Althouse: "In a SEAL version of Rashomon, the ostensibly silent warriors of the special operations community..."

November 7, 2014

"In a SEAL version of Rashomon, the ostensibly silent warriors of the special operations community..."

"... have been going after one another over what really happened that night in Abbottabad."

13 comments:

Anonymous said...: Grimm's Fairy Tales begin: "Once upon a time..."

SF Tales begin, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

SEAL Tales begin, No Shit, we was taking fire and..."; 11/7/14, 5:40 PM
CWJ said...: That's why you have a tradition of no comment! It serves 2 purposes. It preserves your professionalism, and avoids "Rashomon" moments. Both are valid.

I did take note of the fellow who said how many of the higher ups wrote tell-all books so why shouldn't he get his version of events out there.

OK noted and receiving a great deal of sympathy from me. BUT! I would say the distinction points out who are the real professionals and who are the politicians. I would hate to be a soldier today knowing how many of the braid-encrusted people above him are politicians first and soldiers second (if at all).; 11/7/14, 6:05 PM
Bob Boyd said...: O'Neill
shot O"Sama?
Not O'Bama?
Not O'Wen?
O'Well.; 11/7/14, 6:10 PM
traditionalguy said...: O'Neill. is being slandered by the REMFs on command for political points. That makes me sick.

The great tradition of Seal secrecy is BS squared.

The Truth will prevail. Because O'Neill will not quit until it does.; 11/7/14, 6:57 PM
William said...: O'Neill won a bunch of medals for previous actions and was in charge of the Phillips/Somali pirates operation. He's an authentic hero. If he can find a way of cashing in on past service, then good for him. If the other SEALs cannot, well, that's a shame. Really, it's a shame, but some are quicker to find the path to money and fame than others. It doesn't mean he's the most deservingly of all SEALs, but he took the risk--not just of the operation but of the post op fame. He has just painted a large target on his back. He'll have to spend the rest of his life worrying about some psycho jihadi.; 11/7/14, 8:46 PM
David said...: I thought Obama killed Osama.; 11/7/14, 8:50 PM
traditionalguy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/7/14, 9:23 PM
traditionalguy said...: O'Neill gets off on facing death without fear and completing the missions. He is now retired and re-playing those many moments to affirm his worth for having done all of those insane acts of his sacrifice for good people.

Why such men have to be subjected to an obviously organized pre-emptive slander campaign by unworthy government spokespersons only shows a need of bad men to own the lives of brave men such as O'Neill and keep them from getting the credit they earned.; 11/7/14, 9:24 PM
Valentine Smith said...: I don't see or hear anyone seeking credit for killing the women.

It's very unseemly to be jostling for credit for killing a dude protected by a couple of women. It was a lot closer to Bob Ford taking out Jesse James than Earp at the OK corral.; 11/7/14, 10:08 PM
Achilles said...: One of my deployments our platoon was paired up with one of the SEAL 6 groups. They were just what you would expect from one of the elite units. Intense. Ruthless.(That's saying something coming from a Ranger) A bit more deliberate in planning than us. They were always at it if we weren't going out they were planning on other targets. Professional was a perfect word.

A step up from the other SEAL groups just like Delta is to us. If you have talked to a SEAL it's a 99% chance it was Vanilla not a 6. Most public personalities that were SEALs were Vanillas. Vanillas would talk a lot and get on the news but this is the first time I have seen the 6's really come out like this.

For the last several years the officers have become a lot more political. They started throwing the enlisted under the bus a lot more the last few years I was in. People were ordered to move in on obviously sketchy situations that we would have dropped the years before. I got to walk up to a compound that blew up on us. The regular army command back at base made us send in a second set of EOD guys after we got out. It blew up on them too.

My guess is the enlisted are getting a little fed up with the political shenanigans being puled. And it all starts at the top. The purge being conducted by Obama is not being reported much but it is happening.; 11/8/14, 2:00 AM
Achilles said...: Valentine Smith said...
"I don't see or hear anyone seeking credit for killing the women."

They didn't kill the women. Women were very rarely killed when we went out. It was the same for them too.; 11/8/14, 2:04 AM
Achilles said...: William said...

"He'll have to spend the rest of his life worrying about some psycho jihadi."

Men like him don't spend their life worrying about psycho jihadis. They spend their thoughts hoping to face them again. If you want to make us happy pray for us to be on scene and armed the next time a jihadi tries to pull something here.(We don't want it to happen but if it does we want to be there.; 11/8/14, 2:12 AM
Drago said...: David said...
I thought Obama killed Osama

obama is the only one ARM will give credit to for osamas "sudden" demise.

And you won't believe the hoops he'll jump through to keep from saying someone else did the deed.; 11/8/14, 1:16 PM