I feel that the sailors captured by the iranians should not have been allow to sell their stories to the media in the first place. the defence ministry should never have such a exception to the usual rules. The rule prohibiting military personnel from selling their stories were in place precisely to prevent them from making money out of it. Heroic acts by military personnel take place all over the world on a daily basis, if these stories are sold to the media, we are suggesting that such heroic acts can be measured in terms of monetary values. If that is the case, it follows that the story of the heroic act that is worth more money will be considered more "heroic" than other acts of such nature. That is obviously not true It is the intention behind these acts that mattered and not the degree of heroism involved in these acts.

Selling stories of soldiers caught in bad situation is also unfair to many other military personnel. Soldiers are being killed in the line of duty in the middle east and there is usually only a brief and short report about them in the media. However the situation on the sailors captured by the iranians was widely covered by the media even though they were not in considerable danger. thus it is unfair to the soldiers killed in the line of duty and their families.