I'm back to the Chinook shoot down.
The strategic implications are shocking. One of our two, tier 1 Special Operations Units has been decimated in a single attack.
They will reconstitute.
The military always does.
But it does make you wonder about how we operate now. Additionally, I would assume that the Afghan Special Ops people were some of the best that they had produced so we have a one two punch here.
Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha now assumes the lead.
Good luck guys.
Only one that I can think of as being similar lose is a a Chinook crash in Scotland in 1994. Twenty-nine people including the top intell people based in Northern Ireland were killed. I guess the counter-intell ops against the IRA just stopped for a period of time until things were sorted out.
ReplyDeleteawesome point. ya know this has always been a controversial point about Marine Corps operations.
ReplyDeleteeach of our vehicles...be they AAV's....or CH-46's or CH-53's or V-22's all carry alot of people.
when they're hit you risk the chance of losing a bunch of people.
but back to this issue. the British experience with losing so many highly qualified people is instructive. i would also ask why (and believe me i'm a strong believer in the utility of conventional forces) we would have so many high skilled, hard to replace people stuffed into one helicopter.
we relearned what the Brits already taught.
does anyone know the size of team 6? reports are no one on the bin laden raid was there but very sad.
ReplyDeletei'm not saying that they're lying when they say that...but i bet they're not telling the whole truth.
ReplyDeleteWHAT IF!
they reported that members of the the team that took down Bin Laden were on the helo that was shot down?
can you imagine the propaganda victory that the Taliban would proclaim? revenge against the infidels that killed there leader. God guided the hand of the men that killed them.
add to it the shocks that the US public has already absorbed and i can see a political - strategic decision being made to keep it all secret....and to lie to the public.
Hello Solomon,
ReplyDeletethere is a little more information about that here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/06/us-biggest-loss-afghan-war-helicopter-crash-38
And something about Manpads in Afghanistan here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/afghanistan-taliban-missile-strike-chinook
GrandLogistics.
You should be happy, Solomon, since they were special forces. Less of them for you to complain about now, eh? I bet you've thrown back a few beers in celebration.
ReplyDeleteHuron, Here's a $0.25 now blow me.
ReplyDeleteSorry Sol but I couldn't help it.
no worries. i've saved up all his e-mails and when the time comes i'm going to use it as a defense...i will state that he harassed me to the point of irritation beyond my control.
ReplyDeleteIf reports are to be believed then the DEVGRU team was indeed composed of the same members assigned to Neptune Spear, which brings a frightening thought to bear...what if this was a deliberately planned ambush?
ReplyDeletewell Rohan if thats the case then what many are saying but never out loud is that our "Afghan" allies have been thoroughly penetrated by the Taliban....including Afghan Special Forces.
ReplyDeletei hate to say it but it depends on the unit that was in contact. if they were going to rescue another Special Ops unit then Special Operations Command Afghanistan is no longer combat effective until the ferret this guy out.
No one short of high-level members of the DoD (if even) actually know who participated in the Bin Laden raid, its very hard for me to believe anyone in the press or otherwise would know whether it were the same crew this early on.
ReplyDeleteST6 is supposedly fairly large compared to other SEAL teams.
Either way its a sad day for the SF communities, RIP.
Not entirely true Gabriel, anyone and everyone at the FOB Jalalabad would know and have seen the DEVGRU team involved in the Neptune Spear Op. Do be fair yes DEVGRU is quite large overall but its deployed strength is no more than 300 at any given time, split across at least 3 if not 4 theaters right now. Now its entirely possible that the team which carried out the UBL hit was relieved, but in all likely hood its still on its regular rotation. But the larger point is exactly what Sol pointed out, if there is a mole anywhere on base in Jalalabad, the game is pretty much up, OpSec goes out the window, all anyone has to do is keep an eye out and see whos going where
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm still angry cause the words I want to post would be misconstrued as an "Islamophobic" rant.
ReplyDeleteI know the teams will recover. I know these men will not be forgotten.
But I'm wondering why we should stay in county. 10 years and all these people want to do is sit back. That's fine. We should leave. We've given it our best and our bravest. Afgan solders would rather smoke hash--remember those videos?
Should the Taliban reconstitute itself, send in the drones and light bombers. Does anyone give a shit about "collateral damage?!?" Apparently not in Pakistan, right?
Fuck the whole region. Let them have their 14th century ideas and culture. The blood of our men is too good to be spilt on their soil!
/rant