Here’s how the Navy rescued an American hostage high in the mountains of Afghanistan according to the Navy Times. (Hat tip: the Jawa Report)
“I heard the latch rattling and somebody came in,” he said. “The first guy came in with a LED light, and I just presumed that somebody was coming to visit. I didn’t think of it anymore until the second guy came in and I saw the silhouette of the first fellow. Then I knew it was U.S. mil that was coming in. I don’t know how many guys actually came into the room, but it was soon filled up, and it was soon obvious that I was being rescued.
“I don’t know what I said in English, but whatever I said I said it rather loudly evidently, because they said ‘Quiet!’ ”
The hostage’s aim was to quickly let the operators know who he was, but he understood their unease at the level of volume. “Sound carries so far, and they’d worked so hard to come down quietly across the mountain, and here I am shouting,” he said.
Nevertheless, “They knew who was who,” the engineer said. the SEALs quickly demonstrated that, aiming their silencer-equipped weapons to shoot and kill the kidnapper in the room before he could fire a round. The engineer said he heard the sounds of the operators shooting and killing a guard posted outside.
The Navy was, by some measures, a long way from water. But as kidnappers found out, the sea is as far as you think it is. When you can regard floor of a hut as a deck then what could be more natural than SEALs storming through the hatch? There’s a story, perhaps apocryphal, about a conference between McArthur and Nimitiz which illustrates the role of the mind in determining the proximity of land or sea. McArthur began his briefing by asking his aide to affix a “map to the wall”. Nimitz began his by instructing his assistant to “batten the chart to the bulkhead.”
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18 Comments
1. Foul Harold:That video sure brings back some memories. I once had the pleasure of passing through a powerful weather system in the north Atlantic onboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. After three straight days of 20-25 foot seas, I’d estimate that a third of the entire crew lost their lunch at some point. Good times.
In any event, I had some interaction with a few members of SEAL Team 8 during my stint with the US Navy. Most are surprisingly humble and soft-spoken considering the herculean tasks they are asked to perform.
Nov 10, 2008 - 3:28 pm 2. Staring In Disbelief:“We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would do us harm.” – George Orwell
Nov 10, 2008 - 3:37 pm 3. NahnCee:And Russia loses another submarine, unable to rescue its sailors who smother to death.
Nov 10, 2008 - 3:50 pm 4. exhelodrvr:Go Navy!
And Happy Birthday, USMC!!
Nov 10, 2008 - 6:39 pm 5. 3Case:Thank you, exhelo.
Happy Birthday, Devildogs!!!
Nov 10, 2008 - 8:41 pm 6. 3Case:“The deadliest weapon in the world is a MARINE and his rifle!” Gen. Pershing, U.S.Army
“Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.”
Ronald Reagan, 1985
“There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and those who have met them in battle. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion.” Unknown
Nov 10, 2008 - 8:56 pm 7. 3Case:This one’s topic appropriate:
“A Marine should be sworn to the patient endurance of hardships, like the ancient knights; and it is not the least of these necessary hardships to have to serve with sailors.”
Nov 10, 2008 - 9:04 pm 8. njcommuter:Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery
Regarding the hardship of serving with sailors: this is not my story. I have it about fifth hand. But …
An extra contingent of Marines was berthed on a large USN ship. Shipboard life involves a lot of waiting on line, for everything from mess to a haircut. And since the Marines had nothing to do but PT and waiting on lines, the ship’s normal contingent always ended up at the end of them.
One of those sailors got his revenge, in a small way. At an likely hour, he stood outside a door reading a novel. After a while, a passing Marine took up a position in line behind him. Then another Marine joined in, and soon there was a line of Marines down the passageway. The sailor in front made a display of checking his watch, uttered a noise of disgust, and left. A little while later, the door opened. A sailor stuck his head out, blinked, and asked what they Marines were doing there. “We’re waiting on line,” was the reply. “For the garbage room?”
Nov 10, 2008 - 10:51 pm 9. Doug:
Nov 11, 2008 - 2:22 am 10. Ledger:Pakistanis Mired in Brutal Battle to Oust Taliban
Good story. Keep them coming.
Nov 11, 2008 - 3:32 am 11. Stones Cry Out - If they keep silent… » Things Heard: e40v2:[...] Far from the sea. [...]
Nov 11, 2008 - 4:21 am 12. Michael Hoskins:White water over the carrier’s bow. The destroyers in the escort group are getting hammered. And, who left the chopper up forward?
SWO
(Happy birthday Marines Corps)
Nov 11, 2008 - 7:32 am 13. exhelodrvr:“And, who left the chopper up forward?”
The helo and the Hornet both need a major washing after this to get all the salt off.
Nov 11, 2008 - 7:54 am 14. Dan Smith:A great story with a happy ending. I hope in the coming Administration the SEALs are not expected to arrest the terrorists and read them a Miranda warning.
Nov 11, 2008 - 8:49 am 15. dyspeptic_curmudgeon:Nice video. Especially when you realize that that is what, 100,000 tons? of ship bucking up and down through 40 feet or so, and the flight deck is 90 feet off the water.
Nov 11, 2008 - 10:20 am 16. Mark B.:Saw this some time ago at Strategy Page I think. IIRC, the chopper was on an emergency medical mission and ended up landing there. It was tied down, but then conditions got too bad to allow anyone on the flight deck to move it. So they had to leave it where it was. Good call by the XO…it would have needed something pretty heavy out on deck to withstand the waves, no person could without extreme care, and as soon as the chopper was unchained, it would likely have gone out of control..
Got to be the North Atlantic.
That’s why they run the pipes on the outside of the walls. OK, it’s not, but it helps. Going up and down engineroom ladders in seas like that is a blast though. Superman, anyone?
I went out on the fantail in the North Atlantic an saw a wave as high as the flight deck. I looked the other way and saw… nothing. As I went back into the ship, they passed word that all weather deck access was secured.
Nov 11, 2008 - 6:03 pm 17. ExNavyDoc:I was on an LHA coming back from Desert Storm, and we hit an Atlantic storm like like that. I never actually got seasick, but after 3 days of getting pounded like that, one starts to feel a little “off”, so to speak…
Nov 11, 2008 - 7:15 pm 18. fred:Right now I feel depressed for our men and women in uniform in all the services that they have to soon salute that Manchurian Candidate from that den of corruption called Chicago.
Nov 11, 2008 - 9:17 pmSorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.