Rebuilding Afghanistan

Manic Moran

Ye Gods, six days in this place and I'm starting to go stir crazy. At least it's good training for terminal leave where I don't have much I -need- to do.

NTM

Morpheus

Well, its been nice reading your posts man, I hope you get home safe and sound, we'll all miss them, very very informative stuff and eye openers for a lot of us safe and sound back in the old country!

helimachoptor

Yeah Manic it's been much appreciated and extremely informative.
Hope you land the job too.

Manic Moran

Ah, sweet nectar. Just had a couple of bottles of Baltika #9. An 8% lager. And watched a bunch of lads let off some 9 month's worth of steam.

NTM

minidazzler

Manic Moran wrote: »

Ah, sweet nectar. Just had a couple of bottles of Baltika #9. An 8% lager. And watched a bunch of lads let off some 9 month's worth of steam.

NTM

I'd say welcome back...but seeing as you aren't actually in Ireland, glad to see you got out OK!

ynotdu

Yes Manic,just wanted to join in with those above to wish You well and to thank You for being 'Our Man in Afghanistan' Great to have had a perspective from someone actually on the ground.
No amount of TV News watching or Newspaper reading brought the realities of Afghanistan to light in the way your posts here have!
You will i hope let us know what becomes of You in the future?
{and ya should be ok for health care now if the noggin is not fully healed yet!;)}

Cheers and best of Irish luck!

Victor

ynotdu wrote: »

'Our Man in Afghanistan'

Now "our man in Kyrgyzstan" (note the "Z", yeah, I can never spell it either, not that can I point it out from Tajikistan, but given the border, neither can the locals )

Check out

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&source=hp&ie=UTF8&q=bishkek+kyrgyzstan+map&fb=1&gl=ie&ei=COanS5mROdT4ObW-sIIM&ved=0CBgQpQY&view=map&geocode=FWI3jgId_n1yBA&split=0&hq=&hnear=Bishkek,+Kyrgyzstan&ll=42.857909,74.849698&spn=0.001718,0.003449&t=h&z=18

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&source=hp&ie=UTF8&q=bishkek+kyrgyzstan+map&fb=1&gl=ie&ei=COanS5mROdT4ObW-sIIM&ved=0CBgQpQY&view=map&geocode=FWI3jgId_n1yBA&split=0&hq=&hnear=Bishkek,+Kyrgyzstan&ll=42.827827,74.582748&spn=0.027508,0.055189&t=h&z=14 - look at wha the embassy is built over.

goldie fish

Some of us followed his exploits as a "butterbar" Lt in Iraq, Him and "Barely Legal", the famous US submarine tank.
ANd now we see his heroic return from A-Stan as a captain.

What next now for the tall one I wonder?

Colonel Manics blog from the US Armys outpost on Mars?


Well done tall fella. Lookin forward to seeing you back in your "real" home sometime soon.

Manic Moran

So does anyone work in Shannon? If I gave you guys a flight number and arrival time, think you could nobble something/someone so I have a longer layover? Maybe 24 hours?

NTM

cyrusdvirus

Manic Moran wrote: »

So does anyone work in Shannon? If I gave you guys a flight number and arrival time, think you could nobble something/someone so I have a longer layover? Maybe 24 hours?

NTM

try over on A&A, they might have someone.

iceage

"Its not leaving until we get Manic to the departure lounge Bar....its his round!

minidazzler

Manic, you might get lucky and some anti-war nut might get in a fight with the plane!

Victor

minidazzler wrote: »

Manic, you might get lucky and some anti-war nut might get in a fight with the plane!

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1233/1197144198_7072b7d0ba.jpg?v=0

ynotdu

Victor wrote: »

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1233/1197144198_7072b7d0ba.jpg?v=0

Lol Victor that is a picture of a member of the Green party who got promoted in Yesterdays reshuffle in the Irish Govt,NO better party given an Axe to wreck a plane in Shannon"!

Victor

One of the people who "attacked" the plane in Shannon with "hammers" did so with an inflatable one. Establishing mens rea must have been problematic.

Manic Moran

Well, after several days of sleeping and boozing in Manas (I'd still rather have been let off-base, mind), we have moved to Camp Atterbury. Stopoff at Shannon. Sadly, my sister was unable to meet me, but a good friend of mine was, so not a total loss. Ceremonial bottle of Middleton's purchased.

The cabin crew of these charter companies have a sort of tradition of wearing insignia on their aprons. Unit patches, wings, combat infantryman badges, rank, and so on and so forth, donated by their passengers.

Was surprised to see a big "IRELAND" patch (The big tricolour with the word written above it, that is worn on overseas missions) sewn to one of the aprons in between all the US patches. Turns out that they (Omni Air International) had flown an Irish contingent to Chad, so one of the soldiers donated his flag patch. Nice of him. They've got a ways to go yet, though.

Atterbury itself still sucks. We're in for five or six pretty torrid days.

NTM

Local-womanizer

When will let be released into normalilty Manic?

Good to hear your back by the way.

Manic Moran

That's a long and sordid story.

Some people will say the afternoon of the 31st, when we get to Vegas and party. However, because some genii higher made some really odd decisions, we can't party too much because we'll have a C-130 flight at about 6am the following morning to Reno. So probably early afternoon the 1st, at which point I need to see if my car still starts. Which is an hour and a half the wrong side of Reno. Then I need to drive the hour and a half back to Reno...

NTM

Victor

Better book a hotel room in Reno then unless you want to book the courthouse in Reno.

Manic Moran

Four days of paperwork completed. Some of us, we could have been done in one day or less. A few people won't be coming back with us, due to medical issues. (Army keeps you on duty until you're fixed).

Heading for Vegas now. It's just starting to warm up in Indiana. I hear there's snow in Reno, where I'll be tomorrow morning. I just can't win from losing.

Chances are that next time I log in, it'll be wearing something not green for the first time in a year. Trying to decide what to wear in the morning after a long stint with the Army is actually a pretty traumatic experience. Maybe I'll just be naked. I won't post pictures.

NTM

cyrusdvirus

Just to re-iterate the thanks in previous posts about your keeping us informed. I'm friends with a girl who has a number of friends in the RAF (and no, i'm not a Jody!! ), a lot of whom i've met, and have had postings to Afghanistan and Iraq but never got the in depth in country commentary as was available here. Very much appreciated from a civvie who has an interest in things Green. And Blue. And Grey.

Victor

Manic Moran wrote: »

Chances are that next time I log in, it'll be wearing something not green for the first time in a year. Trying to decide what to wear in the morning after a long stint with the Army is actually a pretty traumatic experience.

Does it fit +3
Is it clean +2
Is it reasonably clean +1
Is it undamaged +2
Is it reasonably undamaged +1
Does it suit the weather today +3
Is it a weird colour -1
Is it a really weird colour -2
Is it dayglo and you plan to be doing an activity around large moving vehicles +4
Is it dayglo and you don't plan to be doing an activity around large moving vehicles -4
Do the colours clash so much that it came from a clothes explosion -1
Does it have loads of pockets +1
If they comes in pairs, can you pass off the two you have as a pair +2
Does it make you look like a mammy's boy -5
Have people previously commented positively towards you wearing it +1

Manic Moran

http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/89739977.html

http://www.rgj.com/article/20100401/NEWS/100401051/Northern-Nevada-troopers-return-to-cheers-tears

http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=J7&Dato=20100401&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=4010802&Ref=PH&rgj_description=Nevada%20Army%20Guard%20Returns&rgj_date=April%201.%202010

http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20100401/NEWS/100409994/1045/rss

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100402/NEWS/100409928/1070&ParentProfile=1058

NTM

Local-womanizer

Great to hear you all made it back. Must have been something else stepping off the plane into all that?!

Whats the plans now Manic? Have you work lined up or you taking a good ling break to recover?

_Whimsical_

Is that you in the first video saying "let the festivities commence" Manic Moran?

Delighted to see that you are home and that all of your party came back to the US safely.Well done

Oh and I suggest jeans and a white shirt as a good casual look!;)

Manic Moran

chilly wrote: »

Is that you in the first video saying "let the festivities commence" Manic Moran?

Yes. Tall chap with the brown hat.

Finally found a pic. Courtesy of Facebook, of all places.



NTM

ynotdu

Manic Moran wrote: »

Yes. Tall chap with the brown hat.

Finally found a pic. Courtesy of Facebook, of all places.



NTM

Jeez Manic,Ya sure are one ugly dude!:pac::pac::pac::)
Great to see you's getting the well deserved welcome home,also in our previous interactions i did not fully realise the important posistion You held or i would have given You MUCH more grief!:)

Dismissed!

ynotdu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww4v2cP-MDo

Local-womanizer

ynotdu wrote: »

also in our previous interactions i did not fully realise the important posistion You held or i would have given You MUCH more grief!:)

Dismissed!

You mean to tell me you dident know he was a mod on here?! :pac:

ynotdu

Local-womanizer wrote: »

You mean to tell me you dident know he was a mod on here?! :pac:

Lol

helimachoptor

Manic, what are you up to these days? Any luck on getting a job?

Also since you're back have you met up with any of the guys you were deployed with?

Victor

Ireland - economy down the tubes, hasn't bottomed out yet
California - economy down the tubes, but great weather
Afghanistan - in a huge hole but gradually improving
Kyrgyzstan - corrupt, undergoing a revolution

Should we be letting him move about like this?

ynotdu

Manic{always a man of his word}said he would spend at Least the first week back home on some R&R!

Citing Sex and Alcohol as his Major priorities,but in NO particulor order!

May'be He is doing both at once:) {leaves no hand free for typing by him}

iceage

Some interesting pics. Some of them quite eerie.

http://www.the-daily-politics.com/news/36-militarynews/1430-yon-under-cover-of-the-night-with-1-17th-infantry

Interesting pargraph re IEDS and tracked vehicles.

Avgas

Great link Iceage...

but there wasn't a whole lot about IEDs and tracks accept to point out that a megaIEDs will take out anything....or did I miss something....

Nice pics....the bit about pulling the embed because they don't want nobody to be there as they lose the war is revealing.......

iceage

Re: the countering of burying of said IED's. " More likely, the enemy would try to anticipate our next move and get bombs in front of our most probable routes". "Our people up that game by pushing out snipers and observers who might be watching the Taliban—even from miles away—ready to kill them on our routes".

Actually I misread, the sneaky buggers would follow the tracks. The strykers mentioned of course have wheels.. that leave tracks. My god man you don't miss a trick. As to the losing of the war well, thats really a case of lets wait and see don't you agree. Personally I don't see an end game in sight, not for some time yet.

Avgas

Agreed..... an exit strategy is hard to see...hate to say this but maybe Rumsfeld was right all along...keep ground forces minimal...only SOF and trainers and FAO....and just hand it over to the various tribes and what passes for the ANA.......was a civil war situation anyway when US came in during 2001 backing Northern Alliance.....it'll just revert to that.....

Reckon if the Germans keep losing their people like the did on Good Friday they may well pull the plug..........like the Dutch government....

On the other hand it may just end up like Algeria which the French were actually winning in terms of owning land, intel, denying mobility, etc. (allied with systematic brutality it might be added). Then De Gaulle pulled the plug anyhow because he had other fish to fry.

Same thing kinda happened to the Portuguese in Mozambique....their COIN effort was actually paying dividends...but the coup in Portugal (1974) changed everything and they cut their losses and ran.

who knows, where it'll go.

iceage

The Afghan people do. maybe we should ask them.

A flippant remark, I apologise its getting late. I'm not a political kind of guy, thats for all those thinkers out there. I do know that
eventually when everybody has left Afghanistan that the Afghani people will sort it out the way they always have, Brutally and without
outside intervention.

The brits have been back twice now since the early 1800's on a war footing, three times if you count its assistance with the Russians.
I was always taught to leave a room tidier than you found it, do you get me? But I don't think we have a brush big enough to sort this
one out.

Avgas

Actually thought your comment about asking the Afghan people themselves was a good one Iceage....:)

Turns out they have

See:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8448930.stm

And it has a more detailed PDF if you want to go into in detail...

basically it seems to be saying that they are more optimistic about the future; a clear majority don't like/want the Taliban to win; a significant minority (20-40%) would like US and other foreign armies to leave fairly soon (say 18 months); but there is a trend whereby many think the US and allies are getting worse at avoiding innocent civilians.....

Have to take any poll in such a country with a bag of salt. Wouldn't be the first time polls have been used for pysops/propaganda either. US army have their own measures of opinions which are for obvious reasons kept confidential...

BUT what i think comes out an exercise like this is

(a) within 18 months the bulk of foreign troops should leave or move towards training roles and the ANA should take the lead..even if this means some serious setbacks
(b) Rules of Engagement should be tightened and clarified NOW
(c) Good Taliban should be separated from bad Taliban and systematically talked to and offered a deal...
(d) The COIN strategy that matters is not so much that of the US and its western allies but that of the ANA....given any COIN strategy is usually long term.

Just my tuppence worth.

Manic Moran

On an earlier discussion on Taliban marksmanship: Can't recall if it was this thread or another.

I have no idea where the original article is, so I simply copy from another site in its entireity.

The Weakness of Taliban Marksmanship

APRIL 2, 2010, 7:00 AM
The Weakness of Taliban Marksmanship

By C.J. CHIVERS
Reuters Taliban fighters training in Afghanistan in 2009.
Last week, At War opened a conversation about Afghan marksmanship by publishing rough data from several dozen recent firefights between the Taliban and three Marine rifle companies in and near Marja, the location of the recent offensive in Helmand Province. The data showed that while the Taliban can be canny and brave in combat their rifle fire is often remarkably ineffective.

We plan more posts about the nature of the fighting in Afghanistan, and how this influences the experience of the war. Today this blog discusses visible factors that, individually and together, predict poor shooting results when Taliban gunmen get behind their rifles.

It’s worth noting that many survivors of multiple small-arms engagements in Afghanistan have had experiences similar to those described last week. After emerging unscathed from ambushes, including ambushes within ranges at which the Taliban’s AK-47 knock-offs should have been effective, they wonder: how did so much Taliban fire miss?

Many factors are at play. Some of you jumped ahead and submitted comments that would fit neatly on the list; thank you for the insights. Our list includes these: limited Taliban knowledge of marksmanship fundamentals, a frequent reliance on automatic fire from assault rifles, the poor condition of many of those rifles, old and mismatched ammunition that is also in poor condition, widespread eye problems and uncorrected vision, and the difficulties faced by a scattered force in organizing quality training.

There are other factors, too. But this is enough for now. Already it’s a big list.

For those who face the Taliban on patrol, the size and complexity of this list can be read as good news, because when it comes to rifle fighting, the Taliban – absent major shifts in training, equipment and logistics – are likely to remain mediocre or worse at one of the central skills of modern war. And the chance of any individual American or Afghan soldier being shot will remain very small. The flip side is that parts of the list can also be read as bad news for Western military units, because Afghan army and police ranks are dense with non-shooters, too.

Limited Appreciation of Marksmanship Fundamentals

Let’s dispense outright with talk of born marksmen. Although some people are inclined to be better shots than others, and have a knack, marksmanship itself is not a natural trait. It is an acquired skill. It requires instruction and practice. Coaching helps, too. Combat marksmanship further requires calm. Yes, the combined powers of clear vision, coordination, fitness, patience, concentration and self-discipline all play roles in how a shooter’s skill develop. So do motivation and resolve. But even a shooter with natural gifts and strong urges to fight can’t be expected to be consistently effective with a rifle with iron sights at common Afghan engagement ranges (say, 200 yards or more, often much more) without mastering the basics. These include sight picture, sight adjustment, trigger control, breathing, the use of a sling and various shooting positions that improve accuracy. (For those of you in the gun-fighting business, forgive this discussion; many readers here do not know what you know.)

Related skills are also important, the more so in Afghanistan, where distances between combatants can be long and strong winds common, especially by day, when most Taliban shooting occurs. These skills include an ability to estimate range, to account for wind as distances stretch out and a sense of how to lead moving targets — a running man, a fast-moving vehicle, a helicopter moving low over the ground. And there are many more.

We noted last week that our discussions about Taliban marksmanship rely on what can be seen and heard of incoming fire; this is because we don’t embed with the Taliban. Without being beside Taliban fighters in a firefight or attending their training classes, it can be hard to say exactly what mistakes they are making when they repeatedly miss what would seem to be easy shots, such as Marines and Afghan soldiers upright in the open at 150 yards. Two things are clear enough. First, for combatants who become expert shots, the skills that make up accurate shooting have formed into habits. Second, many Afghan insurgents do not possess the full set of these skills. This is demonstrated by the results, but also by a behavior easy to detect in firefights: they often fire an automatic, which leads to the next point.

A Frequent Reliance on Automatic Fire

Few sounds are as distinctive as those made by Kalashnikov rounds passing high overhead. The previous sentence is written that way – rounds and overhead – for a reason, because this is a common way that incoming Kalashnikov fire is heard in Afghanistan: in bursts, and high. Over and over again in ambushes and firefights, the Taliban’s gunmen fire their AK-47 knockoffs on automatic mode. The Kalashnikov series already suffers from inherent range and accuracy limitations related to its medium-power cartridges, its relatively short barrel, the short space between its rear and front sights, and the heavy mass and deliberately loose fit of the integrated bolt carrier and gas piston traveling within the receiver.

For many shooters, the limitations resulting from these design characteristics are manageable at shorter ranges and with disciplined shooting. In certain environments and conditions, including in dense vegetation where typical skirmish distances shrink, the limitations are easily overcome. Add distance between a shooter and a target, and fire a Kalashnikov on automatic, and the rifle’s weaknesses can emerge starkly. There are reasons for this. One is perceptible to people who are shot at but not struck. When fired on automatic, the weapon’s muzzle rises. Bullets start to climb. At very short ranges, a round from a climbing muzzle might still hit a man. At longer ranges, which are common in arid Afghanistan, the chances of a hit decline sharply. Rounds travel over heads.

For decades, those who have trained Afghan fighters have cajoled, preached and drilled the importance of firing on semiautomatic mode (read: one shot for each trigger pull) for most situations. A Marine lieutenant colonel I served with in the 1980s and 1990s had been previously assigned to Pakistan to train anti-Soviet mujahedeen. His accounts of Afghan and foreign fighters who were impervious to instruction on the importance of single-shot fire would seem to describe many insurgents in the field in Afghanistan today.

Poor Condition of Rifles

While Taliban fighters commonly use Kalashnikov rifles, other firearms are in the mix, including PK machine guns and sometimes Lee-Enfield rifles. After one skirmish in Marja, Kilo Company, Third Battalion, Sixth Marines captured a single-shot 12-gauge shotgun with a collapsible stock and an assortment of buckshot rounds, in addition to two Kalashnikovs. The shotgun was notable not just because it was a battlefield novelty, but also because it was in excellent condition.



The weapons captured by Kilo Company were of types well regarded for reliability. But reliability and accuracy are different things, and these rifles pointed to another factor influencing Taliban marksmanship. Look below at two weapons that the company’s First Platoon collected during a long, rolling gunfight on another day. Their condition assured that they could not be fired with optimal accuracy.




The problem with the first rifle is easy to spot: it is missing its wooden stock. While this makes the weapon more readily concealable, it also makes it almost impossible for a shooter to hold steady while firing. A shooter who tried firing that rifle from his right shoulder would probably reconsider quickly, as the exposed and pointed base of the receiver would bruise his shoulder muscle. One likely way to fire this weapon would be to hold it away from the body while pulling the trigger.

That is not a preferred shooting position. At short ranges this rifle could still be nasty. It is more than ready for crime. But for a complex firefight at typical ranges against a conventional Western infantry unit? Beyond providing suppressive fire and making noise, it would not be of much use.



The problem with the second rifle is more subtle but still obvious – one of the original screws that affixed the wooden stock to the rifle’s receiver is missing. Its absence allows for wobble. Wobble assures inaccuracy.

Mismatched, Old or Corroding Ammunition

A post here in January discussed the mixed sources of Taliban rifle ammunition evident in captured rifle magazines.

In February, Kilo Company captured several Taliban chest rigs, which together held many more Kalashnikov magazines. The company allowed an inventory of all of this ammunition and an examination of its condition and head stamps, which usually tell where and when a round was manufactured. The inventory showed that Taliban magazines contained a hodgepodge of old ammunition and rounds of mixed provenance, along with ammunition identical to what had been issued to Afghan government forces.

The post in January noted that this blog would discuss how mixed ammunition might undermine accuracy. Here’s the short course. Rifle cartridges that appear to be identical but are made in different factories, nations and decades can have different characteristics that affect a bullet’s flight. Different propellants, for example, change muzzle velocities and therefore change a bullet’s trajectory. Moreover, as ammunition ages, it can degrade, especially when exposed to moisture over time and to extremes in temperature. Over many years, the effects of heat cycling – the ups and downs of ammunition temperatures between night and day, and the more extreme temperature swings between winter and summer – accelerate decay and can undermine consistent ballistic performance. And when ballistic performance becomes inconsistent, bullets aimed and fired in exactly the same way do not end up in the same places.

Units that are serious about marksmanship take their ammunition seriously. They train and adjust the sights of their rifles with the same ammunition they carry in combat. They try to store ammunition in ways that keep it clean, dry, and, if not at a stable temperature, at least within a narrower temperature swing.

The ammunition carried by Taliban fighters in Marja showed a wide range of ages and points of manufacture. Sometimes a single magazine would have more than 10 different sources. Many rounds were filthy. Others were corroded. This is not a recipe for accuracy.

Poor and Uncorrected Vision

Next on the list was a matter of public health. Many Afghans suffer from uncorrected vision problems, which have roots in factors ranging from poor childhood nutrition to the scarcity of medical care. One reader submitted a comment as thought-provoking on this theme as anything we might type. The blog defers to the reader, “Rosenkranz, Boston.”

A substantial percentage of individuals worldwide suffer from myopia, which probably is the case among the Taliban as well; in general, the developing world has limited or nonexistent prescription eyewear use, and I think it’s generous to consider Afghanistan “developing.” I doubt the Taliban’s health care coverage, such as it is, has a very generous prescription policy. Additionally, the high altitude of Afghanistan increases the likelihood of cataracts due to increased ultraviolet exposure and again, there are probably limited cataract extractions, Ray-ban or Oakley options as well. Lacking extant shopping malls replete with optical shops and sunglass kiosks, and often squinting, half-blind, and sun burned, it’s amazing that the Taliban do as well as they do.

Thank you, “Rosencranz.”

Using the iron sights on an infantry rifle requires a mix of vision-related tasks. A shooter must be able to discern both the rifle’s rear and front sights (directly in front of the shooter’s face) and also see the target (as far as several hundred yards off). Then the former must be aligned with the latter. This is difficult in ideal circumstances for lightly trained gunmen; for some people with bad vision, it might be almost impossible. Over the years many officers and noncommissioned officers who train Afghan police and soldiers have said that a significant number of Afghan recruits struggle because of their eyesight. The Taliban recruit their fighters from the same population; poor vision can be expected to be a factor in their poor riflery.

The Difficulties of Organizing Training

The Taliban are a far-flung organization, and operate in decentralized fashion. As Afghan and Western troop levels have risen, and as more drones and aircraft have been flying overhead, insurgents have effectively blended into the civilian population. The shift from being an open presence to being an underground force has consequences. The old training camps in Afghanistan long ago disappeared; as a result, opportunities to provide formal instruction to new fighters are not what they were. The Taliban claim to run camps still. That may be so. Their camps are unlikely to be as robust as the network that existed through mid-2001. Areas of Pakistan also provide training sites, but again, the drone presence makes this more difficult than before. And without ample opportunities to train, the Taliban’s rank-and-file cannot be expected to master marksmanship. It is true that war can sharpen the fighting skills of surviving combatants, and so it is likely that among the Taliban there is a core of veteran and more effective fighters. But it is also true that as a combat force is pressured, attrition constantly steals its talent. Over time, without fresh recruits who have undergone sufficient training, a fighting force’s skills, as a whole, diminish. In a long war, it is not enough just to hand out ammunition and guns. History is full of examples.

Fighting on Taliban Terms

Nothing discussed above is necessarily surprising if the Taliban are considered in context. They are an insurgent force, not a conventional outfit supported by the resources of a Western government and economy. Their state of equipment and readiness are naturally lower than those of their Western foes.

Can the Taliban correct all of the problems contributing to their poor marksmanship? To do so, they would have to develop a marksmanship curriculum and the training to support it. They would have to examine their rifles and repair or replace many of them. Ammunition would have to be standardized, and eyesight problems diagnosed and treated. These ambitions have proved hard to achieve in the Afghan National Army and for the Afghan police, both of which have been supported for nearly a decade by the Pentagon. There is little reason to expect any of it to happen. Taliban rifle shooting will almost certainly stay bad.

What does this mean? The previous post ended with a quote about poor Taliban marksmanship from Capt. Stephan P. Karabin II, who commands Charlie Company, First Battalion, Third Marines. This post will wind down with the help of one of his fellow company commanders, Capt. Thomas Grace, of the battalion’s Bravo Company. Captain Grace sent an insightful e-mail here over the weekend. His note summarized many things.

First, a fuller look at his Marines’ experience with Taliban rifle fire.

[Bravo Company] has participated in over 200 patrols and been in countless engagements over the course of six months with actual boots on the ground. We have been in over a dozen actual Troop-In-Contact (TICs) warranting Close Air Support (CAS) and priority of assets because of the severity of the contact or pending contact. The only weapons systems the insurgents were effective with were machine guns, and only at suppressing our movement. We only had one instance where Marines reported single shots (possibly a “sniper” or insurgent with a long-range rifle) being effective as suppression. [Bravo Company] had no Marines struck by machine-gun or small-arms rounds, some really close calls but no hits.

Later, Captain Grace discussed how the Taliban, in spite of such unmistakably poor marksmanship skills, adapted and managed to be a relevant fighting force, and have at times elevated shoddy shooting from harassing fire into part of a complicated and lethal form of trap. Afghans who might not be able to settle into a gunfight against a patrol with superior equipment and training have learned to herd Western forces toward hidden bombs, which the military calls improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.s.

We operated the entire deployment, on every patrol, in the horns of a dilemma. Insurgent forces would engage our forces from a distance with machine-gun fire and sporadic small arms and carefully watch our immediate actions. From day one, at the sound of the sonic pop of the round, Marines are taught to seek immediate cover and identify the source/location of the fire. Cover is almost always available in Afghanistan in the form or dirt berms, dry/filled canals and buildings. Marines tend to gravitate toward the aforementioned terrain features. So what the insurgents would do was booby-trap those areas with I.E.D.s. Whether they were pressure plates or pressure release, they were primed to detonate as Marines dove for cover. Back to the horns of a dilemma. Do I jump for the nearest cover? Run to the nearest building? Jump in the nearest canal? Do I take my chances and stand where I am and drop in place? Not necessarily the things you need to be contemplating as rounds are impacting all around you.

Three of Bravo Company’s Marines were killed, on three separate patrols, as a result of this tactic. The captain’s descriptions, and those deaths, carry an implicit message. Just because a man can’t shoot well, does not mean he is stupid or unable to fight. Western forces might be fighting an enemy with run-down equipment and comparatively primitive conventional skills. But they are fighting people, like themselves, men who think and adjust, and who can force a fight to be fought on their terms.

Again, Captain Grace:

There is no textbook countermeasure against this tactic, only constant attention to your surroundings — up, down, left and right — and over time realizing historical areas of contact and thinking about things from the enemies’ perspective.

That returns this post to its context. For the Taliban, bad shooting sometimes has proved to be good enough. For all of their shortcomings, the Taliban’s level of training and state of equipment have thus far been more than sufficient for waging a patient, low-intensity war for years, and for fighting Afghan government forces, which exhibit similar skill deficiencies. They are also more than capable of exerting influence over the Afghan civilian population, which for an insurgent is a large part of the war.

If you’ve made it this far, you deserve a fresh cup of coffee. Go get one. Check back later. It’s not just the Taliban who struggle to shoot straight. Next, At War will look at the poor shooting skills of the Afghan government troops, and provide an example of wild American rifle fire, too.

NTM

ynotdu

iceage wrote: »

Some interesting pics. Some of them quite eerie.

http://www.the-daily-politics.com/news/36-militarynews/1430-yon-under-cover-of-the-night-with-1-17th-infantry

Interesting pargraph re IEDS and tracked vehicles.

Great and informative post iceage even though small parts of it smelt of sour grapes by the journalist no longer being happy to be embedded,{don't know why he crows about his 'new found freedom' considering the case of Stephen Farrel}

My Cousin was deployed to Afghanistan in the last fortnight,since then We have heard no word as to where he is, or exactly when he was sent:(

iceage

I'm sure its just taking time to get settled in and probably has a lot on his plate at the minute. Best of luck to him and to a safe deployment. Whos he with?

ynotdu

iceage wrote: »

I'm sure its just taking time to get settled in and probably has a lot on his plate at the minute. Best of luck to him and to a safe deployment. Whos he with?

Hi iceage and sorry for taking so long to respond.
quick bit of background,I was born and still live in Ireland.

His Mother{My aunt} moved to England before He or I were born.
He is in the UK army and has already been stationed in Iraq,Northern Ireland,Germany and UK barracks.It is about five years since i met him last and he is a guy of very few words.He has even deleted his facebook page.
He intended to leave the British army but signed up again when their was poor chance of him getting a job when the economie's collapsed.
His brother is also in the British army but has it more cushy in that he is permanently stationed in UK as he trains recruits in self defense.

His Mother lives in denial so there was no point in asking her,{dare not even mention the names G Bush jnr or Tony Blair when she visits unless wearing a flak jacket}
So i had to use round-about methods to answer Your question.

He is in the 88battery 4th Regiment and is in Helmand province.
This will really be his first time in High danger,as his other postings did not require leaving Barracks.

Also is'nt there to be a big offensive in Helmand sometime around June ?
Hopefully like the last big offensive it will encounter very little resistance other than the the bombs and booby traps left behind by the cowardly scumbag Taliban.

With Manic now out of Afghanistan does anybody have a link to a blog by a serving soldier in Afghanistan?

Thanks in advance.

iceage

http://helmandblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogs.mod.uk/afghanistan/

/www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/DefencePolicyAndBusiness/4thMechanizedBrigadeToReplace11LightBrigadeInHelmand.htm

In particular
http://www.forums.theraa.co.uk/index.php?name=Forums
http://www.88bty.com/ Theres a forum here.


Try these out ynotdu, also I sent you a PM, which I hope might help.

Iceage.

ynotdu

iceage wrote: »

http://helmandblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogs.mod.uk/afghanistan/

/www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/DefencePolicyAndBusiness/4thMechanizedBrigadeToReplace11LightBrigadeInHelmand.htm

In particular
http://www.forums.theraa.co.uk/index.php?name=Forums
http://www.88bty.com/ Theres a forum here.


Try these out ynotdu, also I sent you a PM, which I hope might help.

Iceage.

Hi again Iceage and again excuse my 'apparent' ignorance in replying to Your post here and the PM so slowly.
Reason being i knew i was meeting friends Saturday that might have more news that i could post within the charter,nothing new came of that though.

Those links are just what i was looking for,Thanks a Million!
I swear anytime i get a bit disillusioned with boards someone like Your good self comes along and goes to all the trouble You did to answer My question!

Sincere regards!

iceage

Your welcome and best of luck.

Manic Moran

We had been cracking jokes about how much safer we were in Afghanistan than back at home, statistically.

http://www.8newsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12387509

NTM

iceage

Thats a really tough break. To have survived Afghanistan, return home and be killed in such a way in the line of duty, tragic. You just don't know when do you..

My deepest condolences to his Wife Family collegues and friends. RIP.

iceage

Speaking of snipers..

1.54 miles.. and not one but twice! My hats off to this guy.

A BRITISH Army sniper has set a new sharpshooting distance record by killing two Taliban machinegunners in Afghanistan from more than 1 miles away.

SNIP, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots — even though they were 3,000ft beyond the most effective range of his rifle.

“The first round hit a machinegunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said SNIP, a Corporal of Horse. “He went straight down and didn’t move.

“The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead.”

The shooting — which took place while the sniper's colleagues came under attack — was at such extreme range that the 8.59mm bullets took almost three seconds to reach their target after leaving the barrel of the rifle at almost three times the speed of sound.

The distance to the two targets was measured by a GPS system at 8,120ft, or 1.54 miles. The previous record for a sniper kill is 7,972ft, set by a Canadian soldier who shot dead an Al-Qaeda gunman in March 2002.

In a remarkable tour of duty, this Soldier cheated death a few weeks later when a Taliban bullet pierced his helmet but was deflected away from his skull. He later broke both arms when his army vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

This Soldier was sent back to the UK for treatment, but insisted on returning to the front line after making a full recovery.

“I was lucky that my physical fitness levels were very high before my arms were fractured and after six weeks in plaster I was still in pretty good shape,” he said. “It hasn’t affected my ability as a sniper.”

The Sniper, from Gloucestershire, was reunited in Britain with his wife and daughter, last month. Recalling his shooting prowess in Helmand province, he said: “It was just unlucky for the Taliban that conditions were so good and we could see them so clearly.”

The Sniper and his colleagues were in open-topped Jackal 4x4 vehicles providing cover for an Afghan national army patrol south of Musa Qala in November last year. When the Afghan soldiers and SNIP troop commander came under enemy fire, the sniper, whose vehicle was further back on a ridge, trained his sights on a Taliban compound in the distance. His L115A3 long-range rifle, the army’s most powerful sniper weapon, is designed to be effective at up to 4,921ft and supposedly capable of only “harassing fire” beyond that range.

“We saw two insurgents running through its courtyard, one in a black dishdasha, one in green,” he said. “They came forward carrying a PKM machinegun, set it up and opened fire on the commander’s wagon.

“Conditions were perfect, no wind, mild weather, clear visibility. I rested the bipod of my weapon on a compound wall and aimed for the gunner firing the machinegun.

“The driver of my Jackal, Trooper SNIP, spotted for me, providing all the information needed for the shot, which was at the extreme range of the weapon.”

Sniper killed one machinegunner with his first attempt and felled the other with his next shot. He then let off a final round to knock the enemy weapon out of action.

This Soldier discovered that he had set a new record only on his return to UK barracks nine days ago. The previous record was held by Corporal Rob Furlong, of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, who was using a 12.7mm McMillan TAC-50 rifle.

Tom Irwin, a director of Accuracy International, the British manufacturer of the L115A3 rifle, said: “It is still fairly accurate beyond 4,921ft, but at that distance luck plays as much of a part as anything.”

News of the snipers success comes amid concern over a rival insurgent sharpshooter who in a five-month spree has killed up to seven British soldiers, including a sniper, in and around the Taliban stronghold of Sangin.

In a later incident during the tour, SNIP patrol vehicle was hit 36 times during a Taliban ambush. “One round hit my helmet behind the right ear and came out of the top,” he said. “Two more rounds went through the strap across my chest. We were all very, very lucky not to get hurt.”

iceage

Nice find.

http://www.the-daily-politics.com/news/36-militarynews/1584-40-commando-raid-ied-factory-in-sangin

Another rather shook looking but all the same lethal Lee Enfield.