Families of three Virginia Beach based Navy SEAL Team Six members and a national guardsmen are blaming President Obama and top military leaders for the August 6, 2011 helicopter crash that claimed the lives of 30 U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan.
"The U.S. government and many high-ranking military people own more credit for the shoot down than the Taliban," said fallen Navy SEAL Aaron Vaughn's father Billy during a Thursday morning news conference in Washington, D.C.
Military leaders said the servicemen were all on one Chinook helicopter when Taliban members launched the rocket-propelled grenade that killed them. The families said a meeting with top military leaders after the crash led them to believe the men were not on the right helicopter and they were ordered not to fire back at the Taliban that night. NewsChannel 3 has not independently confirmed the details of the meeting.
The families also said the Obama administration put a target on the helicopter crash victims' lives by revealing it was SEAL Team Six who took down Osama bin Laden.
"We must change the hearts and minds of the leaders in Washington and the higher-ups in the military or we must see them removed," Vaughn said.
