| Author | Message | ||
     Aaron_thomas |
Great movie. Similar in intensity to "Blackhawk Down". Not a warm fuzzy feeling kind of movie though. about operation "redwings" that took place in 2005 Afghanistan. Left me speechless and very sober at the end. Anyone who experienced combat may want to use caution before seeing this movie | ||
| S21125r |
Saw it Saturday and it agree that it was pretty gruesome. I thought it was more in line with We Were Soldiers as far as traumatic scenes. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
What a sad tragic loss of life. Sending the finest trained to their deaths in helicopters. And what of now? Withdrawal anytime soon and a totally destabilised country worse off now than before invasion. What purpose did Red Wings serve in the end..... Rocket in England | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Afghanistan is the graveyard of superpowers. Great Britain first, then the Soviets, then the US. I once believed that ALL men and women believe in freedom and self governance. I no longer believe that the case. | ||
| Rick_a |
Nobody joins a fighting force thinking they're going to be planting gardens or doings arts and crafts. It's a tragic loss, but our military is a volunteer force. Never forget that our freedom has been won in blood, not ink. | ||
| Blake |
Well said Rick.
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| Mikexlr650 |
Read the book then saw the movie, both are excellent. The book shows more of the dilemma our service people face everyday with the battle between those who are trying to kill them in a foreign land and the liberal haters back home that will do anything to harm them. These guys died as a direct result of the liberal political/legal machine that watches their every move and "Monday morning quarterbacks" them from the comfort of the very protection they provide. Sad that we are allowing this to happen. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
I make no point other than in the case of helicopters it's bloody stupid putting your eggs in one basket so to speak. Time and time again this has proven to be a tragic loss of life for all the eggs in the basket. Rocket in England | ||
| Hootowl |
I think the use of helicopters by the military has saved more lives than accidents in them have taken over the years. | ||
| Rick_a |
Well, it would've been a hell of a walk otherwise. You'd be surprised at the number of people seriously injured or killed training. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
The biggest issue with the helicopters is that the call was made to run without gunship air support. They knew the risks. They made the call. Same for these guys: Their honor and heroism is not unique. "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
I think the use of helicopters by the military has saved more lives than accidents in them have taken over the years. Hoot, no one could argue otherwise. Sending the finest into military hot zones in one craft never a great idea was my point. The British learnt this lesson back in 1994 "One commentator stated that the loss of so many top level Northern Ireland intelligence officers in one stroke was a huge blow to the John Major government, "One commentator stated that the loss of so many top level Northern Ireland intelligence officers in one stroke was a huge blow to the John Major government, "temporarily confounding" an "anti-IRA campaign". The fact that the crash killed so many intelligence experts and that none of the witnesses saw the crash in the foggy conditions, encouraged speculation and conspiracy theories over a cover-up." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Scotland_RAF_Chi nook_crash Rocket in England | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
It's a tough conundrum Rocket. I agree that putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak, carries with it much greater risk. | ||
| Hootowl |
I apologize, I misread your post. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
Hoot, no apology necessary. This is the Interestingweb  and an interesting topic. And like Ft b sez...... Rocket in England (Message edited by rocket_in_uk on January 23, 2014) | ||
| Rick_a |
The military has always had a thing for stuffing as many eggs as possible in one basket. Is it stupid or efficient? Though it has certainly happened before the chances of an rpg hit on an aircraft is astronomically low. Of course, helos are vulnerable when taking off, landing, and on/offloading people/supplies. It only seems ignorant when things go wrong. It wouldn't have been any better with two lost or with a small combat ineffective force left that may also need rescuing, endangering more lives. Worse thing that could've been done is nothing. We had a squad in our Battalion lost to the sea when their amphibious vehicle sank to the bottom of the ocean. It barely got a mention in the local news. A squad in our platoon rescued pilots crashed in the no fly zone in Iraq. Nobody even cared we were there at the time (a couple years before the second build up). Makes you wonder how many untold stories there are. | ||
| Rocket_in_uk |
Very well put Rick. For an observer like me the way you describe it in so few words does have me thinking, well what do they do otherwise. Send more helicopters, or something else. Or send no one at all. Rocket in England |
