Dozens of U.S. troops feared killed as NATO helicopter crashes in Afghan offensive

NPR and CNN are reporting that the 31 service members were special forces; the hourly news just reported they were SEALs.
 
It's been an incredibly bloody year especially in RC-E. My prayers go out to all the families and comrades of those lost today.
 
Unnamed Navy source on news reports 25 SEALS and 6 aircrew along with 7 Afghan special forces. A great loss for a very small community.
 
Unnamed Navy source on news reports 25 SEALS and 6 aircrew along with 7 Afghan special forces. A great loss for a very small community.
Please understand that I am not tying to call anything in to question here, good men have been lost. But why would you have so many valuable assets on one lift? These aircraft losses are devastating. When I read this last night, I was hoping that it was wrong.
 
Please understand that I am not tying to call anything in to question here, good men have been lost. But why would you have so many valuable assets on one lift? These aircraft losses are devastating. When I read this last night, I was hoping that it was wrong.

You don't want to call anything into question, and then proceed to do exactly that.

These men were extreme professionals and highly experienced. They do not make tactical decisions flippantly or with absence of forethought. They had that many on board because they made a conscious decision in light of the mission. To armchair quarterback it now, especially in a way that supposes error on their part, is grossly disrespectful.
 
You don't want to call anything into question, and then proceed to do exactly that.

These men were extreme professionals and highly experienced. They do not make tactical decisions flippantly or with absence of forethought. They had that many on board because they made a conscious decision in light of the mission. To armchair quarterback it now, especially in a way that supposes error on their part, is grossly disrespectful.
Scout, I sent you a PM. But just to make myself clear on this forum, this is heartbreaking to me. My experience with being one of those highly experienced and professional people, is that we always ask hard questions of each other and we are often our own worst critics. It was truly not my intention to question anyone's actions in light of this tragedy.
 
It may not have been one lift. Admittedly sketchy reports indicate a full out operation with every one involved a valuable asset. There may have been many aircraft deployed and this one was lost. Pray for them and their families.
 
There are all kinds of things that you can speculate about- what virtually every newspaper in the country is reporting though is that this was an exfil after a firefight of some kind and there was ground fire at the time of the downing.
What they were doing and why is probably not that relevant. The internet breeds an awful lot of armchair quarterbacking- don't go there. It's not right and it's not fair. It's enough to know that they were involved in a mission and were killed in action, and more importantly it's time to honor the troopers involved and support their families - and to honor all of those whose lives are out on the line every single day.
 
There are all kinds of things that you can speculate about- what virtually every newspaper in the country is reporting though is that this was an exfil after a firefight of some kind and there was ground fire at the time of the downing.
What they were doing and why is probably not that relevant. The internet breeds an awful lot of armchair quarterbacking- don't go there. It's not right and it's not fair. It's enough to know that they were involved in a mission and were killed in action, and more importantly it's time to honor the troopers involved and support their families - and to honor all of those whose lives are out on the line every single day.

Perfectly stated.

Nothing left to say except:

A toast to the warriors lost. A hug and a tear to the families they left behind. And a salute for their brothers still over there pressing on with the mission through the grief.
 
I was listening to a story on NPR and the commentator happened to point out that in the US of today- nobody really pays much attention to the war. She used the story of this Chopper going in as an example of that: " a couple of days ago 38 Americans were killed in Afghanistan- and today (Monday) it's already buried in the paper and can't be found". she then went on to say that most people don't even know anyone in the military.

That may be right, but it's wrong. So: meet some of those soldiers and SEALS who were killed.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/08/military-some-troops-killed-in-helo-crash-identified-080811/

All of them and every one of those military personnel out there in theater deserve a little bit of our time, thoughts and prayers.
 
Sounds like "Hammer and Anvil" and SEAlS were to be inserted as a blocking force.
 

I'm sure if anyone can get to the bottom of this, it's the crack investigative reporters at the Beaufort Observer.

I love the quotes from their "highly experienced military officer" and the info they've gotten from their "military contacts." If truth was paramount in journalism, they'd have to describe the officer as "some Marine we know at the air station down the street, who is not in special operations, was not there, and has no first-hand knowledge of this situation at all, but he spent some time in theatre so we'll call him our expert and let him anonymously play armchair quarterback in the newspaper."

The fact is that we will know what we need to know, when we need to know it, and nothing more. Not everything, even tragic mishaps, is for public consumption.
 
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