Military Convoy Flying Trump Flag Belonged to SEAL Unit
A spokesperson for the Navy confirmed the convoy's unit to ABC News.
— -- The military convoy spotted on Sunday flying a Donald Trump flag near Louisville belonged to an East Coast-based SEAL unit, a Navy spokesperson told ABC News.
Military officials have launched an inquiry to determine if any misconduct can be linked to the incident. Regulations do not permit an unauthorized flag on a military vehicle.
Photos and a video of the convoy spread quickly on social media, with many questioning the identity of the occupants and whether the vehicles belonged to a military unit or were military surplus.
The video shot on Sunday on a highway near Louisville showed the lead vehicle of a convoy flying a large blue Donald Trump flag from an antenna.
The vehicles did not have any identifiable markings and the mystery deepened when local military bases in Kentucky said that the vehicles did not belong to their units.
"The convoy were service members assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit driving vehicles while transiting between two training locations," Lieutenant Jacqui Maxwell, a spokesperson for Naval Special Warfare Group 2, told ABC News. Naval Special Warfare Units is the official Navy term for its elite SEAL special operations teams.
Maxwell said that Fort Knox, near Louisville, is used by Naval Special Warfare units for routine training.
The spokesperson said that a command inquiry has been initiated to determine what flag was being flown by the vehicle in the convoy.
"Defense Department and Navy regulations prescribe flags and pennants that may be displayed as well as the manner of display," said Maxwell. "The flag shown in the video was unauthorized."
Though known as SEAL units, Navy Special Warfare Units consist of many support staff, Maxwell said, so the occupants of the vehicle flying the flag may not have been SEALs.
If the inquiry determines there was misconduct involved in the incident, Maxwell said the unit commander will "make a disposition decision as to the appropriate administrative or disciplinary action".