Former Navy SEAL: Loss of 20 will not stop SEAL Team Six

A US flag is flown at half staff near the base of Navy Seal Team Six in Virginia Beach , Va., (AP Photo)

Twenty Navy SEALS were among 30 Americans and eight Afghans killed when a Taliban insurgent downed their Chinook helicopter on Saturday, but a former member of the elite fighting force says don’t expect the loss to slow the remaining team.

“As SEALs we don’t mourn like “normal people” do. What we do is celebrate the lives of our buddies, and the way we do that is have a toast, and then we celebrate their lives by going out and working and honoring their memories by maintaining our operational readiness,” said former Navy SEAL Chris Heben, in an appearance on 97.3 KIRO FM’s Ron & Don Show.

Many of the Americans who died in the attack were members of the Navy’s SEAL Team Six, the unit that conducted the raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan. But none of the SEALs killed in the crash took part in the bin Laden mission. The official name of the SEAL team is the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.

The 30 U.S. troops, seven Afghan commandos, and an Afghan interpreter who died, were taking part in one of thousands of nighttime operations being conducted annually across the nation.

The troops were packed into the twin-rotor chopper that was reportedly fired on by an insurgent rocket-propelled grenade.

Heben says the loss is compounded by the fact that the troops were not in a position to defend themselves on the ground.

“If these guys had been boots on the ground engaged in close-quarters combat with their rifles and their pistols, and fragmentation grenades, and hand-to-hand stuff, and 22 of them were killed, that’s what we accept, that’s the risk that we take. But just to lose these guys in a helicopter before they could even take the fight to the enemy, it’s disgusting.”

Listen to interview: Former Navy SEAL Chris Heben

Saturday’s crash of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter was deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the war. Heben estimates there are around 2400 SEALS, and losing 20 is a big hit.

“These guys are national assets, that’s a fact. They’re national treasures,” says Heben. “By the time a SEAL is done with his 30-month training program, it costs the government about $2 million to create each one of those guys. It’s a significant investment.”

Heben says those lost “will be remembered in perpetuity,” and as for the remaining team members, “These guys are relentless. They do not stop. They don’t quit. This isn’t going to slow them down one second. As a matter of fact, they’re all geared up and ready to go back and lay the smack down again.”

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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