I don’t even know want to say after reading this. I remember when those idiot sailors were taken prisoner by the savage Iranians and wondered how was it possible. Fuck that shit, defend your boat and call for backup. These clowns were so interested in ‘not starting a war with Iran” that they acquiesced their vessel, sensitive information about their boat and passwords to their laptop, and ultimately their honor.
They should’ve let the Iranians worry about starting a war, not the other way around.
The report said some of the 10 crew members, detained at gunpoint Jan. 12 by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), had revealed sensitive information, such as phone and laptop passwords, to the Iranians.
Iran used the detentions for propaganda purposes that kept the incident in the headlines for weeks afterward.
The report cited the instance of one crew member revealing details to the Iranian interrogators such as the top speed of his vessel and that it conducted “presence” missions.
“It is clear that some, if not all, crew members provided at least some information to interrogators beyond name, rank, service number and date of birth,” the report said.
Indeed, some crew members told the Iranians the capabilities of their vessels, and passwords to their personal phones and laptops, the report said.
At one point, the crew members did not realize they were near Farsi Island because they did not zoom into their navigation system’s map.
“Had any crew member zoomed into the purple dot, they would have discovered the purple dot was Farsi Island,” the report said.
Near the island, one of the boats suffered a faulty engine, and the two crafts were approached by two IRGC boats, which pointed their weapons. They were soon after joined by two other IRGC boats.
The boat captains did not direct their gunners to put on protective gear or to man the weapons on the boat.
Under the standard rules of engagement, U.S. military personnel are obligated to defend their units. However, in the hopes of de-escalating the situation, the captains directed their gunners to step away from their weapons.
“I didn’t want to start a war with Iran,” one of the boat captains told investigators. “My thought at the end of the day was that no one had to die for a misunderstanding.”
The Iranians forced the sailors to remove their body armor, kneel, and place their hands behind their heads, and took video and pictures of the crew doing so. At Farsi Island, they interrogated and detained the sailors overnight before releasing them the next day.
Filmed acting happy
The sailors also acquiesced to Iranian demands that they eat and act happy while being filmed in order to be released, and one captain read an apology prepared by the Iranians. Unbeknownst to them, the US government had already negotiated their unconditional release.
In addition to Moses, in May, the U.S. Navy fired Eric Rasch, commander of the squadron that included the sailors.
The report said administrative action had been taken with regard to two personnel, and recommended action be taken regarding six others.
The report also faulted the IRGC for violating international norms. The Iranians replaced an American flag on board with an IRGC one, ransacked the vessels, and damaged equipment, the report said.
Very nice. These asshats surrendered their boat to cavemen, who then planted their flag on it, ransacked it, and went on to humiliate them, all the while Obama was cutting a deal with Iran to release $150 billion to Iran and lifting their sanctions.
What sort of country has this become? Demoralizing.
If you really want to get mad, go google how Iran mocks this incident often with parodies and little parades, depicting our sailors as cowering cry babies.
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Soft.
Is this a status update or your idea of a contribution to the discourse?
Although passwords should not have been given, I’m also pretty sure that US rules of engagement do not including shooting at foreign boats in their home waters despite what this article is implying…
“frog” was on that boat, probably
You probably voted for this guy!! He’s a piece of…. 😉
No different than the TSA over here that can demand that you hand over to them your computer and phone password while screening you naked.
Fucking shameful! CIC Trump would have never allowed this to occur ! Keep your gear on, weapons up, full throttle out of there. Dumbasses.
Full throttle out with a faulty engine? Interesting plan.
ottnot, +1
Very poor leadership on many levels.
The helm of the flagless, USD denominated “ARK”, while harrowing at times, does not compare to the peril of active service. Soft might be a tad strong, in this instance. JCG
Leadership was lacking. I didn’t call them soft, only morons.
For the most part I enjoy reading your site and I specifically enjoy reading your articles Fly, usually. I don’t comment because usually when I want to comment, I want to tear someone a new asshole, usually that would be OA, but that’s another story. Generally, I choose to keep my opinions to myself rather than risk being banned, wholly believing that you do that sort of shit.
But, fuck it. Rather than be a coward and direct this at one of your idiot sycophants, you dropped this article so this is for you.
I served in the Army. I assume you have not served anyone but yourself based on your cavalier mockery of these sailors. You can save the blah-blah of name rank and serial numbers bullshit that you get from the movies. These men are duty bound, and they are also bound to each other. You don’t serve your country or your unit by being a cowboy and going out in a blaze of glory that accomplishes nothing but annihilation of your men. If you have guns to your heads, you have to make hard choices, and keeping your unit alive to fight another day is part of the decision tree.
I could rant all day, but if you are predisposed to these bullshit ideas you learn from Hollywood, it is a wasted effort. Just understand, just like it is easy to be an internet bully behind a keyboard, and a pussy in a street confrontation, its also very easy to mock military personnel from your cushy desk where you trade fucking stocks and fuck with your Twitter account all day.
Meanwhile people with balls like you wish you had go to terrible faces and make hard choices every day where real lives are at stake. And because of some dogshit you pick up 2nd 3rd and 4th hand from shitbag media outlets, you feel perfectly comfortable using those inputs to get on your bully pulpit and to publicly shit on those warriors?
Sorry I can’t pretend to respect that. I like you for what you do right, but fuck you for adding to those service members humiliation.
For the rest of you assholes in the peanut gallery, fuck you as well.
I attend memorials at Arlington National Cemetery for friends who served. It never occurs to me to shit on them because they may or may not have endured times of weakness under pressure. Most have, just not as publicly as this.
Ban away. Its your fucking house. Good for both of us if I have to tolerate this shit.
they didn’t need to start a war over their own stupidity, but they damn sure could have had some fortitude.
Big talk. What’s your idea of fortitude? Sternly demand they leave your boat or just draw your weapon and empty your clip in a few heads? What was your favorite takeaway from the academy? And when you cap an enemy, do you do it gangsta style, tilting the piece sideways? That’s a cool look you know.
“I don’t want to start a war with Iran.” WTF? Only if that would have.
“The sailors also acquiesced to Iranian demands that they eat and act happy while being filmed in order to be released, and one captain read an apology prepared by the Iranians. Unbeknownst to them, the US government had already negotiated their unconditional release.”
These folks thought they would not be released if they didn’t do what their captors said to do. It’s easy for anyone to criticize them, while sitting safe in the U.S. They may have made mistakes. But we here are all darn lucky to not have been in their places.
I’m not letting a F’n Iranian goat F’r tell me to do a F’n thing.
Yes, I’m sure you would have been pleased to spend the rest of your life as a prisoner in Iran, because you wouldn’t do what they said to do. That’s real easy to say that, while living on Easy Street like most of us are in the U.S.
said the French
Spoken like a true thumbsucker. Save the hero act for your shitty screenplay.
I am very disappointed that I cannot directly respond to your post john_galt, due to some some archaic limitation of this site’s UI, but please allow me the pleasure of calling you a stunted, xenophobic misanthrope. Its all good, just google merriam webster, wikipedia, or urban dictionary and all will be revealed.