Archive for June, 2006
Former ‘Magnificent Bastards’ react to sniper rifle recovery
Pinch and Nicholas have things well in hand, and I’ve been happy to keep my own posting very light. But this story cannot be missed:
Marine snipers from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment shot and killed an insurgent sniper and spotter preparing to shoot at passing Marines, June 16. And the insurgents were going to use a stolen Marine sniper rifle for the attack.
That rifle — an M-40A1 — belonged to the “Magnificent Bastards” of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, a battalion within the Regimental Combat Team 5 family. It was taken by insurgents when a team of four Marines were killed in a rooftop outpost June 21, 2004, in Ramadi.
Don’t think that the fact that Marine snipers took out the guys with the rifle isn’t important to the Marines.
Read the rest of this entry »
Donald Sensing has an interesting post up at Winds of Change about a new study which finds—surprise surprise—that 5.56mm rounds are just a wee bit underpowered. Just a bit. But of course, you check Winds of Change every day, so you already knew that ;)
I’ll play devil’s advocate here a little and say that there are still good reasons to use the round. More rounds means more chances to hit, even if you need several hits to bring the target down. It’s better to fire off a few smaller rounds and hit with one than fire a couple of bigger rounds and miss entirely. Plus, the poor troops that have to hump all the bullets have a bit of an easier time, although if you asked them I’m sure many wouldn’t mind the extra weight if they could have 6.5mm or 7.62mm ammunition and a heavier rifle. The lower recoil also makes aiming and shooting-on-the-move less difficult.
I think what’s really needed is a good compromise like 6.5mm and I really don’t understand why it’s so hard to just buy some off-the-shelf rifles and ammo, give ‘em to the soldiers, and see how they go. Not all of them mind, just some, in case there are problems and their buddies have to rescue them after a jam or some such. But it really ought to be properly investigated and progress seems agonizingly slow on this front. I know that logistics is harder when you have more different types of ammunition to issue, but I suspect the ideal situation would really be to have all three rounds be common within a given squad or platoon. The scouts will probably be better off with 5.56mm, as well those for whom shooting a rifle is a secondary task. But the riflemen themselves would surely benefit from having a larger set of tools from which to choose, to better suit a given situation. Come on guys, it can’t be all that hard to make some serious progress on this issue.
—posted by Nicholas.
P.S. new GWoT allies post will be up tomorrow morning US EST.
P.P.S. Murdoc Online and Nicholas would like to make it clear that we in no way advocate actually shooting poodles. We love dogs. Seriously, resist the temptation, even if they’re French poodles.
I swear….Murdoc needs a “Murtha” category….
Murtha says U.S. poses top threat to world peace
MIAMI — American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said to an audience of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon.
Taking out the name “Murtha” from the above paragraph, you’d think that quote came from some US-hating Eurodweeb or from a state-run mouthpiece in North Korea or even the mullocracy in Iran itself. But no, this is one of the leading democrats in our nation, the champion of the hard-core left. A man who wants to be Majority leader, the number 2 position in the House, should the dems win back that branch of congress this coming November.
Keep that in mind.
Murdoc was right – send money to this man and make sure he gets out on the stump nationwide, so he can keep this up!
—posted by Pinch
Bill Roggio continues his sterling run of reporting from Afghanistan over here at the Counterterrorism Blog.
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Go check it out. I don’t know why Murdoc doesn’t have Bill’s site on his list of “Jacked up Battle Buddies”, perhaps he will add it some time. I definitely recommend you check it out, anyway.
On a seperate note, sorry about the lack of posting recently, but don’t worry, Lesser Known GWoT Allies #3 will be up soon. Many thanks to Pinch for taking the load over the last couple of days with his excellent run of posts.
—posted by Nicholas.
UPDATE: To catch up, if you haven’t yet, read the original post below.
More reaction, and pictures (NYT reporters, call your desk! Stop the presses!) to the hoards of steely eyed, robotic rabid US military invaders in Ireland!
First pictures to come out from this heinous violation of international peace! Note the American seditionists as they emerge from the River Shannon!
Wait….wrong picture. HERE are some of the Bushbot Storm Troppers from the Dark Side, being detained in Ennis:
This just gets better and better. More images and comment (oh yes, by all means, read the comments) at Indymedia Ireland
Thanks again to Toejam for staying on this.
And don’t forget…this is the Pinch take on international buffoonery, not Murdoc’s! Any and all derision, tomatoes and otherwise organic or verbal or non-verbal perishables hurled at Murdoc Online need to be redirected to the Instapinch!
—ORIGINAL POST BELOW—
The headlines of the Irish Independent Newspaper, Saturday, June 24, 2006 says it all…!
ACTIVIST PLACED U.S. SOLDIERS UNDER ARREST!
Scandalous! More heinous violations of US troops, turned into walking zombies by the stress of war? Terrorizing the hearth and homes of the good people of Ennis?
Not exactly….
SIX United States soldiers on their way home from service in Iraq were placed under citizen’s arrest after an anti-war activist spotted them walking around a town in their uniforms.
Shannon-based peace activist Conor Cregan said yesterday that he briefly detained the six on Thursday afternoon after finding them walking on the Limerick Road leading out of Ennis.
“I placed the soldiers under citizen’s arrest because these soldiers are not supposed to be walking freely on the streets of Ireland in uniform. It is a breach of the Irish Constitution and Irish neutrality, he said.
The six were part of a group of 238 troops who were forced to stay overnight on Thursday in due to technical problems experienced by their aircraft at Shannon airport.
They were staying at the West County Hotel in Ennis and met Mr Cregan near the hotel on a public footpath.
He said yesterday: “I immediately called for the six to stop and said to them ‘I am placing you all under citizen’s arrest. Do not move’.”
The men remained on the footpath as Mr Cregan contacted emergency services. “I was put through to Ennis Garda station, but the Garda (Irish Police) on duty made light of the matter,” Mr Cregan said.
Good for the Garda! Making mirth of buffoonery is always in the best interest of mankind and should always be encouraged and rewarded.
Green party leader Trevor Sargent said yesterday that US troops walking in uniform in this country “was a flagrant breach of Irish neutrality. An army of another country can’t flaunt itself in uniform and it was an important gesture by the anti-war activist to ensure that the law is being upheld,” Mr Sargent said.
Now, hopefully there will be some Ireland experts out there who may be able to shed some light on this, if any light needs to be shed. At the very worst, prepping the soldiers for interaction in the host country where there may be a rule restricting “uniformed soldiers” from appearing in public as such may need a bit of a going over, but to claim these 6 GIs were “flaunting” is more than a bit of a stretch, methinks.
Link here – registration required.
Thanks to Toejam for the tip!
—posted by Pinch
Suez Canal, Egypt (May 29, 2006) – Crew members gather on the bow for a Foreign Object Damage (FOD) Walk down as the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) transits from the Mediterranean Sea to the 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility in the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate Airman Jhi L. Scott
Transiting the Suez Canal has become a staple of today’s carrier deployments as deployed strike groups leave the Sixth Fleet AOR (basically Med) and chop into the Fifth Fleet Area of Responsibility (northern Indian Ocean/Arabian Gulf) for part of their deployment. I never got to make the transit – back in “my” day we were at the tail end of that old thing called the Cold War (children, open your history books to page….), so all of our focus was on that region.
If you look close at the aircraft on the deck, you can see them buttoned up pretty tight. Reflective covers on the canopies to keep the incessant suns rays from damaging the “office” equipment (bake anything in an enclosed area at 150 degrees long enough and stuff starts to break), aircraft panels taped shut to keep dust and sand from mucking up the works.
The crew are performing a FOD walk down, or looking for those little objects that can be sucked into an engine. Most likely in this case, though, they are probably getting ready for helo operations since you won’t be launching aircraft during the transit.
—posted by Pinch
I can see that Pinch and Nicholas have things well in hand, which is great. I should go on vacation more often.
Last fall I checked out the audiobook of Not a Good Day to Die : The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda by Sean Naylor. I barely had time to start it before it was due, and someone else had it on hold and I had to return it. Since that time, several readers have recommended it, so I picked it up again to listen to while on our trip. Great stuff and highly recommended. I’ll probably have a bit more to say after I’ve listened to the whole thing.
Also, I see that Military.com is giving away tickets to The War Tapes, a documentary shot by troops in Iraq. I had the pleasure of meeting director Deborah Scranton and one of the National Guard soldiers who helped create the film. I hope to get an opportunity to check it out.
Finally, don’t forget the Gunblogger Rendezvous in Reno October 6th and 7th. Lots of good stuff, including time at a local shooting range, is planned for all comers. Some industry reps and such will be there, and it’s open to all GunBloggers and MilBloggers. I had a great time at the MilBlogger Conference this past spring in Washington, DC, and the GunBlogger Rendezvous provides a western location for a similar gathering of like-minded folks. Go check it out.
Michael Yon has some competition in the gut-tightening combat-action story department. This has been up for a little while but Mr. Fumento seems to have updated it somewhat. For the first time in years I actually feeling like buying a magazine, but I’m not sure if the Weekly Standard is available in this country (readily, anyway). Regardless, if you want to know what it’s like to be on the ground in Ramadi check out his account here.
Also interesting: perspectives on what the elimination of al-Zarqawi means to the forces on the ground over there. It’s great having direct reporting from independent embeds, but it doesn’t sound terribly safe either.
Update: I guffawed when I read this commentary from Mr. Fumento on his interview at Air America. H/T BlackFive.
—posted by Nicholas.
PolandPoland has been mentioned as a Western ally here on Murdoc Online a couple of times before. We like these guys. Poland has been working with us for quite a while now. It was Polish intelligence operatives who supplied us (“the allies”) with Enigma code machines during World War II, which allowed us to break the German code and get an unparalleled advantage during much of the conflict. Sadly they were swallowed up on the other side of the Iron Curtain throughout the Cold War. And in some ways, I think that has made them appreciate freedom more than some of their neighbours to the west do. It’s certainly good to have another European country side with us, who understands the importance of self-determination. The Polish contribution to Iraq is significant. They sent only 200 soldiers to help during the invasion phase—but some (56) were special forces and played an important role. They then stationed up to 2500 for security duties post-invasion. That number was reduced to 1500 and then further to 900, which is the current strength. They have lost 17 to date, 11 KIA and 6 in accidents (a pattern repeated throughout Iraq). They plan to stay for another year or so at least, despite theats from the late Mr. al Zarqawi that there would be attacks on Poland if they did not. I am glad they have the tenacity, which I have come to expect from the Poles. And, don’t forget, as previously mentioned here on MO, they have donated a bunch of Soviet-era hardware (tanks and APCs) to Iraq, which is exactly what was needed. Poles control the security in the region south-east of Baghdad and north-west of the British area of operations. As they drew down, they handed some areas over to US troops, but they are still responsible for a significant chunk of territory. Major regions they have been responsible for include Babil, Karbala and Najaf—hot spots whose names we occasionally hear in the news. The Poles work primarily with Ukranian, Bulgarian, El Salvadorian and Danish troops in the south. Here is an interesting statement I found on Poland’s Washington, D.C. Embassy web site:
I’m curious what the logic is behind that last statement. I believe Poland have done themselves a favour by strengthening ties with the other countries in the coalition and setting themselves up as a solid partner, but I don’t see how that translates into prestige within Europe. Perhaps they are talking about their ties with countries like Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, not Germany and France. For some more great photos of the Poles in action, check out this official gallery, and here is the English version of the Polish Land Forces web site. More great photos of Polish troops here. Below the fold: Republic of Korea and Georgia. |
Or the Integrated Catapult Control System, commonly referred to as the “Bubble”.
Pacific Ocean (March 13, 2006) – An F/A-18D Hornet assigned to the “Rough Raiders” of Strike Fighter Squadron One Two Five (VFA-125) launches from the flight deck aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Mark J. Rebilas (RELEASED)
Continuing with our informal tour of an Aircraft Carrier (begun with the Jet Engine Test Cell of a few days ago), the ICCS is where catapult officers run the aircraft catapult sequence/system.
Air conditioned with comfortable (relatively) seats, it is the ideal place to monitor, from deck level, all the required checks and double-checks that need to be done before the “LAUNCH” button is pushed and you send a 42,000 Hornet flying.
I still remember the litany that we repeated before every launch, as the sequence began:
“Taking tension….good stroke, good hook. Flaps, slats, panels, pins…man’s out, thumbs up…winds are….27 knots. Crosswinds are good. Thumb’s up, final checkers. Looking for burner….good burner. Scannin’ (working a quick scan backwards from the bow to make sure everything is ok for launch, looking at the catapult track, the deck crew and their thumb’s ups, the aircraft, the pilot, the final checkers behind the aircraft, the Island (with its green launch light), back to the aircraft, and lastly at the pilot), there’s the salute (from the pilot, signifying he’s all set to go flying), “520 and clear’ comes from the Bubble Petty Officer, facing the opposite direction to me, the bow)…”Roger, 520 and clear” (the “520″ meaning we had 520 psi of steam available)…with the last word being mine, “Launching”
On IKE when I was cat officer we tried to get out of the bubble as often as we could so we could do the traditional naval aviation cat officer aircraft launch ballet (sans tutus). It was always so much more fun when you were directing the evolution up on the deck, amidst the noise and heat and exhaust and aircraft – and when it was raining and cold, you scored a bunch of points with the enlisted flight deck guys who had to be out in that mess all the time, anyhow.
—Posted by Pinch
