The same thing happened to the US Army Special Forces. People with huge egos started trying to get into SF so they too could be "Rambo,reincarnated". It became more about the personal glory than doing the job.
The "Mission First" mindset got tossed out the door.
I got so sick of working with senior NCO primadonnas that I quit working as an advisor in the early 90's,and I am not the only one.
Yes,there ARE still some of the finest NCO's and Officers to ever wear a uniform that are still wearing the Green Berets,but up to the late 70's ,they not only dominated,they didn't tolerate the prima donnas. You were either a team player and quiet professional,or you got tossed out on your ass.
I went from my discharge date in late 1970 to the mid 1990's before I even told my relatives anything more about my service than that I had been in Special Forces and had served in VN. Not a single freaking word about what I did because it was classified Top Secret,and that meant something to me much more important than just getting charged with a crime for speaking in public about it. It meant keeping quiet about it was vital to the security of the United States.
And what I did was the norm. Hell,I am not aware of ANYONE that ran covert missions talking about them with ANYONE who hadn't done the same. Not even with family members because they had no need to know. The MOST I ever told anyone I served with in the army about my time in VN was that I worked with MACV-SOG. No details,and no explanation given other than "It's classified and you don't have a need to know." if someone asked. If they persisted,my reply would be "anything they wanted me to do",and that was a far as it went because by that time I was walking away as I spoke.
The exceptions,of course,was discussing "What happened to.....?" in private discussions with fellow SOG members when asking about friends that also served with SOG.
AND.......DO NOT try to offer me praise for this as I was doing nothing more than my sworn DUTY. I am as serious as a heart attack about this. People should never be praised for simply doing what they are or were SUPPOSED to be doing. The fact that some people seem to disagree with this just shows us how far our society has fallen.
A tip of the beret to these SEALS who are speaking out. You can be sure Naval Intelligence is working hard to try to find out who they are so they can punish them.
