Navy Seals

Their name conjures up the most celebrated moment of America's post-Sept. 11 military campaigns. Now the Navy SEALs belong to a grimmer chapter in history: the most deadly incident for U.S. forces in the 10-year Afghanistan war. Three months after they killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan and cemented their place in military legend, the SEALs suffered a devastating loss when nearly two dozen of the elite troops were among...

A Navy SEAL who died in a free-fall parachuting accident this week during training exercises in Arizona was identified as Brett David Shadle of Elizabethville, Pa. The accident happened on Thursday near the Pinal Airpark in Marana, Ariz., where military training is frequently conducted. It sent another sailor to the hospital where he remains in stable condition, officials said. Shadle, 31, enlisted in the Navy in 2000 and completed his SEAL training one year later. He was assigned to the Navy's East Coast Special Warfare Unit, according to information provided by Naval Special Warfare Command.

They're among the most elite and mystery-shrouded members of the U.S. military, part of a traditionally anonymous group of alpha males known as the "quiet professionals" for their daring, clandestine missions like the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. But the secret world of the U.S. Navy SEALs is about to open up in dramatic fashion — in an unusual, independently financed action movie called "Act of Valor. " In a moment of unprecedented public exposure, several active-duty SEALs play the lead parts in the film, which opens Feb. 24. Though their names don't appear in the credits — listed instead are the names of Naval Special Warfare forces killed since Sept.

Re "Bin Laden's killer asks for benefits," Feb. 14 The delay in processing veterans' disability claims is inexcusable. But the fact that the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden does not qualify for a pension is based on his own decision to retire before the 20-year threshold. With 16 years of service, he should have known that he had to serve four more years to qualify. The military pension system encourages personnel to serve for 20 years. Those who leave the military before that are encouraged by this system to transfer to the armed forces' reserve component, including the National Guard, where they can complete their 20 years of service and qualify for a reduced military pension beginning at age 60. Those who leave the military before 20 years of service also qualify for extremely generous GI Bill educational and other benefits that are unlike any in the civilian sector.

First-time feature production designer Jeremy Hindle admits to some dicey feelings while taking director Kathryn Bigelow on an initial walk-through of "Zero Dark Thirty's" key set. But they weren't rookie jitters. "I remember telling her, 'You're going to feel insanely creepy. You're going to feel like he lived here,'" Hindle says. The verisimilitude Bigelow demanded for all aspects of the film was particularly important to the re-creation of the compound in which Osama bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs last year.

Many high school athletes dream about reaching the NFL, the major leagues, the NBA, the Olympic Games . . . Tyler Hawkins' aspiration from the time he was a freshman playing football at Canyon Country Canyon was to become a Navy SEAL. It will happen on Friday in Coronado during his graduation ceremony. "It's been a very, very long road," Hawkins said by phone last month while taking a brief break from training exercises. Hawkins was Canyon's standout 5-foot-9, 180-pound linebacker on the Cowboys' Southern Section Division II championship team coached by Harry Welch in 2005.

WASHINGTON — Seven Navy SEALs, including one involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, have been reprimanded for divulging classified information to the maker of a video game, Pentagon officials said Thursday. The seven received letters of reprimand and forfeited half of their pay for two months after a Navy investigation found they had served as paid consultants to the designers of "Medal of Honor Warfighter," one official said. All are members of Seal Team 6, the secretive commando unit based in Virginia.

A member of an elite Navy SEAL team pleaded guilty Friday to brutalizing prisoners in Iraq. The member, whose name was not released, said he and other SEALs punched, kicked and broke the fingers of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison. Seven members of the Coronado-based Seal Team 7 were initially charged. Charges against one of them were dropped after a hearing. As part of a plea bargain, the member who pleaded guilty agreed to testify against the others.

Eight members of the Navy's elite SEAL teams Tuesday were awarded medals for bravery in Iraq by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Because of the secrecy of SEAL missions, the names of those receiving the Bronze Stars were not released. Nor were descriptions of what they had done. Rumsfeld also awarded a Purple Heart to one SEAL and recognized two others who had earlier been awarded Purple Hearts. "They're amazing folks," he said of the SEALs.

After reading Nora Zamichow's series on the Navy SEALs, I, like the men described at the conclusion of the story, was in tears. I have heard that it is considered quite an accomplishment to have become a SEAL; however, until now, I never knew what it took to achieve such an accomplishment. The excruciating pain, both physical and emotional, these men endured should humble the most powerful of men. For true power is not in how much money, prestige or influence one has; rather, it is in courage, strength, perseverance and humility.

The Iraq veteran accused of killing a Navy SEAL sniper and another man at a Texas gun range had been treated for mental illness and confessed about the slayings to his sister, police said Monday. Chris Kyle, 38, a former Navy SEAL and author of "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," and a friend, Chad Littlefield, 35, were found dead with multiple gunshot wounds at a secluded gun range at the Rough Creek Lodge southwest of Fort Worth.

Chris Kyle, by all measures, was one of the most decorated and talented soldiers in American history. He was also a victim of gun crime who was against gun control, and his death has already become cannon fodder in an emotional, rancorous debate. Kyle, 38, a former Navy SEAL and author of "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," was killed Saturday afternoon at a secluded gun range at the Rough Creek Lodge southwest of Fort Worth.

Military sniper Chris Kyle had survived the dust-worn places where he had to worry about enemy fire - or even friendly fire - until this weekend. Kyle, 38, an author and former Navy SEAL, was shot dead Saturday by an unemployed, 25-year-old Marine veteran, Texas officials said Sunday. Kyle's friend Chad Littlefield, 35, was also killed. No one witnessed the shootings, authorities said. The suspect, Eddie Ray Routh, used a semiautomatic handgun to shoot Kyle and Littlefield multiple times at a secluded gun range at the Rough Creek Lodge southwest of Fort Worth, investigators said at a televised news conference.

First-time feature production designer Jeremy Hindle admits to some dicey feelings while taking director Kathryn Bigelow on an initial walk-through of "Zero Dark Thirty's" key set. But they weren't rookie jitters. "I remember telling her, 'You're going to feel insanely creepy. You're going to feel like he lived here,'" Hindle says. The verisimilitude Bigelow demanded for all aspects of the film was particularly important to the re-creation of the compound in which Osama bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs last year.

In 2008, the screenwriter Mark Boal sought an appointment with a retired special-forces operator. Boal was researching a movie about the fruitless search for Osama bin Laden in the caves of Tora Bora six years before, and he wanted insight into how U.S. forces gathered intelligence. The agent agreed to meet, but under strict conditions. Boal would be kept in the dark about where the encounter would take place until just before, when he'd be given directions, via GPS, to what turned out to be a gas station.

WASHINGTON — Seven Navy SEALs, including one involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, have been reprimanded for divulging classified information to the maker of a video game, Pentagon officials said Thursday. The seven received letters of reprimand and forfeited half of their pay for two months after a Navy investigation found they had served as paid consultants to the designers of "Medal of Honor Warfighter," one official said. All are members of Seal Team 6, the secretive commando unit based in Virginia.

Discipline, perseverance and peak mental and physical fitness are assets for any line of work. But a few specialty careers demand these in extreme measures. In June, Aaron Henderson, 20, will enter what some call the world's toughest military school: the Navy's Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL, or BUD/S, program in Coronado, Calif. Since his junior year in high school, Henderson's goal has been to become a Navy SEAL. "But right now, I just want to get through the training," he said.

The only pertinent question raised by "Navy SEALS" is this: Now that the Russkies are no longer the bad guys, who will the new movie meanies be? The answer, alas, would appear to be fanatical Arabs--at least if this movie is any indication. The studio press kit describes the film (citywide) as "the story of courageous young men who conquer challenging, death defying obstacles to help America take charge of its destiny."

The Warrior's Heart A memoir By Eric Greitens Houghton Mifflin, 288 pp.: $16.99, for ages 12 and up Eric Greitens came from the humblest of beginnings to become a Rhodes scholar, a national boxing champion, a PhD, a Navy SEAL, an Iraq war veteran, a humanitarian and a bestselling author from writing about his experiences. Now the 38-year-old is back with "The Warrior's Heart," a young-adult adaptation of his bestselling memoir for adults, "The Heart and the Fist," that offers living proof of its tag line: Becoming a Man of Compassion and Courage.

KIEV, Ukraine - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is the model of a new kind of power-grabbing authoritarian. Gone is the preening, bullying fascist in a comical military costume, like Hitler or Mussolini. Mao's jacket and Fidel Castro's combat fatigues are out of fashion. Today, it is all business. Today, Stalin would be wearing Hugo Boss or Brooks Brothers, his mustache would be shaved off and he, like Yanukovych, would look like any chief executive flying business class. The pogrom and the putsch have given way to PR. Yanukovych has hired lobbyists and public relations teams to help him project a progressive image while he quietly squeezes the press and rejiggers election laws to guarantee his party permanent rule.  An example of this is the Podesta Group's $200,000 contract with an entity called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine.