Ranger Mass-Cas In Afghanistan: The Airborne Ranger In The Sky

A Mass Casualty event is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. When a military unit sustains so many injuries that it can no longer support itself, it becomes what is known as a Mass-Cas event. This doesn’t happen very often, thankfully, although we know of some other examples where casualties became overwhelming, such as Operation Gothic Serpent or the Extortion 17 crash.

One such event happened Saturday night to 3rd Ranger Battalion during a night operation in Southern Afghanistan.

A Ranger Platoon infiltrated the objective area by helicopter and soon came under attack. The details are still vague and we won’t speculate or armchair quarterback from a distance. We do know that the Rangers were hit both by command detonated Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) and enemy combatants wearing suicide vests.

Four friendlies were killed in the blast, two Rangers and two enablers. Others were critically wounded during the series of detonations, many of them still in intensive care with serious injuries. The numbers of Wounded in Action are worse than anything I’ve heard in recent years.

While the media has reported on Sunday that Delta Force flawlessly executed a capture operation in Libya, and SEAL Team Six wisely aborted their mission in Somalia without taking casualties, the 75th Ranger Regiment was not so fortunate that same weekend. The New York Times reported on the casualties but rightly withheld the details until the families could be notified. The names have not been released by SOCOM, and we ask that people not post any names until after that time.

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