RE: [semi-OT] black hawk down?

--- Bob Makowsky <rmakowsky@yahoo.com> wrote:
 
> I am not sure this view is entirely correct.	There
> were mistakes made but
> the folks who went on this mission were not stupidly
> blundering into
> trouble.  They knew where they were going and what
> could happen.  They had
> become overconfident due to previous ops where they
> were able to do a "quick
> in and out".	

You've contradicted yourself here.  Overconfidence is
synonymous with stupidity when dealing with live
rounds.

> The NCOs did take a strong enough stance on PCC. 
> This is attributable to
> their previous experience.  Yes you should always
> take everything you need.
> However everything is heavy and some choices need to
> be made.  Did they make
> the correct ones in all instances?  No.  Did the
> Ranger NCOs drop the ball
> 100%? Also no.

Water is a no-brainer.	Sorry, but.  That's flamingly
stupid.  Your damn body armor is also a no-brainer. 
If you are in the kind of shape that Rangers allegedly
are, that shouldn't have too much problem, especially
considering there's no foot marching in this mission. 
Rangers let their testosterone think for them, which
is in some ways as unprofessional as the way the
Somali militia acted.
 
> purpose - Alerting the QRF that an op was about to
> go on could easily have
> alerted the Somalis early to the op.	They
> controlled information at their
> airbase but could not control info at the 10th
> Mountain or with the UN
> folks.  Early Intel of the raid could have resulted
> in a canceling of the
> meet thus negating a reason to go (No target).

Alerting the 10th Mountain should not have really been
a cause of concern.  UN is a bunch of loosers, but why
is there a reason to believe 10th Mtn was full of
Aideed sources?
 
Oh, and as far as "Chickenshit", anyone who's actually
held a loaded weapon can tell you that having your
safety on at all times is a way of preventing death
and serious injury.  As a matter of fact, not haivng
his safety on was the reason a kid from the Service
Battery of our supporting artillery BN in Kosovo put a
5.56mm round through the chest of an 8 year old boy.

John

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