A Navy SEAL platoon from San Diego, Calif., is being ordered back to the U.S. from Iraq because of a “deterioration of good order and discipline,” the U.S. Special Operations Command said in a statement Wednesday.
“The Commander lost confidence in the team’s ability to accomplish the mission," the statement said.
The statement did not describe the exact nature of the misconduct, but the Washington Post said two defense officials told the newspaper that the SEALs involved in the incident had violated a general order against use of alcohol.
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The platoon is part of SEAL Team 7, the group whose members included Chief Eddie Gallagher, who was acquitted of war crimes charges earlier this month, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Testimony during Gallagher’s court-martial revealed that members of SEAL Team 7’s Alpha Platoon routinely consumed alcohol during their free time in 2017, the Union-Tribune reported.
But Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence, a spokeswoman for the Naval Special Warfare Command, would not confirm whether the current case was related to alcohol consumption, the paper said.
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The SEALs have faced increased scrutiny in recent months: Gallagher was convicted of posing with a dead ISIS fighter and his platoon commander faces a court-martial in September related to the Gallagher case, the newspaper reported.
Earlier this week, the Navy Times reported that six members of a Virginia-based SEAL team tested positive for cocaine use last year.