MacDill-based U.S. Special Operations Command Hit Hard By Chopper Crash in Afghanistan

Posted Aug 6, 2011 by Howard Altman

Updated Aug 6, 2011 at 12:35 PM

With the majority of its forces in Afghanistan, U.S. Special Operations Command, headquartered here at MacDill, has a huge stake in what happens 8,000 miles from Tampa.

Today, Socom is dealing with what is very likely its worse single tragedy in the command’s history. More than two-dozen U.S. special operations forces troops were killed in a helicopter crash, and, according to several published reports, most of them were Navy SEALs coming back from a mission. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been quoted as saying 31 special forces troops and seven Afghan National Army troops were killed in the crash.

Battlefield reports are still coming in, and I have calls out to folks at the command and others who may be able to add some facts, details and context to the unfolding events.

At home, the bottom line is this.

Around the nation right now, hundreds of families are wondering if their loved one was on that chopper. Over the next few days, after a task made exponentially more difficult by enemy fire, dozens of bodies will be recovered and dozens of families will get the news they never wanted to hear.

On the record, defense officials are releasing few details at the moment.

“I am deeply saddened by the loss of many outstanding Americans in uniform and of their Afghan counterparts earlier today in Afghanistan,” SecDef Leon Panetta said in a statement from the Pentagon this morning.  Their courage was exemplary, as was their determination to make this a safer world for their countries and for their fellow citizens.  We will stay the course to complete that mission, for which they and all who have served and lost their lives in Afghanistan have made the ultimate sacrifice.  They and their families are in my thoughts, in my prayers and in my heart.”

It is Tampa Tribune policy, one I wholeheartedly endorse, that we use anonymous sources only in the most extraordinary circumstances. As soon as I get anything on the record, I will let you know.