What are the real details of this event?
This whole thing smells to me. Two vessels broke down at once? Unsupported, they are allowed to drift into Iranian waters?
Treason?
Sabotage?
Incompetence squared?
A probe?
Wag the dog?
Somali pirates would have been more formidable.
The smell of rat is heavy around this whole incident.
Meh...Rules of Engagement.
I would imagine liberals will now demand the us military be disarmed for their own safety.
Two Navy 33 ft. heavily armed SWCC boats and crews get captured by an Iranian pleasure boat with an 80 HP Evinrude?
What’s wrong with this picture?
This whole thing doesn’t meet the smell test.
Whatever happened, we just paid $150 billion to get them back
I wouldn’t be all surprised if Obama is pleased with this or even had a hand in it - a small vignette of American power humbled by anti-colonial, 3rd world community activists.
Plus he can gain short-term political points for getting them released “quickly.”
Passports in video? WTH, service member do not carry passports
Article II: I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.
Article III: If I am captured, I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.
Article IV: If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information nor take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.
Article V: When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service, number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.
Article VI: I will never forget that I am an American, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.
Puke alert needed, IMO.
I rarely pull out my dusty old trident, but in this case, here goes. I was a Navy SEAL officer in the 1980s, and this kind of operation (transiting small boats in foreign waters) was our bread and butter. Today, these boats both not only had radar, but multiple GPS devices, including chart plotters that place your boat’s icon right on the chart. The claim by Iran that the USN boats “strayed into Iranian waters” is complete bull$‪#‎it‬.
For an open-water transit between nations, the course is studied and planned in advance by the leaders of the Riverine Squadron, with specific attention given to staying wide and clear of any hostile nation’s claimed territorial waters. The boats are given a complete mechanical check before departure, and they have sufficient fuel to accomplish their mission plus extra. If, for some unexplainable and rare circumstance one boat broke down, the other would tow it, that’s why two boats go on these trips and not one! It’s called “self-rescue” and it’s SOP.
This entire situation is in my area of expertise. I can state with complete confidence that both Iran and our own State Department are lying. The boats did not enter Iranian waters. They were overtaken in international waters by Iranian patrol boats that were so superior in both speed and firepower that it became a “hands up!” situation, with automatic cannons in the 40mm to 76mm range pointed at them point-blank. Surrender, hands up, or be blown out of the water. I assume that the Iranians had an English speaker on a loudspeaker to make the demand. This takedown was no accident or coincidence, it was a planned slap across America’s face.
Just watch. The released sailors will be ordered not to say a word about the incident, and the Iranians will have taken every GPS device, chart-plotter etc off the boats, so that we will not be able to prove where our boats were taken.
The “strayed into Iranian waters” story being put out by Iran and our groveling and appeasing State Dept. is utter and complete BS from one end to the other.
-The names of those held hostage.
-Their mission
-...if anyone else who normally isn't with the team was with them for this particular mission...
-if BOTH boats failed.
-if both boats did not fail, why: A) one didn't tow the other or B) why they didn't destroy the disabled vessel.
-if we didn't get the boats back yet, WHY?...
Ahh, filthy scumbag kerry, why did you apologize to the iranians! Filthy scumbag kerry -just shut the - up.
American soldiers knell before Iranians, and their commander apologizes, so Drudge has a front page story about stocks?
Both ships were in distress?
I have oceanfront property for sale in Kansas.
It’s a picture of where Obama has taken America. It’s deplorable.
John fing kerry probably sent James Taylor to do ‘I’m your candy man’ song for them.? I’d “believe” it. Weak as water.
So it’s now open season on the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf.
What were our patrol boats patrolling for except to ensure that the sea lanes were open? And now they know they aren’t, at least not for U.S. naval patrol boats.
And imagine how delighted the Iranians must be at our humiliation. How will they control themselves from conducting ever-more-humiliating encores now that they know that our sailors and their Commander-in-Chief will respond to their provocations by kneeling, cowering, and apologizing instead of by retaliating?
No time for Code of Conduct training. Too busy with equal opportunity, diversity is our strength, gay pride, & transgender awareness training.