Friday, August 12, 2011

"The Department of Defense announced today . . ."

Start the video and read the announcement.




Kyrie eleison;
Christe eleison:
Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy;
Christ have mercy;
Lord have mercy.

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 705-11
August 11, 2011
DOD Identifies Service Members Killed In CH-47 Crash


The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of 30 service-members who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Aug. 6 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed.

The following sailors assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit were killed:

Lt. Cmdr. (SEAL) Jonas B. Kelsall, 32, of Shreveport, La.,

Special Warfare Operator Master Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Louis J. Langlais, 44, of Santa Barbara, Calif.,

Special Warfare Operator Senior Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Thomas A. Ratzlaff, 34, of Green Forest, Ark.,

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Senior Chief Petty Officer (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist) Kraig M. Vickers 36, of Kokomo, Hawaii,

Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Brian R. Bill, 31, of Stamford, Conn.,

Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) John W. Faas, 31, of Minneapolis, Minn.,

Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Kevin A. Houston, 35, of West Hyannisport, Mass.,

Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Matthew D. Mason, 37, of Kansas City, Mo.,

Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Stephen M. Mills, 35, of Fort Worth, Texas,

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Chief Petty Officer (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist/Diver) Nicholas H. Null, 30, of Washington, W.Va.,

Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Robert J. Reeves, 32, of Shreveport, La.,

Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Heath M. Robinson, 34, of Detroit, Mich.,

Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Darrik C. Benson, 28, of Angwin, Calif.

Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL/Parachutist) Christopher G. Campbell, 36, of Jacksonville, N.C.,

Information Systems Technician Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist) Jared W. Day, 28, of Taylorsville, Utah,

Master-at-Arms Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist) John Douangdara, 26, of South Sioux City, Neb.,

Cryptologist Technician (Collection) Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist) Michael J. Strange, 25, of Philadelphia, Pa.,

Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL/Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist) Jon T. Tumilson, 35, of Rockford, Iowa,

Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Aaron C. Vaughn, 30, of Stuart, Fla., and

Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Jason R. Workman, 32, of Blanding, Utah.

The following sailors assigned to a West Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit were killed:

Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Jesse D. Pittman, 27, of Ukiah, Calif., and

Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 2nd Class (SEAL) Nicholas P. Spehar, 24, of Saint Paul, Minn.

The soldiers killed were:

Chief Warrant Officer David R. Carter, 47, of Centennial, Colo. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Aurora, Colo.;

Chief Warrant Officer Bryan J. Nichols, 31, of Hays, Kan. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kan.;

Sgt. Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Grand Island, Neb.;

Sgt. Alexander J. Bennett, 24, of Tacoma, Wash. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kan.; and

Spc. Spencer C. Duncan, 21, of Olathe, Kan. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kan.

The airmen killed were:

Tech. Sgt. John W. Brown, 33, of Tallahassee, Fla.;

Staff Sgt. Andrew W. Harvell, 26, of Long Beach, Calif.; and

Tech. Sgt. Daniel L. Zerbe, 28, of York, Pa.
All three airmen were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, N.C.


Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
Amen.

8 comments:

Mark Matis said...

It is worth noting major discrepancies in the stories which have been released on this action. The initial story was the SEALs had to rush into action to save some of their buddies who were trapped. That has now changed to the story that they were trying to capture or kill some low-level Talibanistas who were escaping from another action. Also noteworthy is the fact that they were flying in a National Guard helicopter, in spite of SpecOps helicopters being readily available. Then there is the fact that it is NOT normal for this many SpecOps forces to be transported in ONE helicopter, to reduce the chances of something like this happening. The stench is overwhelming. But here, it smells like Perfumed Prince carrying out an order from On High and then attempting to cover it.

Further info at Barnhardt.biz starting at 4:07 PM on 6 August.

Anonymous said...

Dead bin laden "hit" SEALS. Dead Taliban shooters. No witnesses.
No witnesses to the show put on to help a failed FRAUD get re-elected so the regime doesn't have to play it's hand if he doesn't.

Where is our military leadership?

Old NFO said...

Yep, this one stinks... period... And a truly sad day in the SPECOPS world. RIP gentlemen, RIP.

Anonymous said...

Starting to look like the blood trail left behind in the Klinton administration. Treason from the top.
Perhaps the rest of the SEALs will wake up and start finding where to dish out some retribution.

CowboyDan said...

So now the bad guys know the names & location of the surviving families. How many wrecks or robberies or suicides will we see in the near future?

Way to go BHO! There is so much wrong with so much of this story.

Whatever happened to OPSEC?

Dedicated_Dad said...

Agreed - there is much that REEKS about this whole mess..

Personally, I'm thinking it's probably a cover-up of a suicide bomb by one of the Afghans on board...

Anonymous said...

CowboyDan,
"So now the bad guys know the names & location of the surviving families. How many wrecks or robberies or suicides will we see in the near future?"

Did you miss something here? The bad guys already know where they live, the bad guys work for OUR gov't!!!! This was another inside job to tie up loose ends and make sure there were no live witnesses to the Bin Laden 'story' and now they find out they got the wrong guys.
Every single swinging dick in SpecOps should be finding himself "100 heads" to pick some targets from to avenge this 'hit' against one of their own. You are putting your life on the line and then finding out that you can be eliminated 'with extreme prejudice' when you no longer serve a need for the propaganda machine? Just makes me want to run right down and enlist again!

CowboyDan said...

Anonymous, you're right about BG's being in our own house, but it's in their interest to keep their heads down for the time being.

The first thought I had, on hearing about the Chinook going down, was that it was either payback or cleanup. Either way, SOMEBODY sold out those guys, and when found, ought to be in line for a dynamite enema, or worse, if you can think of such.

You're right about the 100 heads, I'm afraid. May God have mercy on us all.?