SOCOM vessel collides with fishing boat.

via Navy Times.

Authorities in the southern Philippines are investigating a collision involving a Navy special operations boat that left a local fisherman dead, according to reports.
A Philippine army official told the Mindanao Examiner that a Mark V special operations craft collided with a fisherman’s boat on Wednesday night near a coastal town in Basilan. The Mark V gunboat was operating with the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, based in nearby Zamboanga at the time.
The 82-foot Mark V is operated by Navy special warfare combatant-craft crewmen with naval special warfare units, and often is used in training and operations with Navy SEALs. It can travel more than 55 miles per hour.
Officials at Naval Special Warfare Command headquarters in Coronado had no information on the incident Friday and referred questions to U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii. PACOM officials had no immediate comment.
Another Philippine army official told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the fishing boat had no lights on when it was struck by the Mark V. The son of the fisherman was on the boat at the time but wasn’t seriously hurt, the official said.
The joint U.S.-Filipino spec-ops task force, with about 600 U.S. service members, has been operating in the southern Philippines for more than 10 years, providing counterterrorism training.
The incident comes as more than 4,400 U.S. troops are in the Philippines for the Balikatan joint exercise.

I find a couple of things interesting here.

First.   Notice how Naval Special Warfare ducked behind Pacific Command?

Next.  Notice how everyone defaults to it being operated by Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines instead of identifying the unit involved. 

Last.  This has historically been a Special Forces tasking.  SOCOM is becoming as bureaucratic as the other services.  Not a good sign.  I wonder (because I truly don't know) if they gained anything by taking them out of the lead and making this a joint posting.