SEAL may be punished for aid worker death
An unnamed SEAL may face disciplinary measures as US commanders armchair review the videos of the attempted rescue of Linda Norgrove, a captured aid worker who was being held by insurgents and was facing a public and gruesome death.(Military.com/AFP link)
But the SEAL failed to see her and tossed a fragmentation grenade close to where she was hiding, and it exploded next to her, said the paper.
The rescue was ordered because officials concluded Norgrove’s life was in grave danger, with her captors talking about murdering her, based on eavesdropping of radio conversations and other intelligence, the paper reported.
I always loved being second-guessed by pogues in their starch and shined uniforms miles from the action.
Apparently, the SEAL is being investigated for not being able to see through walls in the dark. Where was he during the “remote viewing” block of instruction? The only credible reason for punishing him is if during the operation order he was told in which building she was being held, or if they were told not to suppress fire from buildings with grenades.
I read an article yesterday about the troops being disillusioned with the restrictions on them in regards to the ROE and the diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan. This investigation probably won’t help them much.
Category: Military issues, Terror War
I have to ask a stupid question, or perhaps an obvious one:
Are SEALS trained in hostage rescue? I’m asking because of the situation with the fragmentation grenade confuses me, if their primary objective was to rescue a hostage.
Pinto,
This was a DEVGRP SEAL (aka SEAL TEAM 6), part of their METL is Hostage Rescue. I think them and CAG are the only SOCOM units that have Hostage Rescue as part of their METL.
Thanks O.D. I got the gist of what you said, although the acronyms escaped me. (I’m sure that most of the rest of the folks who blog here know what you said, though! 🙂
I think the punishment will be more for the failure to notify officers above of the frag throwing until they noticed it later when reviewing the video.
We need to send her family a bill for the attempt,transportation,man hours,,ordinance expended. That way the next person who wants an inquiry into a rescue attempt for putting themselves in harm’s way will think twice. Where were the Brits?
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Where the Brits? Too far away and tied up on other ops. Seal Team 6 drew the assignment. Hostage rescue is always risky business.
JtheSaint: agree. What I am hearing, and have heard from the start, is that the issue with the SEAL in question has to do with the fact that in both hot wash and AAR he did not own up to throwing the grenade. If that is true, then there is a real issue there, one that can affect trust within the unit as well as without. If it had been owned up to from the start, things would be different since frags were authorized by leadership.
I will not question his decision to use a weapon he had been authorized to carry and use. I defer comment on apparent failure to own up afterwards, as info is still coming in. I will, however, hold on to some serious reservations about the decision made higher to authorize and issue frags for an HRT situation. Blocking force or such, yes, would be standard as I understand it. Rescue team, not so much. Leadership who authorized frags needs to step forward as well, if they haven’t already, and justify that decision for a rescue.
That said, it sucks to be a hostage. A truism for the ages, not just now.
Regardless of what happened, her blood, her suffering and death are on the hands of those who kidnapped her.
Prayers for her and her family, and deep damnation for those who took a hostage in the first place, Cowards and scum of the earth, to willingly endanger the lives of women and children.
I have no first hand knowledge of this incident, but I also heard the same story as J the Saint and Laughing Wolf, which is that the SEAL in question did not reveal that he had deployed a frag grenade after the fact. This is a big time no go in any military organization.