Mike Durant

I haven't mentioned this yet, but we asked for an aircraft carrier.

Why do we want a carrier?

Two reasons.

Force protection.

If you're at sea, the Somalis have nothing to touch us, nothing.

I told you earlier Matt Ryerson would still be alive if one of these decisions had been made differently.

That's the decision.

If Matt's on a carrier, that motor never comes anywhere close to him.

But he dies after October 3rd, standing in the compound, because we're right there.

The freaking bad guys are less than 100 yards from us, because we're told no for the carrier.

We got to live on the airfield.

AC-130, firepower.

There's no such thing as too much firepower.

I mean, that's a fundamental truth.

Tanks, using another helicopter for search and rescue in an urban environment in the daytime is a bad idea.

We wanted a tank.

We got told no.

And the last one, I don't really understand the technology, but it's counter-battery fire.

Basically, you can...

calculate the projectile that's inbound, calculate its location, and more effectively place counterfire on that.