Posted on 08/06/2011 9:56:11 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
A US helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan has killed 31 US special forces and seven Afghan soldiers, President Hamid Karzai's office says.
US media reports that many of those killed were from the elite Navy SEALs.
Neither the US nor Nato have confirmed the cause, but witnesses, officials and the Taliban say it was shot down.
The incident is believed to be the biggest single loss of life for US forces in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001.
The Chinook helicopter went down overnight in Wardak province, the statement from President Karzai's office said.
It was returning from an operation against the Taliban in which eight insurgents are believed to have been killed.
A senior official of President Barack Obama's administration said the helicopter was apparently shot down, Associated Press news agency said.
An official with the Nato-led coalition in Afghanistan told the New York Times the helicopter was shot down with a rocket-propelled grenade.
...
ABC News said 25 Navy Seals were on board, plus seven Afghan special forces soldiers, five crew and one interpreter.
AP says most of those killed were from Seal Team Six - the same unit which killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan May.
The size of Team Six is not known.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Deepest Heartfelt Condolences and Sympathies to All those who have sacrificed so much, from the families, friends, colleagues, and commanders they leave behind.
Such a tragedy. I pray that we are not so transfixed with our economic problems in this country that we ignore the tremendous loss of heroes we have just witnessed. May each of these brave freedom fighters be honored by all whom they defended and may they receive their just rewards. God, please comfort and defend their families now and always. Rest in peace, faithful patriots.

Prayers up for the families, friends and fellow soldiers of these fallen Heroes.
Is it inappropriate for me to put on a foil hat? I've never been a conspiracy theorist, but the last couple of years it seems like up is down and right is left.
*solace
How tragic! Prayers and condolences to the families and friends. Great loss for America. God help us.
The loss of every American life is a terrible tragedy. That we lost some of the most elite fighters in the world is also a strategic blow to our nation. I have been sick all morning, but upon hearing of the losses of our special forces heroes has impacted me even more sharply.
The last 24 hours are among the worst moments of American history. We are economically and strategically more vulnerable today than we have been during many of our lives.
What a horrible loss. May God Bless them and their families.
The real shame will be we may not ever get to know who they were for a long time.. we still have active personnel that could be compromised in future missions were they identified.
They are truly ‘Unknown Patriots’ if you will, they are the blood and muscle of our nation and its resolve to ‘Do the right thing’ no matter how many bad guys need to get crunched.. no matter the sacrifices.
A Tragedy, indeed.
Prayers of Peace and Comfort
The Beirut Marines of ‘83 will be there to receive their brothers in arms and share their eternal reward.
This is heartbreaking. I honestly don’t know why we are continuing with Afghanistan.
We did what we needed to do after 911, and that was to punish the Taliban. Our men and women did that very effectively. Now, lets declare victory and leave that waste hole.
Surely all the leaks from Washington DC, obama “visit” to Ft Campbell and invitations to the WH to meet the SEALs, sensational “insider” press exposes about the tactics and planning and operations behind the bin laden operation.......and obama’s spiking the football....had nothing to do with compromising the operations of these men
nah...

I struggle with this myself. But if fight we must, then pull out all the damn stops and let us show not how it’s done, but how Americans do it. No nation building, no nothing. Just limit, limit and limit.
Dear God, what an incalculable loss to our nation - and brought about by 6th century savages, at that!
I have a contractor friend over there that would agree. He gets so frustrated trying to actually work with them. It’s such a corrupt country! They screw everything up that they put their hands to. He wishes we were out of there, too.
As a mom of a CH-53 pilot who is stationed in AFG this really brings it pretty close to home.....
I know the attitude of my son and how these pilots feel it is an honor to fly these brave men....
My heart, my prayers go out to all who love and know these warriors and my prayers go out to this country......
We are very proud of your son but much saddened by the loss of his brave comrades.
Shot down with what, exactly?
This does seem too coincidental doesn’t it. If so I hope the pos is tortured to death.
Are you calling Obama a 6th century savage?
Why didn’t we spread that team out after the high profile hit? Why did we put so many of them in the same chopper?
This is gut wrenching. Any one of these men sacrificed, before this loss, more for our country than Obama ever has or will. Any one of those men are worth more than thousands of Barack Obamas. Any one of those men would have run our nation as President the way someone who loves our nation should run it, and would in turn would have done a better job than Barack Hussein Soetoro Obama.
November 2012, I wish you were tomorrow.
I bet you EVERY damn dime I have that someone in the WH snitched on the where abouts of the navy seals!!
I pray that you are wrong. We need to see an AAR to see what happened. It is very odd the LZ wasn't secured.
5.56mm
This is a direct result of Obama's
UBL Press Release identifying the Seals.
Panetta is not qualified to be Sec of Defense.
Yep!!
From what I’ve been reading about that Westboro Church, I would not want to be one of them that shows up at any of their funerals. OTOH I read where those that were involved in the Osama Bin Ladin thing were not in that crash.
Also, so far not a word from Obama - probably too busy with his b’day BBQ celebrations.
God bless these men and their families.
seems unlikely to be an accident
taking out osama was unavoidable
taking revenge via leaking location info on the teams could easily have come from the admin
and yes, i believe this admin is that far gone as to work with our enemies directly
Monday morning, their names, bios and pictures would adorn the front page of The NYT if George W. Bush were still in office.
Almost impossible that the Taliban knew who was on that aircraft. CH-47’s are very common platforms in theater and the Talis are going to try to shoot down any one of them they can whether it is carrying Special Operations Troops or a pack of Cub Scouts.
This was probably just bad luck that they were able to down this aircraft. Even the bad guys get lucky sometimes.
We should not know this. We should not have known about Seal Team Six. The families who will bury their dead will now be an easy target.
Joe Biden should be tried for treason.
Loud mouth Biden and the O’puppet should both be tried for treason.
Or it was an inside job, as when the supposed “snitch” blew himself up and killed the CIA station chief.
Ed
What is “victory” over there? Killing the Taliban? They are all Taliban over there....or Taliban when it meets their needs.....bring our troops home...not in body bags....what a waste of good men for a bunch of know nothings back over here who want to “fight” from 8,000 miles away....
I’m just sick about this. I have a young friend who is a SEAL over there right now. Last I heard he was on a different team, but they back and fill sometimes, so who knows...
Of course we don”t know the whole story yet but if they were “returning” from an operation as has been reported, it is much less likely that it was an inside job.
There are many “possibilities” as to what happened but right now the “probability” is lucky shooting on the part of the enemy.
I am greatly saddened to hear of the loss of these brave patriots and brother’s in arms. They were among the best and brightest of their chosen profession. Our country is poorer to have lost them. Our prayers and most humble condolences to their friends and families.
Am I the only one who wonders how it happened that the chopper carrying the same men who took out bin Laden was so precisely targeted? Do you suppose one or more or our Afghan partners tipped the Taliban?
Lets get our folks the hell out of there and let the natives resume what theyve been doing for over a thousand years: Killing one another.
Heartbreaking...
May God give their families comfort.
My son deploys to AF in about 6 weeks. I’m more worried about this deployment (the first with the JEF in office) than his two prior deployments to Iraq. And he was in Haditha and Fallujah!
Gee. we all feel better now.
Wow!! God Speed our brave warriors, That is horrible, shot down with a RPG no less??? Where was the cover? We do not have no gunships anymore? This is terrible and should NOT have happened ,Ever!
Agreed, there are enough 60’s hippie types all over the fed gov’t and especially state dept to have burned them, but then again it could have just been a lucky shot, it does happen.
|
16 posts down before someone figured it out. This stinks to high heaven. Chinooks are ubiquitous in Afghanistan, how is it that the one PACKED with the most valuable commodity we have in this war just happens to fly over a Taliban mule at the ready with a stinger (my guess). A lot of money changed hands to get this information. The Saudi’s are (once again) suspect number one.
God Bless America’s warriors, our beloved special forces.
This is our worst day since 9/11 people.
Exactly my thoughts. Like the scud that took out that Army barracks in GW I, sometimes the bad guys just roll boxcars.
Prayers for all our people.
Prayers for your son’s safety.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.