Ich meine jetzt, die Leute, die dort wirklich gelandet sind und ihn mitgenommen haben.
Hier ist eine Beschreibung der Aktion mit eingesetztem Gerät:
(Quelle:
http://www.f-16.net/varia_article10.html)
The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is no stranger to risky missions--or tragedy. It was the unit decimated in Beirut in 1983 when a suicide truck bomber destroyed its barracks, killing 241 servicemen. Two of their CH-53 helicopters, which would carry a total of 43 marines--riflemen, assault climbers, medics, a communications team and an interpreter--were already sitting on their assigned takeoff spots on the Kearsarge's 800-foot-long flight deck. The Marine TRAP team, shorthand for Tactical Recovery of Aircraft Personnel, grabbed its gear and weapons and then assembled in the ship's hangar bay.
At five minutes past 5 the first of the big cargo helicopters lifted off, followed by two AH-1W Cobra gunships and two AV-8 Harrier jump jets. In the skies above the Adriatic and Bosnia, an armada of 40 aircraft, jammers and fighters and an AWACS air-traffic-control plane assembled for the mission. But the jets were slow to arrive. Berndt's helicopter circled for 45 long minutes before the force was ready to head ashore.
It took little more than 10 minutes for the helicopters to cross the beach--"feet dry" in Marine lingo. The marines flew head-on into the sunrise; the beauty of the morning was lost on Berndt, who would rather have flown at night, when darkness would have masked his slow-moving choppers from Serb gunners.
The marines, 50-mm machine guns peeking from their helicopters, flew through valleys just atop banks of fog, using them for cover. As they approached the last ridge line before reaching O'Grady, the two CH-53s began to circle; the two Cobra helicopters continued forward. As the lead Cobra crossed the ridge, it reached O'Grady by radio for the first time. O'Grady spotted the Cobras and guided them to the landing zone he had selected, a clearing big enough for the two sprawling helicopters to land but wit h covering trees nearby. He "popped a smoke," a smoke canister that would mark his location. "I see your yellow smoke," the Cobra commander responded.
As soon as the first CH-53 landed, more than 20 marines scrambled down its back ramp to secure the perimeter. The second chopper then set down on the remains of an old fence. Its tail blocked, it had to lift off and land again. Seconds later the pilot burst out of the pines, pistol in hand.
Hunched low against the rotor-whipped wind, he made for Dash 2, the second helicopter, where Berndt pulled him aboard. "I'm ready to get the hell out of here," O'Grady said. The crew wrapped a blanket around the shivering pilot, who collapsed, relieved and exhausted. The marine riflemen climbed back aboard. The whole operation had taken perhaps three minutes--"textbook," it would be called later. Aboard Dash 2, O'Grady was hungry. Five minutes into the flight, he was eating, a week of insects and grass making even the military's notoriously unappetizing plastic-packed MREs (meals ready to eat) plenty appealing.
O'Grady was not home yet, though. The marines and their precious passenger were still flying low over Serb-held Bosnia, the sun at their back rising higher in the East.
New threats. American jets detected a Serb missile radar along the Croatian coast, scanning for targets. An American plane recommended destroying the Serb radar, code-named Giraffe. The request was denied, partly out of concern that a strike could spark wider conflict.
Minutes later the marines reported they were under fire. Two shoulder-held surface-to-air missiles had been launched at them but missed, as the helicopter pilots--flying 150 feet off the ground at 175 mph--jinked to evade them. Serb small arms pocked both helicopters; the marines aboard heard the shells hit inside the fuselage. One door gunner returned fire. But they were almost safe: At a quarter past 7, 30 minutes after picking up O'Grady, the rescuers reported "feet wet," meaning they were over water . The Kearsarge was just 15 minutes away.