[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Observations from Iraq (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 11/10/2005 9:57:13 AM EDT
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My brother just cut and pasted this from an "off-roading" type of website - Blog he belongs to. He thought it was interesting enough to share with me and I am sharing it with you, FWIW. The gentleman who posted said "Feel free to pass it along" so I am. It is very telling, a little long, but worth the read. (Especially the part about Alpha-Whiskey-Romeo's)  I loved it. And, I hope this is not a dupe. Here it is: ********************************************************************* I thought you might like this. The information below if from a friend of mine who knows the writer. Jordan is his son. Feel free to pass it along. ********************************************************************* Hello to all my fellow gunners, military buffs, veterans and interested guys. A couple of weekends ago I got to spend time with my son Jordan, who was on his first leave since returning from Iraq. He is well (a little thin), and already bored. He will be returning to Iraq for a second tour in early '06 and has already re-enlisted early for 4 more years. He loves the Marine Corps and is actually looking forward to returning to Iraq. Jordan spent 7 months at "Camp Blue Diamond" in Ramadi. Aka: Fort Apache. He saw and did a lot and the following is what he told me about weapons, equipment, tactics and other miscellaneous info which may be of interest to you. Nothing is by any means classified. No politics here, just a Marine with a bird's eye view's opinions: 1) The M-16 rifle : Thumbs 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 . 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, used 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 their dicks 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 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 bull 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 . 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. Let'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 dog. 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 almost 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 . 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 cant 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 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 a . 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 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). Anyway guys, that's it, hope you found it interesting, I sure did. |
Interesting... so they get them stoned and then send them on suicide missions... (what sober person would go and blow themselves up anyway?) Too bad the press paints them as "brave fanatics" instead of "strung out losers" 
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| Good read, thanks. Its good to know my brothers-in-arms are doing well over there. I wish the media would get it right. Its too bad to here about the shortcomings of the M16/M4 (and M243 and M9). (I've heard about it before, its still a damn shame, but this isn't the place for that debate.) |
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I had no idea that gmail program existed. We should work harder as a country and stop aiding the enemy with such things as mapping programs and ideas on the news of what to hit next. I hear people talking on the news all the time saying things like "we should be more secure... someone could drive right up to this building and blow it up". Or "experts say that it would only take a few test tubes of sarin released in the subway to cause a distaster, a disaster that could kill thousands" Now the terrorists know exaclty where to put the bomb, and how much sarin to bring, etc etc. You know they have to be sitting around saying "wow, thats a good idea, I never thought of that!" The least we could do is put a black blob over Iraq for the time being. |
This Goolge earth bit is pure BS. The pics on Google earth are up to 3 years old. You will get nothing tactical off of it I promise. |
| Pretty much similiar to what I experienced in Afghanistan and I was attached to the Bundeswehr contingent at Khandahar. Im glad I was able to use a G36, the M4s had alot of problems in Afghanistan. We didnt have alot of handgun firings back then, but the M9 was prone to parts breakage on the range and was generally disliked. The German P8 seemed to work pretty well, although it was as bulky as the M9. I can definitely see the Google thing as we did similar, its good for generalities as you can never get as much high rez stuff as you want. |
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Google earth maps/photos are older than 3 years. Our house was built 5 years ago and and its not on their maps, just the empty farm fields that used to be here as well as the older roads. Newsflash: they are the same images Mapquest used to have for their aerial photo view, at least for our area. I know because I did screenshots and made a composite image for a 50 mile area around where our house is. The exact same images. Not impressed with it, old stuff. |
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Just got back from the sandbox. For the most part the blog has it right. but... Google Earth IS pure BS. Keep in mind that most of the bases we are operating out of are former Saddam era military bases. Think of it like this.... If a bunch of guys came here and set up a base at say Camp Pendleton or Camp Lejeune....I would think that any former or current Marine with the gusto would know where to hit them at. Just my 2 cents. |
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Also wanted to add that the idea that the triangle is the hot spot is also BS. While they get the most media coverage one of the worst places I've been is the west. The syrian border is quite open and the IEDs tend to be quite large. We refer to them as the redneck hajis. [southern drawl] well that one didn't seem to git em what we gon do? Make that bomb a bit bigger! [southern drawl] Most of the captured in that AO are not Iraqis but rather other arabs that have come to wage Jihad. |
  Who the fuck would drag a dead insurgents body to wherever, to perform an autopsy and include toxicology screen, which takes a couple weeks to get back anyways. I call BS. Some of the other shit in there sounds like, well....shit. |
X-ring. +1 I've got my t-shirt, so here's my down and dirty $.02 The M9 is a POS, an anemic round, and a "delicate" weapon. even after replacing all of the mag springs with quality Wolff +10% Springs, they ate parts, jammed, whatever. Bring back the M1911A1. We saw NO 1911's issued in theater. The M4/M16A2-4 is a good platform. There is nothing wrong with these rifles, You just have to clean them daily, kinda like brushing your teeth. The ONE GLARING exception that I have is the newer FN M16A4 series is of a lesser quality than the older Colt A2 series. I'd really like to see more 10.5" bbls for wheeled vehicle crews, and M4's all the way around for dismounts. I cannot think of a situation (In and around Baghdad) where we needed to reach out and touch 300+ meters. Most all of the engagements were under 200 meters. If you need reach out and touch, welllll (drumroll please-) The M14 is a great platform as well, and aptly suited for it's role as the Designated Marksman's Rifle. The M249's in my Bn suffered no problems I am aware of. 99.999% of the gunners used 100 round assualt packs, and stowed two 200 rnd drums on their Molle vest. The Mossy 500 is a decent shotgun, but, in another year they'll all have to be replaced, because they just are not durable enough for dayin/day out carry for 4 years. (This is one item that is remaining in theater and being handed off to the unit that replaces one rotating home.) Momma Duece, and her little second-cousin once removed, the M240B performed up to standard. Once the Joes figured out they had to clean them, and what to clean. The Army needs to step up and provide FAR better Platoon Commo.  The most memorable cartoon strip in the Star and Stripes had Pv2 Murphy open a box from home, pull out two Motorollas, and then say, "Hey Guys! My Mom sent Commo!" What's even sadder about that is, we ALL laughed, 'cause it was true. |
No, it's true. I'm not sure to what extent, but the ones who attacked my base in April, who were still in pieces big enough to put in a bag, were put in our morgue and sent to BIAP for autopsy. The email is fairly accurate. And +1 on us using old Saddam bases. It's the truth. And yes, if you were ever stationed at Bragg, you'd know which buildings likely were used for what, where the fuel points and ASP's are, etc. We're reusing a lot of their stuff. Also, they don't HAVE to rely on new imagery, b/c most of the bases we use are in villages. There are apartment buildings not 50 meters from my exterior wall. Haji with binos can sit in his mosque or his brother in law's apt and scope out exactly where we're going, doing, and what the important buildings are. Case in point, in that same attack in April, their indirect fire hit SPECIFICALLY TARGETED places, such as our fuel point, our control center, and the barracks. They released video of insurgents setting up rockets and mortars, using fucking survey just like we do, and hitting the base. Guys, that email is for real. Even if it's a scripted, passed around the internet hoax, the info in it is fairly accurate. Unless you've been here and sucked the sand, you don't know what's real and what's not. So knock off all the "I CALL B.S." and "SMELLS LIKE A CROCK TO ME!" crap. You guys say you want real info from the people in the know, b/c you're tired of hearing the media tell their lies? Well don't be disappointed when you GET that real deal look. |
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Okay, its not all true, but what is? I never had a problem with my 249 the entire time I was in theater. And the only times that my buddies (the guys in my unit) had problems with their M-16's were when they slacked off too much and didnt bother do clean the friggen things the way CFLC put out. so, if someone is having weapon issues chroniclly... find out how often they clean the thing. if they're in the windy season, they need to clean it as often as possible (at least 3 times a day, but more is better) and if you're goin out and doin stuff, CLEAN YOUR FRIGGEN WEAPON!! Duh! |
Ive heard of SAW problems but thats because they were probably some of the guns that were first fielded. Similar to M60s that were good back in the day but sucked in 1994. The Army really needs to keep some sort of lifespan on weapons and some other equipment to ditch it when its time has passed. |
Hoppy- I dunno about straight BS...I've read it in three differant places. The take I got from it that it was an older gentleman passing along info he got in speaking to his son. Now his son might be an 18 yr old Pvt, and he's puffing some facts, as well as making a few up, just to not appear ignorant in front of the "Old Man". The writer, might be an Army vet as well, which differs vastly from the USMC way of life...that would account for some of the obvious gaps in the piece. Remember being a kid and playing telephone/telegraph? Pass the story of to another and it's already lost integrity.....
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Yeah, that makes it real........ 
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+1 never seen it and we were getting some pretty new fangled things out there. Alot of the "civilian contractors" (I have a hard time calling them civilians when they have FALs and M-4s) had some new light weight body armor BUT.... It doesn't stop AK rounds (or any rifle ammo). The bright side being that even though the stuff we have weighs about 25-30 lbs with the plates in it does work. The plates will stop AK rounds and the vest itself stops alot of frag as well as pistol caliber bullets. |
| I'm a firm believer in the SAPI plates. I took a glancing shot from an AK that hit me in the back, skipped of the plate and hit a truck next to me and took out the head light. I went postal and emptied a mag into the nearest berm. I never saw a street clear so fast in my life. Wasn't the smartest thing to do but it pissed me off that someone had balls enough to shoot me in the back. |
my favorite part |
Way to take a quote out of context. I hear Hillery is thinking about running...better hurry up so you can get on the misinformation staff. Go back, re-read what I posted. Read my post from 10/11/2005 10:59:40 PM PST. Then tell me where you might think I'm in error. |
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Quoted: I've got my t-shirt, so here's my down and dirty $.02 I also have a T-shirt... (Says "Hard Rock Cafe, Mosul, Iraq") The M9 is a POS, an anemic round, and a "delicate" weapon. even after replacing all of the mag springs with quality Wolff +10% Springs, they ate parts, jammed, whatever. I found my M-9 magazines to be in very frequent need of cleaning in order for the springs to work. I did buy one personal magazine in addition to the two on issue, it was more acceptable, but I just cleaned all three at once. Ammunition was cleaned as well. In fairness to the 9mm, it never failed on me. Bring back the M1911A1. That's one opinion. I'd prefer a SIG in .40 or 357SIG We saw NO 1911's issued in theater. I saw one 1911, it was an unauthorised personally owned weapon. The M249's in my Bn suffered no problems I am aware of. 99.999% of the gunners used 100 round assualt packs, and stowed two 200 rnd drums on their Molle vest. Haven't seen those. We just had the drums. The Mossy 500 is a decent shotgun, but, in another year they'll all have to be replaced, because they just are not durable enough for dayin/day out carry for 4 years. (This is one item that is remaining in theater and being handed off to the unit that replaces one rotating home.) We replaced the shoulder stock on ours with a pistol grip. We also had a pistol-grip slide. The Army needs to step up and provide FAR better Platoon Commo. Agreed. The most memorable cartoon strip in the Star and Stripes had Pv2 Murphy open a box from home, pull out two Motorollas, and then say, "Hey Guys! My Mom sent Commo!" What's even sadder about that is, we ALL laughed, 'cause it was true. A Marine friend of mine went over, and for some reason, their commander got a bee in his bonnet about unauthorised commo. No motorolas permitted. No Garmin RINOs either. (Since they have a radio). He couldn't believe it. They smuggled as best they could. NTM |
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Garmin Rhinos transmit a signal when being used and can be track with direction finding equipment which is why they were put off limits. We used unsecure radios only between the soldier controlling the locals at the gate and the search area. No sensitive info other than "Send another one up", "Roger". |
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Manic_Moran: OK, so your mileage varied....no two units/components/services are going to have exactly the same equipment fielded to them....but obviously there's a baseline of experiance as far as weapons' performance. SIG's are pretty decent pistols, I saw several mil version P220 (226?229?, whichever). I fired one on a range, and it was accurate enough, the sights were also adequate, but I just don't like 9mm. IMO-357SIG, the ammo's too "Rare", and .40S&W is just a better version of the 9mm. I'm comfortable with the .45ACP, and have no reservations about it's abilities, and again, that's just my opinion. BTW- I saw 1911's...just wasn't issued one.  Tangochaser- We used the off the shelf motorolla's the same way, sparingly, and limited info only. We were fortunate enough that some of the local businesses (remember I was in a 'Guard unit) bought us encrypted capable radios through the local PD. We couldn't talk on military nets, but at least we had encrypted, high-freq capability within the company. |
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It's possible that your pistol needs differ from mine. If you're in 161IN, for example, you might desire a sidearm for secondary offensive purposes, where bigger is better. As a tanker, I am more worried about defensive use, and willing to trade punch for capacity. As long as the round is 'good enough' for my purposes (Stopping the other guy from shooting at me as I run away), I'm quite happy. NTM |
So what you're saying is...is that IF you're in a fucked up Tank unit, like...1/185th Armor you're best off not worrying about the weapon as much as a penguin-looking POS S-4 not ordering ammo?  Or would ya just worry that 2 M9's were stolen and that you're going to go on pass, while the rest of the BDE remains on lockdown? Ooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...would ya just not worry about the whole fuckin' thing, since you're most likely going to be in southern Irq, playing golf in the desert?  Mag capacity is no real replacement for good 'ole marksmanship training and shot placement. Given that the military restricts itself to ball/FMJ ammo, and that an "exotic" like the .357SIG is out, your choices are limited to the 9mm, .45ACP and .40S&W. Since the platform is already in the system, (Referring to the 1911), it wouldn't be much of a stretch to award contracts to any one of the manufacturers out there. Having said that, my daily carry is Springfield 1911A1, double-wide, in .45ACP. I can carry in a shoulder rig w/ 2 spare 15 round mags, or just grab the pistol and go. I like the idea of large cap, but I also MUCH prefer the .45 'Sides that...I have no idea which model is better for "Over the shoulder use"
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It is BS. Sorry folks, thats all. WTF is an M243? |
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Some of the 185 people might say that they have little sympathy for Washington State people who were a hell of a lot closer to home, and some of whom got to see family for more than once in three months during the trainup, and even then found themselves pulling duty in Lewis over Christmas because they had been promised that the 'Washington people would cover them during the pass from Irwin' The stealing of the pistols was a bit screwed up though. My favourite was the idiot who bought some sort of MP5 variant up in WA, and tried to smuggle it out when we were released on pass, knowing full well we would be searched for the pistols. We were somewhat surprised when we got issued (Issued!) golf clubs. That said, we were a little busy up in the Northern third of the country and didn't really know what to do with them. I don't know if I'd categorise 357SIG as 'exotic'. It's new, but it's in the federal system, a few agencies use it. Just not the Army right now. Most other Western countries are waiting on the adoption of a new pistol, mainly to see what new round is going to come out as 'standard' "Mag capacity is no real replacement for good 'ole marksmanship training and shot placement" Fine words. You go ahead and take on people armed with machineguns and rifles with your pistol whilst following all the rules for shot placement. I work on the basis of 'don't bring a knife to a gunfight, and don't bring a pistol to a rifle fight'. It might work out OK in Iraq when you're fighting spray and pray people, but if against a competent opposition, I think that's more of a suicidal attitude. My duty if I'm using a pistol is not to play Rambo shooting the enemy, it's to get back to the rear and get another tank, where I would be a lot more effective. To do that, I'm happy suppressing or discouraging the other guy, which means more rounds. The Army spent a lot of money training me to be a tanker, I like to think I'm more use in one than on foot blazing away with a sidearm. As I said, Infantry types may have different priorities. NTM |
MY commo instructors couldnt stress enough to not use motorola talk abouts for comsec purposes as well as the possibility of setting something off. Some people used them pretty discretely and smartly but I have seen people sending normal traffic that should only be going out as cypher text. HF or UHF radios? Did you get those motorla 5000s? We had them when I worked with the Australians but as you know our main radios were the MBITRs. Luckily we had them in high density so we wouldnt have to resort to motorolas. Our team sgt busted out two talkabouts early on in the deployment because he didnt like the mbitrs. I broke them so that they werent an issue anymore. EDiT: Everyone knows 185 sucks. I lost count how many port a potties I read it in. 
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They should just never have phased out the M3 for crew. Lots of CAL .45 copper coated candy headed towards said bad guys. Not that accurate for an SMG, but compared to a pistol, it was fine.  |
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Well, 185 are back home now, they came back with you lot with the rest of 81st Bde. The battalion was scattered across the whole country. The Southernmost station was Cedar/Talil, the Northernmost was Marez/Mosul. Somehow, battalion Mortars got themselves attached to 1st Mardiv and went to Fallujah. I'm not entirely sure how they managed that. NTM |
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MM- Check the properties on the picture...it'll cause you not to say something..."Tankerish" Oh......nevermind, Here dude-http://www.lcompanyranger.com/usweapons/greasegunsuchke.jpg VietNam Era Rangers.... I have a special kind of hate for 1/185. I was in the Infantry company that was attached to y'all at Lewis, and then GLORIOUSLY unattached right at the end of training in Irwin. As far as not seeing family, not all of us had within within 50 miles of Lewis. 100% of my company's families were a minimum of 125 miles away. I've never seen a more inneffective unit, ever, anywhere. I'm amazed you're not all out in the desert wandering around. The lack of adult supervision was amazing, and the lack of intelligence in the Bn staff was outright disgusting. I met some HIGHLY capable individuals, C Co supply Sarge for one, but by and large, most of your O-grades were.....amazing.  I hope to hell they fix that before the next deployment.BTW- That MP5, was a stolen firearm, bought by one of your gang bangers, from another gangbanger here in WA. BTW- Did the race problem in your unit ever get better the closer you got to Iraq? During? Good point on the SIG, but, as mentioned, it sure as hell ain't "standard", which puts a finer point on what I said, being in one Federal agency's inventory, doesn't lend itself to being in another's. Finally- Yeah, gotcha, Infantrymen do look at weapons differently than Tankers....if the shit's that close, you better be buttoned up, firing coax, and calling for me. thedoctors308.....Look, you must be another one that doesn't like to read entire posts in a thread, so let me break it down for you another way- Answer me this: You've never met an old man, proud of his kid, who didn't get all of the facts straight? My opinion is this was written in earnest, it's just all fucked up. I never vouched for the material's accuracy, just that it's probable some kid's 'ole man wrote it. Look a the evening news, those assholes can't tell the difference between a M113A3 APC and an M1A2 MBT. To me it just reads like a lot has been lost in translation, and the writer has a bunch of shit all SNAFU'd. Hoppy- The MBTR was a shining example that the military can field a decent radio system, we just didn't have any, save one, and Lt Suits snagged it from the TOC. _DR Now that's about one big ole X-Ring. |
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I have a special kind of hate for 1/185. I was in the Infantry company that was attached to y'all at Lewis, and then GLORIOUSLY unattached right at the end of training in Irwin Funny you should say that. My company was the one that got cross-attached to 161IN in return and gloriously unattached at the end of training in Irwin. If we really want to get into a pointless mutual mudslinging, (much like American politics, actually), there's not much respect going around the tankers for the Bradley guys either. I guess it's just one of those mutual dislike things. Glass houses, and all that. bought by one of your gang bangers Possible. He was an engineer imported from another battalion, not a tanker though. Professionalism prevents me from mentioning my opinion of 1/185AR's battalion staff. In fairness, it also prevents me from mentioning any opinions on 81st Bde in general, though I'm happy to say that at my low level, and working for 1ID/25ID it didn't matter much. It is known that A/185 screwed up over there. The other two companies really aren't that bad at all. (Though C company was actually a 1-149AR/578EN composite) LT Suits? Bryan Suits, artillery type, radio person? I don't recall seeing him for some reason. Oh well, the deployment was a big OCS class reunion, it shouldn't surprise me he was around. if the shit's that close, you better be buttoned up, firing coax, and calling for me. It's a fair trade. No sensible tanker believes that they should be roaming around close terrain without infantry support. I would dispute that any sensible crunchie would believe they would find life easier without tank support. Combined arms etc. However, if I'm using a pistol it implies that there's a reason I'm not buttoned up firing coax! NTM |
I can't tell you how glad we were, the Bn as a whole, to find out that we were going to fall under 1CD, and not BDE...but, like anythig else, it was simply trading the devil we knew for the devil we didn't. Lt. Suits...lived down the hall from me, for the entire year all I needed for entertainment, was to walk on over and say "2nd Amendment!" or "Liberals and the GWOT!" or "How about that D-FAC!"  Look for IM. |
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AH, good ole Boots for Suits... Your FOB eventually got a dfac. were you still around then? SEALs also took over your range. SR Chief P was good to go though and hooked us up as best he could. Range 2-3 times a month at one point when we got a ton of ammo given to us. |
Total HiJack Complete! "OPLAN Old Home Week" is now in effect!!!!!!!! I was living in the tents set up next to the entrance for the last 4 days, and IIRC, the DFAC opened 2-3 days before we left. I ate there once...the DFAC I was referring to was where our mess section served us out of Mermites  .Here's a fun fact- I ate there a grand total of 15 times, out of roughly 950 meals in country. We knew about the SEALs...they sent an advanced party to spiff up the building they were to stay in...funny part was the NCO in charge of that building told 'em to take a flying leap. He wasn't about to displace his troops who were working 10-14 hr days just some some operator could get decent plumbing/windows/electricity, ect. Best part is, when they went to LtCol Fowler, the FOB Commander in addition to being the BC, he concurred with the NCO. 
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