Retired Air Force Captain Says Pentagon Lied About Cause of Helicopter Crash (Extortion 17) that Killed 38 Including 17 SEALs

What that observer at altitude could not do was cut thru the “fog of war” which every ground commander in action deals with. Could she give the ground commander high probability that these were in fact reds not blues? Clearly for the G.F.C. the answer was no. As far as egos go-plainly you have no command experience in ground combat or you would know that the combat comes first. Egos come into play when the bullets stop flying and it’s time to start writing A.A.R’s. I’ve read over a dozen A.A.R’s on this event and one of my instructors at C.G.S.S was there that night. Like it or not Obama didn’t send these men out to be murdered and the G.F.C. made the decision he felt was appropriate. It sucks but it comes down to tech can and will never supplant the decision of the boots on the ground, as it should be. What has never been explored is why a rear commander would sausage stuff a 47 after what happened with Red Wings in 11. As far as commo goes-that’s what happens when services begin to operate beyond there capabilities-when was the last time the Navy took their comms up deep into the Rockies or the Yukon, like the Army did, and tested comms of 20 plus different makers. You can lead a horse to water…….R.L.T.W.

IFF has been available for years. The issue was and will forever remain…does a G.F.C. order engagement of targets which cannot be confirmed as red? A decision to light up an unseen/unidentified target can very easily, in the present environment, be turned into a war crime, with all that such designation implies. That’s why tech will never replace a human made decision, and as long as humans make human decisions….some of those decisions will be right and some will be wrong-it’s as simple as that. Plenty of egos, all over the services-but not on the battlefield. No time or room for it.
No offense but you need to get the facts on Red Wings. In the end commo worked, reinforcements we sent and were shot down because the Apache air support, which should have covered the approach of the ’47, were sent on another mission, just when they were needed. Had that helo not been shot down there would have been 12 of the world’s most fearsome warriors on the ground, being supported by that same helo. This is where the military and Obama share the blame–allowing necessary combat support to sent back CONUS, leaving a deficit of units available, while extensive combat ops were still underway. It doesn’t make the outcome any easier to accept, but it is what is is. No insane Obama/Pakistani plot to avenge Bin Laden, no nothing–just war, at’s it’s worst. R.L.T.W.

That’s 20/20 hindsight-nothing more. You also fail to consider the fact that there was no secured area in the ao to put a relay station, nor was one considered necessary. That left aircraft and the command staff insisted on Army SOAR assets–comms relay is AF business and such assets were not requested..As far as the Navy Spec-Ops staff was concerned here was no reason to plan for such a complete comms failure-see what I mean about human decision making and the fog of war?.If the SEAL G.C had spun up right after the first missed comms check the ’47 would have been in the area before the Taliban had time to mobilize and attack. All comes down to coulda-woulda-shoulda.
As far as my last comment: This article is about Extortion-17 and has been the subject of a number of insane conspiracy theories fed by the same boomerang brained morons who think somehow thermite was inserted into the WTC’s, without anyone finding out about it–which supposedly dropped the Twin Towers. Again-tech will never replace the need for a human, thinking, feeling commander to make a final decision-not now not ever. Even with tech a commander has to make the decision. R.L.T.W.