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I've been reading up on the Panama Campaign, since my knowledge of the operation is vague to say the least, and I came across the Patilla Field mission performed by the Navy SEALs.

Now, from what I gathered, the mission was a result of the Navy wanting in on the action the rest of the US Army was getting, so the SEALs got to do two things: Disabling gen. Noriega's boat and his LearJet.

The second mission is what is known as Patilla Field, since that was the name of the airfield where the target was ; It was conducted by a very large SEALs force (50 men or so), and they were supposed to infiltrate the airfield, disable the Lear inside the hangar and block the runway with small airplanes.

They had an impressive array of weaponry, and even an AC-130 assigned to them.

Well, the entire op was generally a fiasco, but I couldn't help but wonder.

Why, exactly, didn't the Air Force (or, hell, even that AC-130) just blast the hangar along with the LearJet into little pices?

Is this the one where the SEALS go up against Panamanians armed with AK-47s with MP-5s and get shot to pieces?

MKSheppard wrote:Is this the one where the SEALS go up against Panamanians armed with AK-47s with MP-5s and get shot to pieces?

Not quite, but the plan does sound like something from a bad action movie.

Essentially, a 50 odd man SEAL platoon was to be inserted into an airfield were Noriega had his learjet. They would climb a cliff near the end of the runway, then move across a mile of lighted pavement, disable the airplane and push light aircraft onto the tarmac to block it.

They were actually armed properly, but when guards woke up, they caught most SEALs outside, in the open, illuminated by landing lights. Eight dead, God knows how many wounded.

While this was happening, there was an AC-130 circling in the area, but they couldn't raise it on radio.

As I was reading this, I couldn't help but wonder: Why the hell didn't the AC-130 just blow that hangar to hell? I mean, it was just sheet metal...

I was really hoping there was some proper reason, because otherwise it seems like the US Navy was full of fucking retards.