Comments on: US Navy SEAL training, an insider’s comment. https://habitablezone.com/2016/05/15/us-navy-seal-training-an-insiders-comment/ Fri, 01 May 2026 04:02:03 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2016/05/15/us-navy-seal-training-an-insiders-comment/#comment-36555 ER Mon, 16 May 2016 13:27:51 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=57645#comment-36555 Sure, no one denies the military (or law enforcement) utility of specialized quick strike and infiltration units. But their rapid growth suggests other motivations. There is great prestige and glamour attached to these units, both for those who serve in them and command them, and for the larger formations in which they serve. Duplication of effort, overspecialization and inter-service rivalry, sins military bureaucracies seem particularly vulnerable to, no doubt play a role in this scramble for each branch to gets its own mutant ninja squad. Is the great expense involved in specialized training, support and in maintaining these units justified by how often they are used? In today's asymmetric battlefield environment, no one denies these guys come in handy, but do we need as many as we have? There is also mission creep--if you command one of these outfits, you'll certainly want to use it, even when it may be inappropriate. I just heard on the news this morning the Marines started their own commando group. Hell, the Marines are under the Navy Department, couldn't they just borrow the SEALS if they needed that capability? Besides, their headgear, supposedly added to increase morale by adding alleged flair and dash, is starting to approach the extreme in scrotal ridiculousness: <img src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSmMvufngL3SNJtKvR03ARkWCljHqibBKradEy5vx--AS2OFZPc9A" alt="." /> Sure, no one denies the military (or law enforcement) utility of specialized quick strike and infiltration units. But their rapid growth suggests other motivations. There is great prestige and glamour attached to these units, both for those who serve in them and command them, and for the larger formations in which they serve. Duplication of effort, overspecialization and inter-service rivalry, sins military bureaucracies seem particularly vulnerable to, no doubt play a role in this scramble for each branch to gets its own mutant ninja squad.

Is the great expense involved in specialized training, support and in maintaining these units justified by how often they are used? In today’s asymmetric battlefield environment, no one denies these guys come in handy, but do we need as many as we have? There is also mission creep–if you command one of these outfits, you’ll certainly want to use it, even when it may be inappropriate. I just heard on the news this morning the Marines started their own commando group. Hell, the Marines are under the Navy Department, couldn’t they just borrow the SEALS if they needed that capability?

Besides, their headgear, supposedly added to increase morale by adding alleged flair and dash, is starting to approach the extreme in scrotal ridiculousness:

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