If you can stomach the bravado and unclear factual accuracy, the 2007 book Lone Survivor gives an account of a similar failure, in Afghanistan, where a SEAL team was discovered early in their mission. But, it devolved into a running battle and a disaster for the US special forces where most of the team and many rescuers also died. As a result of those prior events, I can imagine they have different rules of engagement in the event of being detected.
But, what's most crazy to me is that these details are being published in such a short time. My impression is that these clandestine forces used to have much more strict control, and details would not emerge for many decades or even during the lives of the participants?
crikeykangaroo · 2m ago
The Lone Survivor story is pure propaganda and mostly inaccurate. You can easily look this up. That entire operation was a F up from the beginning, and had nothing to do with being discovered early.
It created proper propaganda fuel though, so mission partially accomplished I suppose.
ruthie_cohen · 2h ago
The public should be hearing about these failures when they involve an almost entirely opaque nuclear-armed state having their sovereignty violated.
It appears that people involved in the operation feel the same. The stakes in a failure like this are far higher than most SOC missions.
duxup · 10h ago
I was reading about special operations in WWII and these kinds of missions always seem to be on a knife's edge. This mission seems more akin to a WWII operation with the team and their immediate support being entirely on their own.
>But the episode worried some experienced military officials with knowledge of the mission, because the SEALs have an uneven track record that for decades has largely been concealed by secrecy.
This seems to be a trait many special operations groups have. Type A personalities that you want in that job, but that bring with it a willingness for big risk taking and fantastical type missions.
That's not to say their success rate should be super high, these are difficult missions, but some like the failures in Panama were a case of ambition over common sense. Granted this mission they made the right call to leave when they were discovered.
runjake · 9h ago
It’s important to clarify that yes, they’re more comfortable with risk taking but they’re highly-trained for high-risk missions and taking calculated risks with massive amounts of intelligence work and contingency planning beforehand.
It’s not just “lol, let’s try it. If we die, we die!”
And their success rate should be and is, pretty high. That said, this was a National Command Authority (came down from the White House) mission and those tend to be the riskiest.
th3o6a1d · 7h ago
What is their success rate? What is "pretty high?"
jeffbee · 7h ago
The entire story is about how you lack a rational basis for holding a belief about the success rate.
clueless · 8h ago
>They found no guns or uniforms. Evidence suggested that the crew, which people briefed on the mission said numbered two or three people, had been civilians diving for shellfish. All were dead, including the man in the water.
Officials familiar with the mission said the SEALs pulled the bodies into the water to hide them from the North Korean authorities. One added that the SEALs punctured the boat crew’s lungs with knives to make sure their bodies would sink.
Nothing to see here but a bunch of psychopaths killing innocent people as they screw up their own mission
iamdelirium · 1h ago
Sounds like SEALs all right.
clueless · 6h ago
and then... "Many of the people involved in the mission were later promoted."
mac-attack · 2h ago
The lung puncturing was especially brutal. Literal hitmen actions
aaomidi · 1h ago
That has basically been the entire point of the US military since the end of the Cold War (and before that too, but you could argue there was a better reason back then)
> The plan called for the Navy to sneak a nuclear-powered submarine, nearly two football fields long, into the waters... then deploy a small team of SEALs in two mini-subs, each about the size of a killer whales..
But, what's most crazy to me is that these details are being published in such a short time. My impression is that these clandestine forces used to have much more strict control, and details would not emerge for many decades or even during the lives of the participants?
It appears that people involved in the operation feel the same. The stakes in a failure like this are far higher than most SOC missions.
>But the episode worried some experienced military officials with knowledge of the mission, because the SEALs have an uneven track record that for decades has largely been concealed by secrecy.
This seems to be a trait many special operations groups have. Type A personalities that you want in that job, but that bring with it a willingness for big risk taking and fantastical type missions.
That's not to say their success rate should be super high, these are difficult missions, but some like the failures in Panama were a case of ambition over common sense. Granted this mission they made the right call to leave when they were discovered.
It’s not just “lol, let’s try it. If we die, we die!”
And their success rate should be and is, pretty high. That said, this was a National Command Authority (came down from the White House) mission and those tend to be the riskiest.
Nothing to see here but a bunch of psychopaths killing innocent people as they screw up their own mission
What? What is with these measurements?