thedrifter
07-01-05, 04:06 PM
June 30, 2005
Searchers work amid hope that some SEALS survived crash
By Sean D. Naylor
Times staff writer
There was guarded optimism this morning some or all of four members of a SEAL team missing in the mountains of Afghanistan could be alive.
A Pentagon official said today that “radio transmissions” had given U.S. forces more hope than they had had the previous day that the missing SEALs had survived. He said he was not able to be more specific.
As first reported Thursday on Armytimes.com, a SEAL reconnaissance team remained missing after the crash Tuesday of a helicopter rushing in 16 special operations troops on a mission to rescue the commandos.
All 16 aboard the MH-47 Chinook were killed, apparently after the helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. The dead included members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and members of SEAL Team 10.
Three days after the event, details were still murky and many questions remained unanswered.
The events that led to the tragedy began when a helicopter inserted a small reconnaissance element from SEAL Team 10, based at Little Creek, Va., into the mountains near Asadabad, in Kunar province. Intelligence had indicated a large concentration of enemy forces in the region, according to military sources.
The SEALs landed and hiked to a spot in rugged terrain where they established an observation post. Within several hours, Al Qaida or Taliban forces attacked the SEALs with small arms fire, and the SEALs called for a quick reaction force, or QRF, to help them, the sources said.
The QRF, consisting of at least two MH-47 Chinooks from the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, flew toward the beleaguered SEALs, sources said. It is not clear whether the SEALs on the ground were still at the observation post, or had moved in an attempt to evade their attackers. When the helicopters arrived in the vicinity of the observation post, more than an hour after the SEALs called for help, a military source said, one of the Chinooks was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
the pilots of a second aircraft on the mission saw and reported that their sister ship had been hit by an RPG, said Marine Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations on the Joint Staff, in a June 30 Pentagon press conference.
The Chinook was fired on as it approached its landing zone at dusk, Col. Jim Yonts, spokesman for the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan, told the Associated Press. The aircraft flew on but crashed about a mile away, he said. If Yonts’ account is accurate, that would indicate that the SEALs had not been picked up.
The stricken Chinook, from the 160th’s 3rd Battalion, stationed at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., either crashed into or tried to land on a mountainside, but rolled down the steep slope into a ravine, according to military officials.
“We were right in that valley,” said an Army aviation officer who was previously deployed to Afghanistan. “It’s very steep and it’s unforgiving terrain.”
A Predator unmanned aerial vehicle captured images of movement around the crash site and infrared strobes of the type U.S. special operators use in emergencies, a military source said. “There was definitely movement around the aircraft,” the source said.
The Washington Post reported that the Predator also crashed or was shot down.
In addition, U.S. forces detected a PRC-112 survival radio beacon emitting from the vicinity of the helicopter, the military source said. The beacon appeared to be moving. “The last location was a good distance away from the crash,” he said.
By June 30, U.S. forces had secured the crash site and recovered “all 16 bodies of those servicemen who were on board the MH-47 helicopter that crashed,” Conway said.
As part of the U.S. military rescue operation, Marines established “blocking positions” to prevent enemy forces from reaching the site, a Pentagon official said. Rangers secured the crash site itself, he added.
The 16 casualties aboard the aircraft included eight members of SEAL Team 10 and the Chinook’s eight-man crew, according to the Pentagon official. However, there were still four men “unaccounted for,” the official said – “the original four that were in trouble.”
Conway was evasive on this in the June 30 press conference. When asked in the press conference whether any other troops had been lost in the operation, Conway replied: “No. At this point, not that we’re aware of.” But, he added shortly thereafter, “We don’t have full accountability.” Pressed to explain what he meant by that, Conway declined to be more specific, other than to say, “We do not have any people classified as missing at this point.”
But by the next day U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara acknowledged that some U.S. service members were missing, and U.S. forces were using “every available asset” to search for them. “Until we find our guys, they are still listed as unaccounted for and everything we got in that area is oriented on finding the missing men,” he said. He declined to identify the missing men or say how many they were.
The Chinook is the third MH-47 lost by the 160th since the September 11, 2001 attacks. One crashed at sea off the Philippines Feb. 22, 2002, and another was shot down March 4, 2002, during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan’s Shahikot valley.
The latter episode also featured an MH-47 full of special operations troops attempting to come to the rescue of a SEAL reconnaissance element. In that case, the SEALs had attempted to land on the top of the 10,469-foot Takur Ghar mountain, the most dominant piece of terrain on the battlefield, only to find it was already occupied by Al Qaida forces, who fired on the helicopter. One of the SEALs fell out of the badly damaged helicopter as it flew away. His teammates returned to the mountain on another Chinook to search for him, but were also taken under fire and forced to seek cover. When a third Chinook flew to the top of the mountain full of Rangers, it was shot down.
Seven special operations troops were killed in the battle.
Ellie
Searchers work amid hope that some SEALS survived crash
By Sean D. Naylor
Times staff writer
There was guarded optimism this morning some or all of four members of a SEAL team missing in the mountains of Afghanistan could be alive.
A Pentagon official said today that “radio transmissions” had given U.S. forces more hope than they had had the previous day that the missing SEALs had survived. He said he was not able to be more specific.
As first reported Thursday on Armytimes.com, a SEAL reconnaissance team remained missing after the crash Tuesday of a helicopter rushing in 16 special operations troops on a mission to rescue the commandos.
All 16 aboard the MH-47 Chinook were killed, apparently after the helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. The dead included members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and members of SEAL Team 10.
Three days after the event, details were still murky and many questions remained unanswered.
The events that led to the tragedy began when a helicopter inserted a small reconnaissance element from SEAL Team 10, based at Little Creek, Va., into the mountains near Asadabad, in Kunar province. Intelligence had indicated a large concentration of enemy forces in the region, according to military sources.
The SEALs landed and hiked to a spot in rugged terrain where they established an observation post. Within several hours, Al Qaida or Taliban forces attacked the SEALs with small arms fire, and the SEALs called for a quick reaction force, or QRF, to help them, the sources said.
The QRF, consisting of at least two MH-47 Chinooks from the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, flew toward the beleaguered SEALs, sources said. It is not clear whether the SEALs on the ground were still at the observation post, or had moved in an attempt to evade their attackers. When the helicopters arrived in the vicinity of the observation post, more than an hour after the SEALs called for help, a military source said, one of the Chinooks was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
the pilots of a second aircraft on the mission saw and reported that their sister ship had been hit by an RPG, said Marine Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations on the Joint Staff, in a June 30 Pentagon press conference.
The Chinook was fired on as it approached its landing zone at dusk, Col. Jim Yonts, spokesman for the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan, told the Associated Press. The aircraft flew on but crashed about a mile away, he said. If Yonts’ account is accurate, that would indicate that the SEALs had not been picked up.
The stricken Chinook, from the 160th’s 3rd Battalion, stationed at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., either crashed into or tried to land on a mountainside, but rolled down the steep slope into a ravine, according to military officials.
“We were right in that valley,” said an Army aviation officer who was previously deployed to Afghanistan. “It’s very steep and it’s unforgiving terrain.”
A Predator unmanned aerial vehicle captured images of movement around the crash site and infrared strobes of the type U.S. special operators use in emergencies, a military source said. “There was definitely movement around the aircraft,” the source said.
The Washington Post reported that the Predator also crashed or was shot down.
In addition, U.S. forces detected a PRC-112 survival radio beacon emitting from the vicinity of the helicopter, the military source said. The beacon appeared to be moving. “The last location was a good distance away from the crash,” he said.
By June 30, U.S. forces had secured the crash site and recovered “all 16 bodies of those servicemen who were on board the MH-47 helicopter that crashed,” Conway said.
As part of the U.S. military rescue operation, Marines established “blocking positions” to prevent enemy forces from reaching the site, a Pentagon official said. Rangers secured the crash site itself, he added.
The 16 casualties aboard the aircraft included eight members of SEAL Team 10 and the Chinook’s eight-man crew, according to the Pentagon official. However, there were still four men “unaccounted for,” the official said – “the original four that were in trouble.”
Conway was evasive on this in the June 30 press conference. When asked in the press conference whether any other troops had been lost in the operation, Conway replied: “No. At this point, not that we’re aware of.” But, he added shortly thereafter, “We don’t have full accountability.” Pressed to explain what he meant by that, Conway declined to be more specific, other than to say, “We do not have any people classified as missing at this point.”
But by the next day U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara acknowledged that some U.S. service members were missing, and U.S. forces were using “every available asset” to search for them. “Until we find our guys, they are still listed as unaccounted for and everything we got in that area is oriented on finding the missing men,” he said. He declined to identify the missing men or say how many they were.
The Chinook is the third MH-47 lost by the 160th since the September 11, 2001 attacks. One crashed at sea off the Philippines Feb. 22, 2002, and another was shot down March 4, 2002, during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan’s Shahikot valley.
The latter episode also featured an MH-47 full of special operations troops attempting to come to the rescue of a SEAL reconnaissance element. In that case, the SEALs had attempted to land on the top of the 10,469-foot Takur Ghar mountain, the most dominant piece of terrain on the battlefield, only to find it was already occupied by Al Qaida forces, who fired on the helicopter. One of the SEALs fell out of the badly damaged helicopter as it flew away. His teammates returned to the mountain on another Chinook to search for him, but were also taken under fire and forced to seek cover. When a third Chinook flew to the top of the mountain full of Rangers, it was shot down.
Seven special operations troops were killed in the battle.
Ellie