I agree with everything, including your admiration for SEAL commandos (if anything, we need more of them), and your emphatic statement that nobody is above the law when it comes to murder.
Be strong. If it is any consolation, the circumstances behind this crime are going to make it more difficult for him to play the "sudden rage" card.
There is a chance that this incident might be distantly linked to a vague idea that SEAL commandos also have "licenses to kill" and can be semi official vigilantes. For example, one SEAL war hero who was brave even by special forces standards, also wrote "fish tale" accounts of being a vigilante where he killed criminals on several occasions and was allowed by police to leave the scene of a double homicide after he flashed some sort of SEAL identification card or orders.
Likewise, at least one former SEAL has published novels that while written as fiction, blend in SEAL fact, and tell of the commandos "taking care of" domestic criminals vigilante style. Though neither the war hero nor the other authors are to blame for this crime, the commanders of the SEALs might want to really make it clear that domestic "licenses to kill" just don't exist- period.
I have to weigh in here.
First of all, Jaime, my sincerest condolences for the tragic loss of your dear friend. I noticed there was a scheduled court date but haven't seen any further news...please keep us posted on how this case is going and how you and Kris' friends and family are doing. I am so sorry.
Secondly, in regard to Navy SEALs - I have a loved one who was part of the Naval Special Warfare community for most of his 10 year Navy career, serving at a spec war command for SEALs. I have SEAL friends, and attended the funeral of one of the guys killed in the Redwing operation (depicted in the film 'Lone Survivor'). The Naval Special Warfare and SEAL community are family to me. So what I can tell you is that their community has an extremely high bar for conduct, and integrity is central to the tenets of that bar. There is NO confusion on the part of
any SEAL about where the line is between Navy duty and missions, and other areas of his life. There are no "licenses to kill" or "semi-official" or any other brand of vigilante activities sanctioned anywhere in Navy SEAL training or by their commands.
I don't know who these above-referenced anonymous 'SEALs' are - a lot of imposters have claimed to be SEALs, and a lot of SEALs have written books - but if police are allowing SEAL presence at a homicide, or a 'killer' SEAL to walk away from a homicide because of a flashed 'SEAL' card, then that's truly fiction, or, both the 'SEAL' and the police were smoking something.
"Commandos" is a term used more by civilian culture than the SEAL teams. To one another, they're simply "SEALs", "Teams guys", and Brothers who do a job. I guarantee you, you wouldn't know a SEAL from any other guy if you met him off duty in mixed company because they're regular guys, and they don't boast or discuss work. So - in regard to this individual who's been charged, if he's found to be guilty of this horrible crime, he's simply a criminal who deserves what he gets, SEAL or not. He doesn't represent his community or its ethos or training, and shame on him for such an utter failure in moral conscience. It also sounds like this is the second time he's had an issue revolving around the alleged targeting of young girls where he decided he had his own authority.
There have certainly been guys in the Teams who are not worthy of the Trident and who have committed criminal acts. Like any population, there's always a percentage of bad apples. But the SEAL whose commando training makes him a ticking time bomb or killing machine is a myth. These guys are some of the most level-headed, grounded, honorable people you'll ever meet, and the discipline demanded in their training promotes this. It does not make them murderers on vigilante missions.
I post this for two reasons - to dispel any thought that there are blurred lines in the SEAL community, or that they have pathology created by training or because of their aptitude for their type of work -
and to say that this person's crime is just that - a crime for which he should be duly punished if he is guilty. No passes from the Navy or his brothers or anyone else.
My condolences and hope for Justice for Kris.
