E-mail received from an active duty SEAL Team Six operator:
I will admit right up front that I am biased, having spent more time at DevGru than Jack Murphy spent in the military. That said I do take exception to your article “Next Time Send Delta or the Rangers”. I find it humorous that you choose to comment on it at all, never having been at a Tier 1 unit.
First I will give credit where credit is due. Delta is one of two (the other being DevGru) of the most hard core and prolific group of warriors ever assembled in the history of warfare. And Rangers are the premier Light Infantry unit in the world.
That said, let’s break things down to a digestible level. Ask your CAG friends about the highest profile Op they’ve done lately… and you’ll hear the crickets chirping loudly. It’s not because they are not talking about it, but because they are not being chosen to do them. And don’t even try and use the excuse that it was only because McRaven was running the show. There have been some other Ops (post Bin Laden) that were way more technical than the Bin Laden op and it was an Army General that chose our Navy element to do it.
The real answer is… It was, and still is, OUR time. Period.
As for the Rangers, and this goes for any battalion in the regiment, no General or President in his right mind would send in Rangers to do that job. Why? Because your previous unit’s average age is 21 with a dauntingly high turnover rate. And your most elite unit still has brand new “meats” that spent 9 weeks in Basic and 2 weeks in R.I.P. and get sent over with the 75th (also not a Tier 1 unit).
Riding on a helo with or being a blocking force for a Tier 1 unit does not make you a Tier 1 unit. Period.
My estimate of your analysis is that you know just enough to stir the pot, but still don’t know enough to comment. Do not hold a unit accountable for one of their own that got out and decided to write a book. It can happen to any of us (Dalton Fury/”NAME REMOVED”).
Shift fire…
Is anyone asking the bigger question as to why you’re selling an e-book to make money off of another book whose author is donating all profits to charity? That makes you the equivalent to a Remora…you know, the small nuisance fish that swim along side the shark for protection and scraps! That is pretty weak and it’s also your new nickname.
And it’s pretty clear to me that you and your site are all a part of the same clown show.
Respectfully,
[Name withheld]
Reflexive Fire 
Man – you were not kidding about getting hate mail. First asking for a fatwa via kindle deletion…now DEVGRU wants your hindparts!
JM.I sense a bit of anxiety in your comment and rightly so,after all you are defending your guys, however now, I feel the need to add a bit more to this conversation.I too, was a member of SOCOM and I too have served in 3 separate forces. This is what I have learned in 32 years. We can all day get into a pissing contest with this matter, the truth is this is “The United States” and what makes a nation strong is its defensive posture meaning its military and economic strength. Different missions for diffrerent situations. We are all good at what we do. Glory and popularity should be left for the hollywood dogs that portrays our lives for millions and we get crumbs. That is not why I became a member of (SO). I did it because i had a belief in the leadership and the strength of America being right. I certainly didn’t do it for medals or pats on the back. I totally agree with you in principle but just remember that it’s ‘one fist, one blow” meaning we celebrate all SF and SO units. SEALs, Rangers, Airborne, Marine Recon, Gurkas, whatever. Less than 3% of the population can do what we do. Unfortunately, today it’s relegated to entertainment and lies. SEALs and the best at what they do.WE are the best at what we do. Together we kill scumbag enemies for the sake of now typing my accolades(smile). First Sergeant.
I agree. The author who wrote the e-mail should have a little more self respect and not get bent out of shape so easily.
1. Got some respect in the media: a reporter named Mark Alpern (sp?) referred to your eBook when discussing this business.
2. This tier stuff makes me itchy. Sounds like something Ivy Leaguers would say, talking down to their state school near-peers.
3. I’d probably be cranky and jealous of my prerogatives too, if I’d made the personal investment that fellow has.
4. As a grunt, was definitely lower tier. Spent most of my career reacting to and trying to implement dubious policies and orders.
5. Am comfortable with the current flow of events.
6. Have purchased several of your writings. From my POV your work may be a little more informative than you imagine. At any rate, is informative and entertaining.
7. Thanks,
V/R JW
Thanks for reading JW, informative and entertaining is definitely what I was going for. I agree about the Tiers and how they are referenced in the media. Within Special Operations, these Tiers are hardly ever talked about. They concern budgeting so it is not something we worry over. It’s really only the video games that pump up their product saying things like, “ARE YOU READY FOR TIER ONE?” In Army Special Operations units that just sounds cheesy as hell. It is becoming a high school type community with the way things have been going lately, ie: my Tier is better than yours or in the case of this recent e-mail, I’m more special than you are.
I do not know Mark Alpern, is he on CNN?
Here is my comment again, men! Firstly, we all are grunts one way or another, the Marines taught me that. All of us at one time or another are 0311’s. Secondly, Just because we are (SO) and Tier 1 ops, we still are expendable, the AIRBORNE taught me that after the Corps. Unfortunately, I wasnt prepared for the infighting we often do to each other, however, those who are us and like us often understand that the fight we take to the scum-bag Al-Qaida gang is “one fist, one fight”. That at least keeps us proud minus the film and book deals by some.
As military men, and this is especially true of the Special Operations community, we are very good at eating our own.
All of my 32 years in the Marines,Navy,Army,AR, I always had to explained or proved to my fellow comrades because either they were jealous or they didn’t believe my accolades or some jackass questioned my medals. i got sick of it, hung them up in my office and left them.Now i just say”I served”, and dismissed the explanations. Here is the kicker…Most of those ‘coconuts” looked just like me! TOP.
1. Didn’t research my attribution.
2. Now I have.
3. The fellow’s name was Mark Halpern.
4. Was a political columnist for Time Magazine.
5. Made the mistake of calling Mr. Obama a dick, last year.
6. Been crapped on by his media buddies since then.
7. Has published at least three columns on the Bin Laden Raid business.
8. Was commenting on the book vsv author motivation on a local news radio station (WTOP).
9. Am not greatly impressed by the Bin Laden raid as either an intelligence coup or a feat of arms.
10. Neither the Pakis nor OBL’s crew were particularly noteworthy opponents.
11. For me, the most notable feat of arms was
the NGV head shot, going up stairs, whack a mole style.
12. May be business as usual for you guys, but almost no one in my circle could have made that shot -no one regularly and reliably.
13. Expect the 160th to run circles around the Pakis and make regular deposits of aircraft aluminum on the altars of the mountain gods.
Again business as usual, for that bunch.
14. As for intelligence: my wife woke me up to tell me they’d got Bin Laden. My response: “Only took them ten years.” Hers: “You’re a jerk.”
V/R JW
Haha! It is true that the raid itself was nothing that impressive. I think the most difficult part of the mission was the flying done by the 160th pilots!