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INFORMATION FROM THE FRONT
(WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN IRAQ)
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 birds eye views 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 its 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 .45s 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. [Pres Clinton
orderded the destruction of tens of thousands of these
very reliable and useful rifles -- we need 'em now.]
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 700s.
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 Hathcocks 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
bullshit about the old body armor making our guys
vulnerable to the IEDs 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. Weve
all seen the videos.
13) Lights: Thumbs up. Most of the weapon mounted and
personal lights are Surefires, 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, its 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 AK47s . 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. Lets just say they know better now.
2) The RPG: Probably the infantry weapon most feared by
our guys. Simple, reliable and as common as dogshit. 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 Jordans 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 IEDs are supplied by Iran, who is also providing
terrorists (Hezbollah types) to train the insurgents in
their use and tactics. Thats 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
Jordans NCOs lost a leg to one. These weapons cause a
lot of damage inside the wire. Jordans 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 at line which is the trail of towns
along the Euphrates River that weve 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., the
police forces and the Army. The have had a massive spy
and agitator network there since the Iran-Iraq war in
the early 80s. 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 Aks and RPGs directly at our bases
just to probe the defenses. They get mowed down like
grass every time. ( see the M2 and M240 above). Jordans
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 thats the end of that more often than
not. These hole-ups are referred to as Alpha Whiskey
Romeos (Allahs Waiting Room). We have the laser guided
ground-air thing down to a science. The fast movers,
mostly Marine F-18s, 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 were 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 Iraqis 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 Zarqawis use of suicide bombers,
en masse, against the civilian population was a serious
tactical mistake. Many Iraqis 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 Iraqis
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).