Posted on 07/09/2005 8:55:01 PM PDT by Critical Bill
A 1999 graduate of Heritage High School in Littleton was one of two commandos found dead in Afghanistan after disappearing June 28, the Navy announced Wednesday.
The body of Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Danny Philip Dietz, 25, a SEAL who joined the Navy three months after graduating from high school, was recovered on the Fourth of July, the military said.
Dietz and three other Navy SEALs were searching for Taliban-led rebels and al-Qaida fighters when they were surrounded in rugged mountains at dusk, setting in motion a tragic chain of events.
A Special Forces helicopter sent to rescue the four was shot down within hours after the team called for reinforcements, killing all 16 U.S. servicemen aboard. It marked the military's deadliest blow in Afghanistan and the greatest loss of life ever for the SEALs, whose name stands for sea, air and land team.
The Coloradan's wife, Maria L. -Dietz, said in a statement released at his SEAL base in Virginia Beach, Va., that he "was not just my husband, but he was my other half, my friend, my role model and my hero."
Recalling when her husband was deployed in April, she wrote, "The same day he left for Afghanistan, as tears rolled down my cheeks, he told me with sparkles in his eyes, 'All the training I have (undergone) for years is going to pay off with this trip, and I am going to do something special for this country and for my team.' "
She wrote further that her husband "probably wouldn't have wanted to die any other way, but only trying to protect his fellow teammates and his country.
"I want the world to know that it has lost an incredible man, an outstanding Navy SEAL, and a hero," Dietz said. "People around the world don't hear much about the U.S. Naval Special Forces men and what they do for this country, but, as a proud SEAL team wife, I can tell that the world as a whole owes those men more than it can imagine."
Heritage teachers remembered that Dietz once visited the campus in full uniform after becoming a SEAL, said Diane Leiker, a school spokeswoman.
She said teachers recall that Dietz was focused on joining the Navy and becoming a SEAL. He played football his senior year, and spent time lifting weights and swimming because he realized strength and swimming would be critical to his success as a SEAL.
The Navy also announced Wednesday that the body of Lt. Michael P. Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., a member of a SEAL unit based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was found Monday.
According to U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts, who spoke Wednesday at a news conference in Kabul, Dietz and Murphy were part of a four-member team on a reconnaissance mission in Kunar province, a mountainous region that has long been a hotbed of militant activity and a haven for fighters loyal to a renegade former premier.
One member of the team was rescued Saturday, after being sheltered by friendly tribal members. About 300 troops and several helicopters continued to search Wednesday for the fourth commando.
Last week, after the four cornered SEALs radioed for help, eight more SEALs and eight soldiers from the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers, flew toward the mountains in a Special Forces MH-47 Chinook helicopter.
Militants hiding in thick forest hit the massive helicopter with what is believed to have been a rocket-propelled grenade, Yonts said.
The helicopter flew for about a mile before landing roughly on a small mountain ledge and then tumbling into a ravine, he said. Other helicopter pilots flying alongside reported the crash, but rescuers could not reach the wreckage until about 36 hours after it went down.
Naming this operation Red Dawn has got to be one of the stupidest moves ever. Thanks G-3 hot shot for equating US forces with the invading Cuban and Russian forces of the movie.
Frigging idiots.
God bless you for your sacrifice and God bless Maria!
HERO.
He is a hero.
It's Operation Red Wing, not Red Dawn.
Thanks for clarifying that.
Red Dawn was capturing saddam
ack..sorry about that and thank's
MEMRI TV has a video of when the Taliban attacked the Seals in Afghanistan. http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=792
Video shows possibly a dead US soldier (possibly Danny) lying face down. The also show his Navy photo ID and his unsecured computer. How sad this is.
Now my suggestion and I don't want to sound like arm chair quaterbacking but I believe we need to modify our approach to protecting the troops.
1) Don't put soldiers out in a stationary position without the position covered by one or two other posts. Triangulate your protection. Remember everytime they kill one of ours it strenghthens their Jihad.
2) They need to use more high tech listening devices to monitor the hillsides. Also monitor the Jihad videos on the Internet to possibly identify the terrorists and their locations.
3) Encrypt those laptops. The Jihads captured one and were freely browsing away.
4) Play their lieing game like they do. They call you friend and then stab you in the back. Trust no one there.
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