whitehall
Diamond Member
Don't get me wrong or start sending me hate-mail, I think Sailors who endure the training and become Seals are true patriots. It's the SEAL mission I have a problem with. Seals are the evolution of WW2 and later Navy Frogmen or UDT (underwater demolition teams). During WW2 the UDT had a specific mission of gathering intelligence and paving the way for massive Marine amphibious assaults on Japanese held islands. Those days are gone. Today's Seals are a unit with a very limited mission. I rely on Marcus Luttrell's best seller "Lone Survivor" for my information on Seal training. The book is a remarkable account of survival and endurance but the mission the book was based on was a total failure. In the book Luttrell questions why Seals are on patrol at 10,000 ft in the Afghan mountains. Good question. Seals are trained to paddle rubber boats to the point of exhaustion and beyond and to withstand hypothermia. Another section of Luttrell's book says that Seals refused to be billeted with any other Military branch. The lame excuse for that little bit of arrogance is that they might blurt out some secret in their sleep. The elitism and hype is not healthy in today's Military. Seals are used on Recon missions because there is not much else for them to do. There is no shortage of Marine Recon or Ranger or Special Forces personnel. As a matter of fact a Ranger patrol rescued what was left of Luttrell's Seal team.