Poster Comment:
The Navy is investigating two members from Navy SEAL Team 6 to find out whether or not they strangled a Green Beret to death in Mali.
Army Green Beret Staff Sgt. Logan J. Melgar was discovered dead in embassy housing in Mali in June, and his superiors immediately believed there to be foul play at work, which led investigators to subsequently declare the death a homicide by strangulation, The New York Times reports.
The first investigator was dispatched to Mali within 24 hours.
Shortly after the death, two Navy SEALs were taken out of Mali and put on administrative leave. At first, the SEALs were merely “witnesses,” but investigators soon changed that status to “persons of interest.”
Army Criminal Investigation Command looked into the case for several months before passing it off to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).
At this point, it’s not clear why Melgar was killed, and NCIS has been mum on the current investigation. Speculation has revolved around the possibility of a housing dispute gone horribly wrong, or the possibility that Melgar stumbled upon illicit activities the SEALs were trying to cover up.
“NCIS does not discuss the details of ongoing investigations,” NCIS spokesman Ed Buice told The Times.
News of the suspicious death has come about amid a troubling incident in Niger, in which four Green Berets were killed in an ambush by up to 50 Islamic State-affiliated fighters armed with small arms, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Like in the case of Niger, special operators from the Army and Navy are deployed to Mali to assist local forces with training and counterterrorism projects.
#1: sneakypete To: Gatlin (#0)
Once again,the 4 killed were NOT felt hats,and neither were they Special Forces soldiers. They were support troops.
No,that does NOT make their deaths any less tragic. If anything,it makes it more tragic because support troops don't know squat about how to survive a firefight. They had no business being there with no air cover on call,and any SF qualified NCO or Officer would have known that and arranged for air cover before giving the mission briefing and sending them out.
sneakypete posted on 2017-10-29 21:53:58 Reply Private Reply
#2: Gatlin To: sneakypete (#1)
Green Berets in Niger waited an hour for air support
Gatlin posted on 2017-10-29 22:27:01 Reply Private Reply
#3: sneakypete To: Gatlin (#2)
The above is in the article from the first link.
You do NOT have air cover if the aircraft are sitting on a runway somewhere. The Army spokescritter has obviously never been an infantry soldier calling for air support,or he/she/multiple choice would know that.
And since these guys were support troops and NOT operational SF soldiers,chances are they didn't know the dedicated frequencies,the call signs,what kind of ordinance to ask for,or how to tell the pilots where to put it when and if the aircraft ever showed up.
If this stuff isn't arranged and briefed in advance,it doesn't happen quickly. Don't forget,the soldiers on the ground aren't the only ones that need to be briefed,the air crews need to be briefed also,so they understand where they are going,what type of ordinance might be needed,and to know what call signs to be listening for.
In an area like that with a VERY lightly armed Civil Affairs team on the ground,the air support needs to be in the air and on station,NOT sitting back on their runways with cold engines and empty aircraft waiting for the crews to show up.
sneakypete posted on 2017-10-30 09:02:40 Reply Private Reply