There were three elements operating there. Crazyhorse are the scout weapons teams (the ones that fly the OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopters. We had an element of Crazyhorse operating in our AO in Mosul as well). The SWT do have weapons on their birds. They usually do not operate with the Apaches unless they are operating in hunter-killer teams. In Iraq they usually operate in pairs of Apaches or Kiowas though (at least this was the case with us). Bushmaster seems to be the ones doing the firing though I am not sure if they are Apaches since the weapons being fired were NOT a 30mm Gatling gun which has a distinct sound, and Hotel who seem to be soldiers in HMMV's on the ground.
As far as why they are there, more than likely there was a ground element in the area (Hotel perhaps?). Any time we went out into sector, we ALWAYS had birds in the air providing air cover and reconing areas that we were getting ready to head into. The SWT usually fly at or just above rooftop level of the cities, the Apaches much higher for the simple reason that the SWT are just that, scouts who need to be as close to the ground as possible to see what is going on. (these guys have balls too, they fly with NO doors on their birds and only a chicken vest and a sidearm). Anyway, by looking at the video it seems to me that the guy peering from behind a wall, crouched down with a dark tube sticking out that he could have very well been an RPG gunner. From the video it looked like it anyway, and had I not known that it was a large camera lens, I would have agreed with the pilots that it was in fact an RPG. I suppose they could have loitered around a bit longer to be sure, but then again, had they done that, and had it been an RPG, it would have been way too late. Snap decisions HAVE to be made even if it means that innocent people get killed. As far as why they (the cameraman) were there who knows, only the cameramen and their bosses know and it appears that their bosses are only interested in telling THEIR side of the story minus the whys of their being there. I do feel badly for the families, but there is still a thing called collateral damage. We go through great lengths to avoid it, even at the risk of our own safety sometimes. It sucks but it is life. So go ahead and rant about the evil mean war machine that seems only interested in killing innocent civilians. Unless you have been there you will never understand. >> JJ, I call shenanigans on most of what you wrote. The delay from firing to >> impact suggests the heli was over a mile away when it engaged. Clearly not >> in _any_ imminent danger. The crew was dying to engage. They saw what they >> wanted to see. They were jonesing to light up the wounded man hoping he >> would go for a weapon so they could engage again. It's tragic yes, but it's >> also f'n needless. Stop making excuses. And they didn't "change gears" when >> they realized there was kids. The video ends by saying "don't bring your >> kids to a battle zone" and then giggling about it. Changing gears from >> douche to superdouche perhaps. >> >> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:315101 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
