Attack on Camp Bastion: The Destruction of VMA-211 … A “Bump in the road” for Barack Obama
Good job, Mr. President – – – good job! The whole world has watched, the whole world has approved of the job that you have done.
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“Who is this that darkeneth council by words without knowledge?”
Apparently some people sing the praises of the fraud-in-chief no matter how many Americans are murdered abroad. No matter how much damage his non-leadership has done. No matter that Barack spends more time on late nite comedy shows or morning television shows making a complete ass out of himself.
I noticed this the other day via a piece at The Atlantic, entitled The U.S. Suffered Its Worst Airpower Loss Since Vietnam Last Week and No One Really Noticed
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While the big time news media focused on Mitt Romney’s tax returns and Barack Obama appearing on the Letterman show, the Taliban, dressed in U.S. Army uniforms attacked Camp Bastion in Afghanistan killing two service men and wounding nine others. However there is much more to the story than that …
Attack on Camp Bastion: The Destruction of VMA-211
Written by: John D. Gresham on September 20, 2012
Late on Friday, Sept. 14, 2012, a Taliban insurgent force of sappers attacked the NATO ISAF base, Camp Bastion, in Afghanistan, resulting in the worst loss of U.S. airpower in a single incident since the Vietnam War. Two Marines, including VMA-211’s commanding officer, were killed in the attack, and nine other personnel (eight military and one contractor, reportedly) were wounded. By the time the base was secured roughly five hours later, six U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) AV-8B+ Harrier “jump jets” had been destroyed, and two more “significantly” damaged. In addition, three refueling points were destroyed, and six “soft-skinned” aircraft hangers were damaged to some degree. As a result of this attack, the air strength of Marine Attack Squadron 211 (VMA-211 – “The Avengers”) presumably 10 aircraft, was almost completely destroyed.
Camp Bastion is a British-run ISAF base in Helmand Providence northwest of Lashkar Gah, built adjacent to Camp Leatherneck (the primary USMC base in the area) and Camp Shorabak (run by the Afghan National Army). Equipped with a 3,500-meter (11,482 foot) runway and servicing up to 28,000 personnel, it is the largest British base in Afghanistan. One of them, on Sept. 14, was an AH-64 Apache crewman named Capt.“Wales,” otherwise known as Harry, Prince of Wales. Along with the British Apaches and other U.K. aircraft, Camp Bastion also provides basing for USMC aviation units, including VMA-211, the only Harrier squadron then in Afghanistan.
The attack on Camp Bastion began at around 10:00 PM local time, when about 20 Taliban fighters approached the perimeter, disguised in U.S. battle dress uniforms. One of the Taliban used his explosive suicide vest to blow a hole in the perimeter fence, which reportedly allowed three five-man sapper squads into the secured areas of the base. Armed with AK-47s, RPG-7s and explosive suicide vests, the Taliban fighters flooded into the U.S. area known as Camp Barber.
I saw that article about the attacks in Afghanistan. It’s hard not to get physically sick when I read about some of the crap that goes on, especially concerning our military. They deserve a CiC who tries to do right by them, considering all they do for us.