Saturday, February 10, 2007

Our choppers cannot be shot down. No way!

The Ranter
The Views of The Ranter
It is readily apparent that what we learned in the Black Hawk down incident went into one bureaucrat’s ear and out the other. The only individuals who actually walked from that disgusting country were the pilots that are today risking their collective butts because, once more they being shot down.

We have been loosing a few helicopters in Iraq, in most cases they also contain the warriors of our military, resulting in multiple deaths. I have read a few blogs where witnesses have sworn the helicopter were hit in the tail with an RPG right before it went down. The response from the military has always been the same, mechanical problems resulting in the crash and subsequent loss of all on-board.

An article by. James Janega, in the Chicago Tribune available on Google discussed the possibility of hostile action and the new orders from the powers that be, allowing the pilots to change tactics to avoid the possibility of further loss of lives.

The article stated in its opening,

“The concern grew again Wednesday when a U.S. Marine helicopter crashed outside Baghdad, killing all seven aboard. It was the fifth U.S. helicopter lost in Iraq in 18 days, and the U.S. military says the four previous losses were all due to enemy ground fire.”

All Right! I was elated, a kid left in a candy store with ten dollars to spend and a whole bottle of Rolaids to take care of the night-time tummy ache. The military understands they really do. Maybe, someone, somewhere, in the higher ranks was finally issued a brain to think with.

My moment of happiness bubble was immediately burst when I read the next line.

“Although an insurgent group said that it shot down the CH-46 Sea Knight on Wednesday, U.S. officials said they suspected a mechanical failure and the helicopter was on fire when it went down.”

Where the hell are those Rolaids when I need them? Come on, someone please take a few of the legs the military keeps locked behind the Pentagon doors and explain to them exactly what hostile ground fire can do to a helicopter. Better yet, have them read the article on Military.com that states, U.S. Pilots Alter Tactics.

Perhaps someone should show these brain dead zombies the videos of U.S. helicopters being shot down the Iraqi insurgents have been posting on the web. Maybe, just maybe, they might make the decision that the helicopters are being downed by hostile ground fire. Maybe, that would sway them into the right frame of mind to order the veteran pilots to begin teaching the new ones defensive tactics to avoid this.

The sad statement is, when the multi-stared officers see the footage of four U.S. helicopters being actually shot down by ground fire, they will just think it was a complete coincidence that the helicopters developed mechanical problems at the exact moment an RPG was taking off their tail.

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