I do not doubt that the report is true.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
What the hell is going on that drove these guys to drug use? OR is it just a few bad apples that created the 'drugs are cool' mentality?

In the military when you're under stress, drugs and alcohol offer a tempting reprieve.

On a related note, this was an amazing book:

https://www.amazon.com/Fearles...erator/dp/B0084BRKHI


Spoilers:



Adam Brown was a crack addict, beat the adiction, joined the navy, made the teams, lost an eye, went to SEAL sniper school and learned to shoot left-handed there. Passed. Got his right hand crushed in combat, requalified and then went through, and passed DEVGRU selection, where he continued to kill bad guys. Somewhere in there, he relapsed on the drugs, but beat it down again.

Time to start over

The culture I see in the Teams is "I'm special and we are the best, because we say so".

I prefer working with other units the same realm, simply because they don't exude this attitude, nor due you need to treat them with kid gloves in order to not hurt some self determined "I can do no wrong" attitude, that I see with NSW.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
I bet these guys take a lot of fairly serious injuries. I also bet there's a lot of pressure on both the operators and the medical staff that support them to get them back in action as soon as possible. This could likely often been achieved by giving the operators various painkillers.

They take no more injuries than their counterparts in the Army and USAF.

There is really nothing surprising here. All you have to do is substitute the term 'professional athelete' for 'SEAL' and it all makes sense.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
The culture I see in the Teams is "I'm special and we are the best, because we say so".

I prefer working with other units the same realm, simply because they don't exude this attitude, nor due you need to treat them with kid gloves in order to not hurt some self determined "I can do no wrong" attitude, that I see with NSW.

This is real - I met plenty of other component guys who just plain out and out say "they (navspecwarcom) don't play well with others".

But I doubt the rate of addiction in NSW is really all different than AFSOC, MARSOC, etc. unless they have a special genetic screening, which we know they don't.

I've met tough men with great work-ethics who make it a long way into addiction hell just on stamina alone - retired on medical e.g. sustained injuries when a chute cigarette-rolled and they hit the dirt hard, with huge prescriptions of opioids for pain who end up just like any other human with the genetic predisposition for opioid addiction.

Because they shine their shoes and make their bed every day, they don't think they are addicted, despite eating percocets like freaking sweet tarts. Just because they don't look like a hippie from Portlandia doesn't mean they don't have the disease.

Because they have some external semblance of a "straight" life doesn't make up for how they are in their head. Many just take their own lives over admitting what the real issue is due to a bullshit stigma, and nonsense .mil ignorance about this stuff.

Somehow, alcohol addiction is often largely ignored as "work hard-play hard". It's accepted behavior, although is the same fucking disease.

It's called Adrenaline They all are OCD and theyre addicted. Hell their Command Master Chief with A curly pencil thin mustache told me these young men are like racing horses. At some point you have to let them run free. If not they well find it. it doesn't surprise me one bit!

I say this with respect. My uncle was a team member SEAL team 2 in vietnam retired in 73 my cousin UDT that turned into SEAL 5.

I haven't been associated with many guys who were that deeply involved in war, but I did have a couple older SF sergeants who were treading water until they could make retirement. They really didn't talk much about it unless they were sauced up pretty good, but then they were sauced up most of the time between formations. They went through some crap, and it ruined their families, careers, and livers.

You are correct. This is overblown BS. Drug testing is stringent and guys get caught, then they get booted. CBS is peddling crap.

quote:

Originally posted by DoctorSolo:
I call bullshit.

I'm sure some percentage has problems, just like every other group of humans, but it seems an awful lot like another media attempt to discredit our military.

OH no! Drugs! Not anything more government oversight and regulation can't solve, I'm quite sure.

"According to the 2008 Department of Defense (DoD) Survey of Health Related Behaviors among Active Duty Military Personnel, just 2.3 percent of military personnel were past-month users of an illicit drug, compared with 12 percent of civilians. Among those age 18­–25 (who are most likely to use drugs), the rate among military personnel was 3.9 percent, compared with 17.2 percent among civilians.

A policy of zero tolerance for drug use among DoD personnel is likely one reason why illicit drug use has remained at a low level in the military for 2 decades. The policy was instituted in 1982 and is currently enforced by frequent random drug testing; service members face dishonorable discharge and even criminal prosecution for a positive drug test.

However, in spite of the low level of illicit drug use, abuse of prescription drugs is higher among service members than among civilians and is on the increase. In 2008, 11 percent of service members reported misusing prescription drugs, up from 2 percent in 2002 and 4 percent in 2005. Most of the prescription drugs misused by service members are opioid pain medications."

From reading the article, it seems to me to be a top-down problem. Capt. Sands obviously blames the troops for this issue, seemingly rather than trying to come up with a way to support them.

More excellence from the Teams.

http://pilotonline.com/news/lo...32-a41edf0cff05.html

"A member of SEAL Team 1 was arrested this week on federal charges he recorded himself molesting a sleeping child earlier this year.

Petty Officer 1st Class Gregory Kyle Seerden was picked up in San Diego, where he is stationed. U.S. Marshals are in the process of bringing him back to Virginia to be arraigned on four felonies, including production of child pornography.

If convicted on the production charge alone, he faces a minimum of 15 years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Yusi declined to comment on the case. Court records do not list an attorney for Seerden.

Lieutenant Zachary Keating, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Group 1. stressed they were working with the "investigative authorities" handling the case, but declined further comment.

The charges against Seerden, filed March 31 and unsealed Wednesday, stemmed from a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation of an unrelated sexual assault for which he does not currently face any charges.

A woman reported Seerden raped her last January inside a hotel at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. The woman said she went out drinking with Seerden Jan. 26, and she began blacking out. She remembered Seerden on top of her in his hotel room and her telling Seerden to stop, but nothing else."

I think every thing falls back on your upbringing. I spent 11 years in my last job working with a lot of military people. They were not the same as ex-military people I knew that were World War II and Korean War veterans.

Some had no morals and would do anything to get ahead which included stealing, lying on their time card, taking credit for other peoples work, conflict of interest, and fighting. It was too bad the management did nothing to get rid of some of them because a lot of people left the company or transferred to another department due to being around these types.

I have known two Navy Seals as friends and one was a good guy while the other one was messed up in the head. We soon parted ways due to his misguided actions.

People must be under a lot of stress to get involved with drugs. I really don't have an answer to the problem.