Navy SEALs Caught Up In Drug Sweep

More than a dozen sailors, including eight SEALs, are being investigated after testing positive for illegal drug use, the Navy confirmed yesterday.

Seven sailors assigned to the Naval Special Warfare Command, including five SEALs, failed drug tests in early May while they were on a training exercise in Thailand.

Other sailors reported seeing the commandos using drugs in Pattaya, a Thai beach resort.

That was enough for Rear Adm. Joseph Maguire, the Naval Special Warfare commander, to order a drug-testing sweep of 3,300 of the 4,600 men and women under his command.

The only people not tested were those deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries and those on leave or on temporary duty.

In the sweep, six more sailors tested positive, including three SEALs, one student and two support personnel.

Some of those who failed the drug tests are assigned to units based at Coronado's Naval Amphibious Base. Others are from units in Little Creek, Va.

The episode is forcing the early replacement of two SEAL platoons overseas by two stateside units and has embarrassed units that have been used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan in the war on terrorism.

"We identified the problem," said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Bender yesterday. "We investigated the problem, and we'll hold those accountable for their actions."

The investigations are being conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and could result in criminal or administrative action. No charges have been filed.

The Navy has a zero-tolerance drug policy, and sailors caught using drugs usually are discharged. "This is something that's not taken lightly. One is too many," Bender said.

The sweeps come as the Navy is trying to increase its number of SEALs. The war on terrorism has increased the need for special operations forces such as the SEALs, Green Berets and Army Rangers.

Training SEALs is time-consuming and costly. Each two-year training process includes the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL class and advanced weapons and tactics training. It costs several hundred thousand dollars to train each commando.

The SEALs and special warfare crewmen were in Thailand for Cobra Gold, an annual multinational training exercise.

After other sailors reported the possible drug use, 10 sailors were asked to take drug urinalysis tests. Nine volunteered and the 10th was ordered to take the urine test, Bender said.

Seven sailors, five SEALs and two combatant crewmen tested positive. They were flown back to their units in San Diego and Little Creek. Navy law enforcement agents searched barracks and buildings used by the sailors in Guam and Singapore but found no drugs. Their stateside units were not revealed.

The two SEAL platoons, each with 16 commandos, will be replaced this month with two similar units from the United States, Bender said.

No operations or exercises were affected by the suspected drug use or testing, he added.

"This did not affect our readiness," he said, pointing out that only one-fifth of 1 percent of the drug tests were positive. "We have not missed a beat."

Drug use by such forces is worrisome, said defense analyst Ivan Eland, because the small units, often working in hostile territory, require teamwork.

"They are endangering their own lives but also the colleagues in their units," said Eland, senior fellow of The Independent Institute in Oakland.

Last year, 21 special warfare sailors were discharged after failing drug tests. In 2002, positive tests forced out 32 sailors assigned to Naval Special Warfare.

Adm. Vern Clark, chief of naval operations, has called for a 25 percent reduction in drug use this year.

You smoked your lunch if you think I read that, or anything you write. You’re just another old flame artist sitting at home acting out your frustration with yourself. Do yourself a favor and get help.

Yeah. Uh hmm. I'm frustrated alright. ROFLMAO! Bawwwhahaha ! LMAO!

elfman2 ... you read every line of it and it ate you up while doing so. Like I said, you give good conservatives a bad name because you think in absolutes and extremes. If someone does not agree with you or if they have another perspective because of experiences in which you have none - you attack out of ignorance. You turn the issue into something it is not and never was in order to fit your perception of the topic at hand. You would rather argue a point with viciousness than stop and listen and perhaps gain some insight and knowledge along the way. ... and that is truly a shame. Hey, if you don't read this one either, then try not responding this time. :) You are waaaay too easy.

I can't believe what I'm reading in this thread. You two, and anyone else with the cockeyed idea that it is ok to do drugs anywhere in the military, are as wrong as rain.

No one has condoned any such thing. No one has said one thing about it being ok to do drugs anywhere in the military. That is the kind of rhetoric and play of words that the libs normally pull ... and it is the kind of narrow thinking that makes the rest of us conservatives look bad. It is extremist in nature. No one said any such thing. What we said was, "it happens." What we said was it happens and has always happened but you are seeing it turned into a major political issue this year because those 60s dope smoking hippies that are now the editors and publishers in the media, and those now heading up the liberal party, are such hypocrits that they would point the finger at our current military and claim their is an epidemic drug problem because the troops are unhappy and it is all because of Bush.

That pretty much spells it out. What we were talking about had nothing to do with condoning anything or claiming anything was ok. But kids will be kids. College kids do it, military kids do it, even conservative well-raised yupp-eeees do it. That's the story of, that's the glory of drugs. It has been that way for a long time and it will continue to be that way. Some experiment and quit. Some experiment and continue. Some get caught and pay the price. But most try it at one time or another in one form or another. What bothers me is that these SEALs will pay a much higher price than most.

Regards

Don't put words in my mouth leadpenny. Don't you dare. If you are too simple and thick headed to understand the gist of my meaning then do not dare fill in the blanks with your own skewed zealot sanctimonious values. What I said was, if you wish to quote me, was that I was distiguished honor grad from eleven different high speed schools. Some still hold my records as unbroken. I left with an honorable after many years of service and a chest full of salad. Do not attempt to lessen my efforts or the efforts of my COHORTS with your judgemental BS and like I said, do not dare put words in my mouth. My 'ramblings' as you put it tell you of a history yes ... but one that would leave you with no recourse but to realize how wrong your guesses have been. Typical of judgemental people like you. On the other hand what your sanctamonious BS tells me is that, while you probably mean well and have good intentions, you are one of those sit at home and pass judgement types that cause so many of our youths of today to want to steer away from the Republican Party because you are too busy telling and not busy enough listening. You think you know everything, you think you are a mind reader, when in fact you are a pompus self-absorbed zealot. The only reason I have not gone into detail about the meaning of what some of us have been talking about is because I already know about people like you - you wouldn't take the time to listen anyway. You jump to conclusions. It's why we are losing the battle with the kids these days. And I'll stop there - anything else is a waste of my valuable time. Regards.

SEALs have a higher responsibility than most. First to the Navy, then to their teams, then to their families. How dare they let down their nation for a quick high? Being an elite warrior in our forces is a privilege, and they wasted it. Kids-will-be-kids, my ass. Kids don't belong in the Navy. You leave that shit in basic training. They wasted the Navy's time, training and crapped on their own personal honor. The price they pay will be small compared to the people who counted on them.

Yeah, well, if things were only so clear-cut in life.

In the meantime we must remember ... our great and hallowed leader who just made 17 million on his book and is now on a tour to the cheers of millions ... never inhaled. Why didn't some of you get off your a$$es and run the Commander in Chief out of office for the same thing? I'll tell you why. Because it is easier for you to pass judgement on kids ... and that is what I find pathetic about all of this. None of you have been there - yet you pass these extreme judgements and all you are using for the basis of your ire are details given by the same liberal media that lies to us on a daily basis about most other things of importance and meaning.

Pathetic.

Now allow me to enlighten a couple of you tight a$$es who think you know everything. I and a few others have had enough fun laughing at you - it's time to educate you frickin' know-it-alls.

The 82nd Airborne was actually nicknamed the Jumpin' Junkies in WWII because they got a high on jumping into dangerous situations. The casualty rate for American Paratroops in both WWII and Vietnam was well above 70%. Yet they kept coming and a reporter by the name of Galloway said, "they are junkies for the jump" as he witnessed the Eighty-Deuce in the Meusse Argonne offensive. It was in the Black Forest campaign that a Deucer walked to the front of the line and stated, "I'm the 82nd Airborne Division and this is as far as the bastards are going" ... a now famous combat quote. Galloway also said at the time about the 82nd, "they give the enemy soldier the maximum opportunity to die for his country" in a take off of a famous Patton saying.

It was in the post Vietnam years, when all units had problems with dope smoking, that Hollywood made a play on the WWII moniker "jumpin' junkies" and turned it into something that it wasn't ... although there was for years a serious problem with alcohol in Division.

But the public picked up on it and we used to make fun of it among ourselves because people actually believed the bull$#!+ press when it suit them ... just like some of you pukes are now. The fact of the matter is that the last thing you want to be is high and unalert when jumping out of a C-130 or 141 with a 100 pound ruck between your legs and a M-16 under your armpit. But you jerks wouldn't take time to get that because you are too busy pointing fingers.

I was part of a hand picked unit known as COHORT 1 in the early eighties and in five years we had two people who failed drug tests ... both were booted immediately. One of them I escorted to the MPs myself while pulling CQ. So don't give me your BS about how I have condoned drug use in the military. What we have illustrated here however is how quick some of you are to judge someone guilty until proven innocent. You don't know jack $#!+ about these SEALS accused in this article yet you jumped them like you are judge and jury and that makes me sick. You have no idea of their sacrifice and you cannot fathom their predicament yet you are so filthy quick to want to nail their hides to the wall.

Like I said, you'd fall for anything. Those of us in this thread were making fun of your preconceived ignorant notions. We all felt you taking the bait with the story about police call and picking up roaches outside of the barracks. We filled your hollywood believed ideals. You are just too self absorbed to realize that you were the brunt of our jokes. Have a nice life chumps. No wonder so many kids these days are so put off by so many so-called conservatives. You give the rest of us a bad name. You are the same people who scream about the bias of the press - that is until they tell you something that you want to believe, then they are fine, then they are believable. How hypocritical is that. It is sickening.

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