It is possible that Majied could be a retired Master Chief, and that those are the dates when he served on USS Diodon.
As I understand it -- and I am not a SEAL and was never in the Navy -- enlisted SEALs used to (still do?) maintain their original rating; SEAL is a duty, not a rating. In the navy, your "rating" is kind of your job and your rank rolled into one. Majied has not claimed to be a retired Master Chief of the Navy, so the folks pointing out that he wasn't one of these ten Chiefs aren't proving much. There are hundreds maybe thousands of retired Master Chiefs.
As Travis points out there have been black frogmen, but they are relatively few. (One thing they have to overcome is physiology. Olympic swimmers of African descent are as rare as Olympic runners of southern European descent -- not unheard-of, but rare). "Based in the Phillipines" does not ring true to me, as far as I know the SEALs who went to Vietnam came from the USA and rotated in a platoon at a time. But as stated above IANAS.
I am inclined to believe that Majied's SEAL claims are false, and agree with those that say Mr Minor has not defended them effectively. A tone of voice and irrelevant comments on Mr Majied's other sterling qualities (both also noted by our elfman who spoke to him) are not of any evidentiary value. (Compare: "Clinton must not have banged that intern... did you notice how he bit his lip, so sincerely?... and he's kind to his dog Buddy.")
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F