Another helicopter down -- that's 4 birds in 2 weeks

That's so far above the operational loss levels that I don't even know what to say. It's also a worrisome geopolitical development: if US air power turns out to have a glass jaw, our main global military credibility is gone.

Anybody have word on what's happening here? Have insurgents just gotten lucky 4 times in a row? (I still don't buy that shooting down to Colonels and two Command Sergeants Major happened purely by luck.) Or are the insurgents deliberately trying to cripple our air power in advance of... something?

And who's doing this anyways? The death squads have the better equipment that makes a kill more likely -- watch this space for an accusation against Iran soon...

The insurgents have learned that the great firebirds are not invulnerable and they are targeting them...in the last 6 months there have been reports of the use of USSR manufactured "strella" missile-not state of the art, but a good step up from rpg's since they have actual targeting systems....so it's kind of what happened to the Russians in Afghanistan when the Muhadjideen got US built stingers....Neither do I doubt there has been a transfer of the tactics used in Afghanistan to lure the birds closer...Earlier this week in a different thread on military contracts granted this week at least 3 concerned upgrades to V-22 Ospreys (and Lord save the troops if these are EVER used in combat) and late model hueys-UH1Y's if I recall...we are so low on servicable helicopters, we are spending to recall some (great) has beens and some (bad) never weres....

I've ridden those deathtraps before (one of the ones that ended up crashing, in fact). If they use those the insurgents won't even need missiles... just sit back and let the things crash.

You're right, the hueys are great; we trained in air assault on those.

And I wouldn't trust anything that comes out of this government.

But I suspect the insurgency's closing in on all fronts and they're just seeing more targets.

From reading comments, it seems like a ground war would be really advantageous (not for us). Even with technology...night vision goggles etc, it seems like the numbers would work against US ground troops. I hope someone who knows more will comment because I don't think this is a good thing. I worry about the men and women who might be forced to fight on the ground. At the same time, I don't want to see blanketed air attacks because of the innocent people affected. The whole thing is messed-up.

Does anybody know?...