Posted on 05/02/2011 8:30:14 AM PDT by kristinn
From Ghazi Air Base in Pakistan, the modified MH-60 helicopters made their way to the garrison suburb of Abbottabad, about 30 miles from the center of Islamabad. Aboard were Navy SEALs, flown across the border from Afghanistan, along with tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imagers.
After bursts of fire over 40 minutes, 22 people were killed or captured. One of the dead was Osama bin Laden, done in by a double tap -- boom, boom -- to the left side of his face. His body was aboard the choppers that made the trip back. One had experienced mechanical failure and was destroyed by U.S. forces, military and White House officials tell National Journal.
Were it not for this high-value target, it might have been a routine mission for the specially trained and highly mythologized SEAL Team Six, officially called the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, but known even to the locals at their home base Dam Neck in Virginia as just DevGru.
This HVT was special, and the raids required practice, so they replicated the one-acre compound at Camp Alpha, a segregated section of Bagram Air Base. Trial runs were held in early April.
DevGru belongs to the Joint Special Operations Command, an extraordinary and unusual collection of classified standing task forces and special-missions units. They report to the president and operate worldwide based on the legal (or extra-legal) premises of classified presidential directives. Though the general public knows about the special SEALs and their brothers in Delta Force, most JSOC missions never leak.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
Don't fret. The dust kicked up by having multi helicopters in a small space leads to this type of mechanical difficulty. Setting it down and getting everyone relocated and then securing it is, in itself a part of this successful mission.
Nope. Va Bch. Right off General Beach Blvd on Dam Neck.
Yup, Osama Been Leaded.
My first action this morning was to send a congratulatory text to a friend who used to be on the teams.
General Booth Blvd?
When I was a kid, SEAL Team 2 was stationed at the Amphibious Base, which is also in Virginia Beach.
Do you know when the SEAls moved to Dam Neck? Or is it just the ‘secret’ SEAL team that’s based there?
I’m thinking more in terms of the military school it crashed at.
“We are the best place to learn how to stop enemy attacks!”
“Dude, a US helicopter just crashed on your parade grounds and OBL was just killed down the street. WTF?”
The bad guys can just check Wikileaks.
Now the Ahole and his buddies are claiming credit for the mission's brilliance.
Anonymous sources - no mention of when Obama didn’t approve the raid. I like more trustworthy information before making any comments.
Fox News said Ben Laden’s body was dumped in the Ocean from the USS Carl Vinson! Talk about a vessel joining the History books! USS Constitution, USS Missouri, USS Arizona, USS Hornet, USS Yorktown, USS Enterprise, USS Intrepid, USS Nautilus, USS Indianapolis and USS Carl Vinson! BZUSA!
So 22 were captured ...
I kinda doubt we evac’d 22 detainees on the remaining operational helos The numbers don’t work in my head.
Did we have that many spare seats in the op plan?
Just askin’
Dead Laden was not available for comment.
they won’t know anything we don’t want them to ‘know’
Eartlier??
Great mind indeed.
misted - I like it.
Yes, it is & thanks!
I see! Yes very good. Very good indeed.
So 22 were captured ...
I kinda doubt we evac’d 22 detainees on the remaining operational helos The numbers don’t work in my head.
Did we have that many spare seats in the op plan?
Just askin’
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Well, the numbers could work. As I recall, a full load on a Chinook 46 chopper was 28-31 fully battle geared marines. So 40 SEALS and 22 captured could fit into 2 choppers, if as they say one bird was lost leaving two for the extraction.
22 killed or captured
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