Two years ago today the Special Ops Community was shocked by the loss of a couple dozen plus SEALs from Team 6 in a helicopter shoot down. You can Google the callsign and get more information (conflicting) than you can possibly digest. I simply want to point to this passage from Wiki concerning the aftermath.
On 10 August 2011, the U.S. military claimed that the insurgent who fired the rocket-propelled grenade had been killed only two days afterward in a F-16 airstrike, saying only that intelligence gained on the ground provided "a high degree of confidence" that the person was among those killed in the airstrike from two days earlier, but providing no other details.[28]I'm left speechless. Two years later we're finally getting a review of events.
During the same Pentagon news conference in which he announced that the F-16 airstrike had taken out "less than 10" of the insurgents involved, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander in Afghanistan John R. Allen said the military investigation into the helicopter downing would also review whether small arms fire or other causes might have contributed to the downing.[28]
Many of the men interviewed for the book Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown by Eric Blehm perished in the crash.[29]
In 2013 Jason Chaffetz said he would hold an investigation of the United States House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security into the matter.[30]
Quite honestly, we have family members that are pushing for a probe but the vaunted Special Ops Command remains silent.
These guys deserve better. Their families deserve better. But just as importantly, our national defense deserves better. Lessons learned from this incident could save lives in other theaters. You can bet that the terrorist are doing their best to pass along lessons learned and best practices.
Click here to go to a Extortion 17 remembrance site.
