Pentagon officials revealed more details about the deadly ambush of U.S. special operations soldiers in Niger that occurred last fall, saying Thursday that issues with training, communication, and mission readiness contributed in some way to the incident.
Four U.S. soldiers were killed in the African nation after a group of Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists surprised U.S. and Nigerien troops on Oct. 4, 2017.
Officials at the Pentagon said Thursday the bodies of all four soldiers — Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, and Sgt. La David Johnson — had been stripped of their equipment by enemy forces. Three of the bodies were located near empty enemy vehicles, which indicated there was an attempt on the part of the terrorists to bring the bodies away with them.
A lengthy investigation discovered that the U.S. soldiers did not call for air support until 53 minutes after contact with the enemy forces began. Forty-seven minutes later, French fighter jets arrived on the scene in Tongo Tongo, Niger.
"The evidence would indicate that up until that point, they believed it was a small enemy force that they believed they could handle," said Army Maj. Gen. Roger L. Cloutier Jr., chief of staff for U.S. Africa Command and the lead investigating officer of the incident.
The Pentagon officials said there were three missions that took place Oct. 3-4, the first of which was "not properly characterized" by leadership on the ground. It was called a "civil military reconnaissance" mission on paperwork filed by commanders, but the investigation found that the information was identical to an earlier mission.
"It wasn't a deliberate attempt to deceive, it was a lack of attention to detail," Cloutier said.
In fact, the soldiers went out for the first mission to kill or capture a member of ISIS leadership.
It was during the third mission that the troops were surprised by the enemy forces. The area was deemed secure earlier on Oct. 3, and a reconnaissance aircraft was not in place on the evening of Oct. 3 or the following day when the fighting began.
A reconnaissance aircraft was overhead 1:31 after the first report of enemy contact.
Cloutier noted that training issues, soldier skills and requirements, the mischaracterization of missions, and communication among the chain of command were discovered during his investigation.
"All of our soldiers fought valiantly that day," he said. "None of those contributing factors were the direct cause of the attack in Tongo Tongo."
News reports over the last several months indicated that Sgt. La David Johnson may have been taken alive by the ISIS militants. A Pentagon press release about the report, which is more than 6,300 pages and has not yet been made public, said the wounds suffered by the four deceased Americans were "immediately fatal or rapidly fatal." No one was captured alive.
Johnson's body was found after all the others, and he had run nearly 1,000 meters away from the attack site to try to save himself under intense fire.
"Sgt. La David Johnson died actively engaging the enemy," said Marine Corps Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, commander of U.S. Africa Command. Waldhauser noted that there will be medals of valor given, although it's not yet clear who will receive them.
Waldhauser said the military has learned from mistakes made on the African continent and is addressing them head on.
"We are now far more prudent in our missions," he said. "We have beefed up a lot of things posture-wise in regards to these missions."
Waldhauser noted that the military is making sure mission objectives are properly indicated moving forward.
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