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Originally posted by nenothtu
Originally posted by Skelkie3
Operation Market Garden Casualties www.olive-drab.com...[/url]rep[
101st airborne was out as a unit 'till Vietnam, I think. I'm going to check on that...
Nope. My dad was in the 101st Airborne based out of Camp Breckenridge, KY (now Fort Campbell) in the early 1950's.
edit to remove too many italics.
[edit on 2009/7/2 by nenothtu]
Originally posted by spy66
In my eyes they are fools who will kill in war based on a lie. A lie they should stand up and fight against instead of fighting for it.
I dont know if you understand what i mean!
Originally posted by SLAYER69
yeah I know their history but where does it say they got wiped out?
Originally posted by Skelkie3
Operation Market Garden Casualties www.olive-drab.com...[/url]rep[
101st airborne was out as a unit 'till Vietnam, I think. I'm going to check on that...
Originally posted by spy66
Well it has to do with Oil and the value of your dollar. The US control everything when it comes to corporations getting contracts in Iraq.
You went in there to find WMD and to kill Saddam. You did both. You killed Saddam and found out that he was telling the truth all a long. He had no WMD.
And it has nothing to do with anybody else's freedom but only your own/USA.
Originally posted by Lonestar24
Originally posted by nenothtu
...
The very fact that you are able to speak your mind without fear of jail time and torture confirms the fact that wars are "won". ...
Nope. It confirms that society develops. War only happened when a powerful/large enough part of the society was resisting that development.
The majority of the "free" states has never had to fight a war for their freedoms, which makes something like the Independence War a rather sad footnote of history in the big picture.
Not a single war has ever set anyone free, it merely eliminated the opposition.
2. The US military uses lots of high technology that can be easily defeated by a sophisticated enemy. Guided weapons, drones, etc.- rely on secure communications to operate. Jamming is as old as radio... ' nuff said.
Originally posted by mattifikation
I was under the impression that Saddam Hussein, who once fielded the 7th largest army in the world, was defeated not only once, but twice by U.S. led forces.
I was also under the impression that after his second defeat, he was executed by hanging. And furthermore, I was lead to believe that the country he once controlled was handed over to a pro-U.S. government. It was my understanding that the country in question is now an ally of the United States.
And it can't help to escape my notice that we have withdrew from all Iraqi cities, having achieved great success in training Iraq's own army to defend itself. It appears to me that we will meet all future deadlines for complete withdrawal from the entire country, as we achieve the last remaining objectives.
Your question needs to be specific. "Against an enemy that can fight back" doesn't explain much. Do you mean against an enemy that can defend its own soil really well? Or do you mean against an enemy that launches a counter offensive against U.S. soil? Because those idiots would be doomed. There are more armed Americans than there are soldiers in the entire rest of the world's militaries combined.
And second, on what terms would you want this hypothetical war to be fought? Is this a "nation building" war like Iraq and Afghanistan, or is this a "bomb the crap out of them until there's nothing left, and then roll in the tanks to shoot the corspes" war?
Is the public behind it? Are we growing victory gardens and donating our waste metals to the war effort? Are we sitting at home eagerly awaiting our draft notices so that we can serve our country and defeat whatever threat we've come to face?
The simple truth is that every war we've "lost" or been depicted as "losing in" has been due to political defeat, not being beaten on the battlefield. You'd think people would credit us for not having an appetite for senseless war... But no, they call us warmongers and then they call our military weak when they fight handicapped because nobody back home wants them to fight at all.
Originally posted by C0bzz
2. The US military uses lots of high technology that can be easily defeated by a sophisticated enemy. Guided weapons, drones, etc.- rely on secure communications to operate. Jamming is as old as radio... ' nuff said.
As is ECCM.
Nuff said,
Let me reiterate - you don't know what you're talking about.
[edit on 2/7/2009 by C0bzz]
Originally posted by Skelkie3
One or another empire has always backed one or another tribe.
I will say on the subject that as an American- I 'm disgusted by the fact that our guys are trying to combat Reagan's freedom fighters.
What disgraces our ' leaders ' are !
I think there is a possibility of a much wider and more destructive war in that region. One where you trade that baret and smg in for a brain bucket and a shovel.
Originally posted by Reading
In Iraq, British special forces aim to merge into the background, driving battered local cars and wearing cheap clothes bought in markets. They looked on aghast at their US colleagues who initially drove around in new Dodge pickups.
“We used to laugh when we saw the Americans around the green zone,” one source said. “They would be wearing designer jeans, heavy boots and T-shirts - that was their idea of local dress. To a man they would all have pistols strapped to each leg with black plastic holster and webbing, and of course they would be wearing the latest shades. We called it ‘living the dream’.”
But it was far from a joke. If the Americans were spotted for what they were, then any British forces operating alongside them would be at risk as well. Even more seriously, if US forces applied their doctrine of shooting first and asking questions later, the British risked being dragged into the same dangerous territory.
one British source said
“I saw a lot of things in Baghdad that were illegal or just wrong,” he said. “The Americans had a well deserved reputation for being trigger-happy.”
i think that says it all really
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 10:29 AM
To: Terry C Smith
Subject: FW: US Navy vs. Pirates, Version Number 3
Vadm "Bobby" Harwood
Details below. 4 shots
Your "Real" story is not exactly the way I heard it, and
probably has a few political twists thrown in to stir the pot. Rather
than me trying to correct it, I'll just tell you what I found out from
my contacts at NSWC Norfolk and at SOCOM Tampa.
First though, let me orient you to familiarize you with
the "terrain."
In Africa from Djibouti at the southern end of the Red
Sea eastward through the Gulf of Aden to round Cape Guardafui at the
easternmost tip of Africa (also known as "The Horn of Africa") is about
a 600 nm transit before you stand out into the Indian Ocean. That
transit is comparable in distance to that from the mouth of the
Mississippi at New Orleans to the tip of Florida at Key West-- except
that 600 nm over there is infested with Somalia pirates.
Ships turning southward at the Horn of Africa transit
the SLOC (Sea Lane of Commerce) along the east coast of Somalia because
of the prevailing southerly currents there. It's about 1,500 nm on to
Mombassa, which is just south of the equator in Kenya. Comparably,
that's about the transit distance from Portland Maine down the east
coast of the US to Miami Florida. In other words, the ocean area being
patrolled by our naval forces off the coast of Somalia is comparable to
that in the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River east to Miami then
up the eastern seaboard to Maine.
Second, let me globally orient you from our Naval
Operating Base in Norfolk, VA, east across the Atlantic to North Africa,
thence across the Med to Suez in Egypt, thence southward down the Red
Sea to Djibouti at the Gulf of Aden, thence eastward to round Cape
Guardafui at the easternmost tip of Africa, and thence southerly some
300 miles down the east cost of Somali out into the high seas of the
Indian Ocean to the position of MV ALABAMA is a little more than 7,000
nm, and plus-nine time-zones ahead of EST.
Hold that thought, in that, a C-17 transport averaging a
little better than 400 kts (SOG) takes the best part of 18 hours to make
that trip. In the evening darkness late Thursday night, a team of Navy
SEALs from NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) Norfolk parachuted from
such a C-17 into the black waters (no refraction of light) of the Indian
Ocean-- close-aboard to our 40,000 ton amphibious assault ship, USS
BOXER (LHD 4), the flagship of our ESG (Expeditionary Strike Group) in
the AOR (Area Of Responsibility, the Gulf of Aden). They not only
parachuted in with all of their "equipment," they had their own
inflatable boats, RHIB's (Rigid Hull, Inflatable Boats) with them for
over-water transport. They went into BOXER's landing dock, debarked,
and staged for the rescue-- Thursday night.
And, let me comment on time-late: In that the SEAL's
quick response-- departing ready-alert in less than 4 hours from
Norfolk-- supposedly surprised POTUS's staff, whereas President Obama
was miffed not to get his "cops" there before the Navy. He reportedly
questioned his staff, "Will 'my' FBI people get there before the Navy
does?" It took the FBI almost 12 hours to put together a team and get
them packed-up-- for an "at sea" rescue. The FBI was trying to tell him
that they are not practiced to do this-- Navy SEALs are. But, BHO
wanted the FBI there "to help," that is, carry out the Attorney
General's (his) orders to negotiate the release of Captain Phillips
peacefully-- because apparently he doesn't trust GW's military to carry
out his "political guidance."
The flight of the FBI's passenger jet took a little less
than 14 hours at 500-some knots to get to Djibouti. BOXER'S helos picked
them up and transported them out to the ship. The Navy SEALs were
already there, staged, and ready to act by the time POTUS's FBI arrived
on board latter that evening. Notably, the first request by the OSC (On
Scene Commander) that early Friday morning to take them out and save
Captain Phillips was denied, to wit: "No, wait until 'my' FBI people
get there."
Third, please consider a candid assessment of ability
that finds that the FBI snipers had never practiced shooting from a
rolling, pitching, yawing, surging, swaying, heaving platform-- and,
target-- such as a ship and a lifeboat on the high seas. Navies have
been doing since Admiral Nelson who had trained "Marines" to shoot
muskets from the ship's rigging-- ironically, he was killed at sea in
HMS VICTORY at the Battle of Trafalgar by a French Marine rifleman that
shot him from the rigging of the French ship that they were grappling
alongside.
Notably, when I was first training at USNA in 1955, the
Navy was doing it with a SATU, Small Arms Training Unit, based at our
Little Creek amphib base. Now, Navy SEAL's, in particular SEAL Team SIX
(The "DevGru") based at NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) at Little
Creek do that training now, and hone their skills professionally--
daily. Shooting small arms from a ship is more of an accomplished "Art
Form" than it is a practiced skill. When you are "in the bubble" and
"in tune" with the harmonic motion you find, through practice, that you
are "able to put three .308 slugs inside the head of a quarter at 100
meters, in day or night-- or, behind a camouflaged net or a thin
enclosure, such as a superstructure bulkhead. Yes, we have the
monocular scopes that can "see" heat-- and, draw a bead on it. SEALs
are absolutely expert at it-- with the movie clips to prove it.
Okay, now try to imagine patrolling among the boats
fishing everyday out on the Grand Banks off our New England coast, and
then responding to a distress call from down around the waters between
Florida and the Bahamas. Three points for you to consider here: (1)
Time-Distance-Speed relationships for ships on the high seas, for
instance, at a 25-knot SOA (Speed Of Advance) it takes 24 hours to make
good 600 nm-- BAINBRIDGE did. (2) Fishermen work on the high seas, and
(3) The best place to hide as a "fisherman" pirate is among other
fishermen
Early Wednesday morning, 4/8/2009, MV ALABAMA is at sea
in the IO about 300 miles off the (east) coast of Somalia en route to
Mombassa Kenya. Pirates in small boat start harassing her, and
threatening her with weapons. MV ALABAMA's captain sent out the
distress call by radio, and ordered his Engineer to shut down the
engines as well as the ship-service electrical generators-- in our
lingo, "Go dark and cold." He informed his crew by radio what was
happening, and ordered them to go to an out-of-the-way compartment and
lock themselves in it-- from the inside. He would stay in the pilot
house to "negotiate" with the pirates.
The pirates boarded, captured the Captain, and ordered
him to start the engines. He said he would order his Engineer to do so,
and he called down to Engine Control on the internal communication
system, but got no answer. The lead pirate ordered two of his four men
to go down and find him and get the engines started.
Inside a ship without any lights is like the definition
of dark. The advantage goes to the people who work and live there.
They jumped the two pirates in a dark passageway. Both pirates lost
their weapons, but one managed to scramble and get away. The other they
tied up, put tape over his mouth and a knife at his throat.
Other members of the crew opened the drain cocks on the
pirates boat and cast it adrift. It foundered and sunk. The scrambling
pirate made it back to the pilot house and told of his demise. The
pirates took the Captain at gun point, and told him to launch one of his
rescue boats (not a life boat, per se). As he was lowering the boat for
them, the crew appeared with the other pirate to negotiate a trade. The
crew let their hostage go to soon, and the pirates kept the captain.
But, he purposefully had lowered the boat so it would jam.
With the rescue boat jammed, the pirates jumped over to
a lifeboat and released it as the captain jumped in the water. They
fired at him, made him stop, and grabbed him out of the water. Now, as
night falls in the vastness of the Indian Ocean, we have the classic
"Mexican" standoff, to wit: A life-boat that is just that, a life-boat
adrift without any means of propulsion except oars and paddles; and, a
huge (by comparison) Motor Vessel Container Ship adrift with a crew that
is not going to leave their captain behind. The pirates are enclosed
under its shelter-covering, holding the captain as their hostage. The
crew is hunkered down in their ship waiting for the "posse" to arrive.
After receiving MV ALABAMA'S distress call, USS
BAINBRIDGE (DDG 96) was dispatched by the ESG commander to respond to
ALABAMA's distress call. At best sustainable speed, she arrived on
scene the day after-- that is, in the dark of that early Thursday
morning. As BAINBRIDGE quietly and slowly, at darkened-ship without any
lights to give her away, arrived on scene, please consider a recorded
interview with the Chief Engineer of MV ALABAMA describing BAINBRIDGE's
arrival. He said it was something else "... to see the Navy slide in
there like a greyhound!" He then said as she slipped in closer he could
see the "Stars and Stripes" flying from her masthead. He got choked up
saying it was the "...proudest moment of my life."
Phew! Let that sink in.
Earlier in the day, one of the U.S. Navy's Maritime
Patrol Aircraft, a fixed wing P3C, flew over to recon the scene. They
dropped a buoy with a radio to the pirates so that the Navy's
interpreter could talk with the pirates. When BAINBRIDGE arrived, the
pirates thought the radio to be a beaconing device, and threw it
overboard. They wanted a satellite telephone so that they could call
home for help. Remember now, they are fishermen, not "Rocket
Scientists," in that, they don't know that we can intercept the phone
transmission also.
MV ALABAMA provided them with a satellite phone. They
called home back to "somebody" in Eyl Somalia (so that we now know where
you live) to come out and get them. The "somebody" in Eyl said they
would be out right away with other hostages, like 54 of them from other
countries, and that they would be coming out in two of their pirated
ships. Right-- and, the tooth fairy will let you have sex with her.
Yea, in paradise. The "somebody" in Eyl just chalked up four more
expendables as overhead for "the cost of operation."
Anyway, ESG will continue to "watch" Eyl for any ships
standing out.
The Navy SEAL team, SEAL TEAM SIX, from NSWC briefed the
OSC (Commander Castellano, CO BAINBRIDGE) on how they could rescue the
captain from the life boat with swimmers-- "Combat Swimmers," per se.
That plan was denied by POTUS because it put the captain in danger--
and, involved killing the pirates.
The FBI negotiators arrived on scene, and talked the
pirates into sending their wounded man over for treatment Saturday
morning. Later that afternoon, the SEAL's sent over their RHIB with
food and water to recon the life boat but the pirates shot at it. They
could have taken them out then (from being fired upon) but were denied
again being told that the captain was not in "imminent danger." The FBI
negotiators calmed the situation by informing the pirates of threatening
weather as they could see storm clouds closing from the horizon, and
offered to tow the life boat. The pirates agreed, and BAINBRIDGE took
them under tow in their wake at 30 meters-- exactly 30 meters, which is
exactly the distance the SEALs practice their shooting skills.
With the lifeboat under tow, riding comfortably bow-down
on BAINBRIDGE's wake-wave ("rooster tail"), had a 17-second period of
harmonic motion, and at the end of every half-period (8.5 seconds) was
steady on. The light-enhanced (infra-red heat) monocular scopes on the
SEAL's .308 caliber Mark 11 Mod 0 H&K suppressor-fitted sniper rifles
easily imaged their target very clearly. Pirates in a life boat at
30-meters could be compared to fish in a barrel. All that was necessary
was to take out the plexiglass window so that it would not deflect the
trajectory of the high velocity .308 round. So, a sniper (one of four)
with a wad-cutter round (a flaxen sabot) would take out the window a
split second before the kill-shot-- no change in sight-picture, just the
window blowing out, clean.
Now, here's the part BHO's "whiz kids" knew as well as
the Navy hierarchy, including CO BAINBRIDGE and CO SEAL TEAM SIX. It's
the law in Article 19 of Appendix L in the "Convention of the High Seas"
that the Commanding Officer of a US Ship on the high seas is obligated
to respond to distress signals from any flagged ship (US or otherwise),
and protect the life and property thereof when deemed to be in IMMINENT
DANGER. So, in the final analysis, it would be Captain Castellano call
as to "Imminent Danger," and that he alone was obligated (duty bound) to
act accordingly.
Got the picture?
After medically attending to the wounded pirated, and
feeding him, come first light (from the east) on Easter Sunday morning
and the pirates saw they were being towed further out to sea (instead of
westward toward land), the wounded pirate demanded to be returned to the
lifeboat. There would BE NO more negotiations-- and, the four Navy SEAL
snipers "in the bubble" went "Unlock." The pirate holding Captain
Philips raised the gun to his head, and IMMINENT DANGER was so observed
and noted in the Log as CO BAINBRIDGE gave the classic order: WEAPONS
RELEASED! I can hear the echo in my earpiece now, "On my count (from
8.5 seconds), 3, 2, 1, !" POP, BANG! Out went the window, followed by
three simultaneous shots.
The scoreboard flashed: "GAME OVER, GAME OVER--
NAVY 3, PIRATES 0!"
I hope you found the above informative as best I know
it-- and, please excuse me in that after more than 50 years the Navy is
still in me. I submit that AMERICA is going to make a comeback, and
more than likely it'll be on the back of our cherished youth serving
with honor in Our military.
Originally posted by nenothtu
Originally posted by spy66
In my eyes they are fools who will kill in war based on a lie. A lie they should stand up and fight against instead of fighting for it.
I dont know if you understand what i mean!
Which lie would that be? The WMD "lie" that progressives here keep hapring about? Let's see now... 5000 kurds killed by Saddam using poison gas (classified as a "WMD"). Poison gas used by Saddam against Iran during their border war.
Do you reckon Saddam just used it all up, and decided to not get any more, because killing off 5000 folks at a whack just wasn't efficient enough killing for him?
Hmm... it WAS there, at least at one time, so what do YOU think happened to it? If it was there, how is the WMD issue a "lie"?
Let's not forget about the VX gas cannisters rigged into roadside bombs in Iraq, and defused by US explosive Ordinance Disposal personnel. If it wasn't "there", how was it "there"?
Bet you'd be surprised if some of the classified stuff were to suddenly become declassified.
[edit on 2009/7/2 by nenothtu]
Originally posted by fooffstarr
Nobody wins a war.
You might defeat the enemy on the field of battle... but you still lost.
Originally posted by spy66
Originally posted by nenothtu
Originally posted by spy66
In my eyes they are fools who will kill in war based on a lie. A lie they should stand up and fight against instead of fighting for it.
I dont know if you understand what i mean!
Which lie would that be? The WMD "lie" that progressives here keep hapring about? Let's see now... 5000 kurds killed by Saddam using poison gas (classified as a "WMD"). Poison gas used by Saddam against Iran during their border war.
Do you reckon Saddam just used it all up, and decided to not get any more, because killing off 5000 folks at a whack just wasn't efficient enough killing for him?
Hmm... it WAS there, at least at one time, so what do YOU think happened to it? If it was there, how is the WMD issue a "lie"?
Let's not forget about the VX gas cannisters rigged into roadside bombs in Iraq, and defused by US explosive Ordinance Disposal personnel. If it wasn't "there", how was it "there"?
Bet you'd be surprised if some of the classified stuff were to suddenly become declassified.
[edit on 2009/7/2 by nenothtu]
You are talking about A GAS that was given to him by the West in the first place. With the US support. They even gave Saddam Mirages. All this was given to Saddam by us when Iraq was fighting Iran. We even built his bunkers.
Its a lame excuse to say that you "invaded" Iraq because Saddam gassed civilians. Because that is a lie. Your just trying to justify a lie with an excuse.