A Deadly Deployment, a Navy SEAL’s Despair

Separate initial thread for max visibility, then moderator can bury this where-ever it looks tidy.

Quote:

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“Commanders were no longer judging successful deployments by the tried and true standards of enemies killed on the battlefield, but by the number of casualties their own people suffered,” Capt. Milton J. Sands, a former SEAL team commander, told Navy investigators looking into the death of Commander Price, his friend.

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http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/01/20...&referer=&_r=0

nb: sounds like it could be subtitled "Parsing 'Mission First - People Always' and living to tell the tale".

AdamG,

IIRC there have been examples of this assumption that a war was in its closing stages and so casualties were to be avoided. In my WW2 reading this was very clear on the Western Front, for the allies, after the Ardennes offensive and in the final push into Germany. Did this not also feature after the Paris peace agreements and USA withdrew from Vietnam?

Clearly aware of the long known outcome of the article didn't dispel the anxiety of reading those behaviour change indicators immediately prior to the loss of life.

Worthwhile knowing, sharing, and acting if/where/when appropriate.

We all need to be better educated in our vigilance to mitigate further losses.