Niger Operation Punishment(s)

[JJ_BPK]

This sucks..

An Operation in Niger Went Fatally Awry. Who Is the Army Punishing?

In one of the final chapters in a lengthy investigation into how four Americans died on an obscure battlefield, some of those who fought in the pitched firefight have been reprimanded, while senior officers who approved the mission have gone unpunished.
By Thomas Gibbons-Neff

Nov. 3, 2018

The Army has punished two members of the Special Forces team ambushed in Niger last October for their decisions before the mission and for insufficient training alongside their Nigerien allies in advance, according to military officials. Four others in their chain of command were also disciplined.

Some of those punished in recent weeks included the Green Beret team leader, Capt. Mike Perozeni, and his second in command, a master sergeant. Those absent from the six letters of reprimand include the two senior officers who approved the mission and who then oversaw the operation as it went fatally awry.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/w...cNTMxRj_7bvMOo

and we are still waiting on the NCSI SEAL report

[Pete]

Interesting read on who got punished and why.

Very interesting on who didn't.

[WarriorDiplomat]

Yeah if the story is correct why is why is the BC and GC getting off and the rear D force provider getting hammered? You mean to tell me that the BC and the GC did not know the team was ill prepared?

I said it before the team bares responsibility for its failures to prepare so is the punishment based on the idea that the team had expected to be prepared and ready for on call missions because they knew the possibility? I understand that I have seen the poorest most unprepared crop of team sgts coming around in the last 10 yrs and not because they aren't trying they are just too young and immature. Regiment as a whole leadership is horrible to say the least the word psychophant is a fitting description these days with Obama leaders still in. They are culpable for the dereliction of duty to manage the leadership of the unit and select the best guys for the job....not just capable we are all capable E7 and up.

So what I read into this is the company leadership is being punished for not being honest about the teams readiness or they were lied to but never verified

The team leadership is being punished for being ill prepared knowing they were going into a potential capture/kill mission or lying to its leadership and saying they were

I smell some CYA embarrassment as the regiment is now having to explain the little things that were huge and can't to a SECDEF who doesn't tolerate suck a substandard approach to mission readiness....SOF has too long been emplacing impossible burdens on teams by mismanaging the unit and hurting retention and recruiting forcing teams to take on new guys out of a broken Q-course on short notice,

[miclo18d]

Ok, so the same thing happened to a team in Afghanistan in 2006. They went on a mission to kill a bad guy that had killed one of their terps. The mission went terribly wrong. 2 guys killed (1 was Tom Maholic the TmSgt), 1 wounded severely (medically boarded later).

Their punishment?

Silver Stars and a 60 Minutes interview.

[7624U]

Major Van Saun took over the unit one month before the deployment after the Company had already conducted its PMT. Just another reason we are stupid as a Regiment and the Army as a whole we switch people out all the time at the worst times all for promotion timelines or on a Commanders rating profile.

[1stindoor]

Originally Posted by miclo18d

Ok, so the same thing happened to a team in Afghanistan in 2006. They went on a mission to kill a bad guy that had killed one of their terps. The mission went terribly wrong. 2 guys killed (1 was Tom Maholic the TmSgt), 1 wounded severely (medically boarded later).

Their punishment?

Silver Stars and a 60 Minutes interview.

We were there at the same time. I was listening to the radio when Tom was hit. He was a former Team mate on 25 and we served together at the Academy. He was a great teammate and friend.

[Team Sergeant]

If there was not a criminal element involved there should be no "punishment"..........

People make bad decisions in the military, it's how we evolve, don't like it don't join.

I do find it moronic that whomever sent them on this mission has not been relieved. (wasn't some "special operations" idiot Air Force general in charge of "ground soldiers" at the time?)

Theory still stands': Shitte only rolls downhill.

SJW are now in Special Operations.

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

I do find it moronic that whomever sent them on this mission has not been relieved. (wasn't some "special operations" idiot Air Force general in charge of "ground soldiers" at the time?)

TS, how did you know I was doing some reading on Opn ANACONDA...? Oh, wait - there's more than one?

[WarriorDiplomat]

Originally Posted by miclo18d

Ok, so the same thing happened to a team in Afghanistan in 2006. They went on a mission to kill a bad guy that had killed one of their terps. The mission went terribly wrong. 2 guys killed (1 was Tom Maholic the TmSgt), 1 wounded severely (medically boarded later).

Their punishment?

Silver Stars and a 60 Minutes interview.

According to the story this team is also getting awards WITH punishment?? They say it is appropriate and doable?

You and your team were screwed up, dereliction of duty, leadership failure....but you did great while screwing up here's your SS

[The Reaper]

CDR SOC Africa, Company CO and SGM, Team Leader and Team Sergeant were punished.

The only ones I see not punished were the Battalion and Group COs and CSMs.

TR

[Basenshukai]

Originally Posted by miclo18d

Ok, so the same thing happened to a team in Afghanistan in 2006. They went on a mission to kill a bad guy that had killed one of their terps. The mission went terribly wrong. 2 guys killed (1 was Tom Maholic the TmSgt), 1 wounded severely (medically boarded later).

Their punishment?

Silver Stars and a 60 Minutes interview.

I know who you are speaking about. I knew about half that team personally, as well as the POS ASOT Level-III guy that stayed back at the FOB during that mission.

[Basenshukai]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

CDR SOC Africa, Company CO and SGM, Team Leader and Team Sergeant were punished.

The only ones I see not punished were the Battalion and Group COs and CSMs.

TR

Kind of odd right? Especially since their duty description on the OER usually clearly states being responsible for the "training, and welfare" of their battalion. Maybe they should remove that part from now on.

[Basenshukai]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/07/u...er-mattis.html

It looks like the SecDef was not amused by the lower-level scapegoating in this incident.

"WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was livid last month when he summoned top military officials to a video conference at the Pentagon to press them about an investigation into a 2017 ambush in Niger that killed four Americans on a Green Beret team. His anger, Pentagon officials said, came from seeing news reports that junior officers were being reprimanded for the botched Niger mission while the officers directly above them were not.

Days later, a senior officer who had largely escaped punishment was told he would be reprimanded. Another senior officer’s actions before and around the time of the mission were also under new scrutiny."

[The Reaper]

Did someone miss the "Commander is responsible for everything..." lesson from Army Day One?

Looks like the SecDef is going to hold people accountable. What a novel concept.

TR

[WarriorDiplomat]

If I'm that young Captain I resign there is no turning back from this and he dodged a bullet....if he doesn't see the dirty backstabbing politics of the "brotherhood" then....