Top Navy SEAL Warns: 'We Have a Problem'

Addressing 'good order and discipline problem' is 'top priority'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 2, 2019 9:25 AM CDT
Top Navy SEAL: We Must 'Recalibrate Our Culture'
Rear Adm. Collin P. Green speaks during a Memorial Day ceremony at Woodland Park Cemetery in Miami, Fla., on May, 29, 2017.   (Pedro Portal/Miami Herald via AP)

The commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command put the words "We have a problem" in bold font. "I don't know yet if we have a culture problem, I do know that we have a good order and discipline problem that must be addressed immediately," reads the July 25 letter from Rear Adm. Collin Green, the man in charge of Navy SEALs. The letter obtained by CNN and the New York Times orders commanders to bring forth problems and recommendations for how to ensure ethical and professional behavior following a series of embarrassing incidents, reports CNN. "This is our main effort and my top priority," Green writes, noting the culture of the force "is being questioned ... for good reason" as "some of our subordinate formations have failed to maintain good order and discipline."

Retired Navy SEAL Eric Deming brought his concerns to Green on Monday. "I got two boys that are old enough, I wouldn't even let them be part of [the force]," he tells CBS News. An entire SEAL platoon was sent home from Iraq after allegations of sexual assault and unauthorized drinking. Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, accused of war crimes, was convicted of unlawfully posing with an enemy corpse. And two SEALs were implicated in the 2017 hazing death of a Green Beret just months after members of SEAL Team 10 were found to have used cocaine in April 2018. Green says addressing such issues is necessary to "recalibrate our culture and regain our credibility." The head of all special operations forces, Gen. Richard Clarke, is expected to address ethics in his own letter to the force, per CNN. (More Navy SEALs stories.)

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