Deaths of three soldiers exposes “secret” operation
TT sends us a link from the Washington Post about the deaths of three special operations soldiers who died mysteriously in a car crash last April with three local women in Mali, Africa after the US had publicly announced that our aid to that country had ended. Apparently, the CID is taking time out from investigating bloggers to determine the facts of the car crash;
At the very least, the April 20 accident exposed a team of Special Operations forces that had been working for months in Mali, a Saharan country racked by civil war and a rising Islamist insurgency. More broadly, the crash has provided a rare glimpse of elite U.S. commando units in North Africa, where they have been secretly engaged in counterterrorism actions against al-Qaeda affiliates.
At the same time, the crash in Mali has revealed some details of the commandos’ clandestine activities that apparently had little to do with counterterrorism. The women killed in the wreck were identified as Moroccan prostitutes who had been riding with the soldiers, according to a senior Army official and a U.S. counterterrorism consultant briefed on the incident, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Of course, in the wake of the Secret Service scandals which have come to light, speculation about this accident involving the occupations of the three civilian women will cast doubts on the actual mission. But I find it difficult to believe that three soldiers obviously fighting a secret war undercover in a nation we had publicly abandoned would engage in mischief of that sort.
I also doubt that Mitch McConnell would eulogize CPT Daniel Utley who was killed in that accident on the floor of the Senate if there was a whiff of scandal involved.
The 3 were Capt. Daniel H. Utley, 33, and Sgt. 1st Class Marciano E. Myrthil, 39, were members of the 91st Civil Affairs Battalion, 95th Civil Affairs Brigade, which is based at Fort Bragg, N.C. and Master Sgt. Trevor J. Bast, 39, a communications technician with the Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir, VA.
Category: Military issues
Unless the ladies involved were in a state of undress at the time of the crash, there may have been another reason why prostitutes were with the special operators: information.
Ask any police detective about using prositutes for information about local underworld characters, and you can see the parallel here.
I hate to say it, because I know that after Nguyen, CA went to a lot of effort to clean up their ranks CA, but has a bad rap for doing the very thing you find hard to believe (esp in Africa). That rep is going to hurt them in any CID investigation that gets launched, no matter what the truth of the matter is.
Which could keep the attention away from what they were doing there in the first place anyway.
Guns, Cars, Booze, Broads and Money are still a Soldiers’ main problems in life.
It’s really a secret that CA is doing stuff in Africa. As far as I understand, it’s mostly stabilizing communities to help destabilize regional warlords, and build operational karma if or when the US ever makes Africa a primary area of operation. Seems likely that these guys got killed and were found being dumbasses as the investigation progressed. Civil Affairs is considered ‘special operations,’ but they aren’t exactly Special Forces hard cases.
It’s not really a secret, rather. Pardon my typo.
Gee CI, isn’t that pretty much all guys problems in life?
cacti35: other than those that get mixed up with drugs, IMO that’s pretty much it.
Discipline and professionalism are key componets to any servicemember’s career or chosen branch/field of service.
They have been since the first organized militaries.
A very tragic accident. (I hope)
May they rest in peace.
Wouldn’t surprise me, don’t know why men want to pretend that just because a man gets in a special position in the military, gov, police, secret service,etc that they don’t do the same type of shit all men do. Go to Thailand, men screw shores, don’t matter what the man’s background is, 90% of them will do it. I get the sensationalism in the main stream media, can’t have our prudish American women thinking that we do the sake shit as the rest of the worlds men… But outside of that and in a circle like this… Let’s just be honest, they’re men, its bound to happen. Could it have been work related, maybe, but I doubt it.
Whores
Goddamnit I am going to sound like I should be wearing a tin foil hat but…
Just because the three were in a car with three prostitutes doesn’t mean they were conducting business with them. Right now a big emphasis is on human trafficking, so I know not a big jump for prostitutes to be in Mali from Morocco, but maybe there is more than meets the eye. I am not going to throw these guys under a bus just yet…
@6. You a 2-35 guy?
@9, Sorry, gotta object to the “all men” paintbrush.
@13 Agree. Did that shit in my younger days. Wouldn’t happen today, and know many men that wouldn’t.
Gentlemen,
the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade is a part of USASOC, what they are doing in Africa is indeed secret, whereas, the 85th Civil Affairs Brigade, is Regular Army…
@12, yes I was Charlie Co. 2/35th 1967-68. Was midway through tour when they re-patched us to the 4th Inf Div.
@16. I was a Rifle PL in C Co 2-35 and Scout PL in HHC 2-35 05-08.
Did you attend the Philidlephia Reunion?
No. 14 SFC Holland:
I agree (without admitting anything specific) .
@Green Thumb, no, I went to San Antonio last year but I usually try to stay on the west coast. Thanks for your service!
More than likely they were using these ‘ladies’ as cover, three foreign males tooling around in a vehicle tend to stick out, but when accompanied by La Femme Du La Nuit tended to be accepted as part of the environment…
Just Saying.
Doc Out:
I think we all have been somewhere we might have made ourselves a bad name. Everyone knows that during off time we let out hair down. Who is to say it was let down though? I know that these honorable men did some very good things for the United States of America. Let’s not forget that.
blah blah blah