At the opening of today's Midrats, we briefly mentioned the loss of our SEALS and others on that Chinook. I have not covered it here yet, mostly because I have had trouble trying to find a way to put it in to context.
Every life has value - every casualty has a family of equal worth. That being said - the talent that was lost on that aircraft represented a huge reservoir of national power, investment, and capability.
For those who are trying to understand the impact - let me use a sports analogy.
Imagine if the entire NBA All-Star team was killed in a bus or plan crash. Sure, the NBA will go on - but the level of play will not be the same for a long time to come.
The enemy always get a vote - and now and then they get a lucky shot. That is war.
Now begins the sad revelation one household at a time... of loss...pride... pain...love. So many of these families have seen so little of these men for so long. It multiplies the gravity of the loss.
ReplyDeleteWhat can one say about this kind of tragedy except we HAVE to work harder to be worthy of it.
Not much has been said about the several Afg. troops on that flight. I wonder about them too. They must have been the best of the best over there to have been involved in such an operation, no?
The time and treasure and manpower spent to find them and train them.... more loss.
It's just been a sickening weekend thinking of the families waiting for the knock on the door.
My thoughts exactly.
ReplyDelete<span>What's this I keep hearing about the dead from DEVGRU being packed into a single National Guard Chinook, not spread out among several 160th SOAR birds? I thought these operators were the kinds of eggs we didn't want to be all in one basket.
ReplyDeleteI hope it's all conspiracy theorist B.S. ... because if it's true, somebody needs their nuts stomped.</span>
AFAIK chinook gets enough power to fly in the high-and-hot of the AFG summer - and having one bird reduces time in hover over the LZ
ReplyDeletesadly we dont have invented yet better way to deploy precise tactically airmobile troops than helos