Afghan war: Saw video on the news...

[Bigmack]

about the Marines going on a patrol in those giant mine-resistant vehicles. Five vehicles.. the first one hit an IED and was crippled. The other units just sat there... for a looooooong time. Finally, they came under some small arms fire. Eventually, the patrol moved on and the vehicle was slowly pulled out of the area.

You guys from the Southeast Asian War Games... would the VC/NVA allow a golden opportunity like that to slip away? I was waiting for the follow-up booby-trap, or at least the well planned ambush to take advantage of those giant stationary targets.

Are the Taliban/insurgents a little slower to learn than the Vietnamese? Are they out of weapons or people? WTF?

What's your best guess?

Anybody?

[GA_ArmyVet]

1. I did not play in SE Asia but I did play

in Afghanistan..They are not slow to learn.
They are not generally as well trained and less coordinated in their efforts.
There are so many factions and warlords that you seldom know if they are Taliban, Al Queada, or some other local warlord protecting his own interest be it drugs or some other interest..

That being said, my thoughts on it are they learn very quickly that the US forces expect the follow up IED and Small arms fire. We dont move in right away on the crippled vehicle as it is likely another one is going to go off if you get approach..we also have lots of other assests to bring to bear once small arms fire erupts on the enemy positions are known. From Close air to artillery, they do not want to engage us when we are far enough away from them to employ those weapon systems. For this reason they stick to ambush and close in engagements unless they are in a position to counter those weapon systems.

This is also the reason they tend to hang out in civilian populated areas, if we respond in those areas we are the bad guys causing civilian deaths and if we dont then they control the area and the population and we lose anyway.

It is a very tough situation tactically speaking.

This is just my opinion of it, and I am far from a tactical genius but that is my perception of it from the ground.

[Bigmack]

4. Thank you.....

for your very perceptive comments. I have a better idea of the situation now.

You all done?... no more deployments?

People often say "Thank you for your service.".... and it sounds lame to me. I'd rather say "You did good... welcome home."

[GA_ArmyVet]

5. Thank you..

I appreciate the welcome home.

[NNN0LHI]

2. They have had the largest and most advanced military in world pinned down for going on 9 years now

And all of our friends are there helping us.

And we haven't gotten them to give up and quit fighting yet.

And in the mean time we have gone broke.

Whats that tell you?

Don

[Mari333]

6. people dont learn from history

Vietnam, Afghanistan 1, the russians..they just dont learn

and then our kids die for nothing. for corporate profits. that is all.


nothing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPiMsPUhDT4

[ShamelessHussy]

3. to successfully make a thousand cuts

you have to live to see another day :shrug: