The Iraq Thread

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]

[brgnorway 0]

The current situation in Iraq is unacceptable in the long run.

US won't accept two killed servicemen a day and the growing hostility will only make things worse.

The current administration has no legitmacy and a future US appointed civil administration is as legitimate as the crook whom is supposed to head the government.

How can the can the coalition of the silly possibly solve this?

[redliner47 0]

anyone in the Marines, Army, Ground forces etc is a rifleman first and their specialty comes 2nd. Not that i like the marines or anything (Go Airborne!) but their system of pilots, crewchiefs, armored personnel all being trained and honed as a rifleman before specializing is quite impressive

[brgnorway 0]

anyone in the Marines, Army, Ground forces etc is a rifleman first and their specialty comes 2nd. Not that i like the marines or anything (Go Airborne!) but their system of pilots, crewchiefs, armored personnel all being trained and honed as a rifleman before specializing is quite impressive

......not very impressive if they fail to keep their rifles clean..

[Tex -USMC- 0]

the people who got ambushed were Army, not Marines.

[E6Hotel 0]

I mean they drove directly up towards iraqi lines with sand in their face AND in their guns !

Granted, there's no excuse for improper weapon maintenance.  HOWEVER:

I mean sorry but this convoi had GPS and such.

GPS does diddly-squat against bad or missing information.

Quote[/b] ]Lynch's unit, the 507th Maintenance Company, was ambushed outside Nasiriyah after taking several wrong turns. Army investigators believe this happened in part because superiors never passed on word that the long 3rd Infantry Division column that the convoy was following had been rerouted. At times, the 507th was 12 hours behind the main column and frequently out of radio contact.

NY Times

Not that i like the marines or anything (Go Airborne!) but their system of pilots, crewchiefs, armored personnel all being trained and honed as a rifleman before specializing is quite impressive

"Every Marine is a Rifleman" -- all Marines believe this, except of course, for the actual Riflemen.  

Semper Fi

[Longinius 1]

"One survivor reported that as the shooting ended, the regular forces chased away the paramilitaries, made up of local tribesmen. That soldier said he felt the tribesman might have severely beaten the U.S. soldiers if it were not for the regular Iraqi forces."

Thats from the article. Thought it might be worth pointing out since several people on this forum have desperatly tried to paint Iraqi soldiers to be devils just wanting to beat and kill US service men.

[theavonlady 2]

Slightly off-topic:

[Die Alive 0]

Army should start using OnStar in their trucks.

-=Die Alive=-

[Balschoiw 0]

The case of doped pilots reminded me of the investigations US has said to do after the bombing of public places in Bagdad along with other incidents that took place during GW2 and were not covered by international law. Any results yet ? Or have they been covered to death ?

[ralphwiggum 6]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/06/19/sprj.irq.main/index.html

Everyday, a soldier is attacked. This time on military ambulence.

[Balschoiw 0]

You know what ?

Iraqui resistance units now find out that US troops are vulnerable. The more the word of this will spread the more US soldiers will be killed.

Rumsfeld´s policy of "no problem in Iraq" will be revised in a painfull way for the US public and members of the the US forces in Iraq.

What´s the actual bodycount ?

[ralphwiggum 6]

42 KIA since major battle was over, and several more due to crashes and car accidents, adding up to about 50 or so.

Coalition casualty during major battle was 142(?) or something like that.

[Crazysheep 1]

42 KIA since major battle was over, and several more due to crashes and car accidents, adding up to about 50 or so.

Coalition casualty during major battle was 142(?) or something like that.

Actually, its 70 overall. There's been a hell of a lot killed in accidents, as a weapons dump exploded and there was a couple of helicopter crashes.

[USSoldier11B 0]

Quote[/b] ]"Every Marine is a Rifleman" -- all Marines believe this, except of course, for the actual Riflemen.

The Army needs to revamp it's BRM training. (To more of a USMC type system) The only troops that shoot well are the infantry and SF, (because they do it a lot) All soldiers should be shooting well prior to a deployment. I've watched some poge units shoot and it's scary.

"Onstar, this is Jane how may I assist you?"

"Yes, could you tell me if there are any abushes set up on route 65?"

"As a matter of fact there are, would you like the grids so you can call in CAS or indirect fire?"

"Yes, please."

"Great, can I get a hot towel delivered to your RON, and perhaps make you a reservation at a restraunt that is not on fire or bombed out?"

"That would be splendid, thank you."

"Good day sir."

All this hype about PFC Lynch is pissing me off. She is not a hero, she was a casualty. Yes, I feel for her having to endure all that pain, but nothing she did was extraordinary. If the 507th had stressed BRM, small unit tactics, and standard 7-8 (Infantry bible) battle drills (which ALL units should do) this wouldn't have happened. They would have been able to react efficiently to the ambush and assault through it.

[Warin 0]

All this hype about PFC Lynch is pissing me off. She is not a hero, she was a casualty. Yes, I feel for her having to endure all that pain, but nothing she did was extraordinary. If the 507th had stressed BRM, small unit tactics, and standard 7-8 (Infantry bible) battle drills (which ALL units should do) this wouldn't have happened. They would have been able to react efficiently to the ambush and assault through it.

I fully agree with you.  It isnt heroic to get busted up in a car wreck.  

It was just something easy to put an heroic spin on the situation with the backup of intel on par with the WMD 'evidence' used to justify the conflict.

Right place + right time + needing something 'heroic' = Pvt Lynch.

Not that she's done anything wrong, as such (other than being poorly trained, which isnt really her fault either).  She's just been hyped, and then had that hype shown to be fals.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

"Onstar, this is Jane how may I assist you?"

"Yes, could you tell me if there are any abushes set up on route 65?"

"As a matter of fact there are, would you like the grids so you can call in CAS or indirect fire?"

"Yes, please."

"Great, can I get a hot towel delivered to your RON, and perhaps make you a reservation at a restraunt that is not on fire or bombed out?"

"That would be splendid, thank you."

"Good day sir."

Heh, don't make me go digging around for the Division Artillery auto-dialing system.

[USSoldier11B 0]

Quote[/b] ]Heh, don't make me go digging around for the Division Artillery auto-dialing system.

Haha I remember that

something like...

"Welcome to the 25th Infantry Division automated fire support system....for artillery press 1, for mortars press 2, for Close Air support press 3....for naval surface fire please hold for the next representative."

[Tex -USMC- 0]

All this hype about PFC Lynch is pissing me off. She is not a hero, she was a casualty. Yes, I feel for her having to endure all that pain, but nothing she did was extraordinary. If the 507th had stressed BRM, small unit tactics, and standard 7-8 (Infantry bible) battle drills (which ALL units should do) this wouldn't have happened. They would have been able to react efficiently to the ambush and assault through it.

I fully agree with you.  It isnt heroic to get busted up in a car wreck.  

It was just something easy to put an heroic spin on the situation with the backup of intel on par with the WMD 'evidence' used to justify the conflict.

Right place + right time + needing something 'heroic' = Pvt Lynch.

Not that she's done anything wrong, as such (other than being poorly trained, which isnt really her fault either).  She's just been hyped, and then had that hype shown to be fals.

Hell, they're trying to turn her into the next Audie Murphy, complete with movie and book deal. And the media seem so enthusiastic about it that they don't even question whether her circumstances warrant this kind of treatment. Of the approximately 50,000 reports about NBC contacting her about an interview and subsequent media conglomerate love-in, not one came even close to saying anything like: "You know, she got her leg broken in a car accident and was picked up as a result- then she got rescued after doing exactly nothing the entire time. Don't you think maybe we could make a big deal about the grunts who did the real fighting and suffering during this war instead of making a big fuss about Lynch just because she's a female." Let's be serious here. Would this situation get anywhere near the same coverage if it was PFC Eddie Lynch? The media is revelling in sexism on this one- not a word about the other POWs, but the mechanic from a remf unit gets the spotlight because of that picture of a scared blond girl draped in an American flag. I hate to be cynical, but can you say 'manufactured'?

[Schoeler 0]

All this hype about PFC Lynch is pissing me off. She is not a hero, she was a casualty. Yes, I feel for her having to endure all that pain, but nothing she did was extraordinary. If the 507th had stressed BRM, small unit tactics, and standard 7-8 (Infantry bible) battle drills (which ALL units should do) this wouldn't have happened. They would have been able to react efficiently to the ambush and assault through it.

I fully agree with you.  It isnt heroic to get busted up in a car wreck.  

It was just something easy to put an heroic spin on the situation with the backup of intel on par with the WMD 'evidence' used to justify the conflict.

Right place + right time + needing something 'heroic' = Pvt Lynch.

Not that she's done anything wrong, as such (other than being poorly trained, which isnt really her fault either).  She's just been hyped, and then had that hype shown to be fals.

There is an element of heroism to this story, and that is the part in the "rescue" played by the Iraqi man who risked his life to tell the Americans where she was. The man should be given a medal and a generous cash reward in my opinion.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Yeah, but in half the reports he isn't even mentioned, and I've only seen one or two stories that even mention him by name. This story isn't about heroism, not really.

[SgtBarnes 0]

CSMonitor apologies to George Galloway

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3006166.stm

[USSoldier11B 0]

I agree that if anyone was a hero in that situation it was the Iraqi informant.

Quote[/b] ]Let's be serious here. Would this situation get anywhere near the same coverage if it was PFC Eddie Lynch?

Haha, Eddie Lynch would be KIA, male privates are expendable.

[E6Hotel 0]

male privates are expendable.

Could you please re-phrase that?

*shivers*

Semper Fi

[Bernadotte 0]

expandable?