Obama Honors Fallen Commandos in Private Service at Air Base
August 10, 2011, 12:26 AM EDTBy Roger Runningen and Viola Gienger
Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama honored the 30 commandos killed when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, attending a solemn ceremony for the return of their remains to U.S. soil.
Tending to one of the grimmest chores of his office, Obama spent five hours at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware yesterday, paying respects and offering condolences to family members of the fallen special operations personnel.
The return of the remains aboard two C-17 military aircraft, the transfer to a military mortuary and meetings with families was conducted in private. Obama and a delegation of military officials boarded each plane before a special team began moving the flag-draped containers to the base mortuary.
The ceremony, known as a dignified transfer, is conducted under a strict protocol. Every step is designed to maintain respect for the dead to the point that if “flags are smudged, they are replaced,” Van Williams, a spokesman for the Air Force Mortuary Affairs, told reporters.
The 30 dead included 22 U.S. Navy SEAL commandos, most from the elite unit once known as SEAL Team Six, which carried out the May raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, two U.S. officials said on Aug. 7 on condition of anonymity. None of those killed were from the SEAL Team Six squadron involved in the bin Laden raid, they said.
It was the biggest loss of U.S. troops in a single engagement since the 2001 start of the war. Seven Afghan commandos and a civilian interpreter also died when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying them was shot down by the Taliban in an eastern province of Afghanistan.
Investigation of Crash
The U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, announced that Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Colt will lead an investigation into the circumstances of the crash. Colt is deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division.
About 250 family members of those who died were invited to attend the transfer. The president spent about 70 minutes meeting with family members at a facility on the base.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Admiral William McRaven, head of the Joint Special Operations Command, led a delegation representing all branches of the military. Also present was Afghanistan’s ambassador to the U.S.
Obama made no public statements while at the base.
Identifying the Dead
The crash “was so horrific” that the remains haven’t been individually identified, Williams told reporters. That will be done at the mortuary through DNA, dental records and fingerprints, he said.
Identification takes three days on average, Williams said. Once that is complete, remains are turned over to families.
In the wake of the deaths, the administration pledged to stay on the offensive in Afghanistan.
Panetta said on Aug. 8 the U.S. has “unyielding determination to press ahead.”
“As heavy a loss as this was, it would even be more tragic if we allowed it to derail this country from our efforts to defeat al-Qaeda and deny them a safe haven in Afghanistan,” Panetta told a gathering marking the change of commanders for U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. “Instead, we will send a strong message of American resolve. From this tragedy, we draw even greater inspiration to carry on the fight.”
Pressing Ahead
In remarks on Aug. 8 at the White House, Obama said the fallen troops served “this nation as a team. They met their responsibilities together.”
“Our responsibility is to ensure that their legacy is an America that reflects their courage, their commitment and their sense of common purpose,” he said. “We will press on. We will succeed.”
The helicopter carrying the special operations force was hit as it was flying into a firefight that had targeted a Taliban leader.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials suspect that the CH-47 was downed by an unguided rocket-propelled grenade, not a more advanced heat-seeking shoulder-fired missile that might have indicated a new level of Taliban capability, according to Marine Corps Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.
As of Aug. 8, 1,687 U.S. military personnel have been killed in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 and 13,011 have been wounded, according to the Pentagon.
Obama said on June 22 that the surge of military force he ordered to Afghanistan in 2009 has accomplished its objectives and he will pull the 33,000 extra troops from the country by the summer of 2012.
About 10,000 troops would be withdrawn by the end of this year and the remainder would return home by September 2012. He reaffirmed the goal of turning over security for the country to Afghan forces in 2014.
--With assistance from Tony Capaccio in Washington. Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Jim Rubin.
To contact the reporters on this story: Roger Runningen in Dover, Delaware, at rrunningen@bloomberg.net; Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
