But I can tell you this, I can still look in the mirror today and know I did my best, and with a clean conscience.
I’m not sure the Admiral can say the same.
I recently saw another piece where the Admiral was quoted attacking Trump’s leadership, shared by a friend in Portugal who used to be a diplomat for the European Union.
So yes, I find it a bit ironic that Admiral William McRaven, the architect of Operation Neptune Spear, the guy who commanded JSOC and US SOCOM, starts throwing stones at Trump from his media-manicured glass house, it’s hard not to notice the hypocrisy.
He’s the darling of the mainstream media, the voice of seasoned wisdom in a chaotic world. And yeah, the guy knows how to execute. I’ll give him that. But when he publicly calls out Donald Trump, it’s like watching a career politician who’s been lining his pockets for decades suddenly lecture the mayor of New York, Zohran Mandami, on ethics.
McRaven’s criticism of Trump for undermining institutions and threatening democracy is, on the surface, understandable.
But let’s not forget that McRaven wasn’t exactly a choir boy when he was running the most lethal, off-the-books killing machine the world has ever seen.
While McRaven was sitting in his air-conditioned office in Tampa, issuing orders that echoed across the global war on terror, some serious, stomach-churning filth was bubbling up from the ranks under his command.
He was the man at the top. The commander-in-chief of Special Operations. The guy with the ultimate authority.
The buck clearly stopped with him.
During his tenure, the Special Ops community was rocked by scandals that still make me sick to my stomach. And yet, these weren’t isolated incidents. They were symptoms of a culture, a sickness, that festered under his leadership, which is now, thankfully, being cleaned up by the current leadership.
Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.-McRaven
You want to talk about undermining institutions, Admiral?
How about the institutional rot that allowed special operations teams to become judge, jury, and executioner with near-zero oversight?
Then the complete and utter failure of accountability that allowed these alleged atrocities to happen on your watch?
Let’s be real for just a second.
The elite Special Operations community is a breeding ground for the absolute best and worst that human nature has to offer.
They are the tip of the spear, operating in the grayest of gray areas. But that doesn’t give anyone a free pass. We are supposed to be the good guys.
And it sure as hell doesn’t mean the guy who was in charge gets to wash his hands of the mess.
So, while McRaven is busy preening for the camera, selling books and appearing in documentaries, and playing the role of the virtuous defender of democracy, let’s remember the absolute nightmare scenarios that occurred under his command.
The Uncomfortable Truths Under Admiral McRaven’s Command
These aren’t conspiracy theories cooked up in the dark corners of the internet. These are credible reports from established investigative journalism outfits, including the New York Times and The Intercept, documenting abuses and crimes that occurred within US SOCOM while McRaven was in charge.
The dirty laundry was piling up while the Admiral was busy “making his bed” and prepping for his next media circuit.
It’s well-documented, but it all came at a time when I don’t think America was ready to read about their heroes doing this kind of sh*t.
- Mutilations, “Revenge Ops,” and Unjustified Killings. Operators allegedly using hatchets and “skinnings” as part of a culture that viewed themselves as untouchable. This wasn’t a one-off… it was a systemic breakdown of the very “values” McRaven now preaches. And the hatchets actually appeared in the video game Medal of Honor Warfighter, where Matt Bissonette and members of SEAL Team 6 were paid to consult while on active duty. The Crimes of SEAL TEAM 6. – The Intercept
- The Murder of Logan Melgar: While this horrific event happened shortly after he left, the culture that birthed it—the theft of operational funds to buy prostitutes and diamonds, followed by the strangulation of a fellow Green Beret who tried to stop it, was the direct result of the toxic “untouchable” environment fostered during the McRaven years. -The New York Times
- The General Allegations of Accountability Failures and Unlawful Conduct: Numerous investigations and interviews with current and former operators painted a disturbing picture of a systemic failure within SOCOM to investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes. There were persistent allegations of cover-ups, command-level pressure to ignore reports, and a lack of transparency that made a mockery of the chain of command and international law. (Documented extensively in Matthew Cole’s book “Code Over Country” and related Intercept reporting.)
It’s easy to judge a situation from the comfort of a 24-hour news cycle, but when you’ve been in the muck, you understand the complexities of leadership in high-stakes environments.
Leadership isn’t just about making the right calls on a raid. It’s about taking responsibility for the catastrophic failures that happen under your command, and taking corrective measures rather than sweeping the brass under the carpet.
McRaven can talk about honor and institutions all day long, and a hell of a lot of people will nod their heads in agreement.
But for those of us who have seen the ugliness up close, myself included, his words feel hollow.
He had the power, he had the command, and he had the responsibility.
The alleged crimes that emerged under his leadership were not just a series of unfortunate events. They were a dereliction of command responsibility on a massive scale.
He can write all the motivational books and deliver all the commencement speeches he wants, but he can’t outrun the ghost of what happened under his command.
I remember, Jack Murphy, and SOFREP remembers.
The next time he decides to lecture the country about honor, maybe someone should ask him about the bodies, the stolen millions, and the broken accountability system that defined his time at the very top.
He doesn’t get to be the moral voice of a nation when his own house was burning to the ground. He’s made his bed, and now he can sleep in it.
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