President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would overturn “ridiculous” decisions by two elite Navy military units to make their ethos and creed statements gender-neutral.
“I will be overturning this ridiculous order immediately!” the president declared on Twitter, after a pro-Trump account tweeted out a link to a story on the recent moves by U.S. Navy SEALS and Navy Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen.
The American Military News story said one update to the SEAL ethos was changing the wording in the sentence “A common man with uncommon desire to succeed” to “Common citizens with uncommon desire to succeed.” The phrase “I am that man” was updated to “I am that warrior.”
Naval Special Warfare spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Stroup told American Military News the changes were made because of the potential for women to join the units.
“The previous versions of the SEAL Ethos and SWCC Creed were written prior to the law allowing women to serve as operators in Naval Special Warfare. The changes do not in any way reflect lowering standards of entry, rather they ensure that all those who meet the requirements to train to become a SEAL or SWCC are represented in the ethos or creed they live out,” Stroup told the site before the president’s tweet.
If Trump carries through with his tweet, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s overridden the SEALs’ brass on social media.
Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was fired last year after he balked at a Trump Twitter directive to allow a SEAL who’d been accused of war crimes retain the gold Trident insignia signifying his status as a member of the elite commando team.
Eddie Gallagher, a decorated officer and 19-year veteran, was accused of fatally stabbing a young wounded fighter for the Islamic State militant group, posing for a picture with the corpse and shooting two civilians from a sniper’s perch in Iraq in 2017.
A military jury acquitted Gallagher of murder and war crimes charges in July but convicted him of having posed with the corpse of the teenage ISIS fighter. Consequently, he was demoted from chief petty office to petty officer first class. Trump also reversed that order, reinstating Gallagher as a chief petty officer.
