Dishonoring the Navy Seals. I always thought they were the best of the best...

[jillan]

Not anymore.

Disrespecting the Commander in Chief while we have troops engaged in war.
Shame!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/ryan-zinke-navy-seal-super-pac_n_1686086.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Ryan Zinke, Former Navy SEAL, Creates Anti-Obama 'Special Operations For America' Super PAC
snips...
Ryan Zinke, a GOP state senator and former Navy SEAL commander, announced the launch of a new super PAC this week, designed to oppose President Barack Obama.

Zinke current serves in Montana's state legislature and was once a member of SEAL Team 6, the elite group of special operations forces that was responsible for carrying out the mission to kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The 23-year SEAL veteran says his super PAC, Special Operations for America, will provide members of the special forces community an outlet to channel the frustrations they have with president.

With the creation of his new political body, Zinke has been speaking out again about Obama's handling of the bin Laden mission and the military in general.

"Who was it at risk? Was it the president? Or was it the young SEAL with the wife and kid at home?" he said, according to USA Today. "That's the arrogance."

“It’s time to stop President Obama from negotiating away our freedoms and our ability to win on the battlefield," Zinke told the Daily Inter Lake. "For those who have an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic, it is a call of duty to take back America from a commander-in-chief that is incapable of understanding the sacrifices that have been made for the values that have made America great.”

---------



eta name of superpac

[arbusto_baboso]

1. I question whether he was really a SEAL.

In fact, I'd like to see his DD-214. "Some say" he faked his military record. Why won't he show us his DD-214?

[jillan]

2. Good point.

[arbusto_baboso]

7. But just for the record....

Army Special Forces are the best. I was on a joint exercise once in Norway where we worked with a SEAL team. The "finest sailors in the world" foundered their fucking boats!

[Dawson Leery]

3. Where is his DD-214 form?

[arbusto_baboso]

5. You know, if even HALF the people who claimed to be SEALS really were....

We'd be able to field the Equivalent of 15 Infantry Divisions of SEALs alone.

[DURHAM D]

9. Exactly -

IRL I know four fakes.

[arbusto_baboso]

10. My buddies and I make a point...

of identifying fakes, picking fights with them, and cleaning their clocks.

Of course, most back down and apologize long before we get to the last part.

[Blue_Tires]

11. Yeah, it seems to be by far the most overused "pick up bar chicks" lie

If you're going to do that, at least name some unit so obscure no one will think to look it up...

Or just make up some imaginary special forces unit that didn't "officially" exist

[Bandit]

4. Who was at risk when Bush* sent all those troops into Iraq and Adfghanistan

This guy doesn't sound very bright to me...He sounds like a Rush Limbough Ditto head that hasn't developed any critical thinking skills at all. Probabl;y the reason he is an Ex Seal. Most people that go into Special Forces or Special Operations like the SEALS are in it for life...not just one enlistment..

[Marinedem]

33. So much wrong with your post I don't know wheere to start.

23 years? I'd call that a hell of a lot more than a one year "enlistment"

SEALS are required to be highly intelligent. Commanders incredibly so.

As a commander, he was commissioned, not enlisted.

Special operations is incredibly tough on your body. A prime reason that many soldiers in that role do "Just one enlistment"




If anyone here is concerned about his legitimacy, I'd encourage you to make an inquiry at this link. Not dog a man's service out of

speculation. http://www.veriseal.org/

Some of you sound like birthers, BTW. Some.

[Politicalboi]

6. Where was FDR at

Normandy?

What an ass.

[whatchamacallit]

8. Enjoy the fruits of your projection and military fetishism

[Riftaxe]

12. I was prepared to be pissed

but then i read Former Navy SEAL

Just in case you are not familiar with this term, here you go...

former
form·er/ˈfôrmər/
Adjective:

1. Having previously filled a particular role or been a particular thing.
2. Of or occurring in the past or an earlier period.

Now what do you call a former Nave SEAL? I would go with citizen, and citizen's have every protection granted by the first amendment to be obnoxious twerps.

So congratulations on giving the fellow in the article some free PR...

[DCKit]

30. Retroactively speaking..... nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. He is a civilan now, right?

So any standard that applied to him while in the military no longer does.

He is now free and clear, even if I disagree with him, to express his opinion, and damn it, he earned that right.

I realize this will not be popular here, but live with it. Once you leave the service, you can talk smack about the CiC, and anybody else in government.

[MattBaggins]

18. And others have the right to criticize and smack talk

him all they want.... It's an amazing fucking two way street.

Do you get that?

[SickOfTheOnePct]

19. I guess I misread nadinbrzezinski's post

I thought all she was saying was that what he said is no dishonor to the Seals at large since he wasn' t one anymore.

The snarkiness in this place over simple differences of opinion is amazing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. You read it correctly

If he was still active duty...can I count the violations of the UCMJ?

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. You can be as critical as you want of him

as a civilian, a citizen, with full use of his rights, not a seal. He is, in no way, shape or form, telling you official DoD policy, or worst, Seal team whatever policy. He is no longer subject to the UCMJ.

So have at it... as a civilian. Clear enough?

[L0oniX]

22. I remeber when...

"Disrespecting the Commander in Chief while we have troops engaged in war.
Shame!" was used against us when we bad mouthed Bush.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Yeah, and

I disagree with Mr.Zemke...vigorously even, but I will defend his right to express his opinions...he has that right.

Not gonna sink to their level, you dig?

[hughee99]

27. I remember when...

"We Have a Right to Debate and Disagree with Any Administration" was used to defend those who bad mouthed *.

They guy is retired, he can say what he wants.

[1StrongBlackMan]

14. Having never served in the military ...

I have made an observation:

I have met a bunch of folks that claim to have been Navy Seals or other Special Ops folks; but the only one that I KNOW was a Seal (a close friend from high-school), never talks about it.

He will tell you he is a veteran and that he served in the Navy; but he never says what he did ... ever ... even during testoterone filled drunken sprees.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. I know two

And they will admit to it, but like you said, not speak of the actual experience. Some missions are classified.

Now what they can talk about, they do, with both my husband and I, but in private, and only because we have shared some of the lovely experience.

[chowder66]

15. One bitter former Navy Seal does not

mean they are not the best of the best. Please...with sincerity... they deserve better than to be broadbrushed because of this one guy.

[haele]

17. Lots of people go through part of BUDS but don't become SEALs

UDT (Underwater Demolition Techs), MIUW (Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare), River Rats. They're part of "Spec-OPS", and they will do a lot of important Spec-OPs activities, but they are usually not SEALs - even though they will work alongside a SEAL or two. It's not to say they're not as good as a "SEAL" - if you want a harbor cleared of mines so that shipping is safe, you'll want an MIUW or UDT diver, it's that kind of the same as saying your trusted GP is not as good as rhumetologist.

Sort of like being a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. There are thought to be three times as many people currently alive who have leveraged or made a career claiming they received on as were given out over the entirety of that medal's existence - and considering that 90% of those medals were awarded posthumously, that's pretty much like saying for every 1 living CMOH recipient, there are around 400 claiming to have gotten one. Same with SEALs.

Not to say that there aren't closet racist jerks who made it into the SEALs who would pull this "Oathkeeper/Birther/Tea-Party" crap. Just that there aren't a whole lot of them who would 1) think that it would be odd or "unpatriotic" that the hierarchy that okay'ed the mission wouldn't be just as responsible for the mission as those who performed it or 2) have such a narrow view of "American Values" that he would have fallen for some sort of holy-soldier football team mentality. Those sorts of mentalities f**k with the focus on team trust and getting the mission completed.

My understanding from the several co-workers and acquaintances who had been UDT's, River-Rats, or MIUW folks, the SEALs usually wash out the "warrior rah-rahs" and send them to the MIUW or SEAL Team support positions; you don't want someone with a conservative mindset that might harbor bigotry against the few who can go through the program to become your fellow team members, or people who can't adapt and blend in when operating within a foreign culture when you're performing a critical operation. I was familiar with one SEAL during the Clinton era, but that was because he was TDY due to an injury. He seemed to be a cautiously mellow (he was very observant about everything around him) - and definitely low-key when it came to his opinions on anything. Pretty much a "live and let live - or kill only if you have to" type of guy.

Of course, he was enlisted - not an Officer - so he did have to live up to any sort of reputation to get promoted.

I think Zinke didn't spend enough time on his own incountry and spent too much time in Arlington at the feet of Rumsferatu and his minions as an REFM, absorbing the cause and attitude of the NeoCons.

Haele

[Bandit]

21. REMF...not REFM

Rear Echelon Mother Fucker

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. Zinke was an actual SEAL...

Though he never screened for Captain. In the SpecOps community that could mean something or not, since there are not that many O-6 billets. He retired, honorably I might add, as an O-5 and served as team exec officer.

So not quite REMF. and as a civilian, he has a right to his opinion.

[onethatcares]

25. well, I for one remember when gwbush

(I almost threw up while typing that name) went to war and saved us from the VietCong, protected the country and swore to search for OBL until he was hunted down and killed(well until he stopped thinking about him)

I think Ryan has forgotten about why we really invade these countries and install our own puppets.


fuck him.

[Archae]

28. Maybe he was a SEAL...

Even SEALS need desk jockeys...

[Zyzafyx]

29. One Rotten Apple

He's not even a SEAL anymore, if he ever was.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. He is a USN navy commander ret

Mos was SEAL...don't play the same game the right played with one Lt. Kerry

[Smilo]

31. He is saying the wrong thing about the wrong president...........

where was Zinke when Bush did nothing except get thousands of people killed and maimed while being awesome and powerful and famous?

[Solly Mack]

32. lololol!

What a load.

"...from negotiating away our freedoms and our ability to win on the battlefield"

lolololol

SSDW.

[Edweird]

35. The Bin Laden Mission is what SEALS train for and are paid to do.