re: Retired Green Beret officer: Mattis "left my men to die."

quote:

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Mattis set helicopters under his command to help with the evacuation after the Air Force medevacs arrived at Rhino, “covering our first load of wounded in dust from their rotor wash as they launched,” Amerine wrote. “Cody died around the time we reached Rhino and I was told at least two Afghans died because of the delay but nobody knows for certain,” he wrote.

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Kind of a big point, if you ask me. He won't say that it did in fact cost lives. He says may, might have, could have. Lots of innuendo. Also, the whole rotor wash comment is just dumb. That would have happened regardless and has nothing to do with Mattis.

From reading the article, it sounds like Mattis could not be assured of the safety of the rescue crew if he sent it in, so he waited. Sometimes, the CO has to decide if losing a few is better than losing a few more, plus the possibility of a chopper or two being knocked out of commission, which could lead to more deaths.

My guess is this is a petty swipe at Mattis by a guy who has a history with Mattis that goes beyond this one incident.