Good Read

[AUdaREALsecTigers 2]

I got this in an email the other day. Don't know the original source but it is a moving story and a tribute to those assuring our freedom overseas.

Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 7:49 AM

Subject: FW: Final  Update

FYI, Bert is a 50 yr old LTC who has been stationed in Afganistan for a

year

and is coming  home this week. He just completed his last mountain

mission

before returning and should be on his way home. Read the account of the

attached letter concerning the Seals. Heart  Moving. Tom

-----Original  Message-----

Subject: Final  Update

Hello every one, I am heading home soon.  Here is my final update.

FINAL

UPDATE

Hello everyone, this is my final update.  Let me start by telling you

that I am in excellent health and in good spirits.  I apologize for

not

keeping you informed these last few months but our operational tempo

was too

high and our operational security did not allow me to share with you

what

missions we were conducting.  When I return home I hope to sit down

and write about our spring offensive here.  However I will share with

you that my team in Farah captured Mullah Sultan who was a mid level

Taliban

leader and a target that we had been  searching for several months.  He

is

still being interrogated in Afghanistan but should be making the long

journey to GITMO (providing  it is still open) very soon. I will be

home in

a couple of weeks  and  plan to have a party around Labor Day weekend

so

please mark you  calendars because I would love to see you there.  This

update will be extremely short but I do want to cose it by telling you

some

insight about the SEAL Team and Night Salker tragedy that occurred a

few

weeks ago.  By now you have heard a lot about what happen but I really

want

share how significant that event ws to the soldiers on  the ground here

and

to explain in my opinion why I feel it is important  that all Americans

continue the fight  for feedom.

Before I explain what happen to the SEALs, I want to thank you all for

your

prayers, emails, care packages, yard work and all the things that you

did

for me in my family while I  have been deployed.  The support from my

friends and neighbors has been incredible and humbling.  Your support

has

helped me to endure this incredibly long year and to concentrate on

what I

was doing here with minimum worrying about Pam and "A".  Thank you all

from

the bottom of my heart.

The Naval Special Forces (NAVSOF) team that was involved in the

operation in

Kunar Province had been traveling  throughout Afghanistan conducting

apprehend or kill missions against Al  Qaeda and Taliban operatives. 

They

had worked with us for two weeks, three weeks before the events on June

28.

While working with our teams, they attempted to take out a high value

Taliban target and missed him by hours.  This operation was conducted

in the

Zerico Valley which has been one of our hot spots.  We provided the

outer

ring security for the SEALs with Afghan National Army  soldiers and

ETTs

while the SEALs conducted the

compound assault.  We missed the big target but did get some mid level

guys so the mission was not a total bust.  The NAVSOF guys are the best

of

the best, not cocky simply professionals in every way, we call them

operators.

On June 28 a four man SEAL reconnaissance team was trying to locate

Taliban

in the dense mountainous and forested area of the Kunar Province of

Afghanistan.  They were trying to identify routes that the bad guys use

to

enter from Pakistan.  The targeting information would be used to direct

U.S.

and Afghan forces who would interdict and destroy those enemy forces. 

The

SEALs were spotted and engaged by a large force of

Taliban some where between 25-50 insurgents.  The Taliban who are

still

alive and fighting  in  Afghanistan are very good combatants.  Unlike

Iraq

Arabs, they are  not suicidal and they use good small unit tactics. The

bad

guys  used Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), mortars and small arms to

attack the SEALs.  The team set up a 360 degree defense and called in

Hornet

Nest (troops in contact) back to their operational base.  The command

and

control headquarters for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan moved a Predator

unmanned drone over the battle location. The SEALs were located by the

predator by their locator  beacon and the inferred camera system of the

drone.  The headquarters could see that the TEAM was encircled by bad

guys

and that the enemy was too close to the SEALs to use Air force close

air

support.  A weather front was rapidly coming into the area and the SEAL

Commander,  a Lieutenant Commander, asked permission to launch his

quick

reaction force to go rescue his men.  The commander of TF160th (the

Night

Stalkers) agreed to fly the mission. The Night Stalkers are the Army's

Special Operations

air wing.  They specialize in high risk insertion and extraction at

night.  It was not night fall yet and the command hesitated  because

sending the special operation birds into the area in the light  was

very

risky.  The Generals looked at the screen that was giving a live feed

of the

fire fight, they saw that the SEALs were surrounded,  they did not see

a way

for them to escape, a weather front was coming,  it was dusk but not

dark

yet and time for the trapped men was running  out.

Leadership requires having the guts to make a decision, based on

analysis

and  forethought.  You must totally recognize the risk and be ready to

accept the results.  The general in charge made the right call, he had

to

try to rescue the operators, we as American soldiers cannot leave our

people

on the battlefield, every Airman, Marine, Sailor, Coast Guardsmen and

Soldier has to know that when you go down range and things go wrong

keep

fighting and help will come.

The decision was made, two CH 47 Pave Hawk helicopters headed toward

the

SEALs.  The CH 47 is a large aircraft but it is fast for a helicopter,

able

to fly at 170 knots.  The aircraft entered the mountains flying at 50

feet

above the ground with 16 men aboard.  All

four SEALs were still alive and fighting an unbelievable battle.  As

the lead bird approached

the landing zone they started to slow down and the air speed dropped

under

100 Knots, another group of Taliban, not engaged in the initial

firefight

but in the area saw the aircraft and open fire with small arms and

RPG's.

The lead aircraft was hit by a RPG but the aviator kept the bird in the

air.

They were in the mountains; therefore there was no clear place to land. 

He

flew for about a mile and saw a ledge that he could try to put the bird

down  on.  The CH 47 landed on the ledge hard, they almost made it. 

The

hard landing and the palpitations of the rotors were too much for the

small

landing zone and weak ground.  It was their time, the aircraft rolled

off of

the ledge on to its side and down the mountain into the valley below. 

8

SEALs and 8 aviators from TF160th were gone.

The other aircraft could not land in the hot landing zone and were

called

back.  There was not enough time to try to secure the area because the

weather front moved in and night fall fell. The SEALs kept fighting and

used

the cover of darkness to crawl out of the initial enemy lines.  The

SEALs

were engaged again and had a running gun battle for over two

hours.  The SEAL that survived was knocked unconscious by a mortar

round and

found that he was alone when he woke up.  Two of his team members were

dead

close by, and the last team member was missing. They had dropped all

non-essential gear during their escape therefore all contact with them

was

lost.  Eventually the surviving SEAL ran into a villager who took him

to his

house.  That shepherd, at great risk to himself, protected the SEAL

until he

could be moved six hours away to the nearest U.S. forces that the

villager

was aware of.

The loss of the operators really broke the hearts of all us deployed

down

range.  Losing men of that quality and dedication is bad enough one at

a

time, but to lose so many, so fast was hard to comprehend.  But after

the

shock had worn off and we got the true story of what happen we

took solace.  You see every one did what they supposed to on that day,

the SEAL recon team kept fighting, the SEAL commander went to get his

shipmates,  the Night  Stalkers volunteered to fly in to harms way to

rescue

their brothers in arms and the generals had the guts to make the right

decision.  That is all you can ask for out here, it is what it is and

everything else is god's will.  I have had the pleasure of serving

with some unbelievable men and woman in the last year.  Folks from 18

to 59 (yes 59).  It has been an honor.  I really appreciated America

before

I came to Afghanistan but this experience has truly opened my eyes to

how

blessed my life has been.  Folks I know this is a cliché, but freedom

is not

free.  Embrace it, respect it and don't ever stop fighting for it. 

These

people over here are far from free, but we have given them a taste of

it.

We need to ensure that we don't give up  the fight because to do so

would be

to dishonor all the men and woman  who have died to ensure we remain

free.

Freedom is contagious, with it, out goes tyranny.  The evil people that

attacked America on September 11th were not free because if they were,

they

would not have cared what another's persons beliefs are they would

simply

accept them for what they are and moved on.  Please continue to pray

for all

the soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, don't stop praying for me because

I am

still here, and your prayers have been working so keep it up, I don't

want

to mess up a good thing.  I will be home soon, God bless you all, God

bless

America and thanks again, goodbye Cheers, George

[DKW 86 7,450]

Wow!

I am so pumped right now....

My BF is a Seal. When we talk, sometimes it is like we share a language that the non-mils just cannot understand.