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Out of the ashes...

By Dusty (AKA Attila of Argghhh!) on April 25, 2005 | | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (2)

Twenty-five years ago yesterday, a couple of classmates of mine went on a mission from which many did not return. One of my buds was laid up in the burn center at Brooks for awhile but he's OK now. The Air Force took the most casualties (5 dead) and the Marines came in second (3 dead). Many were captured and the snake-eaters supporting the op almost got bagged to boot.

Fast forward...the sole USAF helo pilot involved, Col (Ret) Russell "Rotor" Rakip, died this past year and when he did, the blue suiters lost a fighter.

Desert One sucked, but out of the ashes rose what is today the most formidable special forces capability on the face of the earth. Colonel Rakip helped make it so. I never knew him, but my classmates did and they miss him...a lot.

Rest in Peace, Rotor. You made a difference...probably more than you know.

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12 Comments

By Barb on April 25, 2005 1:19 PM
Dusty - thanks for the reminder. That we learned valuable lessons from such a mission is very good. May we never need to learn those lessons again.
 
By kat-missouri on April 25, 2005 4:31 PM
We've always learned our lessons hard. It's the unfortunate nature of the beast. But the beast doesn't forget when it loses a strip of it's hide. I saw it on the news today. The anniversary of the attempt to rescue the hostages. The beginning of our new war before the old one was over. I won't forget.
 
By Sgt. B. on April 25, 2005 4:53 PM
Thanks for the heads up, Dusty... I remember when this happened... Semper Fi, Colonel Rakip, Godspeed.
 
By Barb on April 25, 2005 5:12 PM
There's a press release from the DoD here as well.
 
By cw4billt on April 25, 2005 7:15 PM
Colonel, I have a bunch of good friends saving you a seat at a spot where you can rest on your journey. Place is called Fiddler's Green. Look for the Army guys wearing the 162d patches. They were good pilots, too--you'll like 'em.
 
By Neffi on April 25, 2005 8:04 PM
..and Colonel- the 3/7 Cav guys'll stand you a round, too. Don't mind their coarse manners, they ain't sophisterkated like the pilots but their hearts are in the right place. Soft in the gloam of an endless field Strides a man; no more the sword doth he wield Duty is fair done, and none shall bemoan- The soldier is home, again with his own I was on duty that day...
 
By 74 on April 25, 2005 8:53 PM
I remember that well. I was aboard the USS Okinawa (LPH-3) in the Gulf of Oman. About 3 or 4 days before the launch of the mission, we received a message to launch a CH-53 and send it over to the Nimitz. Unknown to us, they planned to cannibilize it if necessary to keep up the birds that were actually going to fly the mission. Ours couldn't have gone because in those days, the USMC 53's didn't have refueling probes. Turns out that one of their pilots got sick and they briefed our pilot into the mission. He was the one that had to turn around in the sandstorm. When we heard about what had happened, our folks went ballistic because no one would tell them if our guys were OK. OPSEC--'ya gotta love it!
 
By SangerM on April 25, 2005 9:07 PM
I've met one of the pilots of one of the C-130s on that day, and listened several times to the story of what went wrong, what went right, etc. There's a LOT to the story, but here's a side story that not many people know... A former coworker is a retired AF EOD type--a very good EOD type at that. A short time ago, he was in the base gym when he was approached by a man who asked his name, and when told, replied "I've been looking for you for almost 24 years!" My coworked did not recognize the man, but it turned out he had met him, briefly, once before. In fact, shortly after the disaster, an AF team was sent in to destroy the remaining equipment (to blow it in place). My coworker was one of those guys. While wiring one of the aircraft, he heard a moan, and finding a wounded man among the wreckage, he slung him over his shoulder, took him out to a medical team, and returned to setting the charges. He never saw that fellow again until last year at the base gym. Amazingly small world isn't it? Also, for the record, the failure of the Iranian Hostage Rescue is the reason the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) was created. SOCOM is one of the main reasons the US has been able to do the things it has done in OEF, OIF, and elsewhere around the world for the past 3 years. I cannot begin to tell you how much real good has come from that colossal screw-up in the desert, but you can feel heartened that America today is far, far better able to defend itself, and "take the war to the enemy" than it might otherwise have been able to do. If there is any consolation in failure, it must be found in the lessons others learn that save lives and ensure mission success. ~SangerM
 
By Fuzzybear Lioness on April 25, 2005 9:40 PM
Thank you all for the education. I've long known about the mess of that mission (though I wasn't old enough to be aware of it at the time), but I had no idea of the long-lasting positive impact it has had.
 
By Neffi on April 25, 2005 9:59 PM
Sanger- not to be flip- but any retired EOD type was a good EOD type... ;)
 
By SangerM on April 25, 2005 10:44 PM
Neffi, I actually thought something like that when I wrote it...and that's kind of what I meant. That same fellow also has pictures of minefields he cleared after the first gulf war (HUNDREDS of mines buried in the endlessly shifting sand). _I_ was impressed...
 
By Punctilious on April 26, 2005 8:20 PM
I remember the overwhelming sadness I experienced hearing the news of this event. After years of President Carter in a cardigan sweater telling us that we were all bad kids and had to freeze and eat gruel it felt like one more example of American failure. President Reagan started the process of uplifting our collective American spirit and restoring our faith in the military. I can't hear the song Coming to America without hearing the echoes of the news reports telling us the hostages had been freed. It doesn't surprise me that the amazing men and women in our armed forces have been able to take this tragedy and turn it into knowledge leading to future triumphs. I only wish the only adverse conditions our military had to face came from the soon to be defeated enemy and not from the negative attitude snarking sweater brigade here.