(Retired?) Seal, Marcus Luttrell's book "Lone Survivor" was about a failed Seal mission but the media turned it around in a subsequent movie to appear to be a victory. In the book Luttrell wonders why Seals are on patrol in the Afghan mountains and the question is well worth addressing. Luttrell makes a couple of lame references to Seals not wanting to be billotted with other Military types because they might blurt out secrets in their sleep. Did he really believe the hype or was it a clue about the Seal mission? Why were Seals who were trained to paddle rubber boats while unconscious and withstand ocean hypothermia deployed as snipers on buildings in the desert when Army Rangers and Marines have the same (superior?) skills and experience? The short answer is that Seals were absorbed by the CIA during mostly democrat administrations to be a hyped little army that was not subject to the the usual rules of military conduct. The Military units could be held responsible for collateral civilian deaths by snipers but Seals would be pretty much protected by the Agency and the media. When a hard charger Seal Chief decided to take the war to the enemy, the Navy panicked and the CIA did what the CIA does best and used propaganda and intimidation to convince young Seal recruits to testify against their own leadership. After Chief Gallagher was found not guilty, the Navy apparently decided to take the easy way out by charging Seal Team leadership with "drinking on duty". Meanwhile the entire Seal operation is probably on hold since we finally have a President who relies on traditional Military leadership instead of civilian flunkie college kids in the CIA and a manufactured legacy created by the media