Navy SEALs Lose Their Military Careers By Consulting With EA On Videogame

from the wargames dept

The Navy SEALs, specifically SEAL Team 6, forever cemented their already laudible place in American history when they killed former public enemy number one Osama bin Laden. Since then, their notoriety has landed the special forces group in the news several times, whether it was when Disney attempted to trademark their name (and later dropped it), or the controversey over a former SEAL releasing a book about the bin Laden raid.

Now, unfortunately, seven active duty members of SEAL Team 6, including one that was on the bin Laden raid, will effectively have their military careers ended for consulting with Electronic Arts on their recently released Medal of Honor: Warfighter game without having the work authorized by the Navy.

The seven were charged with the unauthorized showing of their official combat gear and dereliction of duty for disclosing classified material after an investigation found the seven to have worked as paid consultants for two days with the video game company Electronic Arts, according to a U.S. Navy official familiar with the investigation.

The seven, all senior enlisted sailors, received their punishment Thursday at their base in Virginia. All seven were given a letter of reprimand and their pay taken for two months. The move essentially prevents their chances for promotion and ends their military careers.

Even knowing as little as I do about being a Navy SEAL, it's difficult to critique the Navy brass for being upset. The showing of gear and unauthorized consulting may not seem like a huge deal to civilians, but SEAL Team 6 enjoys the absolute front line of the latest and greatest equipment the Navy deploys. In fact, the technical name for the group is actually the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU). Showing off the highly classified gear they use is a big deal.

That said, it's sad to see the careers of 7 SEALs ended over this, but it will also be interesting to see if this story Streisands EA's recently released game into skyrocketing sales.

Filed Under: classified info, navy seals, seal team 6, sharing, video games
Companies: ea

Daily Show Highlights Seal Team 6 Trademark & FCC Commish Joining Comcast

from the that-was-fast dept

It's always nice when either The Daily Show or The Colbert Report touch on stories that we regularly cover, so it was cool on Monday that TDS did a single segment, beautifully named "Well, That Was Fast" to cover both the story of Disney trademarking "Seal Team 6," just two days after Osama bin Laden was killed by SEAL Team 6, and the story of FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker joining Comcast as a lobbyist just a few months after helping to get their deal with NBC Universal approved. While these may just seem like fun little stories, they're important in showing the problems with the existing system, and it's good to see them getting mainstream attention:

Filed Under: corruption, daily show, jon stewart, lobbying, meredith attwell baker, seal team 6, trademark
Companies: comcast, disney, nbc universal