SEALs killed in Afghanistan chopper crash lived in secrecy

SEALs killed in Afghanistan chopper crash lived in secrecy
The SEALs' veil is lifted, if slightly, after the deaths of 17, along with 13 other Americans, in the helicopter downing. Some family members publicly praise the men's bravery, but much of the sorrow unfolds in private.

By Brian Bennett, Tony Perry and Ashley Powers
August 9, 2011, 9:26 p.m.
Their heroics are conducted, and celebrated, in secrecy. Their deaths are typically mourned the same way.

They are members of the famed U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU. Sometimes, they're known simply as Seal Team 6.

When they are killed, no public announcements are made in their hometowns. No impromptu shrines pop up in frontyards. No crowds line the streets to greet their flag-draped caskets.

Members of the elite Seal Team 6 carry out some of the military's riskiest operations, including the May raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which Osama bin Laden was killed. But there is no expectation of public adulation — in life or in death.


Some family members publicly praised the bravery of their husbands and sons, but much of their sorrow unfolded outside the media glare, just as the men's lives had. One SEAL wife, for example, quickly removed the hundreds of condolences that friends had posted on her Facebook page.

When President Obama spent more than an hour Tuesday offering condolences to 250 family members and troops at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, there were no reporters present.
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SEALs killed in Afghanistan chopper crash lived in secrecy

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Some troops killed names released

Willits mourns Navy SEAL killed in downed copter

Vivian Ho, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

WILLITS (MENDOCINO COUNTY) -- Friends and family members are mourning a former state firefighter from the Mendocino County city of Willits who was killed Saturday when insurgents shot down a U.S. helicopter in Afghanistan, killing 38 people onboard.

Jesse Pittman, a 27-year-old Navy SEAL, joined the military after working two seasons for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, where his father, Terry Pittman, also works, said his former supervisor, Battalion Chief Norm Brown.

Friends were surprised when Jesse Pittman, a 2002 graduate of Willits High School, told them he wanted to become a SEAL, said his friend Chris Wilkes, 35. But no one doubted he could complete the training.

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