WFMJ.com News weather sports for Youngstown-Warren OhioLocal Navy SEAL mourns the loss of his friends and fellow SEALs

Local Navy SEAL mourns the loss of his friends and fellow SEALs

LISBON, Ohio  -  The tragic deaths of 30 U.S. military, including 22 Navy SEALs is a painful loss that has hit too close to home for one of Our Valley's Bravest.

Navy SEAL Adam Newbold of Lisbon is grieving the loss of several friends killed when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan over the weekend.  "It's devastating.  It's a hard pill to swallow.  I'm heartbroken, great guys, great friends, great warriors, brothers. A couple of them very, very close to my family, to my own brothers who are also Navy SEALs."

The Taliban is claiming responsibility for launching the rocket that caused the Chinook helicopter to crash, so some question if this is an act of retaliation.  Newbold doesn't think so. "I don't think this was retaliation.  It was kind of a target of opportunity.  We were coming in and they probably had no plans to be able to do anything like that.  But they saw an opportunity and they took it."

Newbold, who is currently on active reserve with the Navy SEALs, could be put back in to action at any time, and says he is always ready to answer the call, just like his friends and Navy SEAL brothers who died trying to protect others.  "You know they can take on the world if they're given a chance to fight and they're up in a helicopter packed in there like sardines and get shot out of the sky.  It's just very disheartening and it's a huge, huge loss.  This is almost an entire SEAL training class."