Tim Kennedy blasts Navy for investigating instructors who used tear gas on SEAL recruits

A Green Beret sniper turned MMA fighter blasted the US Navy for launching a probe on instructors who used tear gas on SEAL recruits. 

Tim Kennedy, 43, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and active service member, told DailyMail.com tear gas training was normal and necessary in the military as he said the general public sensationalized reports of the incident at San Clemente Island in California.

Leaked footage shows recruits from last year being gassed as they sang Happy Birthday – which is enforced so they cannot hold their breath and pass out.

Learning to cope with tear gas is standard practice throughout the military, but there are strict rules on the proximity of it to the targets and how long it can last for.

SEAL training rules state they have to stay at least 6ft away and use the gas for no longer than 15 seconds, which may have been broken in the incident, causing an admiral to launch the probe. 

Kennedy condemned the need for an investigation, saying it creates a chilling effect where instructors are afraid to push their recruits, leaving the military weakened. 

‘There is a dangerous precedent being set,’ said Kennedy, who noted that he’s been tear gassed at least 50 times during his training. 

‘I’m concerned that we’ve become a soft culture, and the softening or our training as a product of these stories and society’s response could negatively impact our military. 

‘It can cause our instructors to fear losing their jobs or shaming their unit,’ he said. ‘If our instructors have to censor themselves and what they do, then they might not be willing to push recruits, and that’s something that can get our young men and women killed.’

Leaked footage showed youngsters being smothered in the substance as they sang Happy Birthday – which is enforced so they cannot hold their breath and pass out. Kennedy said the training was normal across all branches of the military  

In recounting his own grueling training as a special forces soldier in 2004, Kennedy said he was ordered to crawl on his stomach for miles until his skin started peeling off.  

Although painful, he said it was absolutely necessary for what he experienced in Afghanistan, where the sniper would crawl for hours on end. 

‘Everything I went through, all the pain, hazing, what would be considered horrific today, everything was useful,’ Kennedy said. 

He noted that the reality that recruits will be injured, and that some may even die, is something the general public has difficulty understanding, but Kennedy said the criticisms cannot impair the military’s training. 

Kennedy also said that the tear gas training was nowhere near as brutal as the public perception, describing the gas as only ‘uncomfortable,’ and something he can easily fight through thanks to his training.  

Kennedy added that while the military does need to balance how far it can push recruits, it’s primary focus should be molding the most combat-ready soldiers it can to win wars. 

‘We need to push the boundaries for our recruits, because there’s no other way to prepare them for what they’ll experience in war.’ 

The Navy did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment on the status of the investigation over last year’s incident.  

Kennedy reiterated his belief that the military needed to focus on preparing recruits for the brutal reality of war rather than worry over the public’s perception of its training 

The video from last year shows the recruits huddled on the floor being hit by the tear gas during training – which is used to replicate combat conditions.

Some in the group moaned as they struggled to sing Happy Birthday – a song often chosen in the Armed Forces to stop them holding their breath and blacking out.

But they quickly got up and were seen sprinting in opposite directions as the clip drew to a close.

The instructors, who were not wearing masks themselves, walked towards them while spraying the gas and may have broken the 6ft rule.

The clip also lasted for over a minute, when military rules state it should go on for no longer than 15 seconds.

The SEAL recruits are seen huddled together on the ground in preparation for the tear gas exercise 

An admiral triggered the probe into the ‘lawfulness of the behavior’ from selection at San Clemente Island in California last year 

Following the training, the recruits immediately jumped on to their feet and started running in the opposite direction

Author Matthew Cole, who obtained the footage from someone who was trying to become a SEAL, told CBS the victim felt the instructors were ‘abusive and careless.’ 

Exposure to tear gas can cause chest tightness, coughing and shortness of breath. The toxic chemicals can also make vision blurry and can leave people with burns.

Generally, tear gas causes short term health impacts, but there have been cases of people suffering with longer term issues because of exposure to the fumes.

Being exposed for longer periods of time in tight, enclosed spaces can increase the impact of more serious health issues, including respiratory failure.

The use of tear gas is part of military training across the world so trainees can improve their tolerance and boost their confidence in using protective equipment.

These recruits, who were preparing to join one of the toughest special force teams in the world, were two-thirds through their training and had completed ‘Hell Week’.

It is a grueling ‘five-and-a-half days of cold, wet, brutally difficult operational training on fewer than four hours of sleep,’ the Navy says.

Candidates run more than 200 miles and do physical training for more than 20 hours per day.

Former Navy SEAL candidate Kyle Mullen, 24, died on February 4 shortly following an intense five-and-a-half day training regimen called ‘hell week,’ where participants are physically challenged for 20 hours a day and are forced to operate on little to no sleep

Navy SEAL training most commonly place at the naval base in Coronado, California, where Kyle was stationed

The new footage was leaked after 24-year-old former college footballer Kyle Mullen died just hours after completing ‘Hell Week.’

Mullen was taken to Sharp Coronado Hospital in California on February 4 after displaying ‘symptoms’ following his completion of the brutal training.

He ultimately died of bacterial pneumonia, which drowned him in his own bodily fluids. 

Mullen’s mother, Regina, has since criticized the Navy’s hesitation to provide her son with help as he was coughing up blood during training. 

She previously told The Times: ‘They killed him. They say it’s training, but it’s torture. And then they didn’t even give them the proper medical care.’

She added: ‘They treat these guys worse than they are allowed to treat prisoners of war.’