Toughness Needed in SEAL Training

This is in response to Jennifer Crane Hahn in “Letters in View” concerning SEAL training.

Ms. Hahn likens SEAL training to “an insane extension of the prevailing mentality in high school and college sports.” The military’s job is to train men for combat and not for sports.

Sure the training is “brutal” and even “abusive,” but as the article pointed out, the combat missions are 10 times worse than the training. Gen. William Sherman said that “war is ALL hell,” so I would say that training best reflect the real world.

As long as war is used as an extension of foreign policy, it is criminal not to provide the most effective training for our soldiers, sailors and Marines. Better to shed some tears now (and perhaps offend Ms. Hahn’s tender feelings) than to spill blood needlessly later because of poor training. Jennifer Crane Hahn and her ilk are living in fantasy land.

ED SCHAEFER,

Tustin