The source of this report is unknown. I found the article interesting, and consistent with comments from my friends who fought in Iraq.
e.g. Comments in blue are from an Australian Officer, son of a fellow Korean War veteran friend of mine, who fought in Iraq with the Aussie battalion.
FROM A US MARINE IN IRAQ"HEAR-ME-OUT" STUFF....
. This is a good read.
A US Marine's opinion:
1) The M-16 rifle: Big Thumbs down. Chronic jamming problems with the talcum powder-like sand over there. The sand is everywhere, you feel filthy 2 minutes after coming out of the shower. The M-4 carbine version is more popular because it's lighter and shorter, butit has jamming problems also. We like the ability to mount thevarious optical gunsights and weapons lights on the picattiny rails, butthe weapon itself is not great in a desert environment. We all hate the 5.56mm (.223) round. Poor penetration on the cinderblock structure common over there and even torso hits can't be reliably counted on to put the enemy down..
Bull #^%$! I carried the M-4 and it performed brilliantly whenever required and I rarely heard of folks having trouble once in a firefight. It all comes down to soldier discipline and constantly cleaning a weapon. If you come off a patrol with your weapon filthy, and don't have the self discipline to clean the weapon prior to going to sleep, then how can you expect your weapon to work for you the next day in the fight? Bottomline: Discipline and leaders checking their subordinates.
. On the second issue '5.56'. The size of the round can be argued all day long. The trade off is weight and less ammo. If you need to gain access to a room you can: 1) knock, 2) turn the door knob, 3) kick the door in, 4) fire an AT-4 , 5) fire a few rounds from the M240 MG or .50 cal to create a breach or 6) if their are bad guys inside the building, move back into overwatch and drop a 2,000 lb JDAM on the target and save your soldiers to fight another day. Bottomline: I want the extra ammo. One day my battalion fought for 11 hours...
Fun fact: Random autopsies on dead insurgents show a high level of opiate use.
2) The M249 SAW (squad assault weapon): .223 cal. Drum fed lightmachine gun. Big thumbs down. Universally considered a piece of crap.Chronic jamming problems, most of which require partial disassembly(that's fun in the middle of a firefight).
. Ditto my M-4 comments. Keep your weapons clean!
3) The M9 Beretta 9mm: Mixed bag. Good gun, performs well in desert environment; but we all hate the 9mm cartridge. The use of handguns forself-defense is actually fairly common. Same old story on the 9mm: Badguys hit multiple times and still in the fight.
. The 9mm pistol is only carried by machine gunners and commanders (coy cdr or primary staff officers). I only utilized my 9mm when the threat was diminished and entering a room(s). 9 times out of 10 I would utilize my M-4 when entering a room, especially if I thought there was an opportunity to bump into a bad guy.
4) Mossberg 12ga. Military shotgun: Works well, used frequently for clearing houses to good effect.
. U.S. Army prefers a more discriminate 5.56. It is good to hit the bad guy, but you don't want to wound the wife and kid(s) at the same time.
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 arebeing dismounted and taken into the field by infantry. The 7.62 roundchews up the structure over there.
. Concur!
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 them in the dirt every time.
The most coveted weapon in-theater.
. Yup!
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 onone. With few exceptions, can reliably be expected to put 'em down witha torso hit. The special ops guys (who are doing most of the pistolwork) use the HK military model and supposedly love it. The oldgovernment model .45's are being re-issued en masse.
8) The Old M-14: Thumbs up. They are being re-issued in bulk, mostly in a modified version to special ops guys. Modifications includelightweight Kevlar stocks and low power red dot or ACOG sights. Veryreliable in the sandy environment, and they love the 7.62 round.
The civilian version is the M1A.
The M14/M1A is a modified M1 Garand. The M1 had an internal magazine that the shooter refilled using clips. That meant that the area directly over the magazine had to be clear of obstructions so that you could use the clip, so a scope couldn't be put there, it had to be mounted about 1" on center to the left of the bore. That's fine except, when you zero it, your windage will only be zeroed for one distance since the bore is pointing straight ahead and the scope is zeroed to meet it at some point downrange. An M1 scope zeroed at 200 yds would hit to the right at distances shorter than 200, and to the left at distances further than 200. The M14 detachable mag was the big change allowing the scope to sit directly over the bore.
9) The Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle: Thumbs way up. Spectacular rangeand accuracy and hits like a freight train. Used frequently to take outvehicle suicide bombers (we actually stop a lot of them) and barricadedenemy. Definitely here to stay.
10) The M24 sniper rifle: Thumbs up. Mostly in .308/7.62 but some in 300 win mag. Heavily modified Remington 700's. Great performance.Snipers have been used heavily to great effect. Rumor has it that amarine sniper on his third tour in Anbar province has actually exceededCarlos Hathcock's record for confirmed kills with OVER 100.
11) The new body armor: Thumbs up. Relatively light at 16.4 pounds, with the vest weighing 8.4 pounds, and two plates inserted weighing four pounds each, and can reliably be expected to soak up small shrapnel and can even stop an AK-47 round.
The bad news: Hot as hell to wear, almostunbearable in the summer heat (which averages over 120 degrees). Also,the enemy now goes for head shots whenever possible. All the bullshitabout the "old" body armor making our guys vulnerable to the IED's was anon-starter. The IED explosions are enormous and body armor doesn'tmake any difference at all in most cases.
. I have seen the new body armor actually stop two armor piercing rounds from 50m on a soldier. An incredible piece of kit and I would never leave the wire without it.
12) Night Vision and Infrared Equipment: Thumbs way up. Spectacular performance.
Our guys see in the dark and we own the night, period. Very littleenemy action after evening prayers. More and more enemy being whackedat night during movement by our hunter-killer teams. We've all seen thevideos.
13) Lights: Thumbs up. Most of the weapon-mounted and personal lightsare Surefire's, and the troops love 'em. Invaluable for night urbanoperations.
. Concur
Jordan carried a $34 Surefire G2 on a neck lanyard and loved it. I can'thelp but notice that most of the good fighting weapons and ordnance are50 or more years old!
With all our technology, it's the WW-II and Vietnam era weapons thateverybody wants. The infantry fighting is frequent, up close andbrutal. No quarter is given or shown.
Bad guy weapons:1) Mostly AK47's . The entire country is an arsenal. Works better in the desert than the M16, and the Russian 7.62 mm round kills reliably.PKM belt fed light machine guns are also common and effective. Luckily, the enemy mostly are bad shots. Undisciplined " spray and pray" typefire. However, they are seeing more and more precision weapons,especially sniper rifles. (Iran, again) Fun fact: Captured enemy haveapparently marveled at the marksmanship of our guys and how hard theyfight. They are apparently told in Jihad school that the Americans relysolely on technology, and can be easily beaten in close quarters combatfor their lack of toughness. Let's just say they know better now.
2) The RPG: Probably the infantry weapon most feared by our guys.Simple, reliable and as very common. The enemy responded to our up-armored Humvees by aiming at the windshields, often at point blankrange. Still killing a lot of our guys.
3) The IED: The biggest killer of all. Can be anything from oldSoviet anti-armor mines to jury rigged artillery shells. A lot found inJordan's area were in abandoned cars. The enemy would take 2 or 3 155mmartillery shells and wire them together. Most were detonated by cellphone, 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 doover there. Lately, they are much more sophisticated "shape charges"(Iranian) specifically designed to penetrate armor.
Fact: Most of the ready made IED's are supplied by Iran, who is alsoproviding terrorists (Hezbollah types) to train the insurgents in theiruse and tactics. That's why the attacks have been so deadly lately.Their concealment methods are ingenious, the latest being shape chargesin Styrofoam containers spray painted to look like the cinderblocks thatlitter all Iraqi roads. We find about 40% before they detonate, and thebomb 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 Jordan's NCO'slost a leg to one. These weapons cause a lot of damage "inside thewire". Jordan's base was hit almost daily his entire time there bymortar and rocket fire, often at night to disrupt sleep patterns andcause fatigue (It did). More of a psychological weapon than anythingelse. The enemy mortar teams would jump out of vehicles, fire a fewrounds, and then haul ass in a matter of seconds.
5) Bad guy technology: Simple yet effective. Most communication is bycell and satellite phones, and also by email on laptops. They usehandheld GPS units for navigation and "Google Earth" for overhead viewsof our positions. Their weapons are good, if not fancy, and prevalent.Their explosives and bomb technology is TOP OF THE LINE. Night visionis rare. They are very careless with their equipment and the capturedGPS units and laptops are treasure troves of Intel when captured.
Who are the bad guys (remember that is what the Captain called them!)Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group. Theyoperate mostly in Anbar province & Fallujah and Ramadi. Theseare mostly "foreigners", non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from all overthe Muslim world (and Europe). Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, ofcourse, the knowledge and complicity of the Syrian govt.), and thentravel down the "rat line" which is the trail of towns along theEuphrates River that we've been hitting hard for the last few months.
Some are virtually untrained young Jihadists that often end up assuicide bombers or in "sacrifice squads". Most, however, are hard coreterrorists from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamasetc.). These are the guys running around murdering civilians en masseand cutting heads off.
The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the mostruthless and the best fighters (they have been fighting the Russians foryears).
In the Baghdad area and south, most of the insurgents are Iranianinspired (and led) Iraqi Shiites. The Iranian Shiia have been veryadept at infiltrating the Iraqi local govt.'s, the police forces and theArmy. They have had a massive spy and agitator network there since theIran-Iraq war in the early 80's. Most of the Saddam loyalists werekilled, captured or gave up long ago.
Bad Guy Tactics:When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their asses kickedevery time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges were verycommon earlier in the war and still occur. They will literally sacrifice8-10 man teams in suicide squads by sending them screaming and firingAK's and RPG's directly at our bases just to probe the defenses. Theyget mowed down like grass every time (see the M2 and M240 above).Jordan's 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, wecall in air and that's the end of that more often than not. Thesehole-ups are referred to as Alpha Whiskey Romeo's (Allah's WaitingRoom). We have the laser guided ground-air thing down to a science. Thefast mover's, mostly Marine F-18's, are taking an ever increasing tollon the enemy. When caught out in the open, the helicopter gunships andAC-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 we're seeing less and less infantry attacks and more IED,suicide bomber hits. The new strategy is simple: attrition.
The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use of civiliannon-combatants as cover. They know we do all we can to avoid civiliancasualties and therefore schools, hospitals and (especially) Mosques arelocations where they meet, stage for attacks, cache weapons and ammo andfle e to when engaged.
They have absolutely no regard whatsoever for civilian casualties. Theywill terrorize locals and murder without hesitation anyone believed tobe sympathetic to the Americans or the new Iraqi govt. Kidnapping offamily members (especially children) is common to influence people theyare trying to influence but can't reach, such as local govt. officials,clerics, tribal leaders, etc.).
The first thing our guys are told is "don't get captured". They knowthat if captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the internet.Zarqawi openly offers bounties for anyone who brings him a live Americanserviceman. This motivates the criminal element who otherwise don'tgive a damn about the war. A lot of the beheading victims were actuallykidnapped by common criminals and sold to Zarqawi. As such, for ourguys, every fight is to the death. Surrender is not an option.
The Iraqi's are a mixed bag. Some fight well, others aren't worth adamn. Most do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, butthey are getting better. It is widely viewed that Zarqawi's use ofsuicide bombers, en masse, against the civilian population was a serioustactical mistake.
Many Iraqi's were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the Army andthe police forces went up, along with their motivation. It also led toan exponential increase in good intel because the Iraqi's are sick ofthe insurgent attacks against civilians. The Kurds are solidlypro-American and fearless fighters.
. TOTALLY CONCUR!!!
According to Jordan, morale among our guys is very high. They not onlybelieve they are winning, but that they are winning decisively.
. CONCUR!
Theyare stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whomthe US troopers almost universally view as against them.
. CONCUR!
The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualtiesat a rate of 20-1 and then see stuff like "Are we losing in Iraq" on TVand the print media.
For the most part our troops are satisfied with their equipment, foodand leadership. Bottom line though, and they all say this, there arenot enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of theinsurgency, primarily because there aren't enough troops in-theater toshut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syriansjust can't stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally (with, ofcourse, permanent US bases there).
Anyway, that's it, hope you found it interesting.
More poop from the front later
Semper Fi!
