On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
This is just an extraordinarily bad day for America.
Thirty-one U.S. special forces members in Afghanistan died aboard a NATO helicopter that crashed Saturday in an area reported to have insurgent activity, officials said.
The crash occurred in the eastern province of Wardak, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said in a statement.
It is among the worst single-day losses of American lives in the Afghan war.
Reportedly, the helicopter was shot down. The Taliban are taking credit, but they would. If indeed they shot it down, it is very alarming--the obvious question would be, with what?
There will be a great deal more news and analysis, I'm sure, in the next twenty-four hours.
For now, I'd like to call your attention to a comment from our member Rascalfair:
Pessimism is for the time when we cannot see a way out, but we're not there yet. There is a way out, and we can see it, still. That's what the current political upheaval is all about. There is no such thing as The Tea Party, only those millions of us who are awakening and finding a new common purpose, and that purpose is to find or to create the way out.
Mead knows we're out of money. Indeed so, but we can make some more; we know how to do that. We know how to create wealth. We're still standing, and there's still fight left in us.
Of course we may fail; we may not convince our fellow citizens; we may not prevail in any of the necessary endeavors, but we're just getting started and the fight's not over.
We can do this. Let's not throw in the towel, quite yet.
I do not think pessimism is worthy of the men who died today. Nor is defeat.
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
R.I.P. I feel like I was just punched in the stomach.
We desperately need a new commander in chief who will set forth new rules of engagement that protect American lives and is willing to judge what is and is not a
"necessary endeavor" based on our vital interests.
Feb '11
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
StickerShock: R.I.P. I feel like I was just punched in the stomach.
We desperately need a new commander in chief who will set forth new rules of engagement that protect American lifes and is willing to judge what is and is not a
"necessary endeavor" based on our vital interests. · Aug 6 at 5:46am
Agreed.
Jul '11
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
I was trying to articulate my own reaction to this awful news when I read your comment above. You captured it. May God bless these brave soldiers.
May '10
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
If you throw enough RPGs into the air, they can bring down a helicopter. Let's hope that was it, and no more sophisticated weapon.
As someone with one son in Afghanistan, and one likely to go this year, I have to ask "what are we doing there, really?"
Unless we can come up with a good answer, we need to get out in good order. We're leaving in a couple years anyway, because we won't have the money. Let's choose our own schedule.
May '10
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
Thanks Claire. I love the way you are just 'gripping it, and ripping it" the last few days.
Mar '11
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
My prayers are with their brothers in arms still in theater, and their families who have suffered this loss.
May '10
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
I echo Sticker Shock. We need a new Commander in Chief.
A few weeks back, at my uncle's funeral, I spoke with a cousin who used to be a SEAL. I asked him what it had been like for him when he heard about the killing of Bin Laden. He said he felt huge relief for the guys in the operation--that it had gone well, that they'd gotten out, that they'd be able to remain anonymous. He also felt some jealousy.
My stomach is in knots just imagining how he is feeling today.
His youngest brother is in Kabul.
May God have mercy on us and restore us to our senses. Including our sense of purpose.
May '10
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
A punch in the stomach is right, but that Rascalfair quote is perfect for this moment (and a good bit of writing, too).
Counterinsurgency is a frustrating son-of-a-gun, especially there, because it's so difficult for us to have a good-and-hard lash back.
Sep '10
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
It was never my lot to bleed, but I held many friends in my arms that did just that. We were just ordinary grunts. I never possessed the toughness, training, courage or self-discipline required for Special Forces, but was awed the few times I saw them in action. In Nam one thing us grunts did have in common with SF is that we were all fairly certain that the political class and the Pentagon did not have a clue.. I can’t help but think the same thing is true today.
Aug '10
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
The gut punch is an accurate description. The nagging queasiness is probably caused by the realization that our CnC is attempting to negotiate with the same people that are shooting his soldiers out of the sky. Clueless and possibly traitorous.
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
It is very easy to bring down a helicopter. A Chinook is a big, unarmored, delicate target. A rocket propelled grenade or even small arms fire could bring one down quite readily.
I was never in a combat zone when I was in the Army, but the training we did on helicopters (mostly Hueys) made it very clear that approaching/landing under fire would be very rough. You are actually not moving very fast at any time in a helicopter, and the approach has to be made quite slowly.
The VC and NVA shot down over 5,000 helicopters in Vietnam. Over 130 Army CH-47's were shot down in Vietnam.
May '11
Re: On the Loss of 31 US Special Forces: We're Still Standing
May they rest in peace and my God give grace to their surviving comrades.
I saw a couple choppers go down in the year I spent in Vietnam. Everyone made it out of the Huey and were picked up by other birds. No one made it out of the Cobra.
The moments of greatest risk are, of course, take-off and landing. The reporting indicates that this CH-47 was taking off. Slow and heavy, easy to hit. Makes my eyes pool up.
-GM