whitehall
Diamond Member
I base my opinion on Luttrell's book. Seals are Sailors who volunteer for the training which is focused on resisting hypothermia and carrying rubber boats in and out of the water and paddling while unconscious. I'm not trying to make fun of the training but it is not geared toward infantry operations. Seals aren't supermen who can shoot better than Marines or Army Special Forces, they attend the same schools. Army and Marine commanders ran the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan so it didn't make sense for a Sailor with a different command structure and different communications to take on a sniping position unless Seals had become the CIA's private little army and the CIA was running the show while Army and Marine commanders stood by (how did that work out in Vietnam?) . In Luttrell's last patrol the Seals were operating independently of regular forces and when they became surrounded Seal commanders independently launched a rescue helicopter which landed right in front of an enemy RPG. Luttrell was rescued by Army Rangers.