http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-06-11-57-41Another source says the team was thought to include 22 SEALs, three Air Force air controllers, seven Afghan Army troops, a dog and his handler, and a civilian interpreter, plus the helicopter crew.
The Nook was downed by an RPG as a QRF were heading out to aid Allied forces in heavy contact.
Early reports say 25 US SOF. 22 SEALs from DEVGRU, 7 Afgh commandoes. (3 crew?)
( ) is own guess.
KJ sends..
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Kabul says it is rare for the Taliban to shoot down aircraft.
The Taliban say they have modified their rocket-propelled grenades to improve their accuracy but that may not be true, our correspondent says.
1.The questions that crop up are:
a. Chinook takes 23 soldiers with all the gear,etc. Why did they shove in 38? Similar thing happened in the Osama raid.
b. Why a daylight op when the night would give the SEALS all advantages and the Afghans the disadvantages?
c. Only one chopper!! There were no stand-by's or choppers/aircraft to provide protection. Isn't that odd?
d. Obviously this was a trap where the team was lured into. This has been a favorite tactics of the Afghans against the Soviets or the British - and of the Mongols in the olden days.
e. Obviously US field intel ends with paying protection money local Maliks(tribal chiefs).
2. Were the soldiers drunk? Do they drink during or before an op? We hear reports here and there testifying to the poor discipline in US troops - including SEALS. Their morale/motivation/indoctrination level appear low.
3. The soldier of today is an educated man well aware of what is going around. He won't be a canon fodder like his predecessors fifty years back. Therefore, in any op establishing The High Moral Ground is important.
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