Down Range Post 2(Chapter 3)

As it has been a while since I last posted on this book I read my last post and would like to update some ideas and conclusions that I came to that were not necessarily correct. At first the Navy SEALS were portrayed as a bunch of no holds Rambo warriors that would shoot to kill and ask questions later. However, this was completely wrong. They like to see themselves as global police officers of war. When given the chance to recon a potential hostile building or paint it for the air force to bomb the SEALs would chose to recon because that’s what they do. After several long days of surveillance on the house of the doctor of bin Laden a car pulls up and flashes its lights and what appear to be armed men get out of the car. The SEALs relay this information and are given the choice to destroy the building with a smart bomb or search the house first. The SEALs did not want to just take the easy way out and bomb the heck out of the building killing everyone. "We didnt feel right about it. We knew there were people inside, but only a few vehicles came and went. We could ill them all with a few JDAMs, but who were we killing?"(84) The SEALs are not cold hearted killers that want to take kill every terrorist insight. It turned out in this situation that the building was just full of old people and kids. Thanks to the strategy of the SEALs not a shot was fired and no civilian was hurt. However, the idea that the SEALs can drop out of the sky unannounced and create havoc is what they want the terrorists to think. Just 5 weeks after September 11th 100 Special Forces personnel were air dropped into a compound thought to be frequently used by a Taliban leader Muhammad Omar. There they took over the compound and discovered several large weapon caches ad valuable documents. However, the most important aspect is that “it told the Taliban and those under their protection that anytime, anywhere, American airborne infantry can drop from the sky. It sent the message that American SOF forces can go where they want and when they want.”(71) This sense of power is what made the SEALs so well known to be able to go in do their job and get out before anyone even knew that they were there. It changes the states of minds of the enemy; they feel unsafe anywhere. Secrecy is key to the SEALs, “it is best for the enemy to wonder what happened to an al-Qaeda fighter or insurgent leader. Why did he disappear? Was he killed or did he abandon the cause? Or did he defect?”(87) This sense of sneakyness and ability to be where they want when they want is what defines the SEALs and their tactics.