Yes. Sailors who accept advanced training agree to obligate service, and agree that failure to complete that service obligation will result in the Navy recouping the cost of that training. This is to discourage people from walking away immediately after getting valuable training. This policy applies to ALL Navy sailors, not just SEALs. Hoft is just using the SEALs as clickbait.
They are willing to complete the obligation.
But they didn’t walk away. They were forced out. And most of them probably already meant the minimum obligations for their training. This is wrong on so many levels.
‘Failure to complete service’ is entirely different from ‘being forced out’
I doubt this applies to SEAL training, which has no real civilian-related technical skills or training.
Providing security for high-risk targets, killing terrorists, etc., is not the same.