OPINION:
While the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was inquiring Wednesday into President Obama’s request for authorization to use military force against the Islamic State, or ISIS, a more immediate drama about a military force was playing out over the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of northwest Florida.
A Black Hawk helicopter crashed into the Gulf, not far from Eglin Air Force Base, and seven Marines and four soldiers rode it down into the dark water and are presumed dead. They were practicing “insertion and extraction missions,” using small boats and helicopters to get troops up close to a target. The Marines were from Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina; the soldiers were members of a Louisiana National Guard unit based in Hammond, Louisana.
The tragedy illustrates in vivid detail how courage, bravery and sacrifice in service is not limited to combat. They also serve, with their lives on the line, who train and wait for a call. In January, two Marines died when their helicopter went down at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California. Two months later, a pilot died when his F/A-18C Hornet crashed in western Nevada. Unfortunately, these are not isolated and uncommon events.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter prefaced his testimony to Congress with words of condolence to the families of those who died, reminding us all of the brave who deploy their commitment to the nation before they are summoned to battle. The search for the missing Army helicopter was hampered by heavy fog in the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday morning, but first responders pushed on. The role of helicopters, particularly the Black Hawk, is a celebrated one. The Black Hawk has been the workhorse of the Army since 1979, ferrying troops to and from battlefields, performing search and rescue missions and evacuating the wounded. The skies over Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Haiti were dotted by Black Hawks using state-of-the-art equipment to perform their duties.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, correctly observes that the crash is “a reminder to us that those who serve put themselves at risk, both in training and in combat. We will work with the services to ensure that their family members will be well cared for.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, and Secretary of State John F. Kerry tangled at Wednesday’s hearings by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee over the particulars of how to deal with a mortal threat from Iran. The sacrifice of the warriors in waiting is a needed reminder of the peril to those who carry policy into war.
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