DoD identifies soldier killed in commando raid in Iraq

[Twisted]

DoD identifies soldier killed in commando raid in Iraq

The Defense Department on Friday identified the soldier killed during a commando raid in Iraq.

Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, died Thursday in Iraq’s Kirkuk province from wounds received by enemy small-arms fire, according to the DoD announcement.

Wheeler, who joined the Army in 1995, was assigned to Headquarters, U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

He is the first American service member killed in action by enemy fire while fighting Islamic State militants.

U.S. reports first death in combat with Islamic State

 

[waltky]

Special forces rescue from ISIS results in death of U.S. soldier...

US Service Member Killed in Iraq as Hostages Rescued from ISIS: DoD
Oct 22, 2015 | A U.S. service member was killed Thursday in a helicopter assault by U.S. Special Operations troops and Kurdish commandos that freed about 70 ISIS hostages in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said.

The death of a U.S. soldier was the first combat fatality suffered by the U.S. in the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In a statement, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said that the U.S. Special Ops troops supported Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who took the lead in the raid on a village east of the flashpoint town of Hawija, about 30 miles south of Kirkuk. One member of the Special Ops team was wounded in the raid and later died while receiving medical care. Four Peshmerga fighters also were wounded and an undetermined number of ISIS members guarding the hostages were killed, Cook said. "This operation was deliberately planned and launched after receiving information that the hostages faced imminent mass execution," Cook said. "It was authorized consistent with our counter-ISIL effort to train, advise, and assist Iraqi forces."

U.S. helicopters carried the assault force to the site and the Special Ops troops were with the Peshmerga at the ISIS compound, according to the statement. "Approximately 70 hostages were rescued including more than 20 members of the Iraqi Security Forces. Five ISIL terrorists were detained by the Iraqis and a number of ISIL terrorists were killed as well. In addition, the U.S. recovered important intelligence about ISIL," Cook said. The Hawija area has been a frequent target of U.S. airstrikes in an attempt to break the hold of ISIS on the region. "They cut off roads and raided the place successfully," Najmaldin Karim, the governor of surrounding Kirkuk Province, told The New York Times. "They were able to take people with them."

The raid came shortly after Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was in Irbil, the Kurdish capital, to confer with Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish Regional Government.

US Service Member Killed in Iraq as Hostages Rescued from ISIS: DoD | Military.com

See also:

Pentagon Denies Combat Role in Iraq After American's Death
October 22, 2015 — The Pentagon says the U.S. is not in a combat role in Iraq, despite the recent death of a U.S. service member from Islamic State gunfire during a hostage rescue mission. “U.S. forces are not in an active combat mission in Iraq, and I can say that directly,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook responded Thursday to questions from reporters on “mission creep” and “boots on the ground.”

A joint rescue mission by U.S. and Iraqi Kurdish fighters freed about 70 hostages, including at least 22 Iraqi Security Force members, from an Islamic State prison compound in Hawijah, west of Kirkuk. The hostages were under threat of “imminent mass executions,” according to a Pentagon statement.

Hawijah, in Kirkuk governate, Iraq​

One American service member was killed while assisting Peshmerga forces under fire from Islamic State militants. The death marked the first time a U.S. service member was killed in combat as part of the year-long campaign against IS extremists.

A senior U.S. defense official said dozens of Kurdish and American fighters were involved in the rescue mission. U.S. forces were "enabling" the mission in coordination with Iraq's Kurdish regional government, the official noted, and they also recovered "important intelligence" about the Islamic State militant group.

‘Unique circumstance’

 

[Cross]

Surely no one believed that no boots on the ground bullshit.....

 

[shadow355]

Surely no one believed that no boots on the ground bullshit.....

Risk versus benefit.

How important is the mission?

What is the probability of success, versus failure ?

What kind of equipment is needed for the tasking and what support is needed?

Ect ....ect .....ect

Shadow 355 ( Prior US Military )

 

[Cross]

Yes I got all that....and know that any rescue mission in a war zone is a combat mission despite the Pentagon's double speak....

 

[shadow355]

Yes I got all that....and know that any rescue mission in a war zone is a combat mission despite the Pentagon's double speak....

You never leave an American behind.

You do not abandon no one.

It may take time - if a good person escapes captivity : or good guys are lurking in the area; they cannot get caught. If they do being " sprung free " is hopeless.

It's better to have hope , than not.

Shadow 355