E6Hotel

Took off my cammies today for the last time as an active-duty Marine. Â Â The good news is that after completing a screening process that took 2.5 years, I'm waiting on an Academy class seat with a Federal law enforcement agency that will remain nameless. Â I'm sure everyone will sleep better knowing that soon I'll be authorized to carry a firearm aboard airplanes. Semper Fi

Hey all, sorry for dragging this thread back. Â Just wanted to say thanks for the well-wishes and clarify that despite my attempt at humor I won't be an Air Marshal. Â Packing heat at all times is just a "fringe benefit" (?) of being a special agent. Â As some things never change, Semper Fi

Negative, Ghost Rider. I said "active-duty Marine." Super-duper Semper Fi!

De nada. Â It doesn't take two-plus years to screen a FAM, though. Â Â Semper Fi

I don't think everyone wants to be like us. Â I do think, however, that the west enjoys some freedoms that are inherently "good." Â It's not a flaw, it's a difference in perspective. Â From my limited point of view I don't believe that given a choice, people will elect to be repressed, persecuted and killed due to differing religious beliefs. Â Call me wacky. It's why I was speculating about whether separation of church and state can be implemented (or even grasped) in the middle east. Â From a historical perspective, the idea is pretty radical. Who are "they?" Â The Shi'ites, who would probably like to kill the minority for decades of repression? Â The Sunnis? Â I'm sure they'd love to live under a fundamentalist Shi'ite government. Â The Kurds would probably be happy with not being massacred. It's actually an easy choice -- we provide conditions that enable the Iraqis to build a government designed to serve its citizens and not the other way around. Â We've got the easy part. Â It's going to be up to the Iraqis to step up and get the job done. Semper Fi

As sarcasm obviously > you, (heh) let me be clear: Â 9/11 was due to OBL's resentment of our presence in Saudi Arabia. Â Full stop. Â Even Yassir Arafat has told him to stop trying to connect AQ with Palestine. Â Our support of Israel as a motive for OBL is a fairly transparent attempt to widen his support base. You can use Saudi Arabia as an example of integrated church and state, but I don't think it's accurate to use it as an example of a population happy with their government. Â In any case, it's not a theocracy so the point is kinda moot. Semper Fi

Now I'm confused. Â Wasn't 9/11 due to our support of repressive middle eastern regimes like Saudi Arabia? Semper Fi

[Lumbergh] Ummm, yeahhh, wellll, I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there, Bob. [/Lumbergh] Washington Post Washington Post yet again Although you're correct in that the KIA's are not from raids, there is a heightened level of activity now to exploit intelligence being received. Semper Fi

I was thinking specifically about Iran. Â Aren't Kuwait, Saudia Arabia and the UAE plutocracies? Semper Fi

History? Examples set by neighboring countries? Semper Fi

As patrols and raids are stepped up, casualties will follow. Â Correlation coefficient = 1. Semper Fi

Exactly. Â The mere existence of a constitution isn't enough, the ground rules laid out are what matters. Â With three antagonistic ethnic factions in Iraq, I can only see two options: 1) Â A strongman who rules through terror, or 2) Â Separation of church and state. It will be interesting to see if such a Western idea as 2) can be implemented. Semper Fi

The last thing in the world Iraq needs is "democracy," at least from the standpoint of the Kurds and the Sunnis. Â What is needed is majority rule, subject to minority rights. Â This is where that "Constitution" thingie comes into play. Semper Fi

In comparison with the millions of people who died because of Saddam's regime, it's the lesser of two evils. No. Â However, war was the only way to take Saddam down. Â I suppose we could've waited for Queasy to take the reins, but given his track record I really didn't consider him an improvement. Actually, it's around .58 soldiers KIA per day as of 31 July. Â Speaking as former cannon fodder, any KIA is too many, but that's still a very low death rate. We'll stay until the job is done, I hope. I believe we've already asked Germany and India (among others) to contribute. Â What's the hold-up? Semper Fi

No plan survives first contact. Â Take Fallujah, for example. Â After the Army revamped its approach, things calmed down a bit. Â From the admittedly pro-U.S. mayor: From an admittedly not pro-U.S. taxi driver who had a foot shot off by U.S. soldiers: BTW, an aside about the demonstration that claimed said foot: Washington Post The problem is not that things aren't getting better. Â The problem is that things aren't getting better fast enough. MSNBC My opinion is that it doesn't matter whose troops occupy Iraq -- U.S. or U.N. -- the Iraqis will rightfully be suspicious of motives. Â The trick now is to prove those motives (i.e. stealing oil) wrong, which will take time. Â It's only been three months. Semper Fi

The problem wasn't with the troops, it was with mission creep. Â When the objective changed from providing security for humanitarian relief to going after the warlords, that's when things went haywire. Â Considering the nature of the mission the Rangers and Delta were, if not the best men for the job, at least as good as anyone. Of course, the warlords were the reason for the famine so IMO they should have been targeted. Â I think it's fairly obvious we lost our political will too early after taking relatively light losses during a successful snatch mission. Semper Fi

Actually the Liberian embassy was reinforced with a 41-man FAST platoon. Â This was after a FAST squad was used to provide security for the initial military assessment team. As far as how many troops, it depends on the orders. Â A MEU consists of a ground combat element (an infantry battalion with light/heavy armor, recon, engineers and arty), an air combat element (rotary and fixed-wing) and a combat service support element (the pogues). A Marine Expeditionary Unit is a beautiful thing. Â Â A MEU can self-sustain for 60 days. Â Shouldn't be a problem; however, you may want to post extra guards on the chow. Semper Fi

Or not. The entire article ran two pages -- pasting the whole thing seemed pointless. Semper Fi

This assumes that we knew exactly how many people were in the villa and surrounding area. Â As it turns out there weren't very many. Â On the other hand, WHAT IF a small Delta team had been sent in against 100 or 200 Fedayeen and/or RG troops? Â Eagle Claw II, anyone? An overwhelming show of force could have been intended to actually prevent a gunfight. Â Â Deathly serious, again based on my experiences. Â I have no idea what ROE's the raid soldiers were using. Â Mine, too. Â But I just work here. Semper Fi

Fear of collateral damage?  I believe that's the first time we've been accused of that.  My apologies for missing your earlier comment, I skimmed through the "FS vs. the World" tangent a few pages back. Nevertheless, addressing the occupants with a bullhorn, then knocking on the door and attempting to search the house before drawing and returning fire is inconsistent with a raid solely intended to kill the targets.  Out of curiosity, if this raid was a straight-up hit, what would have happened if Q & U had surrendered?   One other point re. less-than-lethal alternatives:  Based purely  on my previous experiences, CS can't be used as it's considered a "chemical weapon."  Semper Fi Edited due to genetic predisposition for misspelling "curiosity."

This is my opinion, too (more or less). Â If this raid had been planned as a "hit" from the beginning we'd have sent a flight of F-18's or a wave of Tomahawks. Edited for quotational difficulties. Semper Fi

The official mission. Semper Fi

Concur. Â Instructors at PI told us "you'll be taught a different method for [insert infantry-related task here] at Marine Combat Training or School of Infantry." Â At SOI the instructors told us "This is how we teach [insert infantry-related task here]. Â You'll be taught a different method when you get to your duty stations." As a result I know about 32 different ways to dig a frickin' machine gun emplacement. Semper Fi

I'd hope so, because our air traffic controllers, box kickers and small network adminstrators can and do. Â Every last one of 'em. The word "most" in your response sums up why we shoot from the 500. Â It's not about "looking pretty on paper," it's about building justifiable confidence in a Marine's shooting ability and his rifle. Â After all: (1) Â Colt didn't put that "5" setting on the M16's elevation knob to increase aesthetic appeal. (2) Â Targets only 150 yards away look huge in comparison. Semper Fi

Reluctantly? Â The M16A4 had fewer stoppages in the A4-M4 head-to-head evaluation. Â (Not that I understand why, as the internals are the same.) Â In any case the USMC units that need a compact weapon (e.g. Force, SRT's, Security Force CQB teams) already use the M4. Â Â Semper Fi