Re: the first part of the article, including:
“The relative obscurity surrounding the SEAL community finally began to fade in the 21st century. The release of the book and movie “American Sniper” brought a huge amount of attention to the SEAL community.”
That perhaps did introduce the SEALs to a lot of the general public, but it started in the late 80s to early 90s. Richard Marcinko (SEAL turned author) and some Tom Clancey novels kicked off the modern popularity.