Reached by telephone, Regina Mullen, Seaman Mullen’s mom, stated she was happy that the Navy was admitting to shortfalls within the medical system, “nonetheless, I’m upset that there’s nonetheless no accountability up to now.”
In a press release, the commander of all of Naval Particular Warfare together with the SEALs, Rear Adm. Keith Davids, stated that the SEALs would work to enact the report’s suggestions for making the coaching secure, including, “We are going to honor Seaman Mullen’s reminiscence by guaranteeing that the legacy of our fallen teammate guides us in direction of one of the best coaching program attainable for our future Navy SEALs.”
The Navy SEALs have tried for many years to strike a steadiness, making the choice course difficult sufficient to pick solely elite SEALs, however not so troublesome that it leaves good candidates damaged. SEAL coaching is seen by militaries all over the world as a gold customary for particular forces, so the design of the course has affect far past the small group of Navy SEALs.
Traditionally, a median of about three out of 10 sailors who attempt the course graduate to finish it. However the commencement fee has diverse broadly through the years, primarily based partially on the whims of instructors, and the course has at instances resembled institutionalized hazing. In all, about 11 college students have died, and untold others have been severely injured.
After a brand new management workforce took over the course in 2021, commencement charges dropped steeply. When the commander of Navy Particular Warfare on the time, Rear Adm. Hugh W. Howard, was warned concerning the drop, he advised subordinates that it was nice if nobody graduated and that it was extra essential that the course stay powerful. In keeping with the report, the admiral added, “Zero is an okay quantity; maintain the usual.”
Instructors, who typically had little expertise or coaching for the function, started to view their jobs not as academics constructing new SEALs, however as enforcers “looking the again of the pack” to “weed out” the weak, the report stated. A gradual elevation of harsh techniques that the report known as “depth creep” allowed instructors to push the calls for of the course “to the far finish of the appropriate spectrum,” leaving college students exhausted, sick and injured.
The course had lengthy employed civilian veterans of the SEAL groups to be mentors, as a approach to mood the younger instructors. However below the brand new management, these skilled veterans had been marginalized. Quickly, fewer than 10 % of scholars in some courses had been making it by means of the course.