The military is investigating a decorated Navy SEAL for his side job as a porn star.

Navy Chief Special Warfare Officer Joseph John Schmidt III, 42, has served in the military for 23 years, during which he received several valor awards and was even the face of the SEAL program website.

But when he's not training, fighting overseas or recruiting, Schmidt has been making porn films under the name 'Jay Voom', the San Diego Union-Tribune has learned.

In the past seven years, Schmidt has starred in 29 films, most of them with his wife and the mother of his kids, porn star Jewels Jade.

Navy SEAL Joseph John Schmidt III (center) has been moonlight as a porn star, mostly in films starring his wife of 15 years, Jewels Jade (left)

The Navy is currently investigating Schmidt (left) because he didn't get official approval for the side work

Eight months away from retirement, Schmidt's rank and pension are now at stake as the Navy investigates whether he violated rules by not getting official approval for his side job.

While Schmidt declined to comment for the Union-Tribune's article, his wife Jade was forthcoming.

She said that she first appeared in porn in 2001, but quit two years later to focus on being a wife and a mother.

In 2005, the couple set up a real estate company in Virginia, where Schmidt was stationed at the time.

But after two years of losses that Schmidt's $60,000 a year salary couldn't cover, the family went into debt and had to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Jade says she went back to doing porn in 2005, when they racked up $1.8million in personal debt due to a failed real estate venture. She brought in her husband (couple pictured left and right) as an actor to cut costs on her films

It was during this time that Jade decided to start stripping to make money, spending long weeks in Las Vegas and sending the money home. Eventually, beaten down by their $1.8million in personal debt, Jade says she returned to porn.

'It’s helped our family. It got us out of a lot of financial issues we were going through,' Jade told the Union-Tribune. 'I could take care of the child. I could try to get us out of financial debt.'

Jade continued to star in porn when the family moved to Coronado, California in 2009, but said it wasn't by choice. By that point, she rose to be one of the most recognized porn stars and getting other jobs became impossible due to her reputation.

Jade said she thinks it would be unfair for her husband (left) to be punished since so many of his co-workers knew about the work for years

She says fame didn't translate to financial success though.

She says the films she produced rarely made money, and in order to cut costs, she enlisted her husband to work as an actor.

What's creating a problem for Schmidt now is the fact that he didn't fill out mandatory paperwork seeking clearance from his chain of command to work as a porn actor.

Navy officials say he did fill out paperwork to sell herbal supplements, however.

Had he filled out that request, it's likely it would have been denied anyway since servicemen are barred from work that risks 'press or public relations coverage' or could 'create an improper appearance.'

In the past seven years, Schmidt has starred in 29 porn films

What's more, the military has a history of punishing officers for betraying these rules.

For example, when Air Force Staff Sgt, Michelle Manhart posed nude in a 2007 Playboy magazine spread, she was removed from her position as a training instructor and was demoted.

A threat of demotion will have a serious impact on Schmidt, who is just eight months away from retirement. A demotion would impact how much he gets in his pension.

But his wife thinks it would be unfair to punish her husband now, when so many of his co-workers have known about his work and said nothing.

'They knew about it at work,' Jade said. 'He got called in and they said, "Look, keep it on the low, don’t mention the SEAL name and blah, blah, blah."

'He was always pretty open about it with the command. I mean, honestly, all of his buddies knew about it. Everybody knew about it,' she said.