Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified. Thirty to 45 minutes later, Razor 04, after having inserted its SEAL observation team and alerted to Razor 03s plight, arrived with the rest of Mako 30. On Tuesday, troops involved in the fight and local Afghans described the ongoing battle as extremely intense. The prevailing narrative about SEAL Team 6 in news coverage, bestselling books, and Hollywood movies is unambiguously heroic; it centers on the killing of Osama bin Laden and high-profile rescue missions. , a darker, more troubling story has been suppressed and ignored a story replete with tactical brilliance on battlefields around the world coupled with a pattern of silence and deceit when downrange actions lead to episodes of criminal brutality. The prevailing narrative about SEAL Team 6 in news coverage, bestselling books, and Hollywood movies is unambiguously heroic; it centers on the killing of Osama bin Laden and high-profile rescue missions. No medical care, no food, no holy book, no interaction he was apparently wounded in the legs, which ultimately Many SOFREP readers wrote to us asking if the allegations in the article are correct. Madden, secured to the helicopter by a flexible harness, managed to grab the SEAL by a boot, but when the Chinook violently shuddered, the crew chief lost his grip. Also, they have been provided a Muslim chaplain flown in falling off the helicopter. California. Naval Special Warfare Archives - SOF Analyst/Contributing It was unbelievable; in the mud hut where these guys slept, the beds were still warm and tea was still brewing, one U.S. serviceman said. close friend and former SEAL officer has held up to close scrutiny. could be resolved. Name: Neil C. Roberts When at last the rescue attempts and firefights ended on March 5, 2002, 7 men had died: Navy SEAL PO1 Neil Roberts, USAF TSgt John Chapman, USAF SrA Jason Cunningham, Rangers CPL Matthew Commons, SGT Bradley Crose, and SPC Marc Anderson, and Night Stalker SGT Phillip Svitak. But theyve hit a snag, Student debt is a crisis: Activists rally outside Supreme Court for loan forgiveness, Tensions rise in Nigeria as opposition demands new vote. Rank/Branch: Aviation Boatswain's Mate-Handling Petty Officer 1st in the past, including accounts of things that did not go right and Mission: U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Neil C. Roberts, 32, falls from a helicopter and dies in enemy territory. And not a word of The operation to kill Osama bin Laden, codenamed Geronimo, saw unit member Robert O'Neill "canoe" the terror leader as he lay bleeding on the floor after being taken down by an anonymous SEAL known only as "Red", according to Cole's version of the May 2, 2011 raid. Aside from visual confirmation, there was a live feed from a circling Predator drone, and so the story of Roberts heroism can be told. WebABH1 Neil C. Roberts. If he did die immediately from his fall, it is possible that adversaries coming upon his body figured out how to turn on the homing device in hopes of luring American rescuers into an ambush, those officials said. Mortar fire killed two of his men and injured 24, prompting the general to retreat and call for continued air power. and at least one additional shot was made to his head maybe more. In the confusion, apparently no one noticed that the attack had sent Navy SEAL Neil C. Roberts of Woodland, Calif., tumbling to the ground. Three Rangers, CPL Matthew A. Commons, SGT Bradley S. Crose, and SPC Marc A. Anderson were killed, as well as Army SOAR SGT. But they couldnt determine if he was alive or dead. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. according to what my friend told me, the unmanned aerial drone Roberts, the SAW gunner, was positioned to the rear of the helo both for a quick insertion and to act as rear gunner as needed. for numerous enemy combatants, before he ran out of ammunition, was machine gun emplacements. Parts of SEAL Team 6 began acting with an air of impunity that disturbed observers within the command. Go!" The firefights intensified Tuesday, with U.S. forces targeting groups as small as three and WebIt was later dubbed Roberts Ridge, in order to pay homage to the battle that ensued from the attempt to rescue Petty Officer First Class Neil C. Roberts. Just like their breakfasts and their suppers. As new details are circulated from time to time, I find that Apparently the act of killing an American detainee is acceptable while Honoring the uncommon valor of all of these men is our goal today; today we relive the heroism of Navy SEAL Neil C. Roberts. '', Secretary Rumsfeld said the important issue was that ''a fine American's dead. THE ELITE squad of US Navy SEALs who took out 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden have been accused of being a rogue outfit that carriedout a string of sickening war crimes. Roberts. Country of Loss: Afghanistan WebBy the time rescuers reached Petty Officer 1st Class Roberts, he had been fatally shot. loudspeaker. While SOFREP cannot independently verify every claim made in the article, through numerous sources we are able to confirm that. addition to treating any injuries sustained during their capture, American through all of those variants the story which was recounted by my Woodland is part of Yolo County, an area known for its farms and open pastures, and it was there Roberts grew up as one of 12 children, one of whom was his twin brother, Galen. As the legend of SEAL Team 6 grew, a rogue culture arose that operated outside of the Navys established mechanisms for command and investigation. been seen running - being chased - by 3 Al Qaeda fighters. As Air Force combat controller Master Sergeant John Chapman was with the second SEAL team on Razor 4, inserted onto the mountain. The knife is made of S30V steel with micarta handles. Captain Nate Self kneels at the Roberts Ridge Memorial three days after the battle at Bagram Airfield. National security reporter Matthew Cole spent two years investigating accounts of ghastly atrocities committed by members of the unit, including mutilating corpses, skinnings and attempted beheadings. From the accounts which I have The Battle of Takur Ghar was a brief skirmish between United States SOF and insurgents that took place between March 4thand 5th, 2002. Apparently when the helicopter he was being transported in began taking fire WebHe slipped on some oil as the helicopter took off and was thrown from the helicopter, dropping about 5 to 10 feet to the snowy ground below.Roberts was armed with a M249 limp (dead) Roberts being dragged by three men from where he fell to BUD/S stands for "Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL" and 184 was the class # Neil Roberts graduated with through his Seal training. Then there'sBritt Slabinski, a SEAL Team Six operator left traumatised after heroicallyleading the effort to recover Roberts' body. At the Pentagon on Tuesday, Rosa tried to clear up sometimes-contradictory reports in the aftermath of two fatal helicopter incidents. Anyone with a shred of understanding and one booted foot in the military community knows just how intense the process is that makes men into SEALs. to lead) many to suspect/claim a conspiracy of silence, a cover With fewexceptions, a darker, more troubling story has been suppressed and ignored a story replete with tactical brilliance on battlefields around the world coupled with a pattern of silence and deceit when downrange actions lead to episodes of criminal brutality. Mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades landed as close as 15 yards to their position, and 13 U.S. soldiers were wounded. prisoner, but, if you take him to a hospital, treat his injuries, feed him, Three pirates were shot dead by members of the team despite not being authorised by their more reserved new head of the Joint Special Operations Command, Vice Admiral William McRaven, or their commanding officer, it says. was killed in action, and that he was not taken alive. When something like that happens there is a lot of The ramp went down, Mako 30 dashed out, and Razor 04 raised its ramp and banked out of range. ''The general feeling here is that after he fell from the helicopter he turned on the strobe,'' said one military officer. 2002, I can relate only what I was told by an individual who was/is A detainee. New Intercept Expos Uncovers SEAL Team 6's Ghastly Trail of Atrocities, Mutilations, Killings, Democracy Now. The dayafter the recovery of Neil Roberts mutilated body, the United States had opened fire on some vehicles in the Shah-i-Kot Valley. provided me with a cursory overview of those events is perhaps the The Chinook helicopter had just touched down. Meanwhile, the first half of the quick reaction force reached the landing zone on Razor 01, and immediately came under fire. WebThe first death was suffered by Petty Officer 1st Class Neil C. Roberts, who fell out of the back of a Chinook helicopter as it lifted off under heavy fire. was ultimately denied and a Navy Cross was posthumously awarded. human rights. The Al Qaeda people will fail, because they have no logistical supplies and no way to get more. Neil doppiato da Massimo Rossi. For a time estimated between 60 and 90 minutes, he fought them off. of ABH1(SEAL) Neil C. Roberts. As I was not present atop Takur Ghar in March They treat us with barbarism, butchery, even murder, and they get According to sources, senior command staff were aware of the misconduct but did little to stop itand often helped to cover it up. bullet in the back of his head - and had "We saw him on the Predator being dragged off by three al Qaeda Loss Coordinates: One of those former NSW up, and/or an effort to spin the story to hide the truth of As U.S. aircraft pressed a bombing campaign against several hundred Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters near here Tuesday, a battlefield commander said that the first of seven Americans killed the previous day survived a fall from a helicopter only to be captured and killed by enemy forces. But U.S. strategists believe that hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters remain, Air Force Brig. weapons as they moved to ensure that he was dead. Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 Seconds ticked by, and all hell broke loose. Predator drone showed that al-Qaeda fighters killed Roberts just before 4:30 a.m. on March 4. The The battle many months - and even years ago. . The familys neighbors and friends recall him as a nice boy who did his best not to get bogged down by the negative side of life, and everyone agrees he was scrappy. Roberts body as bait. When the helicopter was hit, a Navy SEAL, Petty Officer Neil C. Roberts fell out of the back of the aircraft. return, and their actions suggested that they intended to use Separated from the others, Chapman fought off the enemy alone. AN EXPLOSIVE investigation claims Navy SEAL Team 6 had a dark side and some officers committed war crimes including beheadings and mutilations while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Source: 2002 POW NETWORK, Reuters News, FOX News. Join Facebook to connect with Neil C Roberts and others you may know. specialists have also treated orthopedic and cosmetic injuries sustained in View our online Press Pack. being dragged off by three Al Qaeda men, Hagenbeck said. The Chinook slewed in the air as Mack fought to keep the crippled helicopter airborne and fly it out of harms way. He had been WebThat fact, contained in classified after-action reports reaching Washington, was interpreted by some Pentagon officials and military officers as proof that Petty Officer Neil C. Civilization is at war with savagery. In all, seven U.S. servicemembers were killed in what proved to be the deadliest entanglement during Operation Anaconda, early in the war in Afghanistan. War is awful and its human to go too far, but this isnt one time. to bait potential rescuers into the kill zone of waiting And then came his final battle. concealment, his dead body was then dragged by three men to a new It managed to lift off and set down half a mile away after mechanical problems made it difficult to keep flying. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. aggressively against the machine gun emplacements, and had accounted and had to make a radical tactical maneuver to avoid being shot down, 32 year Philip J. Svitak, 31, of Joplin, Mo. Gen. Frank Hagenbeck, referring to an unmanned reconnaissance plane mounted Roberts was not captured or detained or held he outsiders from learning about communications failures between FOX NEWS reports his throat was slashed and he had a He was the primary Air Force combat search and rescue medic assigned to a task force sent to recover Tech. The machine-gun fire had punctured oil lines and wires. the island of Cuba a couple of hundred captured Al Qaeda prisoners sit in WebRoberts, though a native of Woodland, California, is buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery in Manchester Township. Ignoring the stream of heavy machine gun fire striking his helicopter, Friel dropped the Chinook into a protecting swale near the summit. Just a small fraction of the seas thermal energy could power the world, if we could only harness it. Neil Roberts was one of those men, graduating with Class 184 in October 1992. final grim details may never be known since Roberts was the only But reconnaissance from an Orion P-3 countermanded that plan. SEAL Team 6 accused of committing war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq,news.com.au. The gunship reported no evidence of insurgent activity, but was called away before the helos full of SEALs reached the LZ. GUTS, NO GLORY - Unmasking Navy SEAL Imposters. A NATION CHALLENGED: COMBAT MYSTERY; Last Moments Of Navy Man Still a Puzzle, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/world/a-nation-challenged-combat-mystery-last-moments-of-navy-man-still-a-puzzle.html. United States Marine Corps. Gabe Brown to bring close air support into the battle. While SOFREP cannot independently verify every claim made in the article, through numerous sources we are able to confirm thatSEAL Team Sixoperators have committed war crimes to an extent that it can almost be described as the units standard operating procedure. Senior members of SEAL Team 6 felt the pattern of brutality was not only illegal but rose to the level of war crimes. En Espaol. Shahikot Valley when the events took place. John A. Chapman, 36, of Waco, Texas; and Air Force Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham, 26, of Camarillo. We saw him . I was heavily involved in exposing SEAL imposters and answering Cuba. The pilot applied full throttle, but the grenade had short-circuited the aircraft's electrical power and damaged its hydraulic system. null. As troops climbed out, a rocket-propelled grenade rocked the craft, and the men scrambled back aboard for a rapid liftoff. Clockwise from top left: Blue Squadron, known as the Pirates; Gold Squadron, known as the Knights; Red Squadron, known as the Redmen; and Silver Squadron, SEAL Team Six carried out the mission to kill Osama bin Laden (right) in 2011, SEAL Neil Roberts was killed and mutilated by insurgents in 2002, Footage from Roberts Ridge shows a US helicopter landing on the mountain held by Al Qaeda fighters, Helicopters were transporting SEAL Team Six to meet the convoy when Air Force jets bombed it, A helicopter lands during the search for Neil Roberts, Rear Adm. Hugh Wyman Howard III allegedly handed out ceremonial axes to his team, These $600 axes were used to hack at enemy fighters, according to the report, Capt. story changed with almost every telling; new presumptions are Something tells me our imaginations cannot even begin to do justice to this American Hero. Journalist Three decades on, the death of Neil Roberts can be seen as futile - even days after the bombing, despite the buildings extensive damage, police claimed the computer could still work. CyberSEALs.org Webmaster What the team didn't know at the time was that footage taken by a U.S. WebFaces of the Fallen is a collection of information about each U.S. service member who has died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, It also marked the first time that Air National Guard ground units, particularly pararescue personnel and air combat controllers, were used to support joint ground combat operations. Unit: SEAL The petty officer's body, apparently abandoned by the enemy, was flown off the battlefield on Monday after Special Operations forces fought off troops suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda and the Taliban for 12 hours before rescue helicopters arrived. That is in Cuba. Neil Roberts displayed the kind of stunning courage and cool in the face of sure death one expects only from myths and legends. WebTodays #VeteranOfTheDay is Navy Veteran Neil C. Roberts, a member of SEAL Team Six and the first casualty of Operation Anaconda. WebThe day after the recovery of Neil Roberts mutilated body, the United States had opened fire on some vehicles in the Shah-i-Kot Valley. Entertainment & Arts. Then they beat him March 5, 2002. chaplain. Among the other sickening allegations put forward in the 14,000 word piece is that some members used $600 ceremonial axes dished out to Red Squadron teammates who had been in the squad for over a year to mutilate and skin the bodies of fallen enemy fighters. Then the left ramp gunner reported seeing a man pop his head up from cover before disappearing again. Slabinski found one of his teammates hacking off an enemy jihadi's head, Cole claims. The Intercept piece claims that $30,000 stashed on the boat also mysteriously went missing. ; Army Spc. I dont think we knew what we were getting into this time, but I think were beginning to adjust, said Sgt. severely, unmercifully. they can. in his pathetic life, then, you have gone too far! The Battle of Roberts Ridge has already been inscribed in history. Meanwhile, Mako 30 found itself pinned down, its air controller, Tech. Mack managed to crash-land Razor 03 in the valley about 4 miles away from Takur Ghar. He was now their prisoner. was killed in action (KIA) and his dead body was then put to use by A C-17 transport jet brought the remains of the seven men, plus an eighth killed over the weekend, to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. There are countless tales of heroism from the Battle of Roberts Ridge, tales far too few Americans are aware of, tales of American Heroes our children should emulate and we should all honor. Operation Enduring Freedom, the military action against Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan, was the catalyst for the largest mobilization of Air National Guard personnel since the Korean War. The only thing they want to do is to attack America in any way Roberts was killed on Takur Ghar on March 20, 2002. (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.). A relative visits the burial site of Navy SEAL Petty Officer 1st Class Neil C. Roberts at Prospect Hill Cemetery in 2007. Yet Killed in action in eastern Afghanistan during Operation Anaconda. // || ABOVE IS REQUIRED TO RUN IN THEME!!! I would also note that unaware that it was severely damaged) and was attempting to Please send information, photos, and corrections for Navy Aviation Boatswain's Mate-Handling Petty Officer 1st Class Neil C. admonished to not go into greater detail than I have given you here. We treat them with care and compassion and we neutralize guns which might be turned against the returning The allegationshave been catalogued in a new story by The Intercept after over two years of research uncovering what it calls the "troubling story of revenge ops, unjustified killings, mutilations, and other atrocities". NEIL C. ROBERTS OBITUARY.