The article
Five U.S. Army Special Operations forces have died in a helicopter crash in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, American officials said on Sunday.
The troops were crew members of an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that was on a refueling training mission late Friday when the aircraft crashed off the coast of Cyprus, three U.S. officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. The crash is under investigation, they said.
The Pentagon has quietly dispatched to Cyprus commando teams from the Joint Special Operations Command, including the Army’s Delta Force and the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, to stand by in case they are needed to help evacuate American citizens from the region.
The commandos are also trained in hostage rescue operations. About a dozen or so American hostages were seized when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, but Biden administration officials have indicated they have no plans to put American boots on the ground in the densely populated Gaza Strip, where the Israel military is now conducting major ground operations.
The helicopter crew members who died were members of the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers, and are among the aviators assigned to ferry the commandos on clandestine missions.
An American aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, is also operating in the eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Israel, in what the Biden administration has said is a deterrent to Iran and its proxies in the region to widen the Gaza war.
In a statement on Sunday, the military’s European Command acknowledged the deaths of the five service members in what it said was “a routine air refueling mission,” but released no other information about the crash, the crew or its unit in a reflection of the secrecy surrounding the unit’s mission.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement on Sunday, “We mourn the tragic loss of five U.S. service members during a training accident in the Mediterranean Sea.”
President Biden, noting that it was Veterans Day weekend, said: “Our service members put their lives on the line for our country every day. They willingly take risks to keep the American people safe and secure.”
The team gets to Gaza. There has been much grumbling. They are talking among themselves in the APC.
"We know all the important Arabic - 'Put your hands up', 'Stop', 'You're dead'. I say - fuck speaking Hebrew and we do what we always do - use English and kill anything that moves."
"Yeah."
"Uh, huh."
"Yeah."
"..."
"Mike, you doin' this or not? It has to be all of us."
"Alright."
"Everybody locked and loaded?..."
The helicopter crew members who died were members of the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers
Why are US military guys such fucking children?
sarge said my nickname can't be "master chief" even though its from a video game he said that it sounds too much like i'm an officer
One on top and one on bottom One inside and one is out One is screaming he's so happy The other's screaming a passionate shout It's the Nightman The feelings so wrong and right, man They're feeling so wrong and right, man I can't fight you, man When you come inside me And pin me down with your strong hands And I become The Night The passionly passionate Nightman
Just out here naming ourselves after an I famous serial rapist and murder.
5 U.S. Special Operations Forces Killed in
HelicopterCrash in Mediterranean[...]
In a statement on Sunday, the military’s European Command acknowledged the deaths of the five service members in what it said was “a routine
air refueling mission,” but released no other information about the crash, the crew or its unit in a reflection of the secrecy surrounding the unit’s mission.100% an accident and also "routine" is very much the correct adjective.
Didn't know helicopters could do mid-air refueling. Found some marketing videos promoting it, looks dangerous even by helicopter standards.
Apparently they do it with fucking Ospreys a lot, which seems like maximum sketchy
"Just because you're amazingly ridiculously imperialist doesn't mean you too can't die in a freak gasoline fight accident."
Since this is right after the Ukraine did Nordstream news, my guess is this was the dive team that did Nordstream being taken care of.
Hamas got ‘em. I have no proof, only suspicion. Liberals will say that we are insane for suspecting this, then admit that it’s true in six months.
The official story seems just as plausible to me as Hamas getting them since I haven't otherwise seen them attacking aircraft. It's an under-maintained and overused helicopter in a military where training accidents are routine to the point where it's barely newsworthy when its aircraft crash. The videos I've seen of aerial refueling helicopters makes it seem wildly dangerous: https://youtu.be/CvRXaS-bhOE?t=125
I'd do it in the air while flying upside down but maybe I'm just built different.
I don't know about all that but I definitely wouldn't crash my helicopter. A person could get hurt that way
Maybe they don't teach helicopter pilots shit these days, but I've only played flight simulators and even I know the first rule of flying a helicopter is don't crash.
I want to know why a "helicopter refueling goes awry" scene where somebody onboard is infected hasn't appeared in a zombie movie.
holy fuck, one moderate jolt of turbulence and the rotor goes straight through the fuel line
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I have it on good authority that the sea floor beneath the Mediterranean is, in fact, a Hamas base
Helicopters full of troops crash all the time, the military doesn’t exactly do the best job making sure their cannon fodder doesn’t die in stupid accidents.
That being said, this of course could be a cover story. They were probably killing people in fucking Sudan or some bullshit.
Classic refueling training mission: "find the cans of gas hidden in a tunnel under Gaza"
