February 20, 2012, - 2:12 pm
“Act of Valor”: Does Navy SEAL Porn Give America’s Enemies Valuable Intel?
On Friday, “Act of Valor,” a movie featuring real-life, active duty Navy SEALs (and SWCC–Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen) in situations with actors, debuts in theaters. As a patriot who loves our Armed Forces and sees the SEALs as heroic men, I’ve been looking forward to this movie, which I haven’t yet seen and which I’ll be screening with other movie critics early this week (my review will be up on this site on Friday). Two Detroit-area Jewish Republican men I know, including one who was Army Special Forces, saw it and loved it. But, now, given what I’ve learned about the movie, I’m not as excited because it appears that the movie is a how-to book for our enemies on Navy SEAL techniques, methods, and behavior in missions. If I were an Al-Qaeda or Hezbollah official, I’d require all of my jihadists, masterminds, and plotters to watch the movie repeatedly, like opposing NFL team players watch game tape.
Originally, I was under the impression that the men in this movie were recently retired or about to leave the SEALs. Not so. They are not only active duty, but their faces are not obscured. So much for the Navy SEAL precautions of keeping their identities secret. And, although the action does not feature real-life SEAL missions, it features simulated missions that show what SEALs would do to capture a hostage, how they would fight off the bad guys, etc. Is there a legitimate reason to give this information away to the public? I can’t imagine the Sayeret Matkal (the elite Israeli version of a combined Navy SEALs/Green Berets/Army Special Ops unit) allowing its current operatives to film what is essentially a HAMAS/Hezbollah training film.
The star-struck, Hollywood-jock-sniffing bureaucrats who oversee the Navy SEALS claim that the movie doesn’t give away anything. But I’m not buyin’. Some of the movie’s trailers say, “The story is fictional, but the weapons and tactics are real.” These brave men go through extensive, intense training. Their reactions are almost instinctive. I don’t believe they “acted” through a series of situations and committed acts that were completely different than or counter to what they’d normally do in such situations. It’s just not plausible. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.
James Vaught, a retired lieutenant general who helped create the Army’s elite Delta Force, disapproves of the SEALs’ participation. He says they’re seeking too much publicity, and worries that a film that shows real training exercises could benefit U.S. adversaries.
Navy officers say the film reveals no tactical secrets. “This is a way that we can help the American people understand what we do,” said Adm. Dennis Moynihan, the Navy’s top spokesman. “We are telling our story through movies.”
But do the Navy SEALs really need to “help the American people understand” what they do or “tell [their] story through movies”? Is there anyone who isn’t aware of what the Navy SEALS do or who they are? Has there not been enough media coverage or positive PR with Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s book, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History
I think we know quite a bit about the Navy SEALs, and we don’t need to know more at the risk of giving our enemies nearly two hours of video training in what they do. And it’s not like the SEALs need to market themselves for recruitment purposes, with thousands of men desperately trying to get into the elite force, and a scant few making it.
If you’ve been living inside a mushroom and still don’t know what the Navy SEALS do, wouldn’t the 1990 Charlie Sheen/Michael Biehn silver screen version, “Navy SEALs,” suffice in telling you the story without giving away the store? Yeah, I know, that movie features actual Arab Muslim terrorists, and we can’t have that. As I understand it, “Act of Valor” doesn’t (as the credits indicate, but, again, I haven’t seen it yet). With actors playing the bad guys against the real-life Navy SEALS, one character is called “Commander Pedros.” And there is a Russian terrorist and a Filipino one. But they don’t call ’em Chechnyan Muslims or Abu Sayaf, as they are in real life. I guess Osama Bin Laden was Mexican. And the Somalians holding the selfish leftist activists hostage were Wiccan. Right? They mention “jihadists” in one of the trailers, but I’ll bet the words Islam and Muslim aren’t in the movie. Will let you know.
If you are a current or former Navy SEAL or other similar military special forces member, what is your take (and, per usual, I’m interested in everyone else’s take, too). I’ve heard that some Navy SEALS think all of this publicity isn’t good for business–their risky missions and their attempts to live quiet, safe lives back on the homefront.
There’s a reason the SEALS have been secretive from the start. Why give the secrets away? It’s not New York Fashion Week or the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, where you put everything on display. It’s a military force that is supposed to protect our national security through vital missions, furtively.
Why put it out there?
Tags: Act of Valor, Adm. Dennis Moynahan, Delta Force, James Vaught, Lt. Gen. James Vaught, Navy SEAL porn, Navy SEALS, retired Lieutenant General James Vaught
Terrorist organizations as large as al-Qaeda have intelligence branches of their own. It is unlikely that this movie will contain any tactics that the enemy isn’t already aware of.
Matthew Cole on February 20, 2012 at 2:31 pm