fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: January 29, 2006 02:10AM
1) The M-16 rifle :! T humbs down. Chronic jamming problems with the talcum
powder like sand over there. The sand is everywhere. Jordan says you feel
filthy 2 minutes after coming out of the shower. The M-4 carbine version is
more popular because it's lighter and shorter, but it has jamming problems also.
They like the ability to mount the various optical gunsights and weapons lights
on the picattiny rails, but the weapon itself is not great in a desert
environment. They all hate the 5.56mm (.223) round. Poor penetration on the
cinderblock structure common over there and even torso hits cant be reliably
counted on to put the enemy down. Fun fact: Random autopsies on dead insurgents
shows a high level of opiate use.
2) The M243 SAW (squad assault weapon): .223 cal. Drum fed light machine gun.
Big thumbs down. Universally considered a piece of crap. Chronic jamming
problems, most of which require partial disassembly. (that's fun in the middle
of a firefight).
3) The M9 Beretta 9mm: Mixed bag. Good gun, performs well in desert
environment; but they all hate the 9mm cartridge. The use of handguns for
self-defense is actually fairly common. Same old story on the 9mm: Bad guys
hit multiple times and still in the fight.
4) Mossberg 12ga. Military shotgun: Works well, use frequently for clearing
houses to good effect.
5) The M240 Machine Gun: 7.62 Nato (.308) cal. belt fed machine gun, developed
to replace the old M-60 (what a beautiful weapon that was!!). Thumbs up.
Accurate, reliable, and the 7.62 round puts 'em down. Originally developed as a
vehicle mounted weapon, more and more are being dismounted and taken into the
field by infantry. The 7.62 round chews up the structure over there.
6) The M2 .50 cal heavy machine gun: ! Thumbs way, way up. "Ma deuce"
is still worth her considerable weight in gold. The ultimate fight stopper, puts
them in the dirt every time. The most coveted weapon in-theater.
7) The .45 pistol: Thumbs up. Still the best pistol round out there.
Everybody authorized to carry a sidearm is trying to get their hands on one.
With few exceptions, can reliably be expected to put 'em down with a torso hit.
The special ops guys (who are doing most of the pistol work) use the HK military
model and supposedly love it. The old government model .45's are being
re-issued en masse.
8) The M-14: Thumbs up. They are being re-issued in bulk, mostly in a
modified version to special ops guys. Modifications include lightweight Kevlar
stocks and low power red dot or ACOG sights. Very reliable in the sandy
environment, and they love the 7.62 round.
9) The Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle: Thumbs way up. Spectacular range and
accuracy and hits like a freight train. Used frequently to take out vehicle
suicide bombers (we actually stop a lot of them) and barricaded enemy.
Definitely here to stay.
10) The M24 sniper rifle: Thumbs up. Mostly in .308 but some in 300 win mag.
Heavily modified Remington 700's. Great performance. Snipers have been used
heavily to great effect. Rumor has it that a marine sniper on his third tour in
Anbar province has actually exceeded Carlos Hathcock's record for confirmed
kills with OVER 100.
11) The new body armor: Thumbs up. Relatively light at approx. 6 lbs. and can
reliably be expected to soak up small shrapnel and even will stop an AK-47
round. The bad news: Hot as hell to wear, almost unbearable in the summer heat
(which averages over 120 degrees). Also, the enemy now goes for head shots
whenever possible. All the crap about the "old" body armor making our
guys vulnerable to the IED's was a non-starter. The IED explosions are enormous
and body armor doesn't make any difference at all in most cases.
12) Night Vision and Infrared Equipment: Thumbs way up. Spectacular
performance. Our guys see in the dark and own the night, period. Very little
enemy action after evening prayers. More and more enemy being whacked at night
during movement by our hunter-killer teams. We've all seen the videos.
13) Lights: Thumbs up. Most of the weapon mounted and personal lights are
Surefire's, and the troops love 'em. Invaluable for night urban operations.
Jordan carried a $34 Surefire G2 on a neck lanyard and loved it. I cant help but
notice that most of the good fighting weapons and ordnance are 50 or more years
old!!!!!!!!! With all our technology, it's the WWII and Vietnam era weapons
that everybody wants!!!! The infantry fighting is frequent, up close and
brutal. No quarter is given or shown.
Bad guy weapons:
1) Mostly AK47's The entire country is an arsenal. Works better in the
desert than the M16 and the .308 Russian round kills reliably. PKM belt fed
light machine guns are also common and effective. Luckily, the enemy mostly
shoots like crap. Undisciplined "spray and pray" type fire. However,
they are seeing more and more precision weapons, especially sniper rifles.
(Iran, again) Fun fact: Captured enemy have apparently marveled at the
marksmanship of our guys and how hard they fight. They are apparently told in
Jihad school that the Americans rely solely on technology, and can be easily
beaten in close quarters combat for their lack of toughness.&! nbsp; Le t's
just say they know better now.
2) The RPG: Probably the infantry weapon most feared by our guys. Simple,
reliable and as common as hell. The enemy responded to our up-armored humvees
by aiming at the windshields, often at point blank range. Still killing a lot
of our guys.
3) The IED: The biggest killer of all. Can be anything from old Soviet
anti-armor mines to jury rigged artillery shells. A lot found in Jordan's area
were in abandoned cars. The enemy would take 2 or 3 155mm artillery shells and
wire them together. Most were detonated by cell phone, and the explosions are
enormous. You're not safe in any vehicle, even an M1 tank. Driving is by far
the most dangerous thing our guys do over there. Lately, they are much more
sophisticated "shape charges" (Iranian) specifically designed to
penetrate armor. Fact: Most of the ready made IED's are supplied by Iran, who
is also providing terrorists (Hezbollah types) to train the insurgents in their
use and tactics. That's why the attacks have been so deadly lately. Their
concealment methods are ingenious, the latest being shape charges in Styrofoam
containers spray painted to look like the cinderblocks that litter all Iraqi
roads. We find about 40% before they detonate, and the bomb disposal guys are
unsung heroes of this war.
4) Mortars and rockets: Very prevalent. The soviet era 122mm rockets (with an
18km range) are becoming more prevalent. One of Jordan's NCO's lost a leg to
one. These weapons cause a lot of damage "inside the wire". Jordan's
base was hit al! most daily his entire time there by mortar and rocket fire,
often at night to disrupt sleep patterns and cause fatigue (It did). More of a
psychological weapon than anything else. The enemy mortar teams would jump out
of vehicles, fire a few rounds, and then haul ass in a matter of seconds.
5) Bad guy technology: Simple yet effective. Most communication is by cell
and satellite phones, and also by email on laptops. They use handheld GPS units
for navigation and "Google earth" for overhead views of our positions.
Their weapons are good, if not fancy, and prevalent. Their explosives and bomb
technology is TOP OF THE LINE. Night vision is rare. They are very careless
with their equipment and the captured GPS units and laptops are treasure troves
of Intel when captured.
Who are the bad guys?:
Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group. They operate
mostly in Anbar province (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly
"foreigners", non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from all over the Muslim
world (and Europe). Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, of course, the
knowledge and complicity of the Syrian govt.) , and then travel down the
"rat line" which is the trail of towns along the Euphrates River that
we've been hitting hard for the last few months. Some are virtually untrained
young Jihadists that often end up as suicide bombers or in "sacrifice
squads". Most, however, are hard core terrorists from all the usual
suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas etc.) These are the guys running around
murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off. The Chechens (many of whom
are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless and the best fighters. (they
have been fighting the Russians for years). In the Baghdad area and south, most
of the insurgents are Iranian inspired (and led) Iraqi Shiites. The Iranian
Shiia have been very adept at infiltrating the Iraqi local govt.'s, the police
forces and the Army. The have had a massive spy and agitator network there
since the Iran-Iraq war in the early 80's. Most of the Saddam loyalists were
killed, captured or gave up long ago.
Bad Guy Tactics:
When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their asses kicked every
time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges were very common earlier
in the war and still occur. They will literally sacrifice 8-10 man teams in
suicide squads by sending them screaming and firing Ak's and RPG's directly at
our bases just to probe the defenses. They get mowed down like grass every time.
( see the M2 and M240 above). Jordan's base was hit like this often. When
engaged, they have a tendency to flee to the same building, probably for what
they think will be a glorious last stand. Instead, we call in air and that's the
end of that more often than not. These hole-ups are referred to as Alpha Whiskey
Romeo's (Allah's Waiting Room). We have the laser guided ground-air thing down
to a science. The fast mover's, mostly Marine F-18's, are taking an ever
increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in the open, the helicopter
gunships and AC-130 Spectre gunships cut them to ribbons with cannon and rocket
fire, especially at night. Interestingly, artillery is hardly used at all. Fun
fact: The enemy death toll is supposedly between 45-50 thousand. That is why
we're seeing less and less infantry attacks and more IED, suicide bomber stuff.
The new strategy is simple: attrition.
The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use of civilian non-combatants as
cover. They know we do all we can to avoid civilian casualties and therefore
schools, hospitals and (especially) Mosques are locations where they meet, stage
for attacks, cache weapons and ammo and flee to when engaged. They have
absolutely no regard whatsoever for civilian casualties. They will terrorize
locals and murder without hesitation anyone believed to be sympathetic to the
Americans or the new Iraqi govt. Kidnapping of family members (especially
children) is common to influence people they are trying to influence but can't
reach, such as local govt. officials, clerics, tribal leaders, etc.).
The first thing our guys are told is "don't get captured". They know
that if captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the internet. Zarqawi
openly offers bounties for anyone who brings him a live American serviceman.
This motivates the criminal element who otherwise don't give a crap about the
war. A lot of the beheading victims were actually kidnapped by common criminals
and sold to Zarqawi. As such, for our guys, every fight is to the death.
Surrender is not an option.
The Iraqi's are a mixed bag. Some fight well others aren't worth anything. Most
do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, but they are getting
better. It is widely viewed that Zarqawi's use of suicide bombers, en masse,
against the civilian population was a serious tactical mistake. Many Iraqi's
were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the Army and the police forces
went up, along with their motivation. It also led to an exponential increase in
good intel because the Iraqi's are sick of the insurgent attacks against
civilians. The Kurds are solidly pro-American and fearless fighters.
According to Jordan, morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe
they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and
dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally
view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They
are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see crap like "Are we
losing in Iraq" on TV and the print media. For the most part, they are
satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership. Bottom line though, and
they all say this, there are not enough guys there to drive the final stake
through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren't enough
troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians
and the Syrians just cant stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally
(with, of course, permanent US bases there).