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----THIS IS A MORE DETAILED FOLLOW ON ABOUT THIS INCIDENT ---
----- Original Message -----
> Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 10:21 AM
> Subject: The True Hostage Story Details
>
>
> This was received from a very high-placed Navy source in the Office of the
> JCS. His name is redacted at his request.
>
> Subject: Re: Real story of Obama and the hostage<#>
>
> Your "Real" story is not exactly the way I heard it, and probably has a few
> political twists thrown in to stir the pot. Rather than me trying to
> correct it, I'll just tell you what I found out from my contacts at NSWC
> Norfolk and at SOCOM Tampa.
>
> First though, let me orient you to familiarize you with the "terrain."
>
> In Africa from Djibouti at the southern end of the Red Sea eastward through
> the Gulf of Aden to round Cape Guardafui at the easternmost tip of Africa
> (also known as "The Horn of Africa") is about a 600 nm transit before you
> stand out into the Indian Ocean. That transit is comparable in distance to
> that from the mouth of the Mississippi at New Orleans to the tip of Florida
> at Key West-- except that 600 nm over there is infested with Somalia
> pirates.
>
> Ships turning southward at the Horn of Africa transit the SLOC (Sea Lane of
> Commerce) along the east coast of Somalia because of the prevailing
> southerly currents there. It's about 1,500 nm on to Mombassa, which is just
> south of the equator in Kenya. Comparably, that's about the transit
> distance from Portland Maine down the east coast of the US to Miami Florida.
> In other words, the ocean area being patrolled by our naval forces off the
> coast of Somalia is comparable to that in the Gulf of Mexico from the
> Mississippi River east to Miami then up the eastern seaboard to Maine.
>
> Second, let me globally orient you from our Naval Operating Base in Norfolk,
> VA, east across the Atlantic to North Africa, thence across the Med to Suez
> in Egypt, thence southward down the Red Sea to Djibouti at the Gulf of Aden,
> thence eastward to round Cape Guardafui at the easternmost tip of Africa,
> and thence southerly some 300 miles down the east cost of Somali out into
> the high seas of the Indian Ocean to the position of MV ALABAMA is a little
> more than 7,000 nm, and plus-nine time-zones ahead of EST.
>
> Hold that thought, in that, a C-17 transport averaging a little better than
> 400 kts (SOG) takes the best part of 18 hours to make that trip. In the
> evening darkness late Thursday night, a team of Navy SEALs from NSWC (Naval
> Surface Warfare Center) Norfolk parachuted from such a C-17 into the black
> waters (no refraction of light) of the Indian Ocean-- close-aboard to our
> 40,000 ton amphibious assault ship, USS BOXER (LHD 4), the flagship of our
> ESG (Expeditionary Strike Group) in the AOR (Area Of Responsibility, the
> Gulf of Aden). They not only parachuted in with all of their "equipment,"
> they had their own inflatable boats, RHIB's (Rigid Hull, Inflatable Boats)
> with them for over-water transport. They went into BOXER's landing dock,
> debarked, and staged for the rescue -- Thursday night.
>
> And, let me comment on time-late: In that the SEAL's quick response--
> departing ready-alert in less than 4 hours from Norfolk-- supposedly
> surprised POTUS's staff, whereas President Obama was miffed not to get his
> "cops" there before the Navy. He reportedly questioned his staff, "Will
> 'my' FBI people get there before the Navy does?" It took the FBI almost 12
> hours to put together a team and get them packed-up-- for an "at sea"
> rescue. The FBI was trying to tell him that they are not practiced to do
> this-- Navy SEALs are. But, BHO wanted the FBI there "to help," that is,
> carry out the Attorney General's (his) orders to negotiate the release of
> Captain Phillips peacefully-- because apparently he doesn't trust GW's
> military to carry out his "political guidance."
>
> The flight of the FBI's passenger jet took a little less than 14 hours at
> 500-some knots to get to Djibouti. BOXER'S helos picked them up and
> transported them out to the ship. The Navy SEALs were already there,
> staged, and ready to act by the time POTUS's FBI arrived on board later that
> evening. Notably, the first request by the OSC (On Scene Commander) that
> early Friday morning to take them out and save Captain Phillips was denied,
> to wit: "No, wait until 'my' FBI people get there."
>
> Third, please consider a candid assessment of ability that finds that the
> FBI snipers had never practiced shooting from a rolling, pitching, yawing,
> surging, swaying, heaving platform-- and, target-- such as a ship and a
> lifeboat on the high seas. Navies have been doing since Admiral Nelson who
> had trained "Marines" to shoot muskets from the ship's rigging-- ironically,
> he was killed at sea in HMS VICTORY at the Battle of Trafalgar by a French
> Marine rifleman that shot him from the rigging of the French ship that they
> were grappling alongside.
>
> Notably, when I was first training at USNA in 1955, the Navy was doing it
> with a SATU, Small Arms Training Unit, based at our Little Creek amphib
> base. Now, Navy SEAL's, in particular SEAL Team SIX (The "DevGru") based at
> NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) at Little Creek do that training now,
> and hone their skills professionally-- daily. Shooting small arms from a
> ship is more of an accomplished "Art Form" than it is a practiced skill.
> When you are "in the bubble" and "in tune" with the harmonic motion you
> find, through practice, that you are "able to put three .308 slugs inside
> the head of a quarter at 100 meters, in day or night-- or, behind a
> camouflaged net or a thin enclosure, such as a superstructure bulkhead.
> Yes, we have the monocular scopes that can "see" heat-- and, draw a bead on
> it. SEALs are absolutely expert at it-- with the movie clips to prove it.
>
> Okay, now try to imagine patrolling among the boats fishing everyday out on
> the Grand Banks off our New England coast, and then responding to a distress
> call from down around the waters between Florida and the Bahamas. Three
> points for you to consider here: (1) Time-Distance-Speed relationships for
> ships on the high seas, for instance, at a 25-knot SOA (Speed Of Advance) it
> takes 24 hours to make good 600 nm-- BAINBRIDGE did. (2) Fishermen work on
> the high seas, and (3) The best place to hide as a "fisherman" pirate is
> among other fishermen
>
> Early Wednesday morning, 4/8/2009, MV ALABAMA is at sea in the IO about 300
> miles off the (east) coast of Somalia en route to Mombassa Kenya. Pirates
> in small boat start harassing her, and threatening her with weapons. MV
> ALABAMA's captain sent out the distress call by radio, and ordered his
> Engineer to shut down the engines as well as the ship-service electrical
> generators-- in our lingo, "Go dark and cold." He informed his crew by
> radio what was happening, and ordered them to go to an out-of-the-way
> compartment and lock themselves in it-- from the inside. He would stay in
> the pilot house to "negotiate" with the pirates.
>
> The pirates boarded, captured the Captain, and ordered him to start the
> engines. He said he would order his Engineer to do so, and he called down
> to Engine Control on the internal communication system, but got no answer.
> The lead pirate ordered two of his four men to go down and find him and get
> the engines started.
>
> Inside a ship without any lights is like the definition of dark. The
> advantage goes to the people who work and live there. They jumped the two
> pirates in a dark passageway. Both pirates lost their weapons, but one
> managed to scramble and get away. The other they tied up, put tape over his
> mouth and a knife at his throat.
>
> Other members of the crew opened the drain cocks on the pirates boat and
> cast it adrift. It foundered and sunk. The scrambling pirate made it back
> to the pilot house and told of his demise. The pirates took the Captain at
> gun point, and told him to launch one of his rescue boats (not a life boat,
> per se). As he was lowering the boat for them, the crew appeared with the
> other pirate to negotiate a trade. The crew let their hostage go to soon,
> and the pirates kept the captain. But, he purposefully had lowered the boat
> so it would jam.
>
> With the rescue boat jammed, the pirates jumped over to a lifeboat and
> released it as the captain jumped in the water. They fired at him, made him
> stop, and grabbed him out of the water. Now, as night falls in the vastness
> of the Indian Ocean, we have the classic "Mexican" standoff, to wit: A
> life-boat that is just that, a life-boat adrift without any means of
> propulsion except oars and paddles; and, a huge (by comparison) Motor Vessel
> Container Ship adrift with a crew that is not going to leave their captain
> behind. The pirates are enclosed under its shelter-covering, holding the
> captain as their hostage. The crew is hunkered down in their ship waiting
> for the "posse" to arrive!
>
> After receiving MV ALABAMA'S distress call, USS BAINBRIDGE (DDG 96) was
> dispatched by the ESG commander to respond to ALABAMA's distress call. At
> best sustainable speed, she arrived on scene the day after-- that is, in the
> dark of that early Thursday morning. As BAINBRIDGE quietly and slowly, at
> darkened-ship without any lights to give her away, arrived on scene, please
> consider a recorded interview with the Chief Engineer of MV ALABAMA
> describing BAINBRIDGE's arrival. He said it was something else "... to see
> the Navy slide in there like a greyhound!" He then said as she slipped in
> closer he could see the "Stars and Stripes" flying from her masthead. He
> got choked up saying it was the "...proudest moment of my life."
>
> Phew! Let that sink in.
>
> Earlier in the day, one of the U.S. Navy's Maritime Patrol Aircraft, a fixed
> wing P3C, flew over to recon the scene. They dropped a buoy with a radio to
> the pirates so that the Navy's interpreter could talk with the pirates.
> When BAINBRIDGE arrived, the pirates thought the radio to be a beaconing
> device, and threw it overboard. They wanted a satellite telephone so that
> they could call home for help. Remember now, they are fishermen, not
> "Rocket Scientists," in that, they don't know that we can intercept the
> phone transmission also.
>
> MV ALABAMA provided them with a satellite phone. They called home back to
> "somebody" in Eyl Somalia(so that we now know where you live) to come out
> and get them. The "somebody" in Eyl said they would be out right away with
> other hostages, like 54 of them from other countries, and that they would be
> coming out in two of their pirated ships. Right-- and, the tooth fairy will
> let you have sex with her. Yea, in paradise. The "somebody" in Eyl just
> chalked up four more expendables as overhead for "the cost of operation."
> Next page.
>
> Anyway, ESG will continue to "watch" Eyl for any ships standing out.
>
> The Navy SEAL team, SEAL TEAM SIX, from NSWC briefed the OSC (Commander
> Castellano, CO BAINBRIDGE) on how they could rescue the captain from the
> life boat with swimmers-- "Combat Swimmers," per se. That plan was denied
> by POTUS because it put the captain in danger-- and, involved killing the
> pirates.
>
> The FBI negotiators arrived on scene, and talked the pirates into sending
> their wounded man over for treatment Saturday morning. Later that
> afternoon, the SEAL's sent over their RHIB with food and water to recon the
> life boat but the pirates shot at it. They could have taken them out then
> (from being fired upon) but were denied again being told that the captain
> was not in "imminent danger." The FBI negotiators calmed the situation by
> informing the pirates of threatening weather as they could see storm clouds
> closing from the horizon, and offered to tow the life boat. The pirates
> agreed, and BAINBRIDGE took them under tow in their wake at 30 meters--
> exactly 30 meters, which is exactly the distance the SEALs practice their
> shooting skills.
>
> With the lifeboat under tow, riding comfortably bow-down on BAINBRIDGE's
> wake-wave ("rooster tail"), had a 17-second period of harmonic motion, and
> at the end of every half-period (8.5 seconds) was steady on. The
> light-enhanced (infra-red heat) monocular scopes on the SEAL's .308 caliber
> Mark 11 Mod 0 H&K suppressor-fitted sniper rifles easily imaged their target
> very clearly. Pirates in a life boat at 30-meters could be compared to fish
> in a barrel. All that was necessary was to take out the plexiglass window
> so that it would not deflect the trajectory of the high velocity .308 round.
> So, a sniper (one of four) with a wad-cutter round (a flaxen sabot) would
> take out the window a split second before the kill-shot-- no change in
> sight-picture, just the window blowing out, clean.
>
> Now, here's the part BHO's "whiz kids" knew as well as the Navy hierarchy,
> including CO BAINBRIDGE and CO SEAL TEAM SIX. It's the law in Article 19 of
> Appendix L in the "Convention of the High Seas" that the Commanding Officer
> of a US Ship on the high seas is obligated to respond to distress signals
> from any flagged ship (US or otherwise), and protect the life and property
> thereof when deemed to be in IMMINENT DANGER. So, in the final analysis, it
> would be Captain Castellano call as to "Imminent Danger," and that he alone
> was obligated (duty bound) to act accordingly.
>
> Got the picture?
>
> After medically attending to the wounded pirated, and feeding him, come
> first light (from the east) on Easter Sunday morning and the pirates saw
> they were being towed further out to sea (instead of westward toward land),
> the wounded pirate demanded to be returned to the lifeboat. There would BE
> NO more negotiations-- and, the four Navy SEAL snipers "in the bubble" went
> "Unlock." The pirate holding Captain Philips raised the gun to his head,
> and IMMINENT DANGER was so observed and noted in the Log as CO BAINBRIDGE
> gave the classic order: WEAPONS RELEASED! I can hear the echo in my
> earpiece now, "On my count (from 8.5 seconds), 3, 2, 1, !" POP, BANG! Out
> went the window, followed by three simultaneous shots. The scoreboard
> flashed: "GAME OVER, GAME OVER-- NAVY 3, PIRATES 0!"
>
> I hope you found the above informative as best I know it-- and, please
> excuse me in that after more than 50 years the Navy is still in me. I
> submit that AMERICA is going to make a comeback, and more than likely it'll
> be on the back of our cherished youth serving with honor in Our military.
> So, let's
> Look Up, Get Up-- and, Never Give Up!
>
> God Bless Our Troops,
> and GOD SAVE AMERICA!
> USNA Class of 19??
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