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The Best of SOFREP: bin Laden’s Corpse, Discipline and Honor

Jack Murphy’s post Why The White House Hasn’t Released Photos Of Osama bin Laden’s Corpse is the single most visited post we’ve ever published on SOFREP. In the post, Jack Murphy writes: “You may not care if bin Laden got some extra holes punched in him — few of us do — but what should concern you is a trend within certain special-operations units to engage in this type of self-indulgent and ultimately criminal behavior. Gone unchecked, these actions worsen over time and in the end risk creating a unit subculture that is hidden from senior commanders, that is more “Sons of Anarchy” than “American Hero.””

You, our readers, hit this article hard in the comments section. One of the interesting points a reader brought up was the whole “Ranger/CAG good, SEAL/DEVGRU bad” discussion, writing: “As an outsider looking in, good natured inter-service rivalry not withstanding, there is no denying that the implication is that had the CAG carried out this op, no such travesty would have occurred, and yet it is only rumored to have occurred at all.”

Brandon responds: “The bias is based on the fact that CAG has had their shit together in comparison. Also remember that when it all (war crimes) hits the fan in the main stream media about DEVGRU, all people will remember is the word SEAL, they will not differentiate between units, and this doesn’t do anything but harm to my identity. So yes, admittedly there is bias but it is well placed in this matter, and unfortunate all around.”

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Jack Murphy’s post Why The White House Hasn’t Released Photos Of Osama bin Laden’s Corpse is the single most visited post we’ve ever published on SOFREP. In the post, Jack Murphy writes: “You may not care if bin Laden got some extra holes punched in him — few of us do — but what should concern you is a trend within certain special-operations units to engage in this type of self-indulgent and ultimately criminal behavior. Gone unchecked, these actions worsen over time and in the end risk creating a unit subculture that is hidden from senior commanders, that is more “Sons of Anarchy” than “American Hero.””

You, our readers, hit this article hard in the comments section. One of the interesting points a reader brought up was the whole “Ranger/CAG good, SEAL/DEVGRU bad” discussion, writing: “As an outsider looking in, good natured inter-service rivalry not withstanding, there is no denying that the implication is that had the CAG carried out this op, no such travesty would have occurred, and yet it is only rumored to have occurred at all.”

Brandon responds: “The bias is based on the fact that CAG has had their shit together in comparison. Also remember that when it all (war crimes) hits the fan in the main stream media about DEVGRU, all people will remember is the word SEAL, they will not differentiate between units, and this doesn’t do anything but harm to my identity. So yes, admittedly there is bias but it is well placed in this matter, and unfortunate all around.”

Jack writes: “Of course, these attitudes and behaviors do not come out of nowhere. Endless back-to-back combat deployments, post-traumatic stress disorder, broken families and the ugliness of more than a decade of war all play into it.” War is ugly, ugliest of all for the warriors required to do the actual wet work, and Americans would do well to keep this in mind before passing judgment.

(Continue reading Why The White House Hasn’t Released Photos Of Osama bin Laden’s Corpse)

About SOFREP News Team View All Posts

The SOFREP News Team is a collective of professional military journalists. Brandon Tyler Webb is the SOFREP News Team's Editor-in-Chief. Guy D. McCardle is the SOFREP News Team's Managing Editor. Brandon and Guy both manage the SOFREP News Team.

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