CB -I second Bonnie...I have no idea what to say -except thank God you are OK. My family prays for you every night (as I am sure that MANY people on this site do)...Thank you once again Our Soldier!
Oh God, oh God. I was worried about you all day yesterday. And today I said, "I'm sure what they said on the news was only the tip of the iceberg in Mosul yesterday because he didn't post." I am so glad you are all right. God be with you.
Amazing... My god, my heart was pounding the entire time. What an adrenaline rush just reading that. So so glad that you are ok! I know that the media doesn't tell things how it really is, and I am so glad that you are doing this so we know what the real deal is! Stay Safe!
This morning I recevied this note from a friend and am passing it along:
"From: dan To: addressremoved.com Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2004 7:33 AM Subject: Prayers for a fine young man
Please keep in your prayers a fine young Army officer named Damon Armeni. His mom is in my online support group for families of injured Marine recruits. Both Damon and his Marine brother Bryce are in Iraq. Sharon wrote us this morning to tell us that Damon was one of the casualties in the fighting in Mosul yesterday. His vehicle was hit by an RPG and he received severe injuries to his chest and intestines. He had several ribs removed at the field hospital and they are evacuating him to Germany to do more surgeries. He is in critical but stable condition. Sharon and the young man's wife are being flown to Germany to be with him. Needless to say she is extremely upset after getting the second worse phone call you can get from the military. Keep them in your prayers....
I don't know what kind of hit count you get each day, bud, but I'm going to link this one special. People, just regular folks, need to know about this.
I'm in Afgnanistan, have been nine months and haven't been shot at nor fired a shot. I just hope that if I have to, I perform as well as you did.
CB, In two deployments to SWA, nothing I've seen holds a candle to what you just described. Sounds like you guys gave them hell, though. Be proud of how you and your comrades handled yourselves, no one could have done it better.
Your account is riveting and I am so thankful you are okay. I do hope those casualties are able to survive their injuries with proper medical care. Our troops are in my prayers.
CB...crap! I mean, that was so intense. Thank God you are ok and the men with you. We'll say a prayer for the boy that was hit and one for you. Stay safe dammit!
Wow. Stay Safe man. My opinion on Strykers have changed through your blog. I don't even want to think what would have happened if your were in Hummers.
Sounds like you guys were taking in some hellfire. Glad you made it out of there okay and I am sorry for the other guy that got hurt. I hope he is okay now. Our prayers are with you and all other enlisted men. Come home safe!
I am ex Army and feel bad all the time that I did not go back in for this. I am a single Mom and after reading that I do not know if I am still sad I am not back in or happy as hell. Thank you, Heather
Your site is linked in a post about the armed conflict in Mosul on Prof. Juan Cole's blog, Informed Comment at www.juancole.com Prof. Cole's site gets major traffic. I expect you'll be getting an even bigger audience from now on.
Rabbit: your RAF friend is of course misinformed. The US Army is the best trained force in the history of the world. However, to be honest, not all units meet the same standard. For instance, any regular army soldier (and honest national guardsman) will tell you that a national guard unit won't have the same proficiency or discipline as a regular Army unit. How could they given that the regular unit trains 250 more days a year with more resources? That they are proficient at all shows how great Army training is, and also how dedicated the civilian/soldiers in the reserves are to our nation. Still, there is a huge difference in skill levels between the NG and the Regular Army.
Perhaps your friend's experience comes from a British unit that trained with a US reserve unit, and he didn't see what he expected to see.
I've worked with the Brits - 2nd Para, Royal Marines, and KOSBs (King's Own Scottish Borderers). They are very good. But compare 2nd Para to a Territorial unit and you will see what I am talking about.
Only the US Military has resources like the National Training Center and Joint Readiness Training Center where full-fledged force-on-force training takes place. Because of these combat training centers the US Army is a more effective fighting force than any in the world and anybody that is convinced otherwise is engaging in nationalistic wishful thinking.
The difference in training is critical. For instance, the Royal Marines have a much-respected 3-day testing period in which they claim to eliminate 99.9% of applicants. That is great, but it doesn't mean that at the end of their training pipeline they have better, more highly skilled, more physically fit warriors. It means they elminated those that weren't in awesome physical condition to begin with. The US Army and Marine Corps will take kids that in no way could have made it into the Royal Marines, but a year later they are phsyically fit, well-trained, disciplined warriors as good as the planet has ever seen. And their fire discipline is incredible to see in action.
So I won't downplay the British Army or Royal Marine's great combat effectiveness. However, I think anybody that feels a British rifle company is better than a US rifle company should immediately be put into a rehab program for his obviously very serious drug problem.
As for why more "bad guys" weren't dead, that is a question only the inexperienced ask and you admit to it so I won't shred you.
A simple way to explain it is this: had the insurgents (I won't call them terrorists because it appears they wore uniforms to distinguish themselves from non-combatants) fought like a regular army they would have all been killed defending terrain. They are instead (wisely) fighting as insurgents so they don't put themselves in a position where they can be overrun. They learned this from the few survivors who made it out alive from Iraqi military units that tried to stand up to the "poorly-trained" US Army during the invasion. Stand up to the Army and fight a conventional battle and you will die. They instead shoot and scoot, fire from rooftops and down alleyways, never remaining in the same spot and moving around constantly. They fire blindly, probably putting their AKs around a wall and blasting while not even looking. They pop up and fire RPGs and then duck down so fast that this is why most of them miss - but also why they don't get hit by return fire.
When insurgents don't use the cover of buildings properly, as these bad guys appear to have done, they will suffer much larger casualties. Look at the battle of Mogadishu for an example of what happens when irregular fighters try and fight instead of shoot-and-scoot. Hundreds of Somali fighters dead, hundreds of civilians, and 18 US dead.
If the soldiers were more concerned about killing the enemy than they were with hitting only combatants they would have done what your friend suggests - killed a lot more bad guys, but a lot more civilians too. Most of the Somali civilian casualties were caused by Somali militiamen. Most of the Iraqi civilian casualties were caused by Iraqi insurgents. US soldiers have good fire discipline, so insurgents take advantage of that.
Finally, you often fire not at a particular target but to provide cover fire (suppressive fire) just to keep the enemy's head down while you manuever. You expend a lot of "unaimed" shots - but you make sure they aren't aimed at places civilians might be or at friendly troops. Thus it is entirely possible to empty a .50 cal without hitting a single enemy fighter - it is important to remember that by doing so he didn't hit you either.
CB-I was also worried yesterday when you didn't post, and then when I read what you posted today I didn't feel much better. Every single person here was thinking about you and your boys--and all of us read with bated breath. Along with telling you how glad I am that everyone is okay, I was thinking about what you said about being scared to death (which I think would be a given in a situation like the one you all faced). That new guy you posted about--the one who was all nervous, and you didn't know what to say to him because it wouldn't sound all Hollywood--CB, telling him about how you felt, the thoughts that were running through your head, these are the things that you can share with him, and it won't come off as BS, AND you won't be babysitting him or holding his hand. You had a chance to talk yourself down with your buddy when all was said and done, and really that's all he needs too. It's odd, but I think when we are scared, sometimes the most comforting thing to hear is that someone else is scared too, just so we know that we aren't alone. Anyway, all of you are in my prayers. I can't even explain how much I feel for you guys and I don't even know you.
Downright frightening. Those lunatics are just plain nuts! Glad you guy only seem to take one casualty; with that much output from your end, I'm sure you guys smoked scores; buried in back holes not to let you guys know what a bloddy nose you gave them. My deepest appreciation for your service and your blog. Beer waits for you in the Dallas area as well.
hooahmomma (great handle): I appreciate you coming to the defense of our reserves and national guard.
However, I don't think it was needed. They are great (GREAT) but I never said they weren't. I said only that they aren't as proficient and disciplined as regular army units, and they shouldn't be expected to be that way. Most guard and reserve units meet ALL the requirements the Army sets out for them, and those standards are the same for them as for the active-duty folks. Whether it is CTT training, or METL tasks, or whatever, most guard and reserve units do just fine.
What I meant is that they aren't as proficient and disciplined as the Regular Army. There is a huge difference in skill levels. That isn't because reservists and national guard soldiers aren't good soldiers - many are prior service active duty folks anyway, and I myself was a proud reservist in special operations command and my unit met the same standards as all SOC units are required to meet.
But, barring activation, reserve units drill for 2 days a month and 2 weeks a year. That is 35 days a year, spread out over 12 months. A Regular Army rifle company by comparison will train 280 days a year. To expect reserve and NG units to be as proficient and disciplined in 30 non-consecutive days as another unit that is given 280 days is to expect the impossible.
So NG and Reserve units are great, but they aren't the same - not "less," just "reserve." They aren't expected to be the varsity, at least not without time for a train-up, and the fact that so many are serving extended active-duty tours and doing so well is more than expected and to their everlasting credit - and it pisses me off because you don't use your reserves unless you need them. To depend on them for an extended period of time, treating them like active-duty folks, is to not have a reserve force at all but a larger active-duty force. But that is another topic altogether.
There are some reserve units that are at least as skilled as their active-duty counterparts. That is because their civilian jobs and their military jobs are the same. Activate a medical reserve unit and it is no surprise that the doctors, nurses, etc. all do the same job in civilian life and usually have more experience than their active duty counterparts. Call up a JAG unit and they are all lawyers. Air Guard units call up pilots that have as many or in most cases more flight hours than the regular AF, and most of the pilots were prior active service. They do just fine.
These are always the units that are used to show how ready the reserves are. They make up a small percentage of the reserves. The reservists I'm worried about are those with no civilian counterpart - a NG infantry unit for example. We aren't treating them fairly.
To claim, as the official policy dictates, that reservists are just as ready, able, and proficient as the active-duty folks results in untrained units being called on to do what they were never trained to do. And it is happening. The MPs at Abu Ghraib were reservists, and had they been more disciplined and their leaders more diligent we wouldn't have had that scandal. I know reservists are going to go ballistic when I say this, but had that unit been an active-duty unit the scandal would not have happened.
To claim that all reservists are unready and don't contribute to the war is just as false of course - perhaps more so, because some units are doing amazing things. But we should not expect a unit that trains for 30 days (plus, I must acknowledge, countless hours of unpaid and volunteered time by members of the chain of command of each and every reserve unit out there) to be the same as another unit with 280 days, even if both are given all of the same resources other than time. 30 is less than 280 and it is that simple. That is why we should carefully use our reserves, calling them up only in times of national emergency, and giving them the time to train-up that we gave the active-duty folks. We should be treating them like members of the same team.
Instead we give them less time to prepare; when they are called up their dependents aren't given the same privileges as active-duty folks; pay problems are inexcusable but amazingly commonplace; we put them into a combat situation with at most 30 days to get ready for it - and they still do ok. But we shouldn't be doing it. It isn't fair to them. And it isn't an insult to the reservists for an old regular army guy like me to say so.
If we want them to be as prepared we should give them 280 days of training a year. Of course we don't because then they wouldn't be reservists but active duty. The plan was to give most reserve units six months - 180 days - before deployment, and we aren't even giving them that. And the official policy has convinced most reservists that any time a regular Army officer talks about the subject of readiness they are prejudiced against the guard and don't like them. I question what is going on because I love them. I would raise hell in a handbasket if I were told I only had 30 days to train my guys, but by the way they need to be as ready and will be given the same missions as another unit given 280 days.
At the NTC we have a reserve rotation about once every 12 - 18 months. A NG unit is called up for an extended AT (summer camp - the AT stands for annual training) and they deploy on out to Irwin to face the vaunted OPFOR. I've been involved in the train-ups for several of those NG rotations. The NG units always meet all of the requirements - they have great gunnery skills, they meet PT standards, have all their equipment, everybody is MOS qualified and passes CTT training, etc. Their leadership is always convinced that they are combat ready. They even point out when they have higher gunnery skills than an active duty unit. They never seem to understand that if a squad of soliders all qualify expert on the M16 range it doesn't mean they can shoot, move, and communicate effectively on the battlefield. But we let it go, because how can you train somebody that doesn't even know that they don't know? How do you even start?
So they roll into the box and it is ALWAYS the easiest 2 weeks the OPFOR has all year long. We fight them with half our usual regimental strength. We hold off on hitting them with everything at once but attack piecemeal. The Chief of Operations Group takes even more assets away from the OPFOR, ones that would be used against a Regular Army brigade in an instant. We allow their scout teams to penetrate even after we have spotted their push. That isn't because we are taking it "easy on them" but because otherwise they would lose so fast that they wouldn't get the desired training effect from the mission. All they would know is that they crossed into the box, suddenly OPFOR was everywhere, and then they were dead and the after-action review was starting. Instead they get near their objective, after making contact against OPFOR units here and there (they always think it is the regimental main body but it is usally more like a motorized rifle platoon) and then we hit them and wipe them out (even though they still outnumber us). And always we are told by our regular Army bosses never never never to say anything bad about the reserves even though that was the weakest BLUFOR we fought in 18 months. So we don't. And we shouldn't, even though they were so easy to beat. I'll tell you why:
Most NG units are incredibly "ate-up" the first mission. For instance, they take hours to uncoil out of their assembly areas. They get lost, lose equipment, suffer injuries because somebody was doing something stupid. They can't get their radios to work in the secure "green" mode but go into the red so that we listen to all they are saying. Instead of rolling out in a team "diamond" formation they roll out one vehicle behind the other as if on the 101 freeway. Worse than any Regular unit ever. All the guns pointed straight ahead instead of scanning their sectors. But... five missions later and they always ALWAYS have improved more than any Regular unit we train out in that hard desert. Sure, they have a lot further to go because they had so much to learn, but most of the problems they encounter aren't due to a lack of motivation or a lack of ability, but simply a lack of training time. Uncoiling 800 armored vehicles from an assembly area isn't easy the first time, but if your unit has done it 20 times the 21st time at the NTC isn't a problem. No NG unit has ever uncoiled before coming to the NTC because they wouldn't have had the opportunity. Yet by the last mission they are uncoiling and ready to roll in minutes just like the Regular units that do it on a monthly basis. Gunners are scanning. They are employing the proper formation. We can't listen in anymore because they are in the "green." They aren't getting lost. They aren't all shooting at the same target when they make contact but are cross-talking and designating targets, ensuring more of the OPFOR is getting hit instead of just one BMP while 20 other OPFOR vehicles rush them with impunity. By the end of the rotation they aren't as good as the worst of the Regular units but they also just spent only 3 weeks instead of 12 months in hard training. A reserve unit given a six-month train-up could be the equal of a regular unit - and that is an amazing, stunning thing to say. After all, it took that regular unit 18 months.
I don't look down on the reserves, I look up to them. Ask a regular infantryman to be a part time accountant, Fedex delivery guy, website designer, carpenter, or whatever and see how good they do at those tasks. The regular guys wouldn't know where to start. Reservists do their civilian jobs AND are proficient soldiers.
Reservists are twice the citizen, we owe them a great deal, and I respect the hell out of them. But they aren't as proficient as the Regular guys because they do it part-time. No shame or insult in that at all. It is just a fact.
Keep up the good work! We are keeping you and your buddies in our thoughts and prayers. As a former grunt I especially pray for your guys safe return.
Infantryman's Prayer
Almighty God, whose will it is that we be leaders of men.
Hear us as we come to you for guidance in this awesome responsibility.
Let us never forget our duty in the men whom lead. May we instill in them the qualities of loyalty, integrity and duty.
Grant us the patience in dealing with the mistakes of our fellow man.
Let us never forget that no man is perfect, but that perfection for fragile humans is trying each day to be better than the day before.
Give us courage, O Lord, in the face of danger; keep us pure in heart, clean in mind, and strong in purpose.
Remind us that wisdom is not gained in an hour, a day, or in a year, but it is a process that continues all the days of our lives.
Keep ever before us our goal, which is not to perpetrate war, but to safeguard peace and preserve your great gift to man, Freedom.
May you always be near to guide us in decisions, comfort us in our failures, and keep us humble in our successes. We ask your divine blessings and leadership as we discharge the honor and responsibility of leading men in the service of our country.
Walk close to us always, our father that we may not fall.
I just had to let you know what an impact your blog has had on me. It's not just what you went through, but the skill with which you share it. You obviously weren't the only one there, but most would not be able to convey the intensity and drama of the situation as well as you did.
Thanks so much for all you do. Please know that you are appreciated and please pass these sentiments on to the others that are there with you.
CB-I don't know what unit you're in, but I was in 5-20 until last summer. Give 'em hell, and watch your back.
And tell CPT Dabkowski in A/5-20, CPT Mason in Bravo, and CPT...Eric...I can't remember his last name, the C/5-20 commander, that CPT Lange at Ft Jackson sends his best and wishes he could be there.
Young man, kudos to you! Your courage and bravery, however unformulated or realized at this stage in your life, is duly noted. I am very proud of you! Regardless of what happens tomorrow, your life is one of accomplishment. You have made your mark. This is true, because you have impacted the lives of many others.
At the risk of being lost in a very large chorus, let me say this: You keep your head up and alert. Do not vacillate in your beliefs.
Be educated. Read this person or that person. Post this or that artist. But reach your own conclusions without delay. Time is of the essence. A leader leads. A leader is always open to new ideas, but his or her focus is always clear.
You have gained a sort of reputation as 'America's soldier' -- it has served you well. But what America needs now is clear vision. You have that vision, but you are content to be nebulous and keep people wondering. You have shown that you are better than that. Take a stand!
ii) Only the US Army could have such a cluster.... but only the US Army has people with the skills and sheer guts to win regardless. Us armchair Quarterbacks and Theoreticians can say 'you should never have been put in that situation' and certainly say 'you should never have had to go back in', but Murphy always has the last laugh, sometimes you just gotta.
iii) Bugger that for a game of soldiers. Give me a nice, safe, cosy submarine any day. And if you're ever down Canberra way, here in Australia, I'm buying.
iv) (This one's from the heart) Rather you than me. I hope that I'd have the guts to retrieve that spare ammo. I'm not sure I would. I am sure I don't ever want to be in a position to find out.
Oh yes, there's now a link to your site over on The Command Post. Not Instapundit, but you may get one from him soon too.
BTW I'm still shaking from reading it. I've done a bit of work for our DVA (Department of Veterans' Affairs) and it wouldn't be unusual for you to have some PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) out of this. If offered any councilling, take it, whether you need it or not. It helps. Bluntly, guys like you are too valuable to lose to preventable conditions.
39 comments :
Holy Sh*t, CB...oh my God. I dont know what to say. oh my God.
CB -I second Bonnie...I have no idea what to say -except thank God you are OK. My family prays for you every night (as I am sure that MANY people on this site do)...Thank you once again Our Soldier!
Oh God, oh God. I was worried about you all day yesterday. And today I said, "I'm sure what they said on the news was only the tip of the iceberg in Mosul yesterday because he didn't post." I am so glad you are all right. God be with you.
Amazing... My god, my heart was pounding the entire time. What an adrenaline rush just reading that. So so glad that you are ok! I know that the media doesn't tell things how it really is, and I am so glad that you are doing this so we know what the real deal is!
Stay Safe!
This morning I recevied this note from a friend and am passing it along:
"From: dan
To: addressremoved.com
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2004 7:33 AM
Subject: Prayers for a fine young man
Please keep in your prayers a fine young Army officer named Damon Armeni. His mom is in my online support group for families of injured Marine recruits. Both Damon and his Marine brother Bryce are in Iraq. Sharon wrote us this morning to tell us that Damon was one of the casualties in the fighting in Mosul yesterday. His vehicle was hit by an RPG and he received severe injuries to his chest and intestines. He had several ribs removed at the field hospital and they are evacuating him to Germany to do more surgeries. He is in critical but stable condition. Sharon and the young man's wife are being flown to Germany to be with him. Needless to say she is extremely upset after getting the second worse phone call you can get from the military. Keep them in your prayers....
Dan
I don't know what kind of hit count you get each day, bud, but I'm going to link this one special. People, just regular folks, need to know about this.
I'm in Afgnanistan, have been nine months and haven't been shot at nor fired a shot. I just hope that if I have to, I perform as well as you did.
God Bless.
Was it anything like Black Hawk Down?
OMG! Thank God you're okay! And thank you for your reports of what really goes on over there. It brings things into perspective. Be safe, stay strong!
Godspeed my friend. Our prayers are with you!!
CB,
In two deployments to SWA, nothing I've seen holds a candle to what you just described. Sounds like you guys gave them hell, though. Be proud of how you and your comrades handled yourselves, no one could have done it better.
Your account is riveting and I am so thankful you are okay. I do hope those casualties are able to survive their injuries with proper medical care. Our troops are in my prayers.
Good job troop, I'm proud of you.
I also don't think I'm a combat veteran at all. Damn.
CB...crap! I mean, that was so intense. Thank God you are ok and the men with you. We'll say a prayer for the boy that was hit and one for you. Stay safe dammit!
Stay safe.
We love you.
xxxooooooo
CB, Holy Sh*t. I'm speechless, aside from I'm glad your safe. I'm praying for you.
CB- I am exhausted just from reading your post!!! God is definitely with you. Keep up the GREAT WORK!! You guys are the BEST America has to offer.
Makes me pray even harder for you guys. Wish there was more I could do and say.
Brandon- those photos did help! Thanks for the URLS. Now I can visualize CB's Strykers and everything. (I am a visual learner..)
Wow. Stay Safe man. My opinion on Strykers have changed through your blog. I don't even want to think what would have happened if your were in Hummers.
Glad you are alive and well. Good job. I just hope someone did give that Iraqi interpreter a weapon. And I hope he got a few himself.
OMG -wow! Love the comments, made me cry.
Sounds like you guys were taking in some hellfire. Glad you made it out of there okay and I am sorry for the other guy that got hurt. I hope he is okay now. Our prayers are with you and all other enlisted men. Come home safe!
I am ex Army and feel bad all the time that I did not go back in for this. I am a single Mom and after reading that I do not know if I am still sad I am not back in or happy as hell. Thank you,
Heather
cbftw,
Your site is linked in a post about the armed conflict in Mosul on Prof. Juan Cole's blog, Informed Comment at www.juancole.com Prof. Cole's site gets major traffic. I expect you'll be getting an even bigger audience from now on.
oh jesus CB...i'm so glad you and your buds are ok...will be thinking heavily about the injured.
i was waking up several times last night, and you mosul fellas were my first thought. "gotta pray for those men" jesus. i had no fucking idea.
man, i just wanna hug the hell out of all of you. when did ya change brass balls to titanium? good damn job.
Rabbit: your RAF friend is of course misinformed. The US Army is the best trained force in the history of the world. However, to be honest, not all units meet the same standard. For instance, any regular army soldier (and honest national guardsman) will tell you that a national guard unit won't have the same proficiency or discipline as a regular Army unit. How could they given that the regular unit trains 250 more days a year with more resources? That they are proficient at all shows how great Army training is, and also how dedicated the civilian/soldiers in the reserves are to our nation. Still, there is a huge difference in skill levels between the NG and the Regular Army.
Perhaps your friend's experience comes from a British unit that trained with a US reserve unit, and he didn't see what he expected to see.
I've worked with the Brits - 2nd Para, Royal Marines, and KOSBs (King's Own Scottish Borderers). They are very good. But compare 2nd Para to a Territorial unit and you will see what I am talking about.
Only the US Military has resources like the National Training Center and Joint Readiness Training Center where full-fledged force-on-force training takes place. Because of these combat training centers the US Army is a more effective fighting force than any in the world and anybody that is convinced otherwise is engaging in nationalistic wishful thinking.
The difference in training is critical. For instance, the Royal Marines have a much-respected 3-day testing period in which they claim to eliminate 99.9% of applicants. That is great, but it doesn't mean that at the end of their training pipeline they have better, more highly skilled, more physically fit warriors. It means they elminated those that weren't in awesome physical condition to begin with. The US Army and Marine Corps will take kids that in no way could have made it into the Royal Marines, but a year later they are phsyically fit, well-trained, disciplined warriors as good as the planet has ever seen. And their fire discipline is incredible to see in action.
So I won't downplay the British Army or Royal Marine's great combat effectiveness. However, I think anybody that feels a British rifle company is better than a US rifle company should immediately be put into a rehab program for his obviously very serious drug problem.
As for why more "bad guys" weren't dead, that is a question only the inexperienced ask and you admit to it so I won't shred you.
A simple way to explain it is this: had the insurgents (I won't call them terrorists because it appears they wore uniforms to distinguish themselves from non-combatants) fought like a regular army they would have all been killed defending terrain. They are instead (wisely) fighting as insurgents so they don't put themselves in a position where they can be overrun. They learned this from the few survivors who made it out alive from Iraqi military units that tried to stand up to the "poorly-trained" US Army during the invasion. Stand up to the Army and fight a conventional battle and you will die. They instead shoot and scoot, fire from rooftops and down alleyways, never remaining in the same spot and moving around constantly. They fire blindly, probably putting their AKs around a wall and blasting while not even looking. They pop up and fire RPGs and then duck down so fast that this is why most of them miss - but also why they don't get hit by return fire.
When insurgents don't use the cover of buildings properly, as these bad guys appear to have done, they will suffer much larger casualties. Look at the battle of Mogadishu for an example of what happens when irregular fighters try and fight instead of shoot-and-scoot. Hundreds of Somali fighters dead, hundreds of civilians, and 18 US dead.
If the soldiers were more concerned about killing the enemy than they were with hitting only combatants they would have done what your friend suggests - killed a lot more bad guys, but a lot more civilians too. Most of the Somali civilian casualties were caused by Somali militiamen. Most of the Iraqi civilian casualties were caused by Iraqi insurgents. US soldiers have good fire discipline, so insurgents take advantage of that.
Finally, you often fire not at a particular target but to provide cover fire (suppressive fire) just to keep the enemy's head down while you manuever. You expend a lot of "unaimed" shots - but you make sure they aren't aimed at places civilians might be or at friendly troops. Thus it is entirely possible to empty a .50 cal without hitting a single enemy fighter - it is important to remember that by doing so he didn't hit you either.
CB-I was also worried yesterday when you didn't post, and then when I read what you posted today I didn't feel much better. Every single person here was thinking about you and your boys--and all of us read with bated breath. Along with telling you how glad I am that everyone is okay, I was thinking about what you said about being scared to death (which I think would be a given in a situation like the one you all faced). That new guy you posted about--the one who was all nervous, and you didn't know what to say to him because it wouldn't sound all Hollywood--CB, telling him about how you felt, the thoughts that were running through your head, these are the things that you can share with him, and it won't come off as BS, AND you won't be babysitting him or holding his hand. You had a chance to talk yourself down with your buddy when all was said and done, and really that's all he needs too. It's odd, but I think when we are scared, sometimes the most comforting thing to hear is that someone else is scared too, just so we know that we aren't alone. Anyway, all of you are in my prayers. I can't even explain how much I feel for you guys and I don't even know you.
Downright frightening. Those lunatics are just plain nuts! Glad you guy only seem to take one casualty; with that much output from your end, I'm sure you guys smoked scores; buried in back holes not to let you guys know what a bloddy nose you gave them.
My deepest appreciation for your service and your blog. Beer waits for you in the Dallas area as well.
CB - First time reader...Came here from Iraqthemodel.com
Thanks for sharing your experiences...I'm floored...Stay safe and God Bless!
Found this on Portal of Evil News. HOpe you don't mind, but i like you on my Blog. All i can say is, 'Dude!'
hooahmomma (great handle): I appreciate you coming to the defense of our reserves and national guard.
However, I don't think it was needed. They are great (GREAT) but I never said they weren't. I said only that they aren't as proficient and disciplined as regular army units, and they shouldn't be expected to be that way. Most guard and reserve units meet ALL the requirements the Army sets out for them, and those standards are the same for them as for the active-duty folks. Whether it is CTT training, or METL tasks, or whatever, most guard and reserve units do just fine.
What I meant is that they aren't as proficient and disciplined as the Regular Army. There is a huge difference in skill levels. That isn't because reservists and national guard soldiers aren't good soldiers - many are prior service active duty folks anyway, and I myself was a proud reservist in special operations command and my unit met the same standards as all SOC units are required to meet.
But, barring activation, reserve units drill for 2 days a month and 2 weeks a year. That is 35 days a year, spread out over 12 months. A Regular Army rifle company by comparison will train 280 days a year. To expect reserve and NG units to be as proficient and disciplined in 30 non-consecutive days as another unit that is given 280 days is to expect the impossible.
So NG and Reserve units are great, but they aren't the same - not "less," just "reserve." They aren't expected to be the varsity, at least not without time for a train-up, and the fact that so many are serving extended active-duty tours and doing so well is more than expected and to their everlasting credit - and it pisses me off because you don't use your reserves unless you need them. To depend on them for an extended period of time, treating them like active-duty folks, is to not have a reserve force at all but a larger active-duty force. But that is another topic altogether.
There are some reserve units that are at least as skilled as their active-duty counterparts. That is because their civilian jobs and their military jobs are the same. Activate a medical reserve unit and it is no surprise that the doctors, nurses, etc. all do the same job in civilian life and usually have more experience than their active duty counterparts. Call up a JAG unit and they are all lawyers. Air Guard units call up pilots that have as many or in most cases more flight hours than the regular AF, and most of the pilots were prior active service. They do just fine.
These are always the units that are used to show how ready the reserves are. They make up a small percentage of the reserves. The reservists I'm worried about are those with no civilian counterpart - a NG infantry unit for example. We aren't treating them fairly.
To claim, as the official policy dictates, that reservists are just as ready, able, and proficient as the active-duty folks results in untrained units being called on to do what they were never trained to do. And it is happening. The MPs at Abu Ghraib were reservists, and had they been more disciplined and their leaders more diligent we wouldn't have had that scandal. I know reservists are going to go ballistic when I say this, but had that unit been an active-duty unit the scandal would not have happened.
To claim that all reservists are unready and don't contribute to the war is just as false of course - perhaps more so, because some units are doing amazing things. But we should not expect a unit that trains for 30 days (plus, I must acknowledge, countless hours of unpaid and volunteered time by members of the chain of command of each and every reserve unit out there) to be the same as another unit with 280 days, even if both are given all of the same resources other than time. 30 is less than 280 and it is that simple. That is why we should carefully use our reserves, calling them up only in times of national emergency, and giving them the time to train-up that we gave the active-duty folks. We should be treating them like members of the same team.
Instead we give them less time to prepare; when they are called up their dependents aren't given the same privileges as active-duty folks; pay problems are inexcusable but amazingly commonplace; we put them into a combat situation with at most 30 days to get ready for it - and they still do ok. But we shouldn't be doing it. It isn't fair to them. And it isn't an insult to the reservists for an old regular army guy like me to say so.
If we want them to be as prepared we should give them 280 days of training a year. Of course we don't because then they wouldn't be reservists but active duty. The plan was to give most reserve units six months - 180 days - before deployment, and we aren't even giving them that. And the official policy has convinced most reservists that any time a regular Army officer talks about the subject of readiness they are prejudiced against the guard and don't like them. I question what is going on because I love them. I would raise hell in a handbasket if I were told I only had 30 days to train my guys, but by the way they need to be as ready and will be given the same missions as another unit given 280 days.
At the NTC we have a reserve rotation about once every 12 - 18 months. A NG unit is called up for an extended AT (summer camp - the AT stands for annual training) and they deploy on out to Irwin to face the vaunted OPFOR. I've been involved in the train-ups for several of those NG rotations. The NG units always meet all of the requirements - they have great gunnery skills, they meet PT standards, have all their equipment, everybody is MOS qualified and passes CTT training, etc. Their leadership is always convinced that they are combat ready. They even point out when they have higher gunnery skills than an active duty unit. They never seem to understand that if a squad of soliders all qualify expert on the M16 range it doesn't mean they can shoot, move, and communicate effectively on the battlefield. But we let it go, because how can you train somebody that doesn't even know that they don't know? How do you even start?
So they roll into the box and it is ALWAYS the easiest 2 weeks the OPFOR has all year long. We fight them with half our usual regimental strength. We hold off on hitting them with everything at once but attack piecemeal. The Chief of Operations Group takes even more assets away from the OPFOR, ones that would be used against a Regular Army brigade in an instant. We allow their scout teams to penetrate even after we have spotted their push. That isn't because we are taking it "easy on them" but because otherwise they would lose so fast that they wouldn't get the desired training effect from the mission. All they would know is that they crossed into the box, suddenly OPFOR was everywhere, and then they were dead and the after-action review was starting. Instead they get near their objective, after making contact against OPFOR units here and there (they always think it is the regimental main body but it is usally more like a motorized rifle platoon) and then we hit them and wipe them out (even though they still outnumber us). And always we are told by our regular Army bosses never never never to say anything bad about the reserves even though that was the weakest BLUFOR we fought in 18 months. So we don't. And we shouldn't, even though they were so easy to beat. I'll tell you why:
Most NG units are incredibly "ate-up" the first mission. For instance, they take hours to uncoil out of their assembly areas. They get lost, lose equipment, suffer injuries because somebody was doing something stupid. They can't get their radios to work in the secure "green" mode but go into the red so that we listen to all they are saying. Instead of rolling out in a team "diamond" formation they roll out one vehicle behind the other as if on the 101 freeway. Worse than any Regular unit ever. All the guns pointed straight ahead instead of scanning their sectors. But... five missions later and they always ALWAYS have improved more than any Regular unit we train out in that hard desert. Sure, they have a lot further to go because they had so much to learn, but most of the problems they encounter aren't due to a lack of motivation or a lack of ability, but simply a lack of training time. Uncoiling 800 armored vehicles from an assembly area isn't easy the first time, but if your unit has done it 20 times the 21st time at the NTC isn't a problem. No NG unit has ever uncoiled before coming to the NTC because they wouldn't have had the opportunity. Yet by the last mission they are uncoiling and ready to roll in minutes just like the Regular units that do it on a monthly basis. Gunners are scanning. They are employing the proper formation. We can't listen in anymore because they are in the "green." They aren't getting lost. They aren't all shooting at the same target when they make contact but are cross-talking and designating targets, ensuring more of the OPFOR is getting hit instead of just one BMP while 20 other OPFOR vehicles rush them with impunity. By the end of the rotation they aren't as good as the worst of the Regular units but they also just spent only 3 weeks instead of 12 months in hard training. A reserve unit given a six-month train-up could be the equal of a regular unit - and that is an amazing, stunning thing to say. After all, it took that regular unit 18 months.
I don't look down on the reserves, I look up to them. Ask a regular infantryman to be a part time accountant, Fedex delivery guy, website designer, carpenter, or whatever and see how good they do at those tasks. The regular guys wouldn't know where to start. Reservists do their civilian jobs AND are proficient soldiers.
Reservists are twice the citizen, we owe them a great deal, and I respect the hell out of them. But they aren't as proficient as the Regular guys because they do it part-time. No shame or insult in that at all. It is just a fact.
Keep up the good work! We are keeping you and your buddies in our thoughts and prayers. As a former grunt I especially pray for your guys safe return.
Infantryman's Prayer
Almighty God, whose will it is that we be leaders of men.
Hear us as we come to you for guidance in this awesome
responsibility.
Let us never forget our duty in the men whom lead. May we instill in them the qualities of loyalty, integrity and duty.
Grant us the patience in dealing with the mistakes of our fellow man.
Let us never forget that no man is perfect, but that perfection for fragile humans is trying each day to be better than the day before.
Give us courage, O Lord, in the face of danger; keep us pure in heart, clean in mind, and strong in purpose.
Remind us that wisdom is not gained in an hour, a day, or in a year, but it is a process that continues all the days of our lives.
Keep ever before us our goal, which is not to perpetrate war, but to safeguard peace and preserve your great gift to man, Freedom.
May you always be near to guide us in decisions, comfort us in our failures, and keep us humble in our successes. We ask your divine blessings and leadership as we discharge the honor and responsibility of leading men in the service of our country.
Walk close to us always, our father that we may not fall.
AMEN
I want to leave a comment but your post has left me speachless.
Please know you all are in my heart and prayers. You make America proud. Thank you.
I just had to let you know what an impact your blog has had on me. It's not just what you went through, but the skill with which you share it. You obviously weren't the only one there, but most would not be able to convey the intensity and drama of the situation as well as you did.
Thanks so much for all you do. Please know that you are appreciated and please pass these sentiments on to the others that are there with you.
Good Luck!
CB-I don't know what unit you're in, but I was in 5-20 until last summer. Give 'em hell, and watch your back.
And tell CPT Dabkowski in A/5-20, CPT Mason in Bravo, and CPT...Eric...I can't remember his last name, the C/5-20 commander, that CPT Lange at Ft Jackson sends his best and wishes he could be there.
Fix Bayonets!
Tell all your friends over there. We do CARE and we are DAM PROUD!!!
Young man, kudos to you! Your courage and bravery, however unformulated or realized at this stage in your life, is duly noted. I am very proud of you! Regardless of what happens tomorrow, your life is one of accomplishment. You have made your mark. This is true, because you have impacted the lives of many others.
At the risk of being lost in a very large chorus, let me say this: You keep your head up and alert. Do not vacillate in your beliefs.
Be educated. Read this person or that person. Post this or that artist. But reach your own conclusions without delay. Time is of the essence. A leader leads. A leader is always open to new ideas, but his or her focus is always clear.
You have gained a sort of reputation as 'America's soldier' -- it has served you well. But what America needs now is clear vision. You have that vision, but you are content to be nebulous and keep people wondering. You have shown that you are better than that. Take a stand!
God Bless You, brother.
HunterByrd
-from deep within flyover country
Reactions, in order:
i) Bloody Hell!
ii) Only the US Army could have such a cluster.... but only the US Army has people with the skills and sheer guts to win regardless. Us armchair Quarterbacks and Theoreticians can say 'you should never have been put in that situation' and certainly say 'you should never have had to go back in', but Murphy always has the last laugh, sometimes you just gotta.
iii) Bugger that for a game of soldiers. Give me a nice, safe, cosy submarine any day. And if you're ever down Canberra way, here in Australia, I'm buying.
iv) (This one's from the heart) Rather you than me. I hope that I'd have the guts to retrieve that spare ammo. I'm not sure I would. I am sure I don't ever want to be in a position to find out.
Oh yes, there's now a link to your site over on The Command Post. Not Instapundit, but you may get one from him soon too.
BTW I'm still shaking from reading it. I've done a bit of work for our DVA (Department of Veterans' Affairs) and it wouldn't be unusual for you to have some PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) out of this. If offered any councilling, take it, whether you need it or not. It helps. Bluntly, guys like you are too valuable to lose to preventable conditions.
http://www.tribnet.com/news/story/5408609p-5344534c.html Stryker Brigade slammed by insurgents
Michael Gilbert has made you famous.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1188540/posts
"I say we take off and just nuke the site from orbit...It's the only way to be sure." - Aliens
Thank God for you guys.
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