Mogadishu Survivor Killed in Iraq Black Hawk Crash

[45th Med]

By Don Teague
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 6:32 p.m. ET Jan. 09, 2004

Above all things, Chief Warrant Officer Aaron Weaver was a survivor. As a 22-year-old sergeant, Weaver was part of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia — where 18 U.S. Army soldiers lost their lives.

The fight was chronicled in the movie “Blackhawk Down.”



Somalia survivor killed in Iraq

[Racenut20]

1. Is this the CWO from Crystal River, Fl.

That we heard here on "Iraq Watch" (local station) this morning. It didn't mention the history, just that a local CWO was killed in the black hawk. Guess the body bag will be home soon.

[lebkuchen]

10. I haven't heard much of anything about that helo crash the other day

It was a medivac, right? W/nine on board, were the passengers being medivacked out? To Germany? For what injuries and what attack before the helo crash?

[maggrwaggr]

12. It was SHOT DOWN

It wasn't a crash. Just another Pentagon lie.

I'm so sick of these fuckers lying to us.

Remember the soldiers who were dragged from the car and smashed and mutilated? Remember the other helicopter "crashes" that they admitted later were of course shot down?

This one was shot down, too, witnesses saw it being shot down and yet the media, even though they've been lied to repeatedly in the past!! -- still repeats Pentagon lies.

The media is like one of those wives who get beat up again and again and again ....... you just wonder "why?"

[TacticalPeek]

2. And Les Aspin resigned.

Rummy? Wolfie?

:grr:

[0007]

3. Is this propaganda or is it true?

[alcuno]

4. True. It's even worse. Apparently he had testicular cancer and

got the military to approve his going to Iraq. He was on the helicopter because he was on his way for a medical checkup. I can't make this stuff up. They just had an interview with his parents on Olberman's show on MSNBC.

[0007]

15. Do you indeed think that the U.S. would use this man's parents

as shills? Who'd ever thought that this John Wayne type of guy would become a national hero?

If Jessica died, she would be a hero too. No doubt about it!

[ET Awful]

5. Link to full story

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3920150/

[tabasco]

6. Clinton was excoriated for the Mogadishu casualties.

Emperor Bush I sent us into Somalia with little more than a month left in his term. Nice way to set up your successor for success, asshole. How many have we lost now in Iraq in dead, maimed, and ruined lives? An unnecessary war to find NUKES, CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL weapons that did not exist. The world told us but we did not listen. Now we admit there were no WMD. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

[Sterling]

8. Did you know according to MSNBC's "Blackhawk Down"special

OBL was involved in the ambush on our troops in 1993? You pointed out Bush 1 sent our boys in as a lame duck. Why do you think he did that?

I know but I would like to see if anyone else can connect the dots first.

[tabasco]

34. I was in Mogadishu at the time.

The reason the Ranger task force was in-country was because Aidid's militia had ambushed and killed 22 Pakistanis. As far as I heard from intel briefs, it was Aidid's militia that ambushed the Rangers, too. That part of Mogadishu was Aidid's turf. It sounds to me like MSNBC is pulling something out of their ass.

[lovedems]

7. God, that sucks. I must have seen the documentary Blackhawk Down

10 times. While the documentary is completely moving and totally tragic, I am always so proud of Clinton at the end and how he got the one captured soldier back. It was a sucky situation God that man kicked ass.

This is so sad. Now that stories like this are surfacing, I can't wait to see the next poll on "was the Iraq war worth it?" I don't think it is getting better anytime soon, that's for sure. Man, this is a bummer.

[45th Med]

9. This affects me personally....

I used to be a flight medic. :sad:

[DemoTex]

28. I was a CWO Army pilot

Kicks me in the gut too.

[maggrwaggr]

11. Why the fuck are they still calling it a "crash?"

and why does the media let them?

That pisses me off more than anything else.

The fucking helicopter was SHOT DOWN.

[pintobean]

38. Because it was a crash.

When the chopper was shot, it stopped flying in a controlled manner. When it hit the ground, it’s called a crash.
Suppose a car with four people in it is traveling down the highway at 70 mph. The driver has a seizure, looses control, and hits a tree, killing all four. Did they all die of a seizure, or did they die in a crash? It is a crash. It takes time to determine the cause.

[VolcanoJen]

13. What a tragic, awful coincidence.

Thank you for posting this, 45th Med. May CWO Weaver rest in peace.

:-(

[soup]

14. local article

more info here:

>But Thursday, while Weaver was en route to a medical exam to ensure that his cancer hadn't returned, a rocket shot down the medevac helicopter carrying Weaver. He and eight other soldiers died near Fallujah, Iraq.

"He's made it through everything else," his sister, Shannon Felicetta of Tarpon Springs, said Friday. "Why couldn't he have made it through this?"

The death sent Weaver's father on a mission to get his other two sons out of combat. Steve, 39, a Hawaii-based Army helicopter pilot, is scheduled to head to Afghanistan. Ryan, 30, a Black Hawk pilot, is already stationed at Baghdad International Airport, 60 miles from the site of the crash that killed his brother.<
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/10/Tampabay/No_warning_this_time.shtml

RIP

[farmbo]

16. May God welcome you into his loving arms, CWO Weaver

And may we never ask your comrades to sacrifice their lives and limbs in a vanity war again.

[saigon68]

17. Champagne party at the Ranch

I'm sure the attendees from Halliburton, Bechtel etc at the ranch this week-end could give a RAT'S ASS about CWO Weaver.

[TacticalPeek]

18. Got that right.

Rocket fodder to them.

:grr:

[DemoTex]

29. Bingo Saigon68

Bing-fucking-O

[northzax]

19. unpopular position to follow:

I'm sorry, but CWO Weaver was (apparently) an asshole (and death doesn't diminish that) anyone who is so eager to leave his wife and new born baby to go fight in a war, while already suffering from Cancer, has some serious issues. He was sick, his family needed him at home, and he begged to leave. tha't not a hero to me. No hero begs to go to a war.

[TacticalPeek]

20. Not serious issues. Just a serious soldier.

He was a lifer. Fighting our wars was his job, which he obviously took seriously. And unless you knew the guy, you don't know whether he was an asshole or not.

Many jobs in the military services require that one be separated from family. Part of the package.

When you've spent your career training and working with your unit, you really, really want to be on the bus when they deploy. And you don't get to pick your wars, unless you're the commander-in-chief. And that's the problem here: our chickenhawk, AWOL, son-of-a-bitch president.

[djeseru]

21. Isn't that the catch?

This AWOL "President" and his cronies knew full well how soldiers think and took full advantage of that; they knew soldiers would never question their "reasons" for war, do as they're told and never question orders. It's sickening how these "criminals" are looting not just our tax dollars but also these men and women who risk everything.


*Edit for typo...

[northzax]

23. no, he picked this war

don't forget that. He begged his doctors, the military doctors, to let him go, against medical advice. What sort of resources was his cancer diverting from the unit as a whole? is it the practice of the Army to medivac all soldiers across hostile territory for "routine checkups?"

[45th Med]

22. That is totally uncalled for and ILL-MANNERED.....

to speak ill of the dead. This man sacrificed his life for this country and the last thing we need is another Vietnam syndrome where the country is ungrateful to our soldiers/sailors/airmen.

Speak badly all you want about our POS POTUS, but give our soldiers the benefit of the doubt. Those soldiers who have done wrong, wronged others will be dealt with accordingly.

Making sacrifices (and in this case the ultimate sacrifice) is part and parcel of a soldiers job.

[northzax]

24. death does not confer sainthood

on anyone. if this soldier hadn't fought to overrule medical advice and been so eager to go to war, there would be two things different today:

1: that helicopter taking him for a "routine medical exam" would not have been shot down, killing 8 others.
2: his infant child would still have a father.

are we so desperate for soldiers that we use patients with life-threatening diseases? there is a point at which 'heroism' becomes foolishness, where people use one responsibility to shirk another.

don't get me wrong, there are many, many heroes in uniform for this (and most other) countries. Just as there are many heroes who are police officers, fire fighters, teachers, search and rescuers and in every other line of work, but the donning of a uniform or badge does not neccesarily make a hero out of you.

and who is really making the sacrifice here, by the way? the soldier, who knows nothing now, or his daughter, who will never have a father? The responsiblity of parenthood is sacrosant, he fought to avoid that duty. for that, in my eyes, he's not a hero. sorry.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[0rganism]

31. Maybe he got addicted?

Flying around, getting shot at lots, butchering your enemies... I could see how some folks would get used to the frequent adrenaline rushes, the high-stakes gambling. I don't want to glorify the situation, but you have to admit it's an extreme career.

"When I was here, I wanted to be there, when I was there all I could think of was getting back into the jungle." (Willard/Apocalypse Now)

[pintobean]

37. Fueling the flames.

Posts like this get copied and pasted all over the internet, as well as read on various broadcasts. Then, as a group, Duers are labeled as unpatriotic.

[Bonobo]

25. No sarcasm intended but karma is a powerful thing.

It's either a tremendous coincedence or it is karma in action. Just my opinion.

[CRK7376]

27. Eatmebush and Northzax

are pissing me off. How dare you pontificate about the CWO not doing his duty to his family. He was, and died a hero as did all the other 493+ troops in Iraq. Just because we have men and women who do not publically "dis" the Pres or volunteer to go in harm's way does not mean he is shirking his duty. Just the opposite, you train and train and train and want to be with your unit and buddies. Does that mean he's actively seeking a war, no, but he stood ready to go, volunteered to seperate from his family even when he had a medical reason not to go, to go so that others did not have to....I salute the Chief and his family. It's called sacrifice..how many of you would be willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice? Ask a soldier and they may not want to, but will not hesitate for their unit or buddy. Yes there are some out there that are war junkies and just have to be there or want it so badly....our pres is not one of them, he deserted/AWOL etc...THis has me so frustrated. Bush, Iraq, Afghanistan....and I've done time in the "Stan"....and am once again currently separated from my family for way to long but it's called service to one's country....

[NickB79]

35. Have to agree with Northzax on this one

The man was sick, in need of treatment for cancer, and his wife had a newborn child to raise on her own, yet he still pushed to be allowed to leave and fight? He left behind his wife and children when he didn't have to. That is not doing his duty to his family, that is suicidal. I have known several families that barely held together with both spouses there when one had cancer; to include one of them CHOOSING to go off to fight in a war would have broken most. If he had been ordered over there to fight, I would have placed all the blame on Bush, where it would belong. However, this man had the chance to not go over there, and to stay with his wife and children and fight his cancer. He chose poorly, and he has to shoulder some of the blame.

[0007]

30. Was an oncologist on the medical staff for one cancer patient?

[DemoTex]

32. Ever seen 37s or 57s or SAMS coming up at you? At night?

I have. Plenty of times on the Ho Chi Mihn Trail at night.

[0007]

33. Bet that will make your kister pucker up!

[The_Casual_Observer]

36. He finally got his fill

They should put little statues of this "Saint" at every gas station in the country.

[gauguin57]

39. when I look at the faces ...

... of this brave man's wife and little daughter ... all I can say is, "Thanks, George, you lying sack of poop!"

You just HAD to get us into Iraq! The PNAC-ers (and Halliburton, and the rest of the military-industrial complex) would accept nothing less.

You, Dubya, and your cabal of warmongering chickenhawks, are nothing but a pack of amoral, murdering bastards. You have so much blood on your hands that if you sell off all your possessions tomorrow and do non-stop charity work for the rest of your lives, you MAY be able to buy your way out of Hell by the year 2125!