Assignment I compile a detailed report on Operation Geronimo in the context of logistics.

Ans : Operation Geronimo

Osama bin Laden, head of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1 a.m. local time by a United States special forces military unit. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by United States President Barack Obama and carried out in a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation by a team of United States Navy SEALs from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (also known as DEVGRU or informally by its former name, SEAL Team Six) of the Joint Special Operations Command, with support from CIA operatives on the ground. The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan was launched from Afghanistan. After the raid, US forces took bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death. The raid was carried out by approximately two dozen helicopterborne United States Navy SEALs from the Red Squadron of the Joint Special Operations Command's United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU). For legal reasons (namely that the US is not at war with Pakistan), the military personnel assigned to the mission were temporarily transferred to the control of the civilian Central Intelligence Agency. The DEVGRU SEALs operated in two teams and were reportedly equipped with Heckler & Koch 416 carbine military assault rifles (with attached suppressors), night-vision goggles, body armor and handguns. A total of "79 commandos and a dog" were involved in the raid. The military working dog was a Belgian Malinois named Cairo. The dog was tasked with tracking "anyone who tried to escape and to alert SEALs to any approaching Pakistani security forces". The dog was also to be used to help deter any Pakistani ground response to the raid and to help look for any hidden rooms or hidden doors in the compound. Additional personnel on the mission included a language translator, the dog handler, helicopter pilots, "tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imagers".
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The SEALs flew into Pakistan from a staging base in the city of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan after originating at Bagram Air Base in northeastern Afghanistan. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), an airborne US Army Special Operations Command unit also known as the Night Stalkers, provided the two modified Black Hawk helicopters that were used for the raid itself, as well as four much larger Chinook heavy-lift helicopters that were employed as backups. The Black Hawks appear to have been never-before-publicly-seen "stealth" versions of the helicopter that fly more quietly while being harder to detect on radar than conventional models; due to the weight of the extra stealth equipment on the Black Hawks, cargo was "calculated to the ounce, with the weather factored in." Two of the Chinooks were kept on standby on the ground "in a deserted area roughly two-thirds of the way" between Jalalabad and Abbottabad, contained two additional SEAL teams consisting of approximately 24 DEVGRU operators along with Army Rangers for a backup "quick reaction force" (QRF). The Chinooks were equipped with M134 Miniguns and extra fuel for the Black Hawks. Their mission was to interdict any Pakistani military attempts to interfere with the raid. The other two Chinooks, holding 25 more SEALs from DEVGRU, were stationed just across the border in Afghanistan in case reinforcements were needed during the raid. The 160th SOAR helicopters were supported by multiple other aircraft, including fixed-wing fighter jets and drones. The Air Force also had a full team of combat search-and-rescue helicopters available. The raid was scheduled for a time with little moonlight so the helicopters could enter Pakistan "low to the ground and undetected". The helicopters used hilly terrain and nap-of-the-earth techniques to reach the compound without appearing on radar and alerting the Pakistani military. The flight from Jalalabad to Abbottabad took about 90 minutes. According to the mission plan, the first helicopter would hover over the compound's yard while its full team of SEALs fast-roped to the ground. At the same time, the second helicopter would fly to the northeast corner of the compound and deploy the translator, the dog, and four SEALs to secure the perimeter. The second helicopter would then hover over the

house and the team leader and six SEALs would fast-rope onto the roof. The team in the courtyard was to enter the house from the ground floor. As they hovered above the target, however, the first helicopter suffered a hazard known as a vortex ring state aggravated by higher than expected air temperature ("a so-called 'hot and high' environment") and the high compound walls, "which blocked rotor downwash from diffusing, causing the tail to "graze one of the compound's walls" and "breaking a rotor". The helicopter "rolled onto its side" and the pilot quickly buried the aircraft's nose "to keep it from tipping over." None of the SEALs, crew and pilots on the helicopter were seriously injured in the soft crash landing. The other helicopter then landed outside the compound and the SEALs scaled the walls to get inside. The SEALs proceeded to blow their way through walls and doors with explosives. The SEALs encountered the residents in the compound's guest house, in the main building on the first floor where two adult males lived, and on the second and third floors where bin Laden lived with his family. The second and third floors were the last section of the compound to be cleared. In addition to Osama bin Laden, three other men and a woman were killed in the operation. The individuals killed were bin Laden's adult son (likely Khalid, possibly Hamza), bin Laden's courier (Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti), alKuwaiti's brother Abrar, and Abrar's unarmed wife Bushra. Al-Kuwaiti opened fire on the first team of SEALs with an AK-47 from behind the guesthouse door, and a firefight took place between him and the SEALs, in which al-Kuwaiti was killed. A woman, identified as the courier's wife, was killed during this exchange. The courier's male relative was shot and killed, before he could reach a weapon found lying nearby, by the SEALs' second team on the first floor of the main house. Bin Laden's young adult son rushed towards the SEALs on the staircase of the main house, and was shot and killed by the second team. An unnamed US senior defense official stated that only one of the five people killed was armed. The SEALs encountered bin Laden on the second or third floor of the main building. Bin Laden was "wearing the local loose-fitting tunic and pants known as a kurta paijama", which were later found to have 500 and two phone numbers sewn into the fabric.

Bin Laden peered over the third floor ledge at the Americans advancing up the stairs, and then retreated into his room as a SEAL fired a shot at him, but missed. The SEALs quickly followed him into his room. Inside the bedroom, two of bin Laden's wives stood in front of him, shielding him. One of them, Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah, screamed at the SEALs in Arabic and motioned as if she were about to charge. One of the SEALs shot her in the leg, then grabbed both women and shoved them aside. A second SEAL entered the room and shot bin Laden in the chest. As bin Laden, wearing a tan shalwar kameez and a prayer cap, fell backward, the second SEAL shot him in the head. Immediately, the SEAL reported on the radio, "For God and countryGeronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo," then, "Geronimo E.K.I.A." There were two weapons near bin Laden in his room, including an AK47 assault rifle and a Russian-made semi-automatic Makarov pistol, but according to his wife Amal, he was shot before he could reach his AK47. According to the Associated Press the guns were on a shelf next to the door and the SEALs did not see them until they were photographing the body. Bin Laden's 12-year-old daughter Safia was struck in her foot or ankle by a piece of flying debris. The Pakistani wife of one of the men killed was also injured. As the SEALs encountered women and children during the raid, they restrained them with plastic handcuffs or zip ties. After the raid was over, US forces moved the surviving residents outside "for Pakistani forces to discover. The interpreter questioned the women and children, none of whom confirmed that bin Laden was present. The injured Amal Ahmed Abdul Fatah continued to harrangue the raiders in Arabic. While bin Laden's body was taken by US forces, the bodies of the four others killed in the raid were left behind at the compound and later taken into Pakistani custody.