Roger... hes made a career lying ablut his service.
He was never a SEAL. Ever. He was UDT (underwater demolition team). He went through BUD/s, but not all the rest of training and then the combat that SEALs go through, in fact, several of his stories were proven bullshit by SEALs that served 'with' him in Vietnam.
Dude lies. And hes a successful politician, which should automatically tell you something as well.
I hope you're wrong, but I definitely trust your judgement on it. I've always liked Jesse, and am a big fan of his as a politician.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura#Navy_SEAL_background_controversyNavy SEAL background controversy
Bill Salisbury, an attorney in San Diego and a former Navy SEAL officer, has accused Ventura of "pretending" to be a SEAL. He wrote that Ventura would be blurring an important distinction by claiming to be a SEAL when he was actually a frogman with the UDT. Compared to SEAL teams, UDTs saw less combat and took fewer casualties.[15][115]
Ventura has often implied that he was a SEAL, but has never stated it categorically. Bill Sainsbury described Ventura's Navy training thus:
[Ventura] took a screening test at boot camp to qualify for...Basic Underwater Demolition/seal (buds/s) training...Those who completed bud/s, when [Ventura] was in training, were sent to either a seal or an underwater demolition team. Graduation did not, however, authorize the trainee to call himself a seal or a udt frogman. He had to first successfully complete a six-month probationary period in the Teams.[116]
Although Ventura underwent UDT training, he never attempted the additional 26-week SEAL Qualification Training. On completion of his BUD/S training, Ventura was assigned to a UDT team. In 1983, eight years after Ventura left the Navy, the UDTs were disbanded and those operators were retrained and retasked as SEALs.[115]
Some argue that since Ventura's BUD/S training was common to UDTs and SEALs, and the work of UDTs and SEALs was similar, he is entitled to call himself a SEAL in all but name, but others disagree and hold the view expressed by Bill Salisbury.
Responding to the controversy, Governor Ventura's office confirmed that Ventura was a member of the UDT. His spokesman stated that Ventura has never tried to convince people otherwise.[15] Ventura stated, "Today we refer to all of us as SEALs, that's all it is", and dismissed the accusations of lying about being a SEAL as "much ado about nothing".[115]