Thursday, August 11, 2011

Using an Expensive Camera to Smash Bugs

When the first news came out of the terrible loss of life in the recent helicopter crash in Afghanistan I knew to wait for a few news cycles.  Lots of details get confused, fog of war, etc.  It's also hard to know what the people on the scene know, especially when so much of it is of necessity classified.  However, the things that have been reported that are not in dispute raise some questions.

-Why were so many SEALs in one helicopter?  There are claims that this was an elaborate Taliban trap (naturally, the Taliban are most fond of this version) but in reality one bozo with an RPG getting lucky is all it takes.  Helicopters do not want to fly.  They don't glide well.  If you have 20+ very valuable SEALs (and I do not mean to imply the lives of any of those serving are less valuable) why jam them in one fragile package for easy destruction?

-Why were SEALs used at all?  The most recent story is they were called in by the Rangers to help prevent targets from getting away.  It's news to me that you use sneaky special ops small-team types like SEALs as backup troops for bulk daylight operations.  Unless they are the ONLY TROOPS AVAILABLE because some feckless halfwit in the White House has declared a troop drawdown in Afghanistan.  If that is the case, I am severely cheesed off.

-Speaking of feckless halfwits, why are we getting any information at all about the SEALs?  Sure, release the names of the dead.  They deserve our recognition.  But you DON'T need to identify them as SEALs, or that they were Team 6, or all the rest.  Don't give the bad guys any extra information that they can use to narrow down a list of *still living* SEALs to attack.

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