[Scan-DC] Seals in Afghanistan

[Rapbep at aol.com]

All,
 
Thought some of you might like to read the true story of what happened to  
the Navy Seals in Afghanistan---from someone on the scene. It's a little long  
but worth the read.
 
RON
MARYLAND, USA
 
Subject: FW: TF 160 and SEALs lost in Afghanistan

A different view  than provided in the news and sent to me by a friend who is 
related to the  LTC

Subject: TF 160 and SEALs lost in Afghanistan

As long as we have men like this fighting for us we will be okay. We just  
need to get some veterans in the US House and Senate who are of the same  cut.

By the way, the Afghan family that hid the  survivor are now out of 
Afghanistan and safe.

FYI,  Bert is a 50 yr old LTC who has been stationed in Afghanistan for a 
year and is  coming home this week. He just
completed his last  mountain mission before returning and should be on his 
way home. Read the  account of the attached letter concerning the Seals. Heart  
Moving.


-----Original Message-----
Subject: Final Update 18 July  2005

Hello every one, I am heading home soon.  Here is my final  update.

FINAL UPDATE

Hello  everyone, this is my final update.  Let me start by
telling you that I  am in excellent health and in good spirits.   I
apologize for not  keeping you informed these last few months but our 
operational tempo was too  high and our operational security did not allow me to 
share with you what  missions we were conducting.  When I return home I hope to 
sit down and  write about our spring offensive here.  However I will share with 
you that  my team in Farah captured Mullah Sultan who was a mid level Taliban 
leader and a  target that we had been searching for several months.  He is 
still being  interrogated in Afghanistan but should be making the long journey to 
GITMO  (providing it is still open) very soon.

I will be  home in a couple of weeks and plan to have a party around Labor 
Day weekend so  please mark you calendars because I would love to see you there. 
 This  update will be extremely short but I do want to close it by telling 
you some  insight about the SEAL Team and Night Stalker tragedy that occurred a 
few weeks  ago.  By now you have heard a lot about what happen but I really 
want share  how significant that event was to the soldiers on the ground here 
and to explain  in my opinion why I feel it is important that all Americans 
continue the fight  for freedom.

Before I explain what happen to the  SEALs, I want to thank you all for your 
prayers, emails, care packages, yard  work and all the things that you did for 
me in my family while I have been  deployed.
The support from my friends and neighbors has been incredible and  humbling.  
Your support has helped me to endure this incredibly long year  and to 
concentrate on what I was doing here with minimum worrying about Pam and  "A".  
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

The Naval Special Forces (NAVSOF) team that was involved in the operation in  
Kunar Province had been traveling throughout Afghanistan conducting apprehend 
or  kill missions against Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives.  They had worked  
with us for two weeks, three weeks before the events on June 28.  While  
working with our teams, they attempted to take out a high value Taliban target  and 
missed him by hours.  This operation was conducted in the Zerico Valley  
which has been one of our hot spots.  We provided the outer ring security  for the 
SEALs with Afghan National Army soldiers and ETTs while the SEALs  conducted 
the compound assault.  We missed the big target but did get some  mid level 
guys so the mission was not a total bust.  The NAVSOF guys are  the best of the 
best, not cocky simply professionals in every way, we call them  operators.

On June 28 a four man SEAL reconnaissance  team was trying to locate Taliban 
in the dense mountainous and forested area of  the Kunar Province of 
Afghanistan.  They were trying to identify routes  that the bad guys use to enter from 
Pakistan.  The targeting information  would be used to direct U.S. and Afghan 
forces who would interdict and destroy  those enemy forces.  The SEALs were 
spotted and engaged by a large force of  Taliban some where between 25-50
insurgents.   The Taliban who are  still alive and fighting in
Afghanistan are very good combatants.   Unlike Iraq Arabs, they are not 
suicidal and they use good small unit  tactics.  The bad guys used Rocket Propel 
Grenades (RPGs), mortars and  small arms to attack the SEALs.  The team set up a 
360 degree defense and  called in Hornet Nest (troops in contact) back to 
their operational base.   The command and control headquarters for U.S. Forces in 
Afghanistan moved a  Predator unmanned drone over the battle location.  The 
SEALs were located  by the predator by their locator beacon and the inferred 
camera system of the  drone.  The headquarters could see that the TEAM was 
encircled by bad guys  and that the enemy was too close to the SEALs to use Air 
force close air  support.  A weather front was rapidly coming into the area and 
the SEAL  Commander  a Lieutenant Commander ask permission to launch his quick  
reaction force to go rescue his men.  The commander of the Task Force 160th  
(the Night
Stalkers) agreed to fly the mission. The Night Stalkers are the  Army's 
Special Operations air wing.  They specialize in high  risk
insertion and extraction at night.   It was not night fall yet  and
the command hesitated because sending the special operation birds into  the 
area in the light was very risky.  The Generals look at the screen that  was 
giving a live feed of the fire fight, they saw that the SEALs were  surrounded, 
they did not see a way for them to escape, a weather front was  coming, it was 
dusk but not dark yet and time for the trapped men was running  out.

Leadership requires having the guts to make a  decision, based on analysis 
and forethought.  You must totally recognize  the risk and be ready to accept 
the results.  The general in charge made  the right call, he had to try to 
rescue the operators, we as American soldiers  can not  leave our people on the 
battlefield, every Airman, Marine, Sailor,  Coast Guardsmen and Soldier has to 
know that when you go down range and things  go wrong keep fighting and help 
will come.

The  decision was made, two CH 47 Chinook helicopters headed toward the 
SEALs.   The CH 47 is a large aircraft but it is fast for a helicopter, able to fly 
at  170 knots.  The aircraft entered the mountains flying at 50 feet above 
the  ground with 16 men aboard.  All four SEALs were still alive and fighting an 
 unbelievable battle.  As the lead bird approached the landing zone they  
started to slow down and the air speed dropped under 100 Knots, another group of  
Taliban, not engaged in the initial firefight but in the area saw the 
aircraft  and open fire with small arms and RPG's.  The lead aircraft was hit by a  
RPG but the aviator kept the bird in the air.  They were in the mountains;  
therefore there was no clear place to land.  He flew for about a mile and  saw a 
ledge that he could try to put the bird down on.  The CH 47 landed on  the 
ledge hard, they almost made it.  The hard landing and the palpitations  of the 
rotors were too much for the small landing zone and weak ground.  It  was their 
time, the aircraft rolled off of the ledge on to its side and down the  
mountain into the valley below.  8 SEALs and 8 aviators from TF 160th were  gone.

The other aircraft could not land in the hot  landing zone and were called 
back.  There was not enough time to try to  secure the area because the weather 
front moved in and night fall fell. The  SEALs kept fighting and used the 
cover of darkness to crawl out of the initial  enemy lines.  The SEALs were 
engaged again and had a running gun battle for  over two hours.  The SEAL that 
survived was knocked unconscious by a mortar  round and found that he was alone 
when he woke up.  Two of his team members  were dead close by, and the last team 
member was missing. They had dropped all  none essential gear during their 
escape therefore all contact with them was  lost.
Eventually the surviving SEAL ran into a villager who took him to his  house. 
 That shepherd, at great risk to himself, protected the SEAL until  he could 
be moved six hours away to the nearest U.S. forces that the villager  was 
aware of.

The loss of the operators really broke  the hearts of all us deployed down 
range.  Losing men of that quality and  dedication is bad enough one at a time, 
but to lose so many, so fast was hard to  comprehend.  But after the shock had 
worn off and we got the true story of  what happen we took solace.  You see 
every one did what they supposed to on  that day, the SEAL recon team kept 
fighting, the SEAL commander  went to  get his shipmates, the Night  Stalkers 
volunteered to fly in to harms way  to rescue their brothers in arms and the 
generals had the guts to make the right  decision.  That is all you can ask for out 
here, it is what it is and  everything else is god's will.  I have had the 
pleasure of serving with  some unbelievable men and woman in the last year.  
Folks from 18  to
59 (yes 59).  It has been an honor.  I  really appreciated America before I 
came to Afghanistan but this experience has  truly opened my eyes to how bless 
my life has been.  Folks I know this is a  cliché, but freedom is not free.  
Embrace it, respect it and don't ever  stop fighting for it.  These people over 
here are far from free, but we  have given them a taste of it.  We need to 
ensure that we don't give up the  fight because to do so would be to dishonor 
all the men and woman who have died  to ensure we remain free.  Freedom is 
contagious, with it, out goes  tyranny.  The evil people that attack America on 
September 11th were not  free because if they were, they would not have cared 
what another's persons  beliefs are they would simply accept them for what they 
are and moved on.   Please continue to pray for all the soldiers in Afghanistan 
and Iraq, don't stop  praying for me because I am still here, and your 
prayers have been working so  keep it up, I don't to mess up a good thing.  I will 
be home soon, God  bless you all, God bless America and thanks again, goodbye



Cheers, Bert