By lex, on October 12th, 2010
The first salvo was fired on what would become the Global War on Terror, before that in turn morphed into a Pretty Serious Campaign Against Man-Caused Disasters. Seventeen US sailors aboard the USS Cole died almost immediately when a two-man al Qaeda suicide cell drove a skiff loaded with explosives along side and detonated it, holing the hull. Another 39 were injured.
The survivors struggled heroically for three days in suffocating conditions without much in the way of hot food or cold water and mostly without power to keep the ship dewatered and afloat – it was a very near run thing. At one point, with water coming in and the ship’s only generator off line, sailors formed a bucket brigade to save the ship.
When the ship was towed out of port 19 days later, someone slipped Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass” into a rotation of patriotic songs playing on the ship’s loudspeaker system.
Navy took a hit in 2000, as required by the rules of engagement then in place.
The rules have changed since then. A lot of things have.
