We deployed a very-tailored package for this mission, McElhenney said. We wanted to take everyone we could. Three crews, consisting of aircrew, pararescue and combat rescue officers were dispatched on a dive operation to comb the murky waters of the Euphrates River. The soldiers were reported as duty status and whereabouts unknown after the checkpoint they were manning at a canal crossing near the Euphrates was attacked. We were looking on the eastern bank, looking for clues – just any sign of the soldiers, said U.S. Army Maj. Matt Wenthe, who served as the mission flight leader. Two of the three crews, armed with hydrographic maps of the current, searched the river by air between a power plant near the attack site and a refinery. The third crew served as a liaison between ground forces and the dive team, feeding the dive team information as it became available. The pararescue team was tasked in the search for the missing soldiers because of their capabilities: a short response time and the manning to support the search. The squadron is on high-alert status and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Unfortunately, the aircrews and Guardian Angels had not turned up any clues when they were relieved by an Army dive team six hours later. It was frustrating, said U.S. Air Force Senior Airman John Hatzitakis, a personnel recovery specialist deployed from Moody Air Force Base, Ga. We just wanted to find something – anything to give their families hope. Crewmembers learned of the soldiers deaths shortly before being interviewed for this story and expressed their regret at not being able to do more. Our prayers are with their families, said U.S. Air Force Capt. Jeff Marler, a pilot of one of the three HH-60s carrying the pararescue teams. We did our best to bring their boys home.
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