Sunday, August 28, 2016

U.S. Airman Left For Dead By A SEAL Team 6 Unit Was Actually Alive And Fought Alone In A 2002 Battle Against Al Qaeda

Tech. Sgt. John Chapman is being considered for the Medal of Honor. (U.S. Air Force)

New York Times: SEAL Team 6 and a Man Left for Dead: A Grainy Picture of Valor

An airman with the unit is being considered for the Medal of Honor after new video analysis suggested that he fought alone bravely in a 2002 battle on an Afghan peak.

Britt Slabinski could hear the bullets ricochet off the rocks in the darkness. It was the first firefight for his six-man reconnaissance unit from SEAL Team 6, and it was outnumbered, outgunned and taking casualties on an Afghan mountaintop.

A half-dozen feet or so to his right, John Chapman, an Air Force technical sergeant acting as the unit’s radioman, lay wounded in the snow. Mr. Slabinski, a senior chief petty officer, could see through his night-vision goggles an aiming laser from Sergeant Chapman’s rifle rising and falling with his breathing, a sign he was alive.

Then another of the Americans was struck in a furious exchange of grenades and machine-gun fire, and the chief realized that his team had to get off the peak immediately.

Read more ....

Update #1: New review of surveillance video of a 2002 Afghanistan firefight generates controversy (FOX News)
Update 2: Air Force Seeks Medal Of Honor For CT Native Who Died In Afghanistan, NYTimes Reports (Hartford Courant)

WNU editor: If approved, this would be the first Medal of Honor awarded based solely on technical evidence and not eyewitness reports.

7 comments:

RussInSoCal said...

Rest In Peace, Warrior.

fazman said...

Is this what the movie survivor was based on?

Unknown said...

Fazman,

This was a different firefight.

fazman said...

Thought so just sounded familar, just how many ops on afghan mountains did the seals musplan and botch?

RussInSoCal said...

Except for the OBL operation, only their failures are sensationalized.

fazman said...

Thought so just sounded familar, just how many ops on afghan mountains did the seals musplan and botch?

Unknown said...

There was a botched OP operation. It is covered in the book Robert's Ridge.

It is a depressing read.

I learned 2 important things about not trusting pilots (#1 FLIR is not perfect and/or pilots are not. Lesson #2 Do your own math. Do not leave it up to a pilot. They are busy) . Other than that the book is useless except for depressing read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Takur_Ghar

https://www.amazon.com/ROBERTS-RIDGE-Sacrifice-Mountain-Afghanistan/dp/0553586807