Joe Biden vs. Navy Lives

During my years in the Navy I had more than a few interactions with our special warfare troops, specifically our Navy SEALs and their forerunners, the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT). The SEALs are remarkable, extremely competent warriors whom our nation calls on to carry out the kind of special operations few others can do. Years ago, as a Navy helicopter pilot, I occasionally flew small teams of SEALs out over the Pacific so they could practice their night, over-water parachute jumps. Although I would never doubt their courage, as a pilot I question anyone’s decision to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft, especially at night and over the ocean. But that’s the kind of men they’re are. They do what has to be done, even in training.

Jumping from a Perfectly Good Aircraft

Something else most people don’t know about the SEALs is their intentional avoidance of publicity. Indeed, the less said about the SEALs in the media or anywhere else, the happier they are, something that applies to most special warfare forces. Politicians probably don't understand this since publicity is something on which they thrive. 

There are, of course, important reasons for the SEALs' avoidance of media attention. Because most of the operations conducted by SEALs are highly classified, and for good reason, media coverage can jeopardize other related operations, intelligence sources, and even national security. Indeed, the very existence of SEAL Team Six (it's official name today is Naval Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU), considered to be the nation's premier counter-terrorism team, was actually classified. 

Media coverage can also endanger the lives of SEALs and their families. This is especially true these days when most special operations focus on terrorist groups that would love to know the units responsible for destroying their people and assets. The Department of Defense, therefore, does not release the identify of individuals, unit names, or even which special warfare forces were involved in an operation. Not only does this offer these warriors and their families some protection from retaliatory attacks, but it's also best to keep the enemy in the dark and guessing about who’s just hammered them.

At a Pentagon briefing the day after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011, a senior defense official was asked if it were a Navy SEAL team that found and killed the world’s most wanted man. The official's terse and proper response was: “Not going to comment on units or numbers.” That same evening, however, Vice President Joe Biden, in an address at a public event in D.C., told the world that Navy SEALs we’re responsible for taking out the terrorist leader. Hearing this, most folks considered it fine praise for our Navy special operators. But not the members of SEAL Team Six. They were shocked that the Vice President had named the SEALs as the operators involved in the mission. Most told their families to remove any references to them or the SEALs from social media because intelligence folks had already heard chatter and expected the terrorists would attempt some form of retaliation.

Three months later, on August 6, 2011, a CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan. All 38 aboard died, including many members of Seal Team Six. Far too many questions stull remain about this incident, and many SEALs believe it was a well planned attack by bin Laden's allies, the Taliban, in retaliation for the earlier raid. 

Here’s a brief news video from 2012 highlighting the family of one of those SEALs killed by the Taliban.

I'm no conspiracy theorist, largely because I believe most politicians and government bureaucrats are too stupid to put together a fool-proof conspiracy. Stupidity, however, can result in errors with horrendous consequences that must be blamed on others or simply on bad luck in order to protect those actually responsible. Several books have been written about that fateful morning in Afghanistan; among them is Betrayed, written by the father of one of the SEALs who died that day. Or you can get a sense of the troubling issues by reading this brief article: Who Betrayed Navy SEAL Team Six?

I suppose we can give then Vice President Biden the benefit of the doubt and assume that, in his enthusiasm over the success of the mission, he simply wasn't aware of the long-standing protocol prohibiting the naming of units involved in such operations. Interestingly, though, for someone so thrilled about the mission's success, the Vice President later admitted he had advised President Obama, "Mr. President, my suggestion is, don't go."

One can only guess what "Uncle Joe" would say today if he ever allowed a reporter to question him about this, or really about anything else. But I suspect his response would begin with "C'mon, man..."