verdict reached in navy seal war crimes trial

Over two decades, the Navy kept promoting him despite battlefield decisions in Afghanistan that contributed to the deaths of a member of SEAL Team 6, an Air Force special operator, and five other American service members. Szymanski personified the Navy SEAL’s code of silence and moral drift after 9/11. But his rise speaks as much to the SEALs’ failures as it does to their successes. Szymanski in many ways exemplified the SEALs in the age of America’s forever wars, and his legacy extends beyond his battlefield experience: He is an author of the Navy SEAL Ethos, which codifies the elite unit’s aspirational moral code. By all appearances, his departure marked the end of a storied career as one of the top SEAL officers, having served many of his 36 years with SEAL Team 6 during the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Szymanski retired as SOCOM’s second in command at the apex of the Navy SEALs. At a ceremony in Tampa, Florida, SEALs past and present came to celebrate Szymanski’s four decades of military service.

Timothy Szymanski, deputy commander of the Special Operations Command and a longtime member of SEAL Team 6, retired from the Navy.

Verdict reached in navy seal war crimes trial