19 Mar 2006
Was searching for something else and came across this. Seems to be the sort of thing MO readers like, so here ya go:
A US Marine Corps (USMC) Marine M1A1 ABRAMS Main Battle Tank (MBT), 2nd Tank Battalion (BN), fires it main gun into a building to provide suppressive counter fire against insurgents who fired on other USMC Marines during a fire fight in Fallujah, Al Anbar Province, Iraq. These Marines are participating in Operation AL FAJR, which is an offensive operation conducted against Iraqi insurgent forces as part of a Security and Stabilization Operation (SASO) carried out during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Location: FALLUJAH, AL ANBAR IRAQ (IRQ) Camera Operator: LCPL JAMES J. VOORIS, USMC Date Shot: 10 Dec 2004
Seriously. Don’t ‘F’ with the US Marine Corps. They’re always looking for excuses to do this sort of thing. If you give ‘em an inch, they’re likely to give you 120mm.
Twice, if they’re in a place with no beer.
March 19th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Suppressive fire, my rear end. That’s killing fire. There should be a rule that any prospective PAO trooper has to serve at least 2 years in some sort of line unit (infantry, armor, combat engineers, maybe even arty) before they’re allowed to write about them.
March 19th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Also, note the cooler on top of the turret. Tankers are tankers, be they Marine, Army or otherwise.
March 19th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
HL: Heh. I didn’t even notice ’suppresive’. I guess it will make the enemy keep their heads down. If any survived. Funny you should mention the cooler. I had initially thought about making a joke about beer in the cooler…
March 19th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
The guys who fired on the Marines are the intellectual soul mates of the pirates who decided to take on the two US Navy ships in your earlier post. Brave enough, but not so smart.
March 20th, 2006 at 4:42 am
There is no overkill. There is only ‘Open Fire’ and ‘Time to Reload.”
March 20th, 2006 at 8:26 am
Wonder if they are using the new behive rounds? Much more potent against people.
March 20th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Bram, notice the really big explosion in the picture? That’s called HE, and stands for High Explosive. ‘Beehive’, flechette, or case-type rounds don’t vault ‘residue’, or ‘wreckage’ 2-3 stories into the air. I’d like to see a good picture of the new ‘beehive’ rounds in use, or maybe not. Can you imagine the mess?
March 20th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
Now that warms the heart! There are so many captions that could be placed on that photo, from Tex Avery toons classic one liners, to off color snips about keeping heads down, permanently. Thanks for the pic.
March 20th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Extreme Home Makeovers: Iraq Edition. They are going to need a new garage.