U.S. launches 'major operation' in Afghanistan

Originally posted by rogue1

If you say so, you do know Rangers aren't special forces more likely elite infantry. But of course what you say could just as easily been gleaned from a website. I could quite easily pretend to be Delta Force and SAS and present as convincing but vague credentials as you have.

Review you Ranger history. Concentrate on LRRPs.

I do have a high opinion of myself.

And again I ask your credentials, that we may all have as high an opinion of yourself as you do.

You have exposed yourself as to who you really are a keyboard warrior intent on bolstering his credibility by BS. Congratulations.

And again, your credentials to call someone a "keyboard warrior" and make this judgement are... ?

reply to post by rogue1

Well, dip, I volunteered three times for combat, and then volunteered for the Rangers so that I could serve in combat. The 5th Group returned to Bragg, and SF was out of the combat zone. Get it? Combat? It's real hard to fight in combat at Fort Bragg! The Rangers were the best LRP fighters in COMBAT, and naturally, I tended to gravitate there.

I sincerely apologize if this somehow doesn't meet your artificial, pseudo-intellectual preconceptions. Which are in this case, don't apply. Some of us actually had to do things in the real world - the world as it existed.

I didn't say anything about Delta or SAS. I did spend a few nights in the stockade before it was taken over by Delta, though. Delta and SAS may be your wet dream. You asked, and I told you.

Your self-proclaimed high opinion of yourself is unjustified, and overrated, and I'm just speaking as an interested observer. BUT, I DID love folks like you, as you were so easy to take down.

Google "Edicts of Ares, Thirteen Absolute Rules of Warfare," dip*.

Just as I said, inside you'll find the Hunter approach I suggested that some Marine senior officer picked up on, and you'll find the change-up the Israelis did this last time around that are clearly in the book, written before the little Gaza incident, and if you'll do a bit of research, you'll find after the book's release, the US Army revised it's combat operations field manual, only one year after it's previous revision, to include some of the principles and language therein.

I doubt the Marines you know - know of the book. I sold a lot in Washington DC for some reason.

And once again, you're wrong. This does get tiresome. The Gazans and Hamas are indeed different enemies, but after reading and UNDERSTANDING the principles of warfare in the book, and specifically some of those that Israel violated in the earlier fight against Hizballah, you'll see that they didn't repeat the same mistakes with Hamas.

I don't know if the conversation with an Israeli general had any effect or not, but I do know that those mistakes were not repeated.

Gee, I wish I was as smart as you! DUH.

That body count? I didn't give a body count, but what's the big deal? Hell, you kill a lot more than are verified - so what's the difference? We got a three day R&R for every handful we bagged, and it was the Army keeping count. Not us.

I'm sorry if I offended you, but I wasn't in the Army to be politically correct, I was not a nation-builder, nor an ambassador of goodwill. I was there to do one thing, and that's exactly what I did.

OOOOOOHHHH! I get it! You never made a kill! I'm sorry, claim some of mine! Got any shrapnel or bullet scars? See, I have those too. From my throat to my shin, front, sides, and even my back.

I think you're nothing but a smug pseudo-intelligentsia who has met a lot of disappointment in life, and it sounds like you sure as hell don't know anything about military capabilities.

That's your problem.

Getting your stuff out of a book is fine, but it really doesn't work that way in the field. Our generals have been reading the same books, and that's why we haven't won our first war since the creation of the Joint Chiefs. They generally don't have any kills either. Nor can they lead.

They point. My sister's little black dog can point.

And 100 Hours is a great battle. Not a war.

Since you can't stand on your own merit, you attack those you disagree with.

Mighty brave thing to do.

From a distance.

Now this sounds like a recipe for disaster...

U.S. Commander Urges Care to Cut Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan

The use of air-to-ground bombs and missiles and other weapons such as mortars and artillery to support ground troops “is authorized under very limited and prescribed conditions” spelled out in a classified section of the directive, he said.

The specter of Vietnam is raising it's ugly head, here we go again fighting with one hand tied around our ___s




[edit on 7-7-2009 by SLAYER69]

reply to post by SLAYER69

Yup. If you give a man responsibility, the you have to also give him the authority.

That's why our sniper teams have done so poorly. They are required to call in to some rear-echelon * * who can neither see nor intuit what the snipers are seeing.

Then, to make matters worse, our dumbass officers are telling sniper teams where to go, how long to stay, when to return, and do not give them any range time to sweeten their sights.

And because they've been so hamstrung, they blame the snipers program for being ineffective!

This is just beyond stupid.

reply to post by SLAYER69


Yeah, it is.

At the risk of being labelled a "keyboard commando" for about the 40th or 50th time on ATS, I'll give my opinion anyhow.

These ROE are BS. Sounds like they wanna fight a gentleman's war, with all the gentlemen sitting in a DC drawing room, and our soldiers catching hell for it. Vietnam, anyone?

I guess all those high-tech gizzys everyone's in love with are out, since they make things go BOOM too.

He wants them to follow his INTENT? That sound like a cop out, so if they fight to win, he can always point to it and say "See? I told 'em not to DO that!", whatever 'that' turns out to be.

Remember what I said earlier about the Soviets being afraid to fart without orders from above? Even THAT didn't help 'em, it only hurt 'em.

It ought to get interesting, seeing how our Marines handle these handcuffs. Looks like we have some folks around that can't learn from the mistakes of others.

Bet I get zapped for this post.

reply to post by dooper


When they start putting limitation on the guys in the field then you know it's going to be a bad deal. I'm all for limiting collateral damage and all but...

if somebody is on the radio calling in a strike I think there might just be a good reason for it and most of the time it's not to bounce rubble back and forth.

reply to post by nenothtu


I was thinking earlier that those Marines were being used as bait and when Tali shows up to fight they would lower the boom on them. Now this comes out I'm starting to wonder WTF are they thinking..

reply to post by SLAYER69


That's just it. You can, and should minimize collateral damage, but the only way to eliminate it altogether is to pack up your ruck and go home.

If you trust a man's training enough to put a gun in his hand and send him out to get shot at, you ought to trust his training enough to have a bit of confidence in his judgment to know who to shoot back at. After all, he's the one who has the most vested interest in stopping the shooter, and he'll most likely not purposely target a non-combatant who isn't the one trying to kill him at the moment. There ain't no percentages in that.

But then the guys in DC aren't the ones getting shot at, are they?

And as Dooper said, you can't have responsibility without the authority to enforce it.

If the General takes ALL the authority, he's gonna have to take ALL the responsibility too.

reply to post by SLAYER69


Didn't you post a link earlier saying the Taliban was initiating a counter-offensive? So now what happens when they show, and they aren't hobbled by any ROE?

Can't bomb 'em any more, under these rules, and I guarantee they'll only scrap rifle-to-rifle until it starts turning against them, and they'll run away to come back somewhere else.

Maybe it's disinfo, put out to lull 'em in to a false sense of security, and then the Marines are gonna lower the BOOM anyhow?

It's one thing to be bait, and another thing altogether to be bait in a trap that isn't even set. That kind of bait is called "food".



[edit on 2009/7/7 by nenothtu]

Of course, there is a solution. Put a General with every company sized unit to ensure that a suitable commander is on site, and can make the call.

"Nothing is so good for the morale of the troops as occasionally to see a dead General." Field Marshall Slim

Originally posted by dooper
Of course, there is a solution. Put a General with every company sized unit to ensure that a suitable commander is on site, and can make the call.

"Nothing is so good for the morale of the troops as occasionally to see a dead General." Field Marshall Slim

Great idea! CiC could make that service-wide policy!

I bet that would change a whole lot about the way wars are fought.

GOOOOOOOD MORNIIIIINNNG AFGHANISTAAAANNN!

Afghan DJs play tunes, break hearts in Taliban country

GARMSIR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The DJs of Radio Garmsir in Afghanistan's lower Helmand River valley knew their station had touched a nerve when the letters started pouring in.

First a few, then more, and pretty soon 20 to 30 letters per day, hand delivered to a box outside the NATO base where they broadcast deep into Taliban territory from a desk in a tiny bunker.

Most are requests for songs. Some are complaints -- about police driving too fast through the bazaar, about the continuing failure of mobile phone companies to bring reception to the valley.

reply to post by SLAYER69


Such a great movie...

Cool article.

reply to post by open_eyeballs


Marines push militants out of Taliban region

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Marines trapped Taliban fighters in a residential compound and persuaded the insurgents to allow women and children to leave. The troops then moved in — only to discover that the militants had slipped out, dressed in women's burqa robes. The fighters, who may owe their lives to the new U.S. commander's emphasis on limiting civilian casualties, were among hundreds of militants who have fled the offensive the Marines launched last week in southern Helmand province. Marine officers say keeping the Taliban from returning so the Afghan government can establish a stable presence will be a bigger challenge.

[edit on 7-7-2009 by SLAYER69]

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by open_eyeballs

 

Marines push militants out of Taliban region

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Marines trapped Taliban fighters in a residential compound and persuaded the insurgents to allow women and children to leave. The troops then moved in — only to discover that the militants had slipped out, dressed in women's burqa robes. The fighters, who may owe their lives to the new U.S. commander's emphasis on limiting civilian casualties, were among hundreds of militants who have fled the offensive the Marines launched last week in southern Helmand province. Marine officers say keeping the Taliban from returning so the Afghan government can establish a stable presence will be a bigger challenge.

[edit on 7-7-2009 by SLAYER69]

Didn't see THAT coming!

Reckon they used kohl and henna too, to perfect the disguise?

reply to post by nenothtu


I just dont know what to say...
I know somebody felt a prickly feeling when they tried to sit down later.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by nenothtu

 

I just dont know what to say...
I know somebody felt a prickly feeling when they tried to sit down later.

That's if they COULD sit down, with all those bloody shreds of flesh hanging off their fannies from the chewing...

That's what I was talking about above. These wheels make up ridiculous RoE's, then when they cause it to get sideways, someone else takes the heat.

"Stuff" rolls downhill.

"The soldiers fight, but the kings are heroes."



[edit on 2009/7/7 by nenothtu]

In the early days of the offensive in Iraq, our dumbass commanders were letting truck loads of YOUNG, CIVILIAN men piled in pickup trucks to pass.

Now the Taliban got out dressed as women.

Should always secure everyone released, until their identity, and certainly their "sex" can be verified.

According to the Geneva Conventions, those caught out of uniform can be shot on the spot. I know I sure as hell would.

This escape disguised as females isn't the first one.

Do our officers come from a vacuum?

Originally posted by dooper
In the early days of the offensive in Iraq, our dumbass commanders were letting truck loads of YOUNG, CIVILIAN men piled in pickup trucks to pass.

Now the Taliban got out dressed as women.

Should always secure everyone released, until their identity, and certainly their "sex" can be verified.

According to the Geneva Conventions, those caught out of uniform can be shot on the spot. I know I sure as hell would.

This escape disguised as females isn't the first one.

Do our officers come from a vacuum?

I doubt that the rules allow them to secure 'women', since they'd likely have to touch them to do it, and might injure the Taliban's tender sensibilities thereby.

see lets see if im right on this

we help taliban beat russians

we watch russians leave in defeat

now we go in hard in their place

what is the end result, another puppet government with mad muslims?