The Pentagon appointed Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Colt, the deputy commanding general of the Army's storied 101st Airborne Division, to lead the internal military probe into Saturday's deadly crash of a U.S. helicopter in eastern Afghanistan.
Colt will investigate all aspects of the failed rescue mission, which resulted in the deaths of 30 American troops—including 22 Navy SEALs—and seven Afghan commandos. The downing of the helicopter caused the biggest single-day loss of life for American forces in Afghanistan and was the worst loss in the history of the U.S. Special Operations Command, which oversees the SEALs and other elite units.
Military officials declined to say when Colt would submit his report or whether it would be made public. The announcement by the military's Central Command came just hours after President Obama and other senior civilian and military officials visited Dover Air Force Base to honor the fallen troops.
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