Article

2009-01-05 Iraq

Navy to consider closing case of missing pilot, Michael Speicher

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Posted by Steve White 2009-01-05 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 ...Part of the problem here is that CAPT Speicher was shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 that the USAF and USN AWACS ships on duty that night never saw. Admitting that a Foxbat got past all that radar would be a devastating admission that something as big, dumb, and ugly as a Foxbat actually has a chance in combat against US air.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2009-01-05 05:14|| 2009-01-05 05:14|| Front Page Top

#2 In Kosovo, Mig29s who are far better than Mig 25s were routinely downed by FA/18s without dropping a sweat.

Could it be a case of friendly fire?

Posted by JFM">JFM 2009-01-05 05:45|| 2009-01-05 05:45|| Front Page Top

#3 I seem to remember reports of human error due to work overload of the AWACS crew. There were hundreds of plane in the air that night. Both the F-18s and AWACS detected the Foxbat but the F-18s did not receive clearance to fire.

Posted by ed 2009-01-05 06:46|| 2009-01-05 06:46|| Front Page Top

#4 The Defense Intelligence Agency, which tracks missing-soldier cases and works with other intelligence agencies, submitted its latest report last fall. "Capt. Speicher's status remains a top priority for the Navy and the U.S. government,"

If the public only knew. I wish Ralph Peters would write a book about out government's "missing soldier" and MIA/POW efforts.

Posted by Besoeker 2009-01-05 07:30|| 2009-01-05 07:30|| Front Page Top

#5 I think they really really looked for the guy. He's just not there. I can't remember whether they found his plane. Short of combing the dessert with MAD I don't know how they would. It must be frustrating for the family to have had som many whiffs of seeming information. It is doubtful that credible records still exist after the loot-fest that followed the invasion. I don't think Sadaam's hired the most gifted records keepers either. Finding some Iraqi that will string the family along is another thing alltogether.

Posted by Super Hose 2009-01-05 07:41|| 2009-01-05 07:41|| Front Page Top

#6 I think if the guy was alive, we would have seen or heard something by now. It's been 18 years, let the guy rest in peace for christ's sake.

Posted by bigjim-ky 2009-01-05 09:31|| 2009-01-05 09:31|| Front Page Top

#7 i agree bigjim but remember there are still a few who hope for POWs from Vietb=nam too return still

Posted by rabid whitetail 2009-01-05 12:23|| 2009-01-05 12:23|| Front Page Top

#8 There's a presumption of death at common law if you're gone for seven years without being heard from. A lot of states have shortened that to five years.

Eighteen years . . . I'm sorry, but the odds are seriously against finding him alive.

Posted by Mike 2009-01-05 14:33|| 2009-01-05 14:33|| Front Page Top

#9 IIRC, bits and pieces of his Hornet were found, but no evidence of his ejection seat or chute were by the wreckage. I agree, please let him Rest in Peace and may his family finally begin to work on healing that wound. False hopes only destroy.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2009-01-05 14:36|| 2009-01-05 14:36|| Front Page Top

#10 You'd be surprised how thoroughly the US looks for downed or dead pilots. Usually they don't give up unless there's absolutely no hope. I spent dozens of nights in Vietnam looking for lost pilots. We spent several months looking for crewmembers from an SR-71 that vanished elsewhere. We ran almost 30 reconnaissance missions over North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina, looking for an RF-4C that smashed into a mountain in North Carolina. There was still an open case on an RB-45 that disappeared on the Czech border in 1955 when I got to Germany in 1971. I can't remember how many thousands of frames of film I've looked at, trying to find POW/MIA/LOST traces in a dozen different countries. The chances Scott Speicher is still alive or zero. The same is true for the Israeli pilot lost in the first Lebanese War. There comes a time when you simply have to say "there's nothing more we can do", and close the books on these guys, no matter how much you hate it. Rest in peace, Scott.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2009-01-05 20:02|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2009-01-05 20:02|| Front Page Top

#11 #10
The books aren't exactly closed. Years ago, I spotted what looked like a filler in a newspaper. Wanted the relatives of the following ten guys KIA in WW II to contact DOD. It had been thought their B17 had crashed into the Coral Sea. Instead, it had hit a mountain on New Guinea or New Britain or someplace. They got the guys out. The families agreed that they should be buried as they fought--together--rather than separating them to various family plots. So they were all buried at Arlington. I got some more details about Casualty Branch. Even if the guys are declared dead, everybody comes home. Sooner or later. One way or another. Even if it's, as it was in this case, nearly half a century.

Posted by Richard Aubrey">Richard Aubrey 2009-01-05 21:43|| 2009-01-05 21:43|| Front Page Top

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