May 4, 5:45 am ET
SAN DIEGO The highly secretive Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden will likely be honored in the only way such a covert group can be: in private with nobody but themselves and their commanders in the know.
Quietly recognizing heroic actions for clandestine operations is not new in the military. Some service members wear war decorations but refuse to talk about how they earned them. Others stash away their medals, either because they've been ordered to hide them or they have chosen to for their own security.
And there are those heroes who have never lived to see a medal, their families sworn to secrecy until they were honored posthumously. For the elite few who dropped from the sky into the walled compound in Pakistan, they must carry on without breathing a word about their participation in Sunday's spectacular raid that eliminated the world's most-wanted terrorist.
It is a secret that surely must burn in their souls, but military officials say they have no doubt it will be kept. The stakes are too high.
The Navy still hasn't confirmed its SEALs carried out the much-lauded, 40-minute operation. But privately, Rear Adm. Edward Winters, at Naval Special Warfare Command in California, sent an email congratulating his forces and reminding them to keep quiet because "the fight is not over."
Winters is the chief of the elite SEAL unit officially known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or "DEVGRU," which is made up of only a few hundred personnel based in Dam Neck, Va. They call themselves "the quiet professionals."
Navy SEAL team likely honored in secret for raid - Yahoo! News
SAN DIEGO The highly secretive Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden will likely be honored in the only way such a covert group can be: in private with nobody but themselves and their commanders in the know.
Quietly recognizing heroic actions for clandestine operations is not new in the military. Some service members wear war decorations but refuse to talk about how they earned them. Others stash away their medals, either because they've been ordered to hide them or they have chosen to for their own security.
And there are those heroes who have never lived to see a medal, their families sworn to secrecy until they were honored posthumously. For the elite few who dropped from the sky into the walled compound in Pakistan, they must carry on without breathing a word about their participation in Sunday's spectacular raid that eliminated the world's most-wanted terrorist.
It is a secret that surely must burn in their souls, but military officials say they have no doubt it will be kept. The stakes are too high.
The Navy still hasn't confirmed its SEALs carried out the much-lauded, 40-minute operation. But privately, Rear Adm. Edward Winters, at Naval Special Warfare Command in California, sent an email congratulating his forces and reminding them to keep quiet because "the fight is not over."
Winters is the chief of the elite SEAL unit officially known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or "DEVGRU," which is made up of only a few hundred personnel based in Dam Neck, Va. They call themselves "the quiet professionals."
Navy SEAL team likely honored in secret for raid - Yahoo! News
) Inter-service rivalry aside, I have to admit that there were more than a couple of times in 'Nam I was VERY happy to see the friendly FAC and a flight of fast movers show up to save our grunt bacon.
