[Steel Wolf]

It's really not fishy at all, just sad. Loading up a Chinook is common business when you're doing kill/capture missions, or even just moving from FOB to FOB. Tier 1 SOF flies very, very often, and Chinooks crash now and then. You fly every night and your odds go up for a rare catastrophic malfunction to hit. I used to fly rotor wing very regularly, and the risk of a hard landing just comes with the territory.

As far as foreign troops, that's pretty much standard practice these days, bringing along ANP or ANA along with the missions. It's as dicey and double edged an option as it sounds, but it's very normal.

[faucetman]

“It’s really not fishy at all, “

Let me correct your statement,

It “MIGHT NOT BE” fishy at all,

You are welcome.

[itsahoot]

It's as dicey and double edged an option as it sounds, but it's very normal.

Common would be a better word than normal in that statement.

There is nothing normal or sane in the way our fighting services are required to operate, in this theater.