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If we can send The Seal Team Six to kill Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists. Why can we not use them as the firing squad to kill all guilty murderers in America?
I chose this blog post as on this date, November 13, 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans. I chose to honor the Seal Team Six, I got the information from Wikipedia.
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Active
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November
1980 – present
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Country
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United States of America
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Garrison/HQ
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Dam
Neck Annex
NAS Oceana, Virginia, U.S. |
Nickname
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DEVGRU,
SEAL Team Six
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Engagements
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The
United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), or
DEVGRU, is a U.S. Navy component of Joint Special Operations Command. It
is often referred to as SEAL Team Six, the name of its
predecessor which was officially disbanded in 1987. DEVGRU is administratively
supported by Naval Special Warfare Command and operationally commanded by the
Joint Special Operations Command. Most information concerning DEVGRU is
classified and details of its activities are not usually commented on by either
the White House or the Department of Defense. In 2010 it was reported DEVGRU's
designation was changed by the Defense Department. Despite the official name
changes, "SEAL Team Six" remains the unit's widely recognized moniker.
It is sometimes referred to in the U.S. media as a Special Mission Unit.
DEVGRU
and its Army counterpart, Delta Force, are the United States military's primary
counter-terrorism units. Although DEVGRU was created as a maritime
counter-terrorism unit, it has become a multi-functional special operations
unit with several roles that include high-risk personnel/hostage extractions
and other specialized missions.
The
Central Intelligence Agency's highly secretive Special Activities Division
(SAD) and more specifically its elite Special Operations Group (SOG) often
works with—and recruits—operators from DEVGRU. The combination of these units
led to the most significant special operations success in the Global War On
Terror.
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| (SOURCE: http://www.thankyouteamsix.com/) |
1 History
The origins of DEVGRU are in SEAL Team Six, a unit
created in the aftermath of Operation Eagle Claw. During the Iran hostage crisis in 1979, Richard
Marcinko was one of two U.S. Navy representatives for a Joint Chiefs
of Staff task force known as the TAT (Terrorist Action Team). The purpose of
the TAT was to develop a plan to free the American hostages held in Iran. In
the wake of the disaster at the Desert One base in Iran, the Navy saw the need
for a full-time counter-terrorist unit, and tasked Marcinko with its design and
development.
Marcinko was the first commanding officer of this
new unit, which was first called MOB 6 (Mobility 6) and Sixth Platoon.
Eventually the unit was dubbed SEAL Team Six. At the time there were only two
SEAL teams. Marcinko named the unit SEAL Team Six in order to confuse Soviet
intelligence as to the number of actual SEAL teams in existence. The unit's
plankowners were hand-picked by Marcinko from throughout the UDT/SEAL
community. SEAL Team Six became the U.S. Navy's premier counter-terrorist unit.
It has been compared to the U.S. Army's Delta Force. Marcinko held the command
of SEAL Team Six for three years, from 1980 to 1983, instead of the typical
two-year command in the Navy at the time. SEAL Team Six was formally created in
October 1980, and an intense, progressive work-up training program made the
unit mission-ready just six months later. SEAL Team Six started with 75
shooters. According to Dick Marcinko, the annual training allowance for the
command was larger than that of the entire U.S. Marine Corps. The unit has
virtually unlimited resources at its disposal.
In 1987 SEAL Team Six was dissolved. A new unit
named the "Naval Special Warfare Development Group" was formed,
essentially as SEAL Team Six's successor. Reasons for the disbanding are
varied, but the name SEAL Team Six is often used in reference to DEVGRU.
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2 Recruitment,
selection and training
In
the early stages of creating SEAL Team Six, Marcinko was given only six months
to get ST6 up and running or the whole project would come to an end. This meant
that there was a timing issue and Marcinko had little time to create a proper
selection course, similar to that of Delta Force, and as a result hand-picked
the first plankowners of the unit after assessing
their Navy records and interviewing each man. It has been said that Marcinko
regretted not having enough time to set up a proper selection process and
course. All applicants came from the Underwater
Demolition Teams (UDTs) and East and West Coast SEAL teams.
Marcinko's criteria for recruiting applicants was combat experience so he would
know they could perform under fire; language skills were vital, as the unit
would have a worldwide mandate to communicate with the local population if
needed; union skills, to be able to blend in as civilians during an operation;
and finally SEAL skills. Members of SEAL Team Six were selected in part because
of the different specialist skills of each man.
The
training schedule is without comparison in its intensity. A former Team member
claims that in one year SEAL Team Six fired more rounds of ammunition than the
entire U.S. Marine Corps ammunition allowance. The emphasis was on shooting
skills, range firing, close-quarters
battle (CQB), and stress shooting in a variety of conditions.
Information
about the unit is mostly highly classified, so little is available about
recruitment and selection. What is known is that the selection and training for
the unit has not changed dramatically since its creation. All applicants come
from the "regular" SEAL teams, unless applying for support positions
(there have been open advertisements on the web for support personnel).
It
can be inferred from the quality of their pool of applicants that those
considered are in peak physical condition, maintain an excellent reputation as
operators within the Naval Special Warfare community, and have done multiple
operational deployments with a SEAL Team. As a result, the candidate will
usually be in his 30s. As ST6 was recruiting the best and brightest SEALs/UDTs
from the regular teams, this created animosity between the unit and the
"regular" teams, who considered that their best SEALs were being
poached for the unit.
Candidates
are interviewed by a review board to deem whether the candidate is suitable to
undertake the selection phase. Those who pass the stringent recruitment and
selection process will be selected to attend a six- to eight-month Operators
Training Course. Candidates will screen with the unit's training wing known as
"Green Team." The training course attrition rate is high; during one
selection course, out of the original 20 candidates, 12 completed the course.
All candidates are watched closely by DEVGRU instructors and evaluated on
whether they are suitable to join the individual squadrons. Howard E. Wasdin, a former member of SEAL
Team Six said in a recent interview that 16 applied for SEAL Team Six selection
course and only two were accepted. Those who do not pass the selection phase
are returned to their previous assignments and unlikely to be able to try again
in the future.
Like
all Special Operations Forces units that have an extremely intensive and
high-risk training schedule, there can be serious injuries and deaths. SEAL
Team Six/DEVGRU has lost several operators during training, including parachute
accidents and close-quarters battle training accidents. It is presumed that the
unit's assessment process for potential new recruits is different from what a
SEAL operator experienced in his previous career, and much of the training
tests the candidate's mental capacity rather than his physical condition, as he
will have already completed Basic Underwater Demolitions/SEAL or the Navy EOD
training pipeline.
Candidates
are put through a variety of advanced training courses led by civilian or
military instructors. These can include free-climbing, advanced unarmed combat
techniques, defensive and offensive driving, advanced diving, and Survival,
Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training. All candidates must perform at
the top level during selection, and the unit instructors evaluate the candidate
during the training process. Selected candidates are assigned to one of the
Tactical Development and Evaluation Squadrons; the others are returned to their
previous units. Unlike the other regular SEAL Teams, SEAL Team Six operators
were able to go to almost any of the best schools anywhere and train in
whatever they wanted depending on the unit's requirements.
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3 Structure
DEVGRU is
divided into color-coded line squadrons, which are commanded by Commanders:
- Gold Squadron (Assault Team)
- Blue Squadron (Assault Team)
- Silver Squadron (Assault Team)
- Red Squadron (Assault Team)
- Black Squadron (Reconnaissance & Surveillance Team)
- Gray Squadron (Boat Crews)
Each
assault squadron is divided into three troops (commanded by lieutenant
commanders) and troops are divided into smaller teams. Each line
squadron has a specific nickname. Examples being Gold-Knights, Red-Indians,
Black-Pirates.
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4 Commanding officers
Command of DEVGRU is a Captain's
billet:
- Commander Richard Marcinko – Nov 1980 to July 1983
- Captain Robert A. Gormly – 1983 to 1986
- Captain Thomas E. Murphy – 1986 to 1987
- Captain Richard T.P. Woolard – 1987 to 1990
- Captain Ronald E. Yeaw – 1990 to 1992
- Captain Thomas G. Moser – 1992 to 1994
- Admiral Eric T. Olson – 1994 to 1997
- Vice Admiral Albert M. Calland III – June 1997 to June 1999
- Vice Admiral Joseph D. Kernan – 1999 to 2002
- Rear Admiral Edward G. Winters, III – 2002 to 2004
- Captain Scott P. Moore – 2004 to 2008
- Rear Admiral Brian L. Losey – 2008 to 2010
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| (SOURCE: http://www.sealteam6.net/) |
5 Roles and
responsibilities
When
SEAL Team Six was first created it was devoted exclusively to counter-terrorism
with a worldwide maritime responsibility; its objectives typically included
targets such as ships, oil rigs, naval bases, coastal embassies, and other
civilian or military bases that were accessible from the sea or inland
waterways.
On
certain operations small teams from SEAL Team Six were tasked with covertly
infiltrating international high risk areas in order to carry out reconnaissance
or security assessments of U.S. military facilities and embassies; and to give
advice on improvements in order to prevent casualties in an event of a
terrorist attack.
Although
the unit was created as a maritime counter-terrorism unit, it has become a
multi-functional special operations unit with multiple roles that include
high-risk personnel/hostage extractions. Such operations include the successful
rescue of Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted, the attempted rescue of
Linda Norgrove, the successful rescue of American doctor Dilip Joseph and in
1991 the successful recovery of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and
his family during a coup that deposed him.
After
SEAL Team Six was disbanded and renamed, the official mission of the currently
operating Naval Special Warfare Development Group is to test, evaluate, and
develop technology and maritime, ground, and airborne tactics applicable to Naval Special Warfare
forces such as Navy SEALs; however, it is presumed this
is only a small part of the group's work assignment and more of a cover.
DEVGRU's
full mission is classified but is thought to include pre-emptive, pro-active
counter-terrorist operations, counter-proliferation (efforts to prevent the
spread of both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction), as well
as the elimination or recovery of high-value targets (HVTs) from unfriendly
nations. DEVGRU is one of only a handful of U.S. Special Mission Units authorized
to use pre-emptive actions against terrorists and their facilities.
DEVGRU
and the Army's Delta Force train and deploy together on counter-terrorist
missions usually as part of a joint special operations task force (JSOTF).
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6 Operations and covert
actions
The
majority of the operations assigned to DEVGRU are classified and may never be
known to the public. However, there are some operations in which the unit has
been involved where certain details have been made public.
6.1 Operation Urgent Fury
Main article: Invasion of Grenada
On 13 March 1979 the People's Revolutionary Army,
led by Maurice Bishop, overthrew the newly independent government of the
small island of Grenada and established a new regime based on socialist
principles. This brought it into continuing conflict with the United States, as
the administration of U.S. President Reagan considered the leftist
government to be too closely allied to Cuba and the Soviet Union.
On 12 October 1983 a hard-line faction of the
Central Committee of the Revolutionary Government of Grenada, controlled by
former Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, took control of the
government from Bishop and placed him under house arrest. Within days, Bishop
and many of his supporters were dead, and the nation had been placed under
martial law. The severity of the violence, coupled with Coard's hard-line
Marxism, caused deep concern among neighboring Caribbean nations, as well as in
Washington, D.C. Adding to the U.S.' concern was the presence of nearly 1,000
American medical students in Grenada. On 25 October, the United States invaded
Grenada, an operation codenamed Operation Urgent Fury.
SEAL Team Six's Assault Group Three was to conduct
a static line drop with boats a few miles away from the Grenadian coast.
One of two C-130 cargo planes transporting the SEALs to their drop point
veered far off course. A rain squall accompanied by high winds broke out just
before the SEALs conducted the drop. Four out of the eight SEALs that made the
drop drowned and were never seen again. After the disastrous insertion, Assault
Group Three was told to stand-by and began preparing for the next mission. The
next mission was to go to the governor's mansion and secure Governor-General
Paul Scoon, protect him and his family and move them out of the combat
area. A second mission was to capture and secure Grenada's only radio station
so that it couldn't be used by the local military to incite the population or
coordinate military actions. There was almost no intelligence for either of
these operations.
6.1.1 Governor-General's
mansion
To
reach the governor-general's mansion, the SEALs were flown in on Black Hawk
helicopters that morning, and fast-roped to the ground while under fire. As
they approached from the back of the mansion, the team found Scoon hiding. The
SEALs then continued to clear the rest of the house and began to set up a
perimeter to ensure security. Soon the mansion started to take fire from men
armed with AK-47s and RPGs. As the incoming fire started to increase,
Governor-General Scoon and his family were moved to a safer location in the
house. After the incoming fire had decreased, three men wearing Cuban uniforms
approached the mansion, all of them carrying AK-47s. The SEALs shouted for the
three men to stop where they were. When the three men heard the yells, they
raised their weapons. The SEALs opened fire on the Cubans and killed them
almost instantly.
Soon
afterward, two BTR-60PBs rolled up to the mansion's gates. One of the BTRs at
the mansion's front gate opened fire. Just as the SEALs were about to fire a
LAW anti-tank rocket, the BTR backed off and left with the other BTR. When the
SEALs had been inserted into the compound, they left behind their long-range
SATCOM radio on a helicopter; the only communications the team had were through
MX-360 radios. The team used the radios to communicate with a SEAL command post
on the island to call in air strikes. As the radios' batteries started to fade,
communications with the SEAL command post became weak. Once all the radios had
died, when the SEALs urgently needed air support, they used a regular house
phone to call JSOC, which was able to get an AC-130 Spectre gunship to hold station
over the SEALs' position to provide air support.
When
morning came, a group of Force Recon Marines arrived to escort the SEALs,
Governor-General Scoon, and his family to a point from where they were
evacuated by helicopter.
6.1.2 Radio station
Assault
Group Three and another squad from SEAL Team Six flew to the radio station on a
Black Hawk helicopter. The helicopter took small-arms fire on the insertion.
Once the team unloaded, it overran the radio station compound. The SEALs were
told to hold the station until Governor Scoon and a broadcast team could be
brought in. After the team took control of the compound, it was not able to
make radio contact with the SEAL command post. The SEALs set up a perimeter
while they continued to try to make radio contact. As this was happening, a
BTR-60 armored personnel carrier arrived, and 20 Grenadian soldiers disguised
as station workers got out. The soldiers carried weapons even in disguise. The
SEALs ordered the soldiers to drop the weapons. The soldiers opened fire but
were shot down almost instantly.
The
SEALs continued trying to make radio contact, then another BTR and three
trucks, carrying a dozen soldiers each, were spotted coming towards the
station; the soldiers flanked the building and the BTR covered the front
entrance with its 14.5 mm KPV heavy machine gun. The incoming fire on the
SEALs' position was becoming devastatingly heavy, and they were running out of
ammunition: the team knew that their only option was to change their original
plan of holding the radio station, and instead destroy the radio transmitter,
then head to the water following their pre-planned escape route out behind the
station across a broad meadow that led to a path that cut between cliffs and a
beach. The meadow was very exposed to Grenadian fire. The team leapfrogged
across the exposed ground and took heavy fire, finally reaching the end of the
field, cut through a chain-link fence, ran into dense brush, and followed the
path to the beach. One SEAL had been wounded in the arm. The Grenadians were
still in pursuit, so the SEALs waded into the water and began swimming parallel
to the shore until they found cliff ledges in which to hide; once the
Grenadians had given up the search they swam out to sea, where they were in the
water for nearly six hours until a rescue plane spotted them and vectored a US
Navy ship to pick them up.
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6.2 Operation Gothic
Serpent
During
Operation
Gothic Serpent in Somalia, DEVGRU was a part of Task Force Ranger. TF Ranger was made up of
operators from Delta Force, the 75th
Ranger Regiment, the 160th SOAR, the 24th
Special Tactics Squadron, and SEALs from DEVGRU. Eric T. Olson, John Gay, Howard Wasdin, Homer Nearpass, and Richard
Kaiser were the five SEALs that fought in the 1993 Battle
of Mogadishu during the last mission of Operation Gothic Serpent to
capture the warlord Mohamed Farrah
Aidid.[38] Olson would receive the Silver
Star for his actions which were cited as "... during combat actions in
Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993. While under withering enemy fire during
actions in support of UNOSOM II operations, Captain Olson demonstrated a
complete disregard for his own personal safety in the accomplishment of his
mission". Olson became commander of the Naval Special Warfare Development
Group one year later.
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6.3 NATO intervention in
Bosnia, 1992–95
During
NATO's intervention in the Bosnian War, the NSWDG operated alongside other
members of NATO's Implementation Force, such as its Army counterpart Delta
Force and the British SAS. These units were tasked with finding and
apprehending persons indicted for war crimes (PIFWC) and returning them to The
Hague to stand trial. Some of DEVGRU's PIFWC operations included apprehending
Goran Jelisić, Simo Zaric, Milan Simic, Miroslav Tadic, and Radislav Krstić.
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6.4 Operation Enduring
Freedom
In
Afghanistan during Operation
Enduring Freedom (OEF), U.S. Special Operations forces played a
central role in the fighting. It was also here they began to specialize in
counter-terrorist tactics and information.
During
the crucial Battle of Takur
Ghar part of Operation Anaconda
a small team of DEVGRU assigned to an Advanced Force
Operations task force were tasked with establishing observation
positions (OPs) on the high ground above the proposed landing zones of U.S. conventional
forces. It was one of the most violent battles of Operation Anaconda.
Late at night on 2 March 2002 a MH-47 Chinook helicopter piloted by the 160th
SOAR was carrying a team from DEVGRU. The original plan was that DEVGRU would
be inserted at a point 4,300 feet (1,300 m) east of the peak, but
circumstances led the SEALs to choose the summit of Takur Ghar itself as the
insertion point. As the helicopter was nearing its landing zone both the pilots
and the men in the back observed fresh tracks in the snow, goatskins, and other
signs of recent human activity. As the pilots and team discussed a mission
abort, an RPG struck the side of the aircraft, wounding one crewman as machine
gun bullets ripped through the fuselage, cutting hydraulic and oil lines. Fluid
spewed about the ramp area of the helicopter. As the pilot struggled to get the
helicopter away Neil C. Roberts, a DEVGRU SEAL in the ramp area of the aircraft,
was hit and slipped on the oil as the helicopter took off. He fell
approximately 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3.0 m) to the snowy ground
below. Roberts immediately engaged enemy forces with his weapons including an
M249 light machine gun, SIG Sauer 9mm pistol and grenades. He survived at least
30 minutes before he was shot and killed at close range.
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The
four Pirates in the 2013 movie, ‘Captain Philips’ - Actors Faysal Ahmed,
Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman and Mahat Ali as the gun-toting Somali pirates
in Captain Phillips. Photo: AP (PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1330449/new-captain-phillips-movie-and-truth-hostage-rescue-navy-seals)
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6.5 Maersk Alabama
hijacking and rescue, 12 April 2009
MV Maersk Alabama, a 508 foot long
cargo ship carrying 17,000 tons of humanitarian aid supplies, was seized by
pirates 240 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, in waters notorious for
piracy. After a confrontation with the crew, three of the hi-jackers fled in
the ship's lifeboat, taking Captain Richard
Phillips with them as hostage and resulting in a stand-off with a
group US Navy warships including, USS Bainbridge, USS Halyburton
and USS Boxer. DEVGRU operators flew non-stop from Virginia to the Horn
of Africa, then parachuted into the water, before finally arriving aboard the Bainbridge.
Three of the operators, one for each pirate, took up sniper positions on the
fantail of the ship, with presidential authorization to use lethal force, if it
was required. At one point, following a struggle between the pirates and Capt.
Phillips where shots were fired, the SEALs felt the hostage's life was in
imminent danger. When the first opportunity appeared and the heads of all three
captors were visible at the same time, all three snipers fired simultaneously,
killing all three pirates at once with head-shots. Phillips was then
successfully rescued, bringing the stand-off to an end.
6.6 Death of Linda
Norgrove, 8 October 2010
Main
article: Death of Linda Norgrove
Linda Norgrove, a Scottish aid worker, and three
Afghan colleagues were kidnapped by members of the Taliban in Kunar Province,
eastern Afghanistan, on 26 September 2010. The three Afghan aid workers were
released on 3 October 2010 while negotiations over Norgrove's release were
ongoing. As a result of concerns that Norgrove might be killed or moved by her
captors, 20 operators from NSWDG and 24 Rangers conducted a pre-dawn rescue
attempt on a Taliban mountain hideout on 8 October 2010 during which she was
killed.
A joint official investigation by United Kingdom
and United States concluded that Norgrove had died from a grenade thrown by one
of the SEAL rescuers. A coroner's narrative verdict was recorded in February
2011 that stated Norgrove had died during a failed rescue attempt.
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(SOURCE:
http://www.thankyouteamsix.com/)
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6.7 Operation Neptune
Spear
Main
article: Death of Osama
bin Laden
On 1–2 May 2011 DEVGRU's Red Squadron undertook the
covert operation codenamed Operation Neptune Spear, under the CIA's authority,
and killed Osama bin Laden, leader of the terrorist
organization Al Qaeda, at his compound 34°11′15.3882″N 73°14′33.3954″E in the
city of Abbottabad, 113 kilometers from Islamabad,
the Federal capital of Pakistan. The attack itself lasted 38 minutes. Bin
Laden's adult son, a woman, and two couriers were also killed. There were no
casualties to the team. They had practiced the mission "on both American
coasts" and in a segregated section of Camp Alpha at Bagram Airfield,
Afghanistan in early April 2011, using a one-acre replica of bin Laden's
compound. Modified MH-60 helicopters from the U.S. Army's 160th Special
Operations Aviation Regiment carried DEVGRU operators and paramilitary
operatives from the CIA's Special Activities Division. Other personnel
supported with tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using
highly classified hyperspectral imagers from Ghazi Air Base in Pakistan.
Because of its covert nature, the raid was a CIA
operation with DEVGRU being transferred under CIA authority for its duration. A
1 May memo from CIA Director Leon Panetta thanked the National Security Agency
and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, whose mapping and
pattern-recognition software was likely used to determine that there was
"high probability" that Bin Laden lived in the compound. Members of
these agencies were paired with JSOC units in forward-deployed fusion cells to
"exploit and analyze" battlefield data instantly using biometrics,
facial recognition systems, voice print databases, and predictive models of insurgent
behavior based on surveillance and computer-based pattern analysis. The
operation was a result of years of intelligence work that included the capture
of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the tracking of the courier to the Abbottabad
compound by CIA paramilitary operatives, and the establishing of a CIA safe house
that provided critical ground intelligence. On the first anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden the Combatting Terrorism Center released
documents seized from Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad home.
The Associated Press reported that the troops had been trained to search
for documents, computer files and "pocket litter" "that might
produce leads to other terrorists".
In popular culture, several books have tried to
capture the events of the mission. The first of which was the 2011 graphic
novel published by IDW Publishing, Code Word: Geronimo, written by
retired Marine Corps Captain Dale Dye and Julia Dye, and illustrated by
former U.S. Army combat medic Gerry Kissell. Later, the controversial
book Seal Target Geronimo, by Chuck Pfarrer, a former Navy SEAL,
that disputed the accounts by the DoD of how the events occurred the night of
the raid on the compound. Finally, in 2012, the book No Easy Day was
released. The book was written by DEVGRU Red Squadron operator Matt Bissonnette
(writing under the pseudonym "Mark Owen"), who was part of Operation
Neptune Spear and claimed to be one of the two operators who engaged Bin Laden.
Then, in 2012, a film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark
Boal was released called Zero Dark Thirty. The film portrayed the
hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the raid performed by DEVGRU. Another film, Seal
Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden, depicting the events of
Operation Neptune Spear, was also released in 2012 The events in the film have
not been "confirmed nor denied" by White House officials.
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A still from
"SEAL Team Six: The Killing of Osama bin Laden” Photo:
AFP PHOTO/Geronimo Nevada, LLC./National Geographic Channels/Ursula Coyote (SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9654929/SEAL-Team-Six-The-raid-on-Osama-bin-Laden-National-Geographic-Channel-US-TV-review.html)
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(AFP PHOTO/Geronimo Nevada, LLC./National
Geographic Channels/Ursula Coyote) (SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9654929/SEAL-Team-Six-The-raid-on-Osama-bin-Laden-National-Geographic-Channel-US-TV-review.html)
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(AFP PHOTO/Geronimo Nevada, LLC./National
Geographic Channels/Ursula Coyote) (SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9654929/SEAL-Team-Six-The-raid-on-Osama-bin-Laden-National-Geographic-Channel-US-TV-review.html)
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6.8 Afghanistan
helicopter crash, 6 August 2011
Main article: 2011 Chinook shootdown in
Afghanistan
Fifteen members of DEVGRU's Gold Squadron were
among the 38 killed on Saturday, 6 August 2011 in Maidan Wardak province,
Afghanistan, when a Chinook helicopter flown by B Company, 7th Battalion, 158th
Aviation Regiment, was shot down by a Taliban-fired rocket-propelled grenade;
the crash wiped out an entire troop. The personnel killed in the helicopter
crash are said to have belonged to an "immediate reaction force" that
were en route to intercept a group of Taliban who were escaping the area
following an operation by United States Army Rangers. It was the largest single
loss of U.S. life since the beginning of the 2001 Afghan War, and is the
largest single loss ever suffered by the SEALs.
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6.9 Rescue of Jessica
Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted
Main article: Rescue of Jessica
Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted
In a mission codenamed Octave Fusion, on 24 January
2012, DEVGRU operators successfully rescued American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Dane
Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, who had been detained by Somali bandits in
north-central Somalia. The pair had been abducted around the area of Galkayo
three months earlier while working as aid workers helping to remove land mines.
Officials stated plans for a rescue operation had been under development for
weeks, but acted after discovering that Buchanan's health was deteriorating due
to an undisclosed illness. DEVGRU was prepared to capture the hostage takers
but this proved unfeasible and nine "heavily armed" kidnappers were
killed. The SEALs were parachuted in at night before advancing two miles to the
enemy compound on foot. After securing the safety of Buchanan and Thisted, the
team, who suffered no injuries, were extracted by helicopter.
6.10 Rescue of
British-Afghan Aid Workers, 28 May 2012
On
Tuesday 28 May 2012, a joint British SAS and DEVGRU operation rescued British
aid worker Helen Johnston and three colleagues held captive by the Taliban in
Badakhshan, Eastern Afghanistan. The hostages had been held in separate caves
in a forest in a mountainous valley in Badakhshan, north-east Afghanistan.
After concern for the aid worker's safety intelligence assets managed to locate
the hostages and a rescue operation was initiated. The Joint Special Operations
team flew to a pre-arranged rendezvous about two miles from where the hostages
were being held and patrolled two miles through thick forest, moving into
assault positions around the caves. The SAS team and SEALs assaulted the
locations simultaneously rescuing all hostages successfully and killed a number
of Taliban insurgents. There were no casualties amongst the rescue team.
6.11 Rescue of Dr. Dilip
Joseph, 8 December 2012
On
8 December 2012, DEVGRU rescued Dilip Joseph, an American doctor held captive
by the Taliban in Eastern Afghanistan. Dr. Joseph, who was working for an aid
organization, was kidnapped along with two Afghan colleagues at a road block by
armed men and were moved to a compound in Laghma Province. The two Afghans were
later released after negotiations. When intelligence indicated Dr. Joseph was
in imminent danger a rescue operation was mounted. During the operation at least
six of his Taliban captors were killed and two Taliban captured. A DEVGRU
member involved in the rescue, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas Checque,
was also killed. Checque was a highly decorated combat veteran awarded with the
Bronze Star Medal with Valor and the Purple Heart, among many others.
6.12 Operation against
Al-Shabaab in Barawa, 5 October 2013
On
October 5, 2013, United States Navy SEAL Team Six launched a raid against a
beachside house in Barawa, targeting Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, the leader of Al-Shabaab,
but was unable to complete the mission, having come under heavy fire. The
mission was aborted because the goal was to capture the leader alive for
intelligence purposes.
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Upper frontal view of the Three Fighting Men
statue, in Washington D.C.
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PLEASE SEE THESE
VIDEOS:
VIDEO SOURCE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L997vAGylGQ
VIDEO SOURCE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wc1l1DW6IE
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