You know, my last tour of duty in the Navy, I was working at a job that required qualifications, and I had to work hard to maintain them. That job was Classifier at a MEPS. Basically, it was a job where I took the applicant's test scores and qualifications, and gave them a job in the Navy, based on their quals and what they wanted.
There were also a lot of ways that I could lose my qualification. If my office missed goal more than 3 months in a row, I could be fired and sent back to the fleet, losing my Classifier qualification. I could also be fired for dating the applicants, taking bribes from parents (yes, I have been offered one or two), or any number of reasons that could be seen as me abusing my position. I was also Leading Petty Officer, which meant that I was in charge, my boss was all the way down in San Antonio.
I worked my ass off to make sure I kept my quals and didn't do any kind of behavior that could be seen as abusing my position because I liked that job and wanted to keep it. Matter of fact, it's on my DD214.
This SEAL chief abused his position as a SEAL in taking a picture with a dead ISIL member. Why? Because it's against the Geneva Conventions, and is considered to be a war crime. And, for all you people that will say that in WWII there were lots of photos like that, you're right. And, it was because of atrocities like that as well as others that they were created after the close of WWII. And, they have been updated after just about every major conflict because of atrocities done during that conflict.
The chief committed a war crime, and as a SEAL and Navy warfighter, the conventions are something that is drilled into them. He committed a crime, and because of it, I think that he should no longer be allowed the Budweiser (SEAL insignia).
And, I'm kinda on the fence about allowing him to retire. He's barely got 20 years in, so he is eligible for retirement, but I don't think he should retire as a chief because of what he did.
And Trump pardoning this person means that later, some politically connected military member if they do something wrong could possibly be looking to Trump to bail them out. This case has shown that Trump has no understanding of the UCMJ, nor is he interested in knowing about it.
If I could have lost my quals for something much less than a war crime, this chief needs to have his SEAL quals pulled.