Two SEAL Team 6 members. An Army Green Beret. A murder.

via Vox

On June 4, Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar — a 34-year-old Army Green Beret — was found dead in US Embassy housing in Mali while he was on a secret assignment. Investigators currently believe he was strangled to death — and that two members of SEAL Team 6 may have killed him.

Murder among US service members is relatively rare, but it’s especially shocking to see that the two suspects — Petty Officer Anthony DeDolph, a former professional mixed martial arts fighter, and a still-unnamed sailor, both Melgar’s roommates — form part of one of the most revered military units in the United States. SEAL Team 6 became internationally famous for successfully killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.

A probe, first reported by the New York Times, is ongoing — and no one has yet been charged with a crime. But it appears the suspected SEALs changed their story and lied about about what happened. The Daily Beast reports that Melgar found out the two SEALs were taking some money designated for an informant fund. The SEALs asked Melgar if he wanted to get involved, but he declined.

The SEALs first told investigators that they found Melgar dead around 5:00 am on June 4. But after an autopsy showed Melgar died of asphyxiation, they said the three of them were doing fighting exercises when Melgar passed out, after which they tried to get Melgar medical attention. The SEALs claimed Melgar was drunk — but he didn’t drink that day — which raised suspicions of their account. The two SEALs have left Mali and are now on leave.

Read the whole story here. 

You can follow that link and read the whole story but you really don't need to. See that portion I highlighted?  That tells you all you need to know.

Let some Marine kill a Soldier and you know what would happen?  NCIS would be crawling up his rectum so far that his voice would change octaves and he'd start to question his sexuality.

These SEALs will get off.

They're on leave? 

That's batshit insane.  That means that SOCOM is wanting this whole thing to fade away. 

My guess?

We'll see them plead guilty to false statements and quietly separated from the service.  From the outside looking in on the SEAL community this won't keep them from cashing in on post activity duty benies either.  They'll get hooked up with CORPORATE security work and they'll do the same thing they did in service but only for Xi, Triple Canopy or one of the other firms out there.

The only thing that has me truly puzzled is this.  Why is the Green Beret community and Army Special Operations so silent on this issue?  I thought for sure they would be beating a drum and I expected MASS exodus of Navy Special Operators from any locale the Army had sunk it's teeth into.  I can't explain the silence but I find it extremely curious.

One last thing.

No one will touch on it but SOCOM is a HUGE piece of the waste, fraud and abuse problem.  The bigger they've gotten the more "slush" money they have which means loose money is floating around for anyone to grab.  The idea that SEALs were suspected of stealing informant money isn't really news to me.  The fact that a SF Soldier put them in a position to even wonder if he would rat them out means that there are a few men of integrity left in SOCOM.