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Trump Vows to Overturn ‘Ridiculous’ Gender-Neutral Language for Navy SEALs

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President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed to get rid of new U.S. Navy gender-neutral language to be included in elite SEAL training guidelines, calling them “ridiculous.”

The president, who announced Friday that both he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, was responding to changes in the Navy SEAL ethos and Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman (SWCC) creed.

The changes were designed to ditch male-centric terms like “brotherhood” in response to U.S. law that now allows women to apply for and serve in elite and previously male-only military roles. . .

Navy officials have couched the decision to change the ethos on making SEAL training more inclusive.

“Naval Special Warfare continues to deliberately develop a culture of tactical and ethical excellence that reflects the nation we represent, and that draws upon the talents of the all-volunteer force who meet the standards of qualification as a SEAL or SWCC,” Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Stroup, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare told American Military News. (Read more from “Trump Vows to Overturn ‘Ridiculous’ Gender-Neutral Language for Navy SEALs” HERE)

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Slap Exercise Lands Navy SEAL Candidate in Coma

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Twin investigations are probing an incident at the Naval Special Warfare training complex in Coronado that left one Navy SEAL candidate in a coma.

Authorities this week said that Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents and members of the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado are reviewing an Oct. 12 mishap that occurred during a study session for the land navigation course of the Basic Under Water Demolition/SEAL training program, or BUD/S.

As an incentive to correctly answer questions, two sailors allegedly agreed to slap whichever one got a response wrong. BUD/S candidates typically challenge each other to perform acts of physical exertion, such as push ups, because striking another student is forbidden.

One of the candidates reportedly reeled from a slap and fell to the floor, striking his head. He was rushed to Naval Medical Center San Diego where surgeons placed him in a medically-induced coma to help heal what SEAL spokesman Lt. Trevor Davids said was an unintentional injury. (Read more from “Slap Exercise Lands Navy SEAL Candidate in Coma” HERE)

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Navy SEALs Tell Top House Lawmaker They Don’t Have Enough Combat Rifles

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Navy SEAL teams don’t have enough combat rifles to go around, even as these highly trained forces are relied on more than ever to carry out counterterrorism operations and other secretive missions, according to SEALs who have confided in Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

After SEALs return from a deployment, their rifles are given to other commandos who are shipping out, said Hunter, a former Marine who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. This weapons carousel undercuts the “train like you fight” ethos of the U.S. special operations forces, they said.

Hunter said he’s been contacted by several SEALs, but he declined to provide further information about the weapons they use in order to protect their identities. (Read more from “Navy SEALs Tell Top House Lawmaker They Don’t Have Enough Combat Rifles” HERE)

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Naval Special Warfare Leadership Responds to ‘The Shooter’ and Mark Owen

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SEAL-nsw-warcom-losey-brianThe senior leadership of the Navy’s SEAL community—the commander and force master chief of Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC)—have officially, and preemptively, responded to the upcoming Fox News appearance on November 11 and 12 of a former SEAL Team Six member, labeled in an Esquire Magazine article as ‘The Shooter,’ who appeared in the press claiming to have been the operator who shot Usama Bin Ladin in the 2011 raid that killed the Al-Qaeda leader.

In a letter signed by both the senior commander and enlisted man of Naval Special Warfare Command, the SEAL leadership emphasized that the majority of SEALs spend each day living up to the label “quiet professionals.” Unspoken is the implication that the former SEAL, who is in fact, former Red Squadron SEAL Robert O’Neill, is seeking notoriety for his own story.

The two SEAL leaders go on to point out that members of the Naval Special Warfare community not only serve alongside other U.S. military members, but also other U.S. government agencies and foreign allies. “Little individual credit” is ever given, according to the letter, due to the “nature of our profession.” The two also point out the years of hard work that go into operations like the one that targeted Bin Ladin, seemingly defying one or two individual shooters’ claims on the glory and fame that result from the success of such a mission.

The point they make is that it took so much more than the final trigger pull to kill Bin Ladin, so why should one SEAL assume the moniker, “The One Who Killed bin Ladin?”

Read more from this story HERE.

2 Former Navy SEALs Found Dead on ‘Captain Phillips’ Ship

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Photo Credit: AnonymousTwo security officers have been found dead aboard the Maersk Alabama container ship, the same vessel portrayed in the movie “Captain Phillips,” police said Wednesday.

The men, both former Navy SEALs, were found on Tuesday while the ship was moored in the Seychelles, Fox News reported.

“A postmortem will be carried out this week in order to establish the cause of their sudden deaths while the police investigates the possible circumstances which led to these incidents,” police in the Seychelles said.

Read more this story HERE.

Navy Claims No Ban on ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Patch

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Photo Credit: U.S. NavyNavy SEALs can still wear the First Navy Jack with its motto of “Don’t Tread on Me” on their shoulder, according to service officials, following a report that some units were banning their use.

Last week, Carl Higbie, a former SEAL and author, wrote in the Daily Caller that some Navy SEAL teams have banned the display of the First Navy Jack, also called the Union Jack by the Navy, on military uniforms. Mr. Higbie wrote that the patch was likely banned because it was now too closely associated with the tea party.

The “Don’t Tread on Me” motto is popular among tea party groups, who often fly another Revolutionary War era flag with the motto, the yellow Gadsden Flag…

Mr. Higbie said his information came from several current SEALs and he stood by his article. He said the Navy was clearly backpedalling in the face of criticism. “They are going to say they never said this,” he said. “But as long as [SEALs] are allowed to wear it, I am happy with that.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Navy SEALS Ordered to Remove ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ From Uniforms

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Photo Credit: APThe Navy Jack is the ‘don’t tread on me’ flag, one that has earned a revered place in America’s naval history and a beloved place in sailor’s hearts, through its use for over two centuries. This symbol of America’s naval ferocity has spanned our country’s entire existence, flying from the masts of the Continental Navy during the war of independence, to today’s War on Terror. In fact, an amendment to the Navy code called SECNAV Instruction 10520.6 clearly states that as of 31 May 2002 all ships are to fly the flag throughout the duration of the War on Terror.

So why would ranking SEAL commanders ban the historical symbol? Is the proverbial top bass banning the flag? Is President Obama?

Clearly the administration and sycophant “top brass” officers have degraded America’s military prestige; from hand-tying rules of engagement, to uniform regulations that make our military allegedly more compatible with foreign forces, to the banning of an awe-inspiring flag that traces its roots to the first U.S. Navy. We have a civilian-led military, but why should our ranking commanders be complicit in the administration’s war on it? Why don’t they stand up to Obama and his leftist cronies?

During my two deployments to Iraq, “Don’t Tread on Me” was a phrase seen on nearly every uniform and platoon space — including mine. From patches to flags to large paintings on concrete barriers, our commanders themselves wore the insignia on their sleeves — until now.

Read more from this story HERE.

Failed Navy SEALs Raid on Somali Target Could Bolster Al Shabab (+video)

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Photo Credit: Mohamed Sheikh Nor/APA commando unit from the US Navy’s Seal Team Six launched an amphibious raid on a Somali town, but failed to confirm a capture or kill of their Al Shabab target, suspected to be linked to Nairobi’s Westgate mall terror attack.

The operation could have opposite its intended result of discouraging further attacks. Analysts warn that even earlier successful targeted strikes against Al Shabab, a Somalia-based Islamist militant group, failed to curb the group’s capacity to carry out international terror attacks, and that failed missions could in fact bolster its support and recruitment.

The predawn raid Saturday came unstuck when the US troops were faced with heavier-than-expected return fire, and pulled out to avoid civilian casualties, two security sources said. No Americans were injured.

Although the target was not named and officially described only as “high-value,” US officials suggested the raid was “prompted by Westgate”.

Saturday’s mission took place in Baraawe, an Al Shabab stronghold 110 miles south of Mogadishu, where US Special Forces carried out a daytime raid in 2009 to kill Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, wanted in connection with earlier terrorist strikes in East Africa.

Read more from this story HERE.

To Hunt Osama bin Laden, Satellites Watched Over Abbottabad, Pakistan, and Navy SEALs

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The U.S. commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden was guided from space by a fleet of satellites, which aimed dozens of receivers over Pakistan to collect a torrent of electronic and signals intelligence as the mission unfolded, according to a top-secret U.S. intelligence document.

The National Security Agency also was able to penetrate guarded communications among al-Qaeda operatives by tracking calls from mobile phones identified by specific calling patterns, the document shows. Analysts from the CIA pinpointed the geographic location of one of the phones and linked it to the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where other evidence suggested bin Laden was hiding.

The disclosures about the hunt for the elusive founder of al-Qaeda are contained in classified documents that detail the fiscal 2013 “black budget” for U.S. intelligence agencies, including the NSA and the CIA. The documents, provided to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, make only brief references to the bin Laden operation. But the mission is portrayed as a singular example of counterterrorism cooperation among the U.S. government’s numerous intelligence agencies.

Eight hours after the raid, according to the documents, a forensic intelligence laboratory run by the Defense Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan had analyzed DNA from bin Laden’s corpse and “provided a conclusive match” confirming his identity. The budget further reveals that satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office performed more than 387 “collects” of high-resolution and infrared images of the Abbottabad compound in the month before the raid — intelligence that was “critical to prepare for the mission and contributed to the decision to approve execution.”

Also playing a role in the search for bin Laden was an arm of the NSA known as the Tailored Access Operations group. Among other functions, the group specializes in surreptitiously installing spyware and tracking devices on targeted computers and mobile-phone networks.

Read more from this story HERE.

Special Ops General Concerned with ‘Culture, Social Behavior’ Aspects of Women in Combat

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Photo Credit: Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office

Photo Credit: Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office

As the Defense Department rolled out its plans today to integrate women into combat roles, a director at U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) expressed the loudest skepticism from military leaders yet that the administration’s Jan. 1, 2016, goal would go off without a hitch.

…Maj. Gen. Bennet Sacolick, director of force management and development at SOCOM, told reporters at the Pentagon today that he’s making no guarantees.

“We have some genuine concerns that must be addressed prior to making an informed recommendation to the secretary of defense, a recommendation which complies with the chairman’s guiding principles of preserving unit readiness, cohesion, and morale,” Sacolick said.

“Of particular concern is our mission set, which predominantly requires our forces to operate in small, self-contained teams, many of which are in austere, geographically isolated, politically sensitive environments for extended periods of time. This complexity requires a unique assessment predicated upon detailed analysis, ultimately providing a single, clear, consistent procedure for execution throughout the SOCOM enterprise”…

“Their concerns are, you know, once again, that you got a 12-men ODA [the primary operational element of a Special Forces company] and an isolated case, how is that — what are the implications there?” he said of the reaction from men in the field. “There’s all those things that we’re concerned about, probably more so than the actual standards in our qualification courses…culture, social behavior. Those aspects of ultimate integration.”

Read more from this story HERE.