Chief Warrant Officer from Spokane was killed in action

October 31, 7:02 PMSpokane Homicide ExaminerDoyle Wheeler

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A Chief Warrant Officer from Spokane was in killed action in Afghanistan. The helicopter that went down in Afghanistan October 29, 2009 claimed seven lives one was from Spokane.

Warrant Officer Niall Lyons a Shadle Park graduate in 1988 and a graduate of Eastern Washington University in 1995 was killed in action when his MH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed during a combat operation..

Chief Warrant Officer Lyons was a member of the 3rd Battalion 160th Special Operations Regiment. The military spokesman said the men died while conducting military operations near Darreh-ye Bum, Afghanistan. There was no indication as to if the helicopter was brought down by enemy fire or suffered a mechanical failure.

This bring to three the number of helicopters that have gone down in the last week. One carried several soldier and three DEA agents. The other one carried it crew of four.

This has been a week of heavy loses. While the General calls for more troops the President has to decide if he should commit more men which will undoubted lead to higher loses and more flag draped coffins coming home.

Before people yell at President Obama about not jumping on the idea of sending 40,000 more men to Afghanistan they would do well to remember or research the Vietnam War.  President Johnson listened to General Westmoreland when he said send me 100,000 more troops and we'll win this war. President Johnson gave him the troops the general asked him for immediately.

Eight months later the same General Westmorland said give me another 250,000 more troops and we'll win this war.  President Johnson gave him the troops he asked for without much thought or hesitation.

We didn't win the war we walked away after losing 58,479 killed and nearly one million wounded.  The world didn't come to end when left. It would not come to end if we left Afghanistan either.

The President is correct in taking his time and studying all the options before he commits more troops to a war where there is a corrupt government. Where the Russian military got their butts kicked back in the 1980's. Where the rest of the world is not willing to commit their troops.

We are better off with a thoughtful President that thinks twice before sending our young soldiers into harms way than we were with a "Knee Jerk Idiot" that committed use to two wars simultaneously!

I remember to well how the people of Spokane waived the flag and sent me off to "kill the communist" but didn't even want to speak to me when I came home.  By the time I got home they had gone from waving the flag to burning it and calling me a baby killer!

I hope the good people of Spokane will treat out troops a lot better when they come home whenever, if ever these wars end.

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