I tried to set up an initial message that would be sent to all new members as they were admitted but apparently it's not going out. So here it is:
Here is a more detailed set of OpSec Guidelines for us. A BUD/S class gets punished severely for breaches of security on our site and there can be DORs and medical rolls as a result. Don't divulge info that your sons trust you with if for no other reason than this: they will get severely physically beaten for hours on end as a result. Your son could end up a DOR, medical roll, or worse as a result. We need to be very careful to AVOID DISCLOSING:
- All dates or times.
- Class Sizes, Drop Rates, or similar information.
- Course content (evolutions) and info beyond that already supplied by the Navy on their Official Web site.
- Photos of your sons in or out of uniform.
- Information that would allow someone to identify either you as a SEAL dad or your son as a SEAL.
- Names of anyone in BUD/S, including your son's name and names of DORs, instructors, teammates, staff, etc.
- Info that can be used to determine where SEALs have been, are now, or will be could put your son, his teammates, or your family in mortal danger. Our boys are truly entering a deadly line of work and we need to keep that in mind always.
None of us wants to provide our enemies with details about how to train the best warriors on earth. We should assume that people from other countries where our SEALs operate have excellent computer skills and that they can be intimidated into snooping the net or simply be working with our actual or potential enemies to identify information about us that they will be able to use to hurt your son or your family. NOTE WELL: our enemies can get to us more easily than to our SEAL sons and that IS one of the concerns among SEAL admin.: the safety of SEALs' families.
It's hard to do this because we are proud of our sons' tremendous commitment and accomplishments. But that's the nature of this line of work - individual SEALs and their families are unsung heroes in this regard. It's sad to say that even this site can be breached by people with good social engineering skills and people with software most of us have never heard of can easily monitor this site in spite of the security around it.
I accept people to this group based on what I can tell about them on their profiles, posts, and what you have each PM'd in the past. I am never 100% certain that anyone is who they really say they are. They could be someone trying to extract sensitive data, an instructor making sure we follow the rules, or someone else. So, please, do not assume that your "friends" on this site are who they say they are and do not assume the site is secure: it is far from it!
In a sense, the Navy is training us as well as our sons in security. However, since we can't be punished directly for breaches, our sons will pay a very dear price for our mistakes and their lives could be changed as a result.
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