Part of my weekend was spent enjoying time and conversation with friends. Some of which are current and/or retired military. The talk drifted to the current Mid-East as the battalions represented had recently returned from Iraq, and are set to deploy on an Afghan route by years end. Anyways during the clearing of Fallujah talk we were going over the adaptive rules of engagement as Marines were going door to door. Here is a brief rundown:
-Early on it was door to door looksey.
-Some would fight, most hostiles would flee a few doors down.
-After a while you get a build up in a single location, a severe fight ensues.
-Door to door becomes escalated with multiple frag grenades. More people run out sooner, dig in deeper.
-More severe fight ensue, and the escalation continues on and on, and involve rolling big boomers.
-Early on it was door to door looksey.
-Some would fight, most hostiles would flee a few doors down.
-After a while you get a build up in a single location, a severe fight ensues.
-Door to door becomes escalated with multiple frag grenades. More people run out sooner, dig in deeper.
-More severe fight ensue, and the escalation continues on and on, and involve rolling big boomers.
Here is my first thought, if the Marines do come for Threepers were fucked! We simply do not have a realistic defense against a squad with a full frag set up. The good news is I don't think we need it. See as I posed the question to the Marines, about citizen disarmament, the answer I got was (paraphrased) "we got some crazy assholes, but I would hope the MP's would say F that before the orders even got to recon." Essentially followed up by the hint that you would soon see Marines on both sides of the line with an overwhelming majority of the battle proven on the side of our citizens. Thanks for the reassurance of support, Semper Fi and be safe out there boys.
Jason
III
III
(PS not meant to dismiss ANY other branch of service, you all just weren't at the party. Thanks to all who have and do serve. May you and your families find rest and peace soon, you deserve it)
2 comments:
Posh, you are such a negative nancy, all scared like of the big man's tanks.
What was it John Lennon said? ah, yeah "give war a chance." I mean this is just a thought excercise, right? I mean, im not expecting company anytime soon, and i dont see any reason you should either.
First off, dont get cornered. Thats pretty basic. Secondly you have the mobility and familiarity of the area to control the movement of conflict. This is important, use it. Tanks are poorly suited to Urban movement, this has been demonstrated since WWII, time and time again. Slow it down, blow it up. You can bury charges, you can shove them in immobile cars, you can improvise large air fuel explosions to all but suck the air back out of the intakes. This is the country that brought the world Dupont, after all. Come on, "Better Living Through Chemistry."
Control movement, maintain that control. These steel bohemoths dont exactly run on unicorns and happy thoughts, they require a fairly impressive resupply line to keep on tankin' Dispersal away from main routes forces those tanks to depart from resupply routes, or to abandon chase. Movement over rough terrain can neutralize the advantage of both armor and air support. Look how far the Koreans pushed back American tanks as soon as the chinese entered the conflict, using only light infantry.
You have a welder. Google the phrase "Czech Hedgehog"
Blend in. Its called a civil war because it involves civilians, they dont know which is you and which is theirs, pick your battles and spend your days working hard and smiling.
The Armor quality of tanks has increased quite a bit since WWII, so ignore most of the anti tank stuf from that conflict, but it hasnt improved much since the 1960's, so there is still plenty of experience to build on. Read about the Yom Kippur War, makeshift units inflicted heavy damage on IDF tank units using inexpensive russian surplus first generation antitank missiles, and Hezbolla taught the same lesson again more recently in lebanon with the more modern and more expensive, (but still cheaper than a tank) Metis-M and Milan missile systems. The fact is, a light infantry group, hidden and comprised of only a few soldiers, with a stack of explosive missiles can easily defeat several high end tanks in rather quick succession. and this is after you realize that a playstation 2 has the processing power to run a realtime guided missile system for less than 2-300$
Also of note, one of our no doubt weapons designing allies sent a single round clean through an Abrams tank, including a lucky gunners vest, without injuring him, in 2003. The october 27, 2003 issue of army time has a story on it, if you google it. The tank was immediately m-killed, and disabled, by a single not particularily large projectile. And that appeared to be only a test.
Remember, The Iraqis had tanks too, before we got there. The classic example that comes to mind is the initial invasion of Iraq War I (though the error wasnt that of relying on tanks, it was a total error of undergeneration tactics) the iraqis trenched themselves and their tanks (as artillery) in large lines across the kuwait border and waited. US troops, seeing this, simply flanked out to the end of the lines and came in from the side. Not just with tanks, but with bulldozers. Most of the iraqi infantry and tanks got of less than a shot or two before miles and miles of them were buried under the sand.
Seems to me like maybe Marvin Heemeyer might have been on to something, eh? ;)
Besides, all you really need is a 1911, didn't you know that?
http://www.thecurt.com/1911tanks.gif
Well, hope that sets right all those negative doomer vibes you were sending out. Of course making friends is the way to go, but that doesnt mean that requiring their assistance to succeed is the only way to move forward.
None of this is gonna happen soon, if ever, so you have plenty of time to iron out the details.
Edit to Add:
For the man who has everything:
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