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No further disciplinary action will be taken following two ambushes in 2017 in which four US Special Forces soldiers were killed in Niger, defense officials said Wednesday, approving rewards for the value of staff members. attack.
Several military officials have already been reprimanded following ambushes on 4 October 2017 in Tongo Tongo Village, Niger. In addition to the four Americans, four Nigerian staff members were killed while they were looking for an activist linked to the Islamic State, US officials said.
A Defense Department investigation initially revealed organizational failures and a lack of sufficient training in the US-Niger team ambushes, which occurred one hour from each other under gunfire. light and machine guns.
Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan ordered a re-examination of the incident after taking office in January. Previous reviews had largely left the senior officers in the chain of command unscathed.
Shanahan said Wednesday in a statement that he had concluded that no other punishment was necessary.
Read the latest Department of Defense report on the Niger attack
Owen West, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Level Conflict, said, "After two investigations and three revisions, the department is absolutely confident that responsibility has been rendered in this case."
A senior defense official, who requested anonymity, acknowledged that the special forces team had been "caught off guard", but said that because of reforms introduced after the 39, attack, "a team would not be in this position" at the moment.
The official said only half of Niger's team had trained together before the attack in a "emergency room-like model" of sending special forces at the last minute without what is called a validation training and culminating drive. In the future, the teams will spend the exercises together before deployment, said the manager.
Representative Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., A member of the Armed Forces Committee, criticized what he called Shanahan's decision to "let responsibility for the Niger disaster be passed on to junior officers and enlisted personnel." ".
"From the beginning, the investigation of what happened that day has been poorly conducted at all levels.Nearly two years later, we are still waiting for answers," said Gallego.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, Shanahan said he is satisfied that the officials concerned are being held accountable and that the recommended reforms have been adopted.
Shanahan stated that the staff members who had been attacked were not at fault, pointing out that they had "valiantly" fought "against" a numerically superior and heavily armed force ".
The Ministry of Defense has declared that it awarded nine awards to the US team:
- Sgt. 1st class Jeremiah W. Johnson and the Staff Sergeant. Bryan C. Black will receive the bronze medal with the "V" posthumously.
- Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright and Sgt. The David Johnson will receive the posthumous Silver Star, along with two other members of the surviving team.
- A Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device, an Army Merit Medal with "V" Device, and an "C" Army Medal of Merit would also be awarded, although the Department of Defense did not specify to whom.
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