At the very beginnings of our country, John Paul Jones had a certain image of what a naval officer should emulate. He said, “It is by no means enough that an officer should be capable. . . . He should be as well a gentleman of liberal education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor. . . . No meritorious act of a subordinate should escape his attention, even if the reward be only one word of approval. Conversely, he should not be blind to a single fault in any subordinate.”

The tragic story of Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Caserta indicates that many of the naval officers over him certainly did not have, “the nicest sense of personal honor.” In fact, many had no personal honor at all. The parents of this nice young man tell the story in their own words…

Hello, we are Patrick and Teri Caserta, parents of Brandon Caserta.
We beg your indulgence to read the story of what happen to our son, and our family at the hands of the United States Navy.
This is our story…

Our son, Petty Officer Third-class (PO3) Brandon Patrick Caserta was 17 years of age when he joined the US Navy in May of 2015, and left for boot camp in September of that year. His plan was to become an elite Navy SEAL. We were so proud of him. During Basic Underwater Demolition (BUD)/S SEAL training at the naval amphibious base in San Diego, CA, Brandon began having severe pains in his right leg.

He went to the dispensary three or four times, and each time was told by the doctors that he only had severe case of shin splints, that was all. Brandon conveyed to his doctors that he knew what shin splints were because of all the running he did leading up to entering the Navy. Brandon had shin splints before, but tried in vain to get the doctors to understand, this pain was different.

Shin-splints are characterized by general pain in the lower region of the leg between the knee and the ankle. Shin-splint injuries are specifically located in the middle to lower thirds of the anterior or lateral part of the tibia, which is the larger of two bones comprising the lower leg.

On May 6, 2017, Brandon was 2 1/2 weeks into the Basic Underwater Demolition (BUD)/S SEAL training doing what they call “boats on head” when he suddenly collapsed from excruciating pain in his leg. Even with the searing pain, Brandon got back up and ran back under the boat to help carry some of the load, but collapsed again, this time passing out from the enormous pain.

Was Brandon transported to a hospital? With careless disregard for the pain he was experiencing as he slowly regained consciousness, Brandon was thrown into the back of a filthy pickup truck and was taken to the famous “dropout bell.”

Seal recruits are told that at any point during their training, they can ring the bell and be voluntarily dropped from Seal training then immediately transfer out.

Writhing in pain and being taunted by his “shipmates,” Brandon refused to ring the bell. Even with all the incredible pain cascading through his body, he had the presence of mind and drive to succeed.

Brandon emphatically refused to ring the bell. His “shipmates” continued the taunts saying he was not “SEAL worthy,” and that he needed to “tap out.”

Read entire article: https://militarycorruption.com/brandon-caserta/