He had 30 years and had been a dad for three months. Sergeant Matthew McClintock, is the green cap who died a few hours ago during a mission classified in the province of Helmand, in Afghanistan.
The 5 January of the 2016 - writes his wife Alexandra on facebook - the bravest man I've ever met, my husband, the love of my life, was killed in action. He always wanted to be a father and I was lucky to have given him a son that he was able to meet and love with all his heart.
McClintock had already been deployed to Iraq in the 2007, before being selected, in May of the 2009, by US military special forces. After training in green caps, he carried out numerous shifts in Afghanistan between August of 2012 and May of 2013.
He was not just a soldier - declared General Bret Daugherty, commander of the National Guard of Washington - it was a green cap, the best of the best. Men like him carry out secret missions in all parts of the world to protect our freedom. McClintock was killed during a firefight in the district of Marjah, in the province of Helmand. Two other American soldiers and four Afghan soldiers were injured.
There is no information on the dynamics of the death of the green cap. From the Pentagon they speak exclusively of "small-caliber enemy fire". Information on the mission is classified. Officially, US special forces should not have been in Marjah. But something went wrong and the American unit found itself facing what they called a "Taliban tide" from the Pentagon. The battle lasted over an hour.
To try to evacuate the wounded and protect the small team, the US sent six F-16s, four A-10s and an AC-130 gunboat to the area for a total of twelve combined air strikes. One of the two Medevac helicopters sent to pick up the wounded would not have been able to take off because of enemy artillery fire. This version was then changed to an "accident at one of the helicopter's rotor blades". However, what could prove to be a real massacre for US forces has been averted.
The operation was and remains classified, but the Pentagon expected a possible enemy counteroffensive. He probably hoped it wouldn't happen, but contrary to what was assumed in the past few hours, the US reacted immediately and forcefully.
Several rapid reaction teams - write from the Pentagon - they were immediately sent to the area to filter the wounded and create a defensive perimeter around the aircraft. Only in the late afternoon yesterday, in fact, the helicopter was recovered, while Afghan forces entered Marjah.
The Pentagon statement ends like this: the Taliban threat in the area has been canceled. In jargon means that the green cap has been avenged.
Meanwhile, in the province of Helmand, fighting continues.
