directors spent 6 months with NSW community including some of the main 8 guys
at that point, they decided they just could not use actors. they never even tried. they filmed yacht take down out of pocket and tried to get major hollywood support and couldnt. legendary pictures became one of the investors. budget figures have ranged from $12-18mm, but im assuming it was $12-13mm considering relativity paid $13mm guarantee. relativity recouped $7.5mm from sales/partnerships, not including the recent FX (tv channel) pickup. they spent $32mm on marketing.
it took another 4 months to convince 8 guys to agree to do it, although they havent been specific on exact timeline of navy approving and supporting using the actual guys, as well as securing independent financing
SWCC have major role in film (shown in trailer) and there are also the guys from the nuclear sub who help offload the minisub
all military personnel were on active duty status
besides a handful of times when they had camera operators dressed as military to film "blue on blue" where cameras would be aimed at each other. interestingly, shane hurlbut said the POV shot of fast rope to SWCC boat was done by crew, not military.
re security >
1 guy apparently just got back from a tour in Afghanistan in February 2012 (after trailer, before release)
only 2 other guys might have been on combat deployment status in late 2011
1 of the other 2 guys was definitely not deployed at time of release
http://www.makingof.com/film/856/act-of-valor
12:25 - highly amusing - describing chief dave's initial response when asked about being in film
***
offtopic - heard a former delta guy say that in transformers 2/3 all the military operators (only 2 main actors IIRC, unlike first movie) were played by former military