Navy SEAL Commander Advised to ‘Get the Hell Out of the Media’

[XrayJ]

A retired general today assailed the commander of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden for drawing too much media attention to operations that he argued should be kept under wraps.

Special Operations Commander Adm. Bill McRaven was confronted by retired Lt. Gen. James Vaught, who said he didn’t understand why the recent raids by the Navy SEALs, such as the one to kill Osama bin Laden or to rescue U.S. hostage Jessica Buchanan, were all over the media.

“Since the time when your wonderful team went and drug bin Laden out and got rid of him, and more recently when you went down and rescued the group in Somalia, or wherever the hell they were, they’ve been splashing all of this all over the media,” Vaught, 85, said. “I flat don’t understand that.

“Now back when my special operators extracted Saddam [Hussein] from the hole, we didn’t say one damn word about it,” he continued. “We turned him over to the local commander and told him to claim that his forces drug him out of the hole, and he did so. And we just faded away and kept our mouth shut.

“Now I’m going to tell you, one of these days, if you keep publishing how you do this, the other guy’s going to be there ready for you, and you’re going to fly in and he’s going to shoot down every damn helicopter and kill every one of your SEALs. Now, watch it happen. Mark my words. Get the hell out of the media,” he concluded, as laughter broke out at a meeting of the National Defense Industrial Association in Washington, D.C.

Rest can be read @ ----> http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...-of-the-media/

[scooter]

Someone failed to follow instructions.....



That's the SOCOM commander, by the way.

[Roguish Lawyer]

I have assumed that the media attention has been driven by the White House, or more accurately the Obama re-election campaign. POTUS is interviewed extensively in the documentary they allowed to be made concerning the bin Laden raid.

[Roguish Lawyer]

XRayJ, you need to fill out your profile and introduce yourself in the right place as previously instructed. Please do it before you post again.

[kgoerz]

Originally Posted by XrayJ

Rest can be read @ ----> http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...-of-the-media/

Sounds like envy to me

[XrayJ]

Originally Posted by kgoerz

Sounds like envy to me

If on topic posts by posters outside of certain cliques aren't welcome, I will more than gladly stand down.

[Snaquebite]

Got a memorandum from Vaught (HQ JTF 1-79) hanging on the wall... Great man IMHO.

[Snaquebite]

Originally Posted by XrayJ

If on topic posts by posters outside of certain cliques aren't welcome, I will more than gladly stand down.

XrayJ....to put it simply....follow the instructions you received in email when you signed up to this site...If you lost them or are confused, you may PM me for instructions. Until then DO NOT post again in this forum.

[Guymullins]

I have been meaning to post something about this for a while. We have seen many very good units destroyed by too much media coverage in the past. This only applies to Southern Africa, and I dont mean to preach to you guys in the US, but simply to give our experience for your information. Our 32 Bn, a special; forces semi-pseudo unit which operated almost entirely behind the lines was disbanded when their exploits were endlessly publicised. They were a formidable unconventional fighting force made up of turned terrorists and soldiers from enemy countries. Because of their well publicised effectiveness in later years, they became the focus of attention for disbandment once majority rule came. This was a great loss to our Army and a huge pool of expertise was lost .
The Reconnaissance Regiment also suffered , but in a different way, from too much publicity. When it was a highly secretive unit, it was very effective and the quality of soldier it attracted was very high. After much publicity, the quality of volunteer declined markedly and all the "tough-guy riff-raff" wanted to join and it gained somewhat of a hooligan image. It was also briefly disbanded, but after lots of trimming and cuts, was re-instated as a shadow of its former self.
A very similar fate befell the Rhodesian Selous Scouts. When they were disguised at a Tracker Unit, they operated very effectively as a pseudo unit, turning terrorists and disguising themselves as terrorists and passing on intel so that other units could wipe the enemy out. Once they became subject to media attention, not only did their quality of recruit suffer, for the same reason as mentioned above, but their tactics became known to the enemy and their effectiveness declined. I have been hoping for some time that either the Seals would cease their publicity campaign or that it was a blind for other more secret units operating out of the publics eye.

[Utah Bob]

ABC News

Special Operations Commander Adm. Bill McRaven was confronted by retired Lt. Gen. James Vaught, who said he didn’t understand why the recent raids by the Navy SEALs, such as the one to kill Osama bin Laden or to rescue U.S. hostage Jessica Buchanan, were all over the media.

[Dozer523]

"McRaven jokingly responded that he became a Navy SEAL because his sister was dating a special forces member and because he was infatuated with John Wayne’s movie, “The Green Beret.”

Maybe he's got a cameo in that new movie "staring REAL SeALs"

[Badger52]

FYI collateral thread in Early Bird here.

[Richard]

Pretty good discussion on CBS This Morning - interview w/John Miller.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_1...flexGridModule

Richard

[Tweeder11]

I caught this in the article...


"the Pentagon is even considering a new special operations command"

Could this be good news for CA, MISO, & SF?

Thanks
Tweeder

[Richard]

Originally Posted by Tweeder11

I caught this in the article...

"the Pentagon is even considering a new special operations command"

Speshul Feces Command - for those occasions when the s**t REALLY hits the fan!

And so it goes...

Richard