Navy Seals Gone Wild: Publicity, Fame, and the Loss of the Quiet Professional - Osama bin Laden Killing, Politics, Commodification Cycle, Consequences of Promoting Seals for Entertainment, Profit

Nonfiction, History, Military, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science
Cover of the book Navy Seals Gone Wild: Publicity, Fame, and the Loss of the Quiet Professional - Osama bin Laden Killing, Politics, Commodification Cycle, Consequences of Promoting Seals for Entertainment, Profit by Progressive Management, Progressive Management
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Progressive Management ISBN: 9781370161010
Publisher: Progressive Management Publication: December 13, 2016
Imprint: Smashwords Edition Language: English
Author: Progressive Management
ISBN: 9781370161010
Publisher: Progressive Management
Publication: December 13, 2016
Imprint: Smashwords Edition
Language: English

This excellent report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. Over the past decade, Naval Special Warfare (NSW) has built up significant symbolic capital due to a string of highly politicized and romanticized military operations. The publicity, and the ensuing fame, helped set the conditions for the emergence of a SEAL counterculture characterized by an increasingly commodified and public persona. There has been a shift away from the traditional SEAL Ethos of quiet professionalism to a Market Ethos of commercialization and self-promotion, especially among former SEALs. At the same time, government officials, special interest groups, Hollywood, the publishing industry, and the media writ large have seen the profitability of associating their agendas with the SEAL identity. They are likewise tapping into SEAL fame and offering SEALs an outlet for the commodification of their SEAL affiliation. Such a promotional construct contravenes the dual requirements of security and surprise necessary for the success of SEAL missions. This paper analyzes these trends, and argues that the cultivation of celebrity status has incentivized narcissistic and profit-focused behavior within the SEAL community, which in turn has eroded organizational effectiveness, damaged national security, and undermined healthy civil-military relations. To redress this, all parties must work to reestablish an environment that refrains from promoting special operations for entertainment value, for profit, or for political gain.

CHAPTER I - NAVY SEALS GONE WILD * CHAPTER II - HISTORY AND UTILITY OF THE SEAL ETHOS * A. GENESIS AND MEANING OF AN ETHOS * B. WARNING SIGNS * CHAPTER III - CULTURAL CHANGE OR CULTURAL CORRUPTION? * A. CHANGING CLIMATE * B. BOOKS * C. POLITICS AND THE MEDIA * CHAPTER IV - POLITICS, PUBLICITY STUNTS, AND MIXED MESSAGES - SETTING THE CONDITIONS FOR FAME * A. POLITICS * B. PUBLICITY STUNTS * C. MIXED MESSAGES * CHAPTER V - THE COMMODIFICATION CYCLE AND SOCIAL CAPITAL * A. THE COMMODIFICATION CYCLE * B. SOCIAL CAPITAL * CHAPTER VI - CONSEQUENCES OF PROMOTING SEALS FOR ENTERTAINMENT, PROFITS, AND POLITICS - WHY WORRY? * A. UNDUE PROMINENCE AND CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS * B. NATIONAL SECURITY * C. ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS * CHAPTER VII - COUNTERARGUMENTS * A. DETERRENCE * B. OVERSIGHT AND THE RIGHT TO KNOW * C. THIS IS ONLY A PASSING PHASE * CHAPTER VIII - WHAT TO DO? * A. INTERNAL APPROACH * B. EXTERNAL APPROACH * C. GRASSROOTS APPROACH * CHAPTER IX - CONCLUSION * APPENDIX * NAVY SEAL ETHOS

What would have happened if U.S. Navy SEALs had not killed Osama bin Laden, but rather he had been killed by a drone strike? Would President Obama's administration have handled the publicity differently? Would the name and location of the drone operator's unit have been released? Would the man or woman who pulled the trigger to release the missile have been lionized in mainstream American culture? Would Fox News have hired this drone operator to be a Fox News contributor, paid to comment on domestic and foreign policy? Would drone operators have materialized from the shadows to write tell-all books, star in movies, blog about sensitive drone operations, criticize the president, and run for political office on the platform that they were drone operators? (Hint: this is what many former SEALs are doing.) Such a scenario makes for an interesting counterfactual, because it may reveal something about how society views the functional role of special operations.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This excellent report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. Over the past decade, Naval Special Warfare (NSW) has built up significant symbolic capital due to a string of highly politicized and romanticized military operations. The publicity, and the ensuing fame, helped set the conditions for the emergence of a SEAL counterculture characterized by an increasingly commodified and public persona. There has been a shift away from the traditional SEAL Ethos of quiet professionalism to a Market Ethos of commercialization and self-promotion, especially among former SEALs. At the same time, government officials, special interest groups, Hollywood, the publishing industry, and the media writ large have seen the profitability of associating their agendas with the SEAL identity. They are likewise tapping into SEAL fame and offering SEALs an outlet for the commodification of their SEAL affiliation. Such a promotional construct contravenes the dual requirements of security and surprise necessary for the success of SEAL missions. This paper analyzes these trends, and argues that the cultivation of celebrity status has incentivized narcissistic and profit-focused behavior within the SEAL community, which in turn has eroded organizational effectiveness, damaged national security, and undermined healthy civil-military relations. To redress this, all parties must work to reestablish an environment that refrains from promoting special operations for entertainment value, for profit, or for political gain.

CHAPTER I - NAVY SEALS GONE WILD * CHAPTER II - HISTORY AND UTILITY OF THE SEAL ETHOS * A. GENESIS AND MEANING OF AN ETHOS * B. WARNING SIGNS * CHAPTER III - CULTURAL CHANGE OR CULTURAL CORRUPTION? * A. CHANGING CLIMATE * B. BOOKS * C. POLITICS AND THE MEDIA * CHAPTER IV - POLITICS, PUBLICITY STUNTS, AND MIXED MESSAGES - SETTING THE CONDITIONS FOR FAME * A. POLITICS * B. PUBLICITY STUNTS * C. MIXED MESSAGES * CHAPTER V - THE COMMODIFICATION CYCLE AND SOCIAL CAPITAL * A. THE COMMODIFICATION CYCLE * B. SOCIAL CAPITAL * CHAPTER VI - CONSEQUENCES OF PROMOTING SEALS FOR ENTERTAINMENT, PROFITS, AND POLITICS - WHY WORRY? * A. UNDUE PROMINENCE AND CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS * B. NATIONAL SECURITY * C. ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS * CHAPTER VII - COUNTERARGUMENTS * A. DETERRENCE * B. OVERSIGHT AND THE RIGHT TO KNOW * C. THIS IS ONLY A PASSING PHASE * CHAPTER VIII - WHAT TO DO? * A. INTERNAL APPROACH * B. EXTERNAL APPROACH * C. GRASSROOTS APPROACH * CHAPTER IX - CONCLUSION * APPENDIX * NAVY SEAL ETHOS

What would have happened if U.S. Navy SEALs had not killed Osama bin Laden, but rather he had been killed by a drone strike? Would President Obama's administration have handled the publicity differently? Would the name and location of the drone operator's unit have been released? Would the man or woman who pulled the trigger to release the missile have been lionized in mainstream American culture? Would Fox News have hired this drone operator to be a Fox News contributor, paid to comment on domestic and foreign policy? Would drone operators have materialized from the shadows to write tell-all books, star in movies, blog about sensitive drone operations, criticize the president, and run for political office on the platform that they were drone operators? (Hint: this is what many former SEALs are doing.) Such a scenario makes for an interesting counterfactual, because it may reveal something about how society views the functional role of special operations.

More books from Progressive Management

Cover of the book Long-Term Effects of Targeted Killings by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) – Weaponized Drones Against Islamic Extremists in Afghanistan and Iraq, Just War Theory and International Humanitarian Law by Progressive Management
Cover of the book U.S. Army Attack Aviation in a Decisive Action Environment: History, Doctrine, and a Need for Doctrinal Refinement – Vietnam, Desert Storm, and Iraq War, Rotary Wing Attack, Technology and Sky Cavalry by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Manuals: Counterintelligence Field Manual - FM 34-60 (Value-Added Professional Format Series) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Understanding and Managing North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions: DPRK Regime Survival, Use as Deterrence, Leverage, Prestige, Great Power Status, New Approaches to the Rogue State, Kim Family by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 2017 U.S. Navy Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Ships, and Equipment: Updated Program Guide - Aircraft, Jets, Carriers, Submarines, Missiles, Electronics, Surface Combatants, Science, Technology by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Operations of - and Challenges to - the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) During the U.S. - Mexican War, 1846-1848: Field Operations of Major Generals Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Space Shuttle NASA Mission Reports: 1989 Missions, STS-29, STS-30, STS-28, STS-34, STS-33 by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Operational Impacts of Joint Seabasing (JSB) - Mobile Offshore Bases, Operational Environment, Deployment Vulnerabilities, Air Ports Of Debarkation (APOD), Sea Power 21, Marine Corps by Progressive Management
Cover of the book U.S. Army Medical Correspondence Course: Introduction to Medical Records and the Patient Administration Division - Army Medical Department (AMEDD) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book USAF Medical Support for Special Operations Forces Tactical Doctrine: Air Force Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures 3-42.6 - SOF Operational Medical, Logistics, War Reserve Material, Training by Progressive Management
Cover of the book History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Volume III: The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy 1950 - 1951, The Korean War Part One - Attack and Response, MacArthur, Chinese Intervention by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Manuals: Army Air and Missile Defense Operations - FM 44-100 (Value-Added Professional Format Series) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Integrating the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Into the National Airspace System by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Development of Military Night Aviation to 1919: Emergence of Night Bombing, Tactical and Strategic Bombardment, Foundations of Night Fighting, Reconnaissance, Voisin, Breguet, Sopwith, Caproni by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Revolutionary War (War of American Independence): Timeline of the American Revolution, Featuring the Content of Original Documents by George Washington, Continental Congress, Thomas Paine, Others by Progressive Management
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy