USO Canteen FReeper Style....Night Stalkers Don't Quit.. ..October 9,2002

When it's mission impossible, they call in the Night Stalkers, the flying commandos of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

BY FRANK COLUCCI

The sailors wrestling the massive spiked mine across the deck of the Iran Ajr had no idea they were being watched. But hovering a stone's throw above them in the dark, a U.S. Army warrant officer followed their every move through a thermal imager. Like a baseball announcer, he gave a running description of the events unfolding below him to a U.S. Navy admiral aboard the command ship LaSalle, steaming miles away, over the horizon. When the warrant officer reported the mine was about to be dropped overboard, the admiral decided he had heard enough. "Stop the mining," he ordered. Within seconds the deck of the Iran Ajr exploded as a pair of armed AH-6 Little Bird helicopters swept down and raked the Japanese-built cargo ship with 7.62mm Miniguns.

"They didn't know what was happening," recalls one airborne observer. "They couldn't see or hear the helicopters. They would run in the corner and try to hide." But after a quiet half-hour, the Iranians went back to work, and the admiral, with permission from Washington, told the helicopters to stop the mining and immobilize the ship. The AH-6s opened fire with their Miniguns and Hydra 70mm rocket systems. One helicopter strafed the wheelhouse and killed a man firing a weapon from the bridge. The other shot a rocket into the stern that killed a sailor in the engine room. The crew abandoned the minelayer, and one AH-6 left to track down an inflatable motorboat that had run off during the attack. With night vision goggles, the two aviators found the boat apparently adrift. Suddenly, a pile of rags in the boat turned into a man firing a gun. The Gatling gun on the AH-6 quickly ended the fight. The AH-6 rejoined the other, first around the Iran Ajr and then on the small deck of the frigate USS Jarrett from which the flight had been launched.

For the men of Task Force 160, Operation Earnest Will was just another day at the office, albeit a more exciting day than most. For strategists those fateful moments on Sept. 21, 1987, meant oil tankers could keep moving despite the ongoing war between Iran and Iraq. More important, the attack gave the world hard evidence that Iran was engaged in mine warfare.

The operation also provided a glimpse of the Pentagon's most elite asset--the U.S. Army's special operations aviation unit--the Night Stalkers. Composed of specially trained Army aviators who take their orders from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Now designated the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) and headquartered at Fort Campbell, Ky., the Night Stalkers have about 1800 people and fly the world's most sophisticated helicopters. The 160th keeps aircraft ready to deploy on 4 hours' notice from Fort Campbell, Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Ga., and Howard Air Force Base in Panama, and it routinely fields training detachments of four to 12 aircraft around the world.

The AH-6 and MH-6 Little Birds, MH-60 Black Hawks, and MH-47 Chinooks of the Night Stalkers insert, extract and support special operations forces deep in hostile territory. U.S. Army Rangers and Navy SEAL teams are the chief customers for the 160th's express delivery service, which can put troops in or take them out of harm's way within 30 seconds of the scheduled time. Night Stalkers saw action in Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury in 1983 and Panama during Just Cause in 1989, and took commandos to hidden sites in Kuwait and Iraq during Desert Storm in 1991.

It's dangerous work. The Night Stalkers lost two Black Hawks and five aircrew in the disastrous daylight firefight in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993--but were back in action in Haiti during Operation Restore Democracy in 1994.

Best Of The Best
Night Stalkers are volunteers, specially selected, trained and equipped for missions with high personal risk and high operational or strategic payoff. "It's typically a no-fail mission," says a former Night Stalker. While a conventional unit might legitimately abort a mission due to bad weather, equipment failure or heavy resistance, special ops generally have no alternatives. "It's a one-shot. It has to be first-time." The motto of the 160th is simply, "Anytime, Anywhere, Night Stalkers Don't Quit."

Commissioned and warrant officer aviators come to the Night Stalkers with a minimum of 1000 flight hours including 100 hours on night vision goggles. The initial assessment process includes written and physical exams, a psychological interview, and a pressured night check ride. It eliminates 50 percent to 60 percent of the applicants. The Green Platoon, or Selection and Training Detachment, then puts its students through three weeks of grueling survival, escape, resistance and evasion school, plus three weeks of academic training, two weeks of intensive navigation training on the cheap-to-fly MH-6C, and six weeks of training on the Little Bird, Black Hawk or Chinook.

The "basic mission qualified" aviator can be a copilot on operational missions or pilot-in-command for training flights, and continues training in one of the four operational battalions. In 12 to 18 months, a pilot is "fully mission qualified" to command an aircraft on an operational mission. Flight lead status is conveyed on only the most experienced aviators. The commissioned air mission commander with abort authority would typically be in another helicopter.

Black Ops
Most of what the Night Stalkers do is secret, and the tricks and tools of their trade are ingenious. Infrared aiming lasers project spots invisible to unaided eyes but clear through night vision goggles, making common aircraft guns very accurate.

Rubber raiding boats can sit fully loaded in the cabin of an MH-47 to float out seconds after a water landing. The same boat can be tied to the belly of an MH-60 or pitched out partially inflated to deploy teams in other situations. Special operations troops fast-rope to the ground in seconds for quick insertions in obstructed landing areas. The Night Stalkers have their own systems integration and maintenance office to develop and field new equipment.

The AH-6 gives the Night Stalkers a fast, quiet weapons platform. Its fraternal twin MH-6 fitted with external bench seats can haul six troops. AH-6s were the first Army helicopters in combat in Grenada in October 1983. Six of the secret Little Birds were rolled from Air Force C-130s at the Port Salines Airfield and were promptly photographed by wire services. One gunship was shot down supporting U.S. troops in daylight during the invasion of Grenada. Another, hit during the attack on the Panamanian command headquarters, crashed to the street and skidded through the entrance where the sentry immediately surrendered to the two crewmen--all three were evacuated by an armored personnel carrier. AH-6s and MH-6s supposedly prowled the streets of Baghdad during Desert Storm. They remain a versatile, deployable asset. The weapons plank on the AH-6G, for example, can carry Hellfire laser-guided missiles.

The rugged, powerful Black Hawk is the Army's standard utility helicopter and typically provides cabin seating for 15. It can shoot Hellfire rockets from its detachable "wings," and the Night Stalkers have configured some with rocket pods and one or two forward-firing 30mm Chain Guns.

The MH-47D routinely flies 6-hour missions. It can seat 33 or 44 troops. The new MH-47E adds another thousand gallons of fuel and has the same "glass cockpit" as the special ops Black Hawk. Unlike ordinary Army lift battalions, the Night Stalkers use the big MH-47 as an assault helicopter just like the MH-60, flying low to fast-land or fast-rope troops on target. SEAL teams and Marine Corps expeditionary units deploy from carrier-capable HH-60G Seahawks and CH-53E Super Stallions. However they fly, the Night Stalkers represent the best America has to offer, and they remain a critical national asset in an unstable world.

Kuwait Makes Arrests in Attack on U.S. Marines

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait said on Wednesday it had arrested a number of people suspected of aiding two Kuwaitis who killed a U.S. Marine and wounded another this week in what the Gulf state called a terrorist attack.

"The numbers are changing by the minute," Kuwaiti Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah said. "There are numerous (people under arrest), some only for questioning and others will be held for a longer period of time pending clarifications."

Two Kuwaitis approached the Marines in a pick-up truck on Tuesday, stepped out of the vehicle and opened fire on troops during a military exercise on a Kuwaiti island in the Gulf.

Marines killed the two assailants after they had sped away in the truck, in which investigators found three AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition.

Kuwait has named the dead attackers as Anas Ahmad Ibrahim Abdel-Rehim al-Kandari, born in 1981, and Jassem Hamad Mubarak Salem al-Hajri, born in 1976.

The island was sealed off after the attack but a U.S. embassy official told Reuters on Wednesday the Marines' annual Eager Mace two-week exercise "will continue and is ongoing."

U.S. ground forces are involved in another exercise at a desert site just south of the border with Iraq. There are about 10,000 U.S. soldiers in Kuwait and 8,000 U.S. civilians.

"FIGHTING AMERICANS PRIORITY"

Kuwaiti writer Mohammad al-Mulafi told Reuters he knew the men who attacked the Marines and believed they were motivated by opposition to a new U.S. law requiring government documents to state that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

Mulafi said one of the attackers called him after President Bush signed the law this month and said: "I believe that fighting the Americans is more of a priority than fighting the Israelis."

A Western diplomat said the apparent motive "is credible."

The Interior Ministry did not say if Tuesday's attackers were Islamic militants, but security sources told Reuters they were probably linked to anti-American Islamic groups.

The Kuwaiti attackers had fought with Afghan Mujahideen in Afghanistan, Mulafi said.

Scores of Kuwaitis participated in the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Others then went on to aid Muslims fighting in other parts of the world.

Some of Kuwait's so-called Afghan Arabs were rounded up following the September 11 attacks in the United States, which Washington blames on Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden also fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan and made that country the base for his al Qaeda organization.

Tuesday's attack has raised concern in Kuwait, home to 1.4 million foreigners. Westerners in Kuwait were already on heightened alert for fear of an Iraqi chemical weapons attack if the United States leads a military campaign against Baghdad.

Iraq invaded its southern neighbor Kuwait in 1990 and was driven out in 1991 by a U.S.-led international coalition. Washington is seeking support for a new U.N. resolution demanding Iraq submit to stringent U.N. inspections for weapons of mass destruction -- which Baghdad denies having -- or face military action.

EVACUATION POSTPONED

"This is a premeditated attack and also appears to be a vendetta attack which makes things more difficult for Westerners here," one diplomat in Kuwait said.

The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait said an annual mock evacuation of 100 Americans on Friday had been postponed due to the attack. The exercise is part of a U.S. evacuation plan involving some 20,000 Westerners residing in Kuwait.

"The evacuation drill has been postponed in light of the events on Tuesday. It is the same MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) which was going to carryout the drill with their helicopter units. They are very busy now and we shall do it another time," an embassy official told Reuters of the lifting of the 100 people to U.S. warships off the Kuwaiti coast.

Other Western embassies have their own evacuation plans for thousands of citizens in case of a chemical weapons attack by Iraq if the U.S. launched a military campaign against it.

A little late with this, but:

CNO Sends Birthday Message To The Navy

Navy News Service
October 8, 2002

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Vern Clark, released the following message for the Navy's 227th birthday:

As we celebrate our 227th birthday, it is a good time to reflect on where the Navy is and where we are going. This is an incredible time to serve. Now more than ever, the Navy needs you and the nation needs the Navy.

First and foremost, we are at war. During the past year, all of us have either served in or supported the global war on terrorism. We are taking the fight to the enemy. That is what our Navy/Marine Corps team does best.

Eight carrier battle groups, five amphibious ready groups, numerous other ships, and thousands of SEALS, Seabees and Marines have seen combat in Operation Enduring Freedom. Yet, this war is not isolated to one country or one theater. The threat of terrorism is borderless.

You have carried out your global missions on, under, and above the seas, as well as ashore, without complaint. You have provided critical intelligence, uninterrupted deterrence and built support from allies through exercises and engagements. Your persistent projection of decisive combat capabilities has deterred terrorists around the world, while at home and at bases around the globe you have steadfastly provided the training and support required to keep our Navy at its peak.

We will never know what terrorist strikes have been averted because of our service, but we know we are winning this war and we know our fellow citizens support and appreciate us.

Second, we are serving at a time of record retention. We continue to make great progress in personnel programs and training initiatives. From Task Force EXCEL and the Revolution in Training to Project SAIL and the Revolution in Personnel Distribution, we are seeing a tremendous cultural improvement in the way we grow and develop our people.

Third, we are experiencing record-setting readiness rates. With the fleet's initiative, the ships and squadrons are ready to take the fight to the enemy. With the help of the Congress, the Navy has committed the right amount of resources to maintenance, spare parts and fuel to ensure we have the tools to fight and win.

The future is bright. Sea Power 21, the vision that will guide our Navy, gives us cause to be optimistic. The nation recognizes and is committed to the value of our Navy. And most importantly, we are the greatest Navy in the world because of our people. Our future shines like a beacon of excellence for the world to follow.

America needs your service today like few other times in our history. Make no mistake, your service matters. Our Navy needs talented young Americans who want to serve their nation and make a difference. From the most junior to the most senior, we all have a role to play now and in the future. So Happy Birthday Navy. Your service is appreciated.

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