The SOF would have been called for by the ground commander, not the aircrew. It does work well at times in order to diffuse a potentially hostile situation, although I am only too aware that sometimes a SOF does nothing (although I wish I could have seen their faces when the KRET came off.....
)
I wasn't there on the day of the incident, but I believe the SOF was the best solution at the time. The way I see it there are 2 possible alternatives:
1. Wait and see what happens. This is potentially risky as by the time someone gets a PID on the "rocket team" then it could be too late and you would be looking at an attack on KAF.
2. Hit them first. This should never happen unless there is a PID (ideally from a ground callsign) of EF. Very difficult to achieve at night from the air. If there was a ground callsign in the area then they would have been able to investigate the diggers and that would have been the best solution, but I bet there was none available at the time.
So, the SOF was carried out at the time and "The guys ran for their trucks and careered off. There were no rocket attacks that evening.”
That, to me, says that the SOF was the best option.
We'll probably go around this one over and over, but that's just my opinion on the situation. Have a good New Year too
