And he worries the brass are breaking the law to put him behind bars while the real culprit who spoofed a SEAL goes free.

An explosives expert lauded for taking out terrorist supply routes and safe houses in internal SEAL records provided to Navy Times, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Aaron Howard faces a court-martial trial for allegedly posing as a pair of people who wooed three women through text messages into sending racy images of themselves in 2017.

The victims are an aircrew survival equipmentman second class and two civilians, military prosecutors say.

All the charges fall under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which prohibits actions that can ruin good order and discipline in a unit or those that bring discredit upon the armed forces.

A member of Virginia-based SEAL Team 6 since 2014 and its Sailor of the Year two years later, the highly-decorated Howard’s medals include a Bronze Star with a Valor device denoting battlefield heroism inside an undisclosed nation, according to records provided to Navy Times.

During one of dozens of targeted raids deep behind enemy lines to snatch guerrilla leaders, on Sept. 29, 2016 he selflessly exposed himself to withering small arms fire so that his team could remove “two critically wounded surrogate force teammates,” according to the medal’s citation.

But now he risks brig time, demotion and an unwanted exit from the military.

Navy Region Mid-Atlantic spokesman Jeff Hood said SO1 Howard waived his Article 32 hearing and has been arraigned but has yet to enter a plea and no date for his court-martial trial at Naval Base Norfolk has been set.

The sexy snapshot scandal is the latest imbroglio to embarrass the SEALs, the elite special operators once lauded as “silent professionals” who eschewed the sort of shenanigans that snagged headlines.

But on Wednesday, Special Operations Command announced military leaders had booted from Iraq a Coronado, California-based SEAL Team 7 platoon following allegations they were tied to a booze-fueled July 4th party.

During the probe into the illegal celebration, Air Force authorities also began a separate inquiry into sexual assault allegations involving a SEAL leader there and a female service member, but officials insist it was the drinking that triggered their return to Coronado.

Although he was exonerated of all war crimes charges by a panel of his peers, the recent court-martial trial of Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher in San Diego included witnesses testifying about a similar cowboy culture inside another SEAL Team 7 platoon, with their 2017 deployment to Iraq punctuated by heavy drinking on the battlefield and unlawful photos of service members mugging with dead bodies.

But the Gallagher trial and the ongoing prosecutor of his platoon’s commanding officer, Navy Lt. Jacob X. “Jake” Portier, also revealed allegations of heavy-handed SEAL leaders who engaged in unlawful command influence to scuttle the SEALs’ chances of getting a fair trial.

The military judge hearing the case ended up sanctioning Navy prosecutors for a warrantless spying operation run by counterintelligence agents at Naval Criminal Investigative Service that targeted defense attorneys and the editor of Navy Times.

Currently languishing in legal limbo at Naval Special Warfare Development Group, Howard now spends his days performing menial chores such as painting buildings instead of hunting terrorists.

He and his attorney— Michael Waddington — say they have no idea how DEVGRU leaders came to suspect him as the catfisher.

According to legal filings in the case, the Navy began probing the spoofing and sexting allegations in late 2017 but Howard quickly took and passed a pair of polygraph tests, something Gallagher did, too.

Also like Gallagher, Howard insists that he’s innocent. And in a series of legal filings his attorney Waddington accuses SEAL commanders of wielding unlawful command influence to overcome a shoddy investigation.

Called the “mortal enemy of military justice,” unlawful command influence, or UCI, occurs when superiors utter words or take actions that wrongfully influence the outcome of court-martial cases, jeopardize the appellate process or undermine the public’s confidence in the armed forces by appearing to tip the scales of justice.

And to Waddington, SEAL Team 6′s UCI problems began shortly after Howard hired him.

In a July 25 motion he filed with the military court here, Waddington wrote that in early 2018 Command Master Chief Eric Adamski and Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Scotty Walker convened a meeting with Howard to tell him that he was “guilty for getting a lawyer” and was an “(expletive) idiot” who “cannot be trusted” and “(expletived) himself because he sought legal counsel.”

When Howard tried to find witnesses who would back him up or swear to his good character, DEVGRU leaders verbally, through electronic communications and on the command’s work portal page warned them away from him, Waddington wrote.

In April of 2018, enlisted leaders held an all hands meeting with Blue Squadron SEALs to dish on Howard’s investigation, telling them that he “was guilty and SEALs should not help with his case,” according to the motion.

DEVGRU’s command then held another briefing detailing what they say were their initial investigative findings and gave a PowerPoint presentation that implied Howard “was guilty of various offenses,” Waddington wrote.

They then emailed the presentation to Howard’s fellow SEALs, his superiors and “potential fact and sentencing witnesses,” which is why they’ve “shunned him and refused to participate in his case, in any manner,” including assisting the defense team in their investigation, Waddington continued.

Nine days ago, Waddington filed another motion to compel SEAL Team 6 leaders to fork over the PowerPoint slides, emails and other records, but the Navy has yet to provide them.

So Howard’s defense team is left only with the command’s investigation.

In the legal filings uncovered by Navy Times, it’s unclear if NCIS or any other law enforcement agency participated in the SEAL Team 6 probe.

“NCIS declined to take the lead in this investigation,” Waddington said. “That pretty much left it up to the command.”

Saying all the evidence against Howard is “circumstantial,” the attorney told Navy Times that the command seemed to suspect Howard because some of the texts to the women mentioned being stationed once in San Diego, but “that could be 50 percent of all SEALs.”

There’s also a comment alluding to working out with kettle bells, but that’s not unique to any SEAL, Waddington added.

“In one text, the spoofer made comments about liking baseball,” Waddington said. “And they assumed because my client was a high school athlete that he played baseball. He didn’t. He played football.”

Howard offered his phone for forensic investigators to comb over, but Waddington said the command declined.

Reached in Coronado, Naval Special Warfare spokeswoman Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence said it would be inappropriate to comment about an ongoing court-martial case but leaders expect all sailors “to uphold the highest ethical and professional standards.”

And all misconduct allegations “will be investigated by the appropriate authorities,” she added.

A U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries II reconnaissance aircraft, was approached in an “unprofessional manner” by a Venezuelan SU-30 Flanker-C fighter aircraft in “approved international airspace” on Friday according to a U.S. Southern Command statement released Sunday.

“After reviewing video documentation, we have determined the Russian-made fighter aggressively shadowed the EP-3 at an unsafe distance in international airspace for a prolonged period of time, endangering the safety of the crew and jeopardizing the EP-3 mission,” the release said.

The U.S. aircraft “was performing a multi-nationally recognized & approved mission in international airspace over #CaribbeanSea,” Southern Command tweeted earlier today.

The Venezuelan fighter “took off from an airfield 200 miles east of Caracas,” but the release didn’t specify how long the intercept lasted.

The United States, allies and regional partners routinely patrol the Caribbean Sea with ships and aircraft on counter-drug missions. Intercepts of U.S. aircraft have happened more frequently overseas near Russia and China, and are relatively uncommon so close to the U.S. homeland.

Southern Command did not detail if this EP-3 Aries was looking for drug smugglers or if its purpose was to monitor Venezuela while tensions with the regime of embattled President Nicolás Maduro continue to simmer.

The Maduro “regime continues to undermine internationally recognized laws and demonstrate its contempt for international agreements” and its “unprovoked and unjustified acts” are undermining the ability of “the U.S. and other nations to safely conduct flights in international airspace,” Southern Command stated.

Southern Command’s release also took a swipe at Russia, which has continued supporting Maduro despite National Assembly President Juan Guaidó declaration in January that he’s the South American country’s legitimate leader.

In the past months, most governments in the Western Hemisphere, including the United States, have recognized Guaidó’s rule.

Maduro continues to draw support from nations such as Cuba, China and Russia.

As recently as last month, Russia buzzed a U.S. P-8A Poseidon over the Mediterranean in a similar incident.

“This latest action also demonstrates Russia’s irresponsible military support to the illegitimate Maduro regime and adds to Maduro’s growing legacy of reckless and negligent behavior, which undermines international rule of law and efforts to counter illicit trafficking.” Southern Command’s release said.

By signing an executive order entitled “Supporting the Transition of Active Duty Service Members and Military Veterans into the Merchant Marine,” President Donald Trump indicated that helping veterans land good blue collar jobs at sea will strengthen national security, too.

Trump’s declaration is designed to allow Navy, Coast Guard and Army Watercraft Systems personnel leaving active duty to apply their training and experience to land future careers in the maritime industry.

“It makes it easier for sea service veterans to get high-paying, high-skilled jobs as mariners by waiving government-issued licensing fees and by crediting military training in the National Maritime Center credentialing system,” said Peter Navarro, the director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, during a conference call with reporters on Monday.

A direct White House adviser to Trump, Navarro said that the executive order makes it easier for enlisted sailors and officers to qualify as “mates and engineers” under the Coast Guard’s civilian mariner licensing rule.

Previously, sailors and other service members had to start over by enrolling in basic maritime classes, often paying $25,000 to meet the requirements.

Trump’s executive order should allow service members on active duty to simultaneous earn qualifications at sea while also netting equivalent civilian licenses along the way, Navarro said.

Those who already separated also could be fast-tracked to getting licensed, but Navarro said more work must be done there.

Before all of this becomes a reality, the Navy first must work with the Coast Guard to get schools, qualifications and experiences certified for civilian licensing.

The Army’s already done this for their active-duty mariners, said retired Navy Rear Adm. Mark H. “Buz” Buzby, the Maritime Administrator.

“I think this is a huge step in the right direction and something the nation critically needs,” Buzby told Navy Times by telephone.

A graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy and career naval officer. before joining the U.S. Department of Transportation Buzby led Military Sealift Command, the government’s largest employer of civilian mariners.

Their supply ships replenish the Navy’s fleet at sea and would be called upon to ferry materiel to Marines and soldiers fighting overseas in a ground war.

And they depend on qualified merchant mariners, which is why Trump’s executive order is important to national security, too.

On April 24, Buzby warned senators that an outbreak of war likely would find the nation with a “shortfall of 1,800 qualified mariners in the event of a full, prolonged mobilization” — and that’s assuming a best case scenario, with no losses of ships or personnel.

Only weeks earlier, he warned House lawmakers that dwindling numbers of commercial vessels and qualified crew members to man them might make the “surge” of sealift necessary to support operations difficult.

“Because of the historically low number of ships in the U.S.-flag, oceangoing fleet over the past several years, I am concerned about the availability of a sufficient number of qualified mariners with the necessary endorsements to operate large ships (unlimited horsepower and unlimited tonnage) and to sustain a prolonged sealift mobilization beyond the first four to six months,” Buzby said.

“Historically, the men and women of the merchant marine have always stood up in times of need to meet any task set for them and would likely extend their time at sea beyond normal tours if called upon to do so. However, it is critical to ensure we have enough qualified U.S. mariners to safely crew our government vessels so that the readiness of the force is not negatively impacted.”

What’s good for national security also is good for American workers, Navarro added during his round table with reporters.

He pointed to the average annual wages paid to water transportation workers — $65,720 per year, which is well above the national occupational average of $50,620 — and members of the U.S. Merchant Marine routinely earn even more.

“So this is a great opportunity for sea veterans to seamlessly transition into really good, high-paying jobs that will help our national security front,” Navarro said.

In an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency published Friday, Rear Adm. Touraj Hasna Moqaddam said that the cruise “would take five months to complete” and feature Iran’s newest domestically-built destroyer, the Sahand.

On Dec. 1, Iran’s state TV reported the commissioning of the Sahand in the southern port of Bandar Abbas, at the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea.

Moqaddam’s words echo similar announcements by other senior Iranian leaders telegraphing Atlantic deployments in recent years as a visible counterweight to ongoing U.S. warships that routinely sail the Persian Gulf.

No Iranian cruises to the Western Atlantic ever occurred but Tehran’s vessels began extending their reach to the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy missions.

Iranian media reported that the Sahand-led tour likely would travel to Venezuela, an Iranian partner.

It’s the second Sahand that’s been operated by the Iranian navy but the only one that’s still afloat.

The U.S. Navy obliterated the first Sahand, a British-built warship, on April 18, 1988, in retaliation for an Iranian-laid mine that heavily damaged the guided-missile frigate Samuel B. Roberts four days earlier.

After firing on American warplanes above the Persian Gulf, the Sahand was rocked by both anti-ship missiles and bombs delivered by the destroyer Joseph Strauss and A-6E Intruder jets launched from the aircraft carrier Enterprise, according the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command.

A blaze swept the deck of the Sahand, eventually reaching the ship’s magazines, which detonated.

What remained of the vessel sank, killing scores of its crew.

As it turns out, his first one is going to be a Navy ensign.

At the age of 46.

Reinhold Richard “Reince” Priebus, the once-powerful chairman of the Republican National Committee before he joined the Trump administration in 2017, has been picked by a Navy selection board to receive a direct commission as a human resource officer.

“The Human Resource Officer community recently selected Reince Priebus as a direct commission candidate — like other applicants, he is currently moving towards earning a commission as an ensign in the United States Navy Reserve.” said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Jereal Dorsey in a written statement emailed to Navy Times.

After receiving a waiver for his age and with the backing of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis — who wrote a recommendation on his behalf — Priebus was selected with three others from a field of more than 40 candidates, the Post reported.

In a statement to the Navy that was obtained by the Post, Priebus wrote that he was partly moved to enlist after an early 2017 Oval Office meeting between Trump and the wife and child of Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, 36, a SEAL killed in a raid in Yemen.

Despite criticizing Trump early in the 2016 presidential campaign, Priebus served a rocky six months as his chief of staff. He resigned on July 27, 2017, and was replaced by Kelly.

His brief tenure in the White House was marked by reports of constant internal fighting, both with other staffers and Trump. An attorney, Priebus has worked as a campaign strategist in Washington since leaving the executive branch.

His highly partisan background is likely to raise questions about the non-political nature of his new military role, although such circumstances are not unprecedented.

Former White House spokesman Sean Spicer was a direct commission public affairs officer in the Naval Reserve while also serving as the public face of the administration and Robby Mook, the campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton’s presidential run, received a commission, too.

Both also began their Navy Reserve careers as ensigns.

Numerous lawmakers have served as officers in the military reserves or the National Guard during their time in Congress, including former Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Murphy, a 57-year-old clinical child psychologist who became a Navy Reserve lieutenant commander in 2010 through the direct commissioning program.

Lauded for his care of troops suffering from the signature hidden wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder — Murphy was promoted to commander in 2015.

But he resigned from the House of Representatives in disgrace two years later, after reports circulated that the eight-term lawmaker urged a woman with whom he’d had an extramarital affair to get an abortion.

In his statement to the Navy obtained by the Post, Priebus noted that his sister served as a Navy doctor and his father taught at Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois while he was a child.

Direct commissioning isn’t a rare practice in the Navy Reserve. In fact, there are 21 separate officer communities that are authorized to recruit qualified civilian professionals to fill critical needs in the force.

Once directly commissioned, they’re assigned to their units, get issued their uniforms and start drilling one weekend every month and two weeks every summer.

But there are restrictions on what they can do in the Navy until they’re fully trained and certified, a process that can take more than three years, depending on the profession.

There’s a mandatory two-week Direct Commission Officer Indoctrination Course at Newport, which could fulfill his annual training requirement, and the Human Resources Introductory Course must be completed within three years of commissioning, too.

Until he completes these requirements, Priebus won’t be eligible to go active-duty for more than 60 days at a time, except for training.

The age waiver is necessary because Priebus at 46 wouldn’t have enough qualifying service time in uniform to meet a 20-year obligation before reaching 62, the military’s mandatory retirement age., according to military regulations.

The Navy directive on accessions indicates that Priebus would’ve received extra scrutiny by the chief of personnel because “when high visibility candidates are being considered for direct appointments for Navy Reserve commissions — such candidates include high profile individuals and key government figures.”

So much so that Warner Brothers will send a Wonder Woman character to this Sunday’s homecoming of the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in Norfolk — wearing a cape and all.

But she won’t be Lynda Carter, the actress who played Wonder Woman in the hit 1970s television series and became one of the more than 750,000 people who have viewed the short film.

The clip, shared on Facebook, tells a heartwarming yarn of a father and son waiting at home for the mother, a Navy sailor, to return from an overseas deployment.

“ I am delighted with the response to the Navy’s production of this commercial,” Carter told Navy Times. “It has gone viral outside the military and I’m so proud to be a small part of elevating the valor of women in uniform. I am sorry to not be there personally. Even my invisible plane won’t be able to bring me this time, but I truly wish everyone a wonderful, healthy and safe holiday.”

Without giving the story away — you really must see it yourself — a Wonder Woman toy plays a pivotal role in easing the child’s loneliness he encounters in the absence of his mother.

“So heartwarming!” Carter tweeted Dec. 7 after seeing the video. “Thinking of all those serving our country who can’t be with their families this holiday season.”

Noticing Carter’s comment, the Hollywood Reporter picked up on the video and circulated it to a wider audience.

“NEXCOM had no idea the video was going to be such a hit and pull at the heart strings of so many of our service members and their loved ones,” Courtney Williams, spokeswoman for the Navy Exchange Service Command in Virginia Beach, told Navy Times.

“The video went viral — all organically — so what better way to show support for our nation’s heroes than by bringing Wonder Woman to them in real life.”

The Navy Exchange, which operates stores around the globe, developed the idea for the video earlier this year. Officials contacted Warner Bros. to get permission to use popular toys that symbolize strength and resiliency as part of a message about military families navigating the separations that follow in the wake of overseas deployments.

With the success of the video, Warner Bros. has returned support to Navy Exchange by offering their support for the Truman Strike Group homecoming.

Coming to Norfolk will be the Wonder Woman character, but Lynda Carter won’t reprise her role in Virginia.

“Wonder Woman will be giving out some Warner Bros. goodies, signing autographs, taking photos,” Williams said. “But mainly, [she’s] there to support those loved ones while waiting on their service member to arrive.”

The carrier and three escorts are returning to Norfolk after a two-part, eight-month deployment.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story suggested that Lynda Carter would travel to Norfolk to welcome home the carrier strike group.

Retired Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Britt Slabinski was awarded the nation’s highest military honor 16 years, 2 months, 20 days after the action that prompted the award, one that President Donald Trump dubbed “The Battle of Robert’s Ridge.”

Trump placed the medal around Slabinski’s neck at a White House ceremony May 24 in front of a packed room full of guests, which included other of Medal of Honor recipients, as well as seven teammates of Slabinski’s who were with him in Afghanistan in the early morning hours of March 4, 2002.

Trump recapped the events after greeting all the Medal of Honor recipients present by calling them “very, very special people,” and that their “names and immortal acts of valor are forever engraved in the memory of our nation.”

“Today, we induct a new name into the most exclusive gathering of heroes ― and that’s what exactly this is,” he said.

Read the citation for Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Britt Slabinski here.

Trump recounted the events of that early morning reconnaissance mission and the actions of then-Senior Chief Slabinski on the 10,000-foot snow-covered mountain in Afghanistan called Takur Ghar.

“Britt and his teammates were preparing to exit the aircraft on the mountain peak when their helicopter was struck by machine gun fire, and machine gun fire like they’ve never seen before, and a rocket-propelled grenade from al-Qaida terrorists down below,” he said. “Not a good feeling”

Trump said that as the crippled helicopter “lurched away from the assault” one of the members of Slabinski’s team, Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts was thrown from the aircraft, before the helicopter with the rest of the team crashed into the mountain below.

This alone, Trump said was a “tremendous, horrible thing to witness” though the remainder of the team, Slabinski included, were rescued shortly after by another helicopter.

“At this point, Britt received information suggesting their teammate Neil Roberts, the man thrown out of the helicopter, was probably still alive,” Trump said.

“The team faced a choice: to wait for reinforcements and pretty much safety, or to return immediately to the enemy stronghold in the hope of saving Neil’s life. They would be outmanned, out gunned and fighting uphill on a steep, icy mountain … they would face freezing temperatures and bitter winds at the highest altitude a battle in the history of the American military.”

With the odds against them, Trump said, Slabinski and the rest of the team didn’t hesitate.

“They made their decision, for them it was an easy one,” he said. “They went back to that mountain and when their helicopter reached the peak, they jumped out in to a furious onslaught of machine gun fire.”

The first order of business was to secure the peak and silence those enemy machine guns. Slabinski and his teammate, Air Force Tech Sgt. John Chapman charged uphill towards the bunkers, Chapman knocked one out before he was shot.

“Britt continued to engage the enemy, repeatedly exposing himself to horrendous fire,” Trump said.

As members of his team were wounded, Slabinski, braved enemy fire to help them to safety before engineering dangerous retreat down the treacherous mountain slope, taking the wounded with them and sometimes moving through deep snow.

“When they could go no further, Britt tended to the wounded and coordinated their escape until his team was finally evacuated,” Trump said. That evacuation would not come for another 14 hours.

The president then called out the seven members of Slabinski’s team present in the audience, along with names of those killed that day, and recognizing many of their families who were also present.

“These were incredible, incredible men and you can be proud that they were in your family,” Trump said.

Though he didn’t speak, Trump relayed Slabinski’s words that the awarding of this Medal of Honor wasn’t an individual award for himelf, but it was recognition of what they did jointly as a team during what Trump called “the Battle of Robert’s Ridge.”

“To Britt and all the men of Robert’s Ridge … through your actions, you demonstrated that there is no love more pure and no courage more great than the love and courage that burns in the hearts of American patriots,” Trump said

“We are free because warriors like you give their sweat, their blood and, if they have to, their lives for our great nation.”

Trump concluded his words about Slabiniski, who served for another 12 years in the Navy and who now spends much of this time volunteering with the Navy SEAL Foundation and working with Gold Star families, those who have lost loved ones during the wars.

“Britt, we salute you, we thank you and we thank God for making you United States SEAL, we love our Navy SEALs, they are very special people.”

It’s a move the Navy has been asking Congress to allow for the past couple years, specifically in the hope of adding high-powered cyber experts to expand the service’s uniformed information warfare capabilities.

Though it’s not a done deal, the move has passed its first hurdle in the approval process and was announced by the House Armed Services Subcommittee as one of its personnel proposals included in the latest mark-up of the FY19 National Defense Authorization Act.

Despite being rocketed up the ranks, these officers won’t be commanding ships. Instead, the skillful software engineers will serve the critical role of ensuring the military’s ability to fight and wage cyber war, both on offense and defense.

“You gave us some legislative authority to bring them in with the equivalent of three years of experience laterally,” the Navy’s top uniformed personnel officer, Vice Adm. Robert P. Burke, told the House Armed Services Committee on April 13.

“That’s about a lieutenant junior grade in the Navy, or a first lieutenant in the other services. But it’s about a $50,000 pay.”

And that level of compensation just isn’t enough to entice the level of expertise the Navy needs, Burke told the panel.

The Navy is not only competing with Silicon Valley companies for these skills, he said, but with the rest of the government, where there is already a program in place that can pay employees with these skills substantially more.

“In Silicon Valley, these folks would be, you know, up over $100,000,” Burke said. “The mission and the service appeals to these folks, but there’s an equivalent accepted cyber civilian program that allows the government to pay in the closer to $100,000 range.”

As a result, Burke told the committee, the best and brightest tend to take the money and go into civilian government service. What Burke wants is a level paying field.

Furthermore, the law would not limit these direct accessions to exclusively cyber. Instead, the law is being re-written to give wider latitude for future needs.

The new wording would allow lateral entry up to the O-6 paygrade to “any scientific or technical field designated by the Secretary of Defense” that “requires a high level of skill and that an insufficient number of officers possess in the military department concerned.”

It’s the second time the sea service has declined to accept Jason Heap, who calls himself a “humanist” and and a “non-theist,” into the chaplain corps.

A “humanist” is one who doesn’t believe in a god, but in the natural ability of humans to “lead meaningful, ethical lives capable of adding to the greater good of humanity,” according to the Humanist Society.

The latest denial of Heap’s application is at the center of a debate on whether or not one who doesn’t believe in a deity can serve as a military chaplain.

Despite the swirling debate around Heap’s beliefs, or lack thereof, no one is denying his qualifications. Heap holds a master’s degree in divinity from Texas Christian University as well as a theological history degree from Oxford.

A total of 67 lawmakers — 22 senators and 45 congressmen — signed a one of two letters to Navy leadership demanding the Navy reject Heap’s application.

The senators sent their letter to Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson on March 12.

Meanwhile, congressmen sent their letter to directly to the Navy’s chief of chaplains, Rear Adm. Margaret G. Kibben, after learning that Heap’s application had cleared the first hurdle in the selection process, meaning a Navy board had determined he was qualified to take on the role.

“It is our understanding that the Navy Chaplain Appointment and Retention Eligibility Advisory Group has recommended accepting Dr. Jason Heap to serve as a secular-humanist chaplain,” the 45 Republican members of the House of Representatives wrote in the March 9 letter, which was also sent to Vice Adm. Robert P. Burke, the chief of naval personnel.

Both Burke and Kibben play a part in the final decision-making process of selecting new chaplains, Navy officials confirmed.

“We are concerned that the Navy is taking steps to expand the chaplain corps beyond its focused purpose…the chaplaincy was designed to facilitate the exercise of religious belief, not philosophical belief — this is the bright line that the Department of Defense must use in defining the boundaries of the chaplain corps.”

But others view military chaplains as an entity that serves critical roles far beyond religion, such as counseling and providing mental health services to those in need. In performing those duties, chaplains take on a role of accommodating the spiritual needs of other service members, instead of espousing their own beliefs.

The Department of Defense has gradually recognized more “beliefs” beyond traditional religion, resulting in a 2017 decision to change the lingo the military used to identify a service member’s preferences from “Faith Codes” to “Faith and Belief Codes.”

These codes allow military members to have more options to place on their dog tags and denote in military records.

Shifting away from faith codes coincided with DoD’s recognition of the humanist belief system and an allowance of using the word “atheist” or “agnostic” for record-keeping.

Many viewed this move as a step toward allowing chaplains from non-traditional organizations into service. And now those organizations say the Navy’s decision — along with lawmakers stepping into the selection process — is a step backward.

“The facts speak for themselves — the Navy Chaplain Appointment and Retention Eligibility Advisory Board recommended the approval of a qualified humanist chaplain,” Casey Brescia, spokesman for the Secular Coalition for America told Navy Times. “Yet despite their recommendation, members of Congress needlessly inserted themselves into the process and took extraordinary steps to halt the confirmation of what would have been the military’s first humanist chaplain.

“It is absolutely reprehensible that members of Congress would expend so much energy just to ensure that nontheist service members, wearing the uniform of the United States Navy, are denied access to a humanist chaplain.”

The number of non-believers in the ranks is growing, according to the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, who estimate that there are more than 24,000 professed non-believers serving today. That number, they say, has tripled in less than a decade, growing from less than one percent in 2009 to almost two percent in 2017.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said that he and the rest of the letter’s signatories are sensitive to the needs of service members who don’t believe in a deity, but because they don’t believe in a traditional religion, Wicker says they shouldn’t serve as chaplains.

“I hope our Navy leaders recognize that it is well within their authority to create programs outside of the Chaplain Corps to serve humanist or atheist service members,” Wicker wrote in a March 15 press release. “However, allowing a non-religious worldview to be represented among the Chaplain Corps would set a dangerous precedent for the military. What is to stop future demands for other philosophical preferences to be included in the Chaplain Corps as well?”

Navy officials have declined to comment on the decision.

“Due to Privacy Act restrictions, the Department of the Navy is unable to disclose a specific individual’s application to the chaplain corps or disposition of that application,” Navy spokesman Lt. Ben Anderson told Navy Times.

Navy officials traditionally don’t openly discuss any selection process, citing that to do so would jeopardize impartiality in the system.

Heap initially applied to be a chaplain with the Navy in 2013 and was denied, prompting a law suit filed by him against the Navy for discrimination.

Since DoD’s recognition of humanism as an official belief, Heap has made multiple attempts to land the job, but continues to be rejected.

Navy Times attempted to contact Heap through the humanist organization, Center for Inquiry, but was told he was “unavailable for interviews,” according to Jason Lemieux, spokesman for the organization.

“Our understanding is that Dr. Heap continues to be interested in serving as a chaplain but has not yet decided on his next step.”

If you’ve ever been stationed in Norfolk, you’ve no doubt at least heard of Greenies Beach Bar & Grill, the popular sailor watering hole in Norfolk’s Ocean View area. And more likely, you’ve spent many a night tossing more than a few back with your shipmates.

But in a sad development, the iconic bar is expected to close its doors over the next few months, as Norfolk city officials plan to tear it down and convert it into a parking lot.

Norfolk Mayor, Kenny Alexander, said the city would purchase and knock down Greenies and another restaurant, the Ocean View Diner, as part of a massive city renovation plan.

Buying and demolishing Greenies is expected to provide more public access to Norfolk’s 7.5 miles of beaches.

No one knows for sure how long Greenies has been serving sailors, but the surrounding area has been a popular destination since Norfolk Naval Station opened its doors just before World War II.

Long before Virginia Beach became the place to go, Ocean View’s beaches and attractions brought in sailors and vacationers from all over the East Coast.

And though the year of its actual inception may be up for debate, one thing is certain: Innumerable sailors have viewed the establishment as a safe haven for getting thrashed beyond belief.

Greenie’s demise will leave another iconic sailor dive — the Thirsty Camel — as the only late night bar open on Norfolk’s beaches.

Current and former sailors bemoaned the announcement on the popular Navy-related Facebook page, Decelerate Your Life.

You will be missed, you prince of Norfolk, you king of Virginia.