tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post115668795482538749..comments2024-03-26T16:03:42.608-06:00Comments on Flares into Darkness: Operation Praying Mantisambisinistralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03836786826294202405noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-16839348969726312562014-04-01T12:24:50.703-06:002014-04-01T12:24:50.703-06:00i was one of the first marines to fast rope off th...i was one of the first marines to fast rope off the helo that day onto the sasson platform. proud day for our unit. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18082996748056204013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-14030195246729746232012-01-03T13:00:35.918-07:002012-01-03T13:00:35.918-07:00I was part of the operation preying mantis aboard ...I was part of the operation preying mantis aboard uss coronado agf-11. Remember it well we were all on high alert those days. GQ was a common thing in the gulf when ever a plane flew over.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-36526485147453437152010-12-21T18:36:56.284-07:002010-12-21T18:36:56.284-07:00I was also in HML/A-167. I was the aviation safet...I was also in HML/A-167. I was the aviation safety officer for the squadron and did the investigation of the wreckage. Captains Leslie and Hill (Hook and Grinch) were two of the best Cobra pilots the Marines have ever had. They served their nation proudly that day. I have visited their graves many times at Arlington.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17727737778801829630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-82960227818202763102008-10-26T22:37:00.000-06:002008-10-26T22:37:00.000-06:00I was there aboard the Trenton and Capt Lelslie wa...I was there aboard the Trenton and Capt Lelslie was my OIC and a damn find Marine. I also was part of the team that took apart and boxed up that cobra. Any questions just mail me and I'll answer best I can.WilliamDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08245595958616095107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-41304371666896689792008-07-20T14:40:00.000-06:002008-07-20T14:40:00.000-06:00I too was there. I was on the staff of COMCURDEGRU...I too was there. I was on the staff of COMCURDEGRU Three, Admiral Guy Zeller's staff. <BR/>I was one of his staff officers.<BR/>I was in the command center when the airborn E-2 was asked by the F-14's to "take" the hostile air off the coast of Iran. The hostile had a previously existing comair designation matching it on the JOTS screen. They were in tandem. I recommended the contact not be taken, as it was most likely the daily Airbus which those of us who regularly stood watch had seen there. It proved to be comair.<BR/>USS Vincennes later did a splash of a bogey on what I heard was a similar profile, which also proved to be comair.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13295691687141585319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-25045113358734854062007-04-02T13:34:00.000-06:002007-04-02T13:34:00.000-06:00I have written a book about the U.S. military in t...I have written a book about the U.S. military in the Persian Gulf during the years 1987-1988. <BR/><BR/>http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Danger-Zone-Military-1987-1988/dp/1591149703Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09487222592433878316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1156729319349352842006-08-27T19:41:00.000-06:002006-08-27T19:41:00.000-06:00Praying Mantis was a part of the Ernest Will takne...Praying Mantis was a part of the Ernest Will takner escort operations. An excellent account of that operation can be found <A HREF="http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/jfq_pubs/0629.pdf" REL="nofollow">here.</A><BR/><BR/>If you don't remember much of the Hercules barge in the news, that's because it wasn't publicized. <BR/><BR/>A little story about some field engineers that the Army requested we provide... one of my guys balked at going over for his stint aboard the barge. After giving him the choice of changing jobs or going, he finally decided he would go, like the other guys did. Wouldn't you know that his tour aboard the Hercules resulted in the one time that the barge commander thought they were coming under attack. In the end, there were only frayed nerves. Murphy's law I guess.<BR/><BR/>sssammy smallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15130046727423590084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1156706935546439072006-08-27T13:28:00.000-06:002006-08-27T13:28:00.000-06:00I have an oddball conection to that battle. One of...I have an oddball conection to that battle. One of the DDGs involved in it, the <A HREF="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.navybook.com/nohigherhonor/art/ddg8.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.navybook.com/nohigherhonor/pic-prayingmantis.shtml&h=194&w=450&sz=20&hl=en&start=10&tbnid=x0OzMXTA9Xb2xM:&tbnh=55&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dddg8%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN" REL="nofollow">Lynde McCormack (DDG8)</A>, was a ship I served on. <BR/><BR/>I remember watching it shelling one of the platforms on the nightly news. It kept missing, a fact that didn't really surprise me because when I was aboard it we couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with those blasted guns. From the looks of the platform, they did manage to get its range eventually.<BR/><BR/>Another piece of Lynda Maru trivia -- during the Yom Kippur war it was deployed with a TF built around the Enterprise to the Middle East. While there we patrolled the Gulfs of Oman and Aden. Eventually the McCormack and another destroyer ran a South Yemani (backed by Somalia) blockade of the Bab El-Mendab straights and entered the Red Sea, where we lucked out and got a port call in Massawa Ethiopia.<BR/><BR/>As far as I know it was the first large scale deployment of US forces to the western side of the Indian Ocean. We had been sailing in the Gulf of Tonkin when the Yom Kippur war started. <BR/><BR/>I guess you could say that, without knowing it at the time, I crossed the interface between the late 20th Century Cold War and the Jihadi Wars of the 21st Century those many years ago.ambisinistralhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03836786826294202405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1156693754828214682006-08-27T09:49:00.000-06:002006-08-27T09:49:00.000-06:00Lurker:I hope not. To be truthful I don't think [k...Lurker:<BR/><BR/>I hope not. To be truthful I don't think [knock on wood] it is necessary. I don't think most people, and that includes most Americans, have any idea just how much damage we can do with conventional weapons, if we really let em fly.terryehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16609746018265953069noreply@blogger.com