[N8 v2.0]

Good reading

Hello to all my fellow gunners, military buffs, veterans and interested guys. A couple of weekends ago I got to spend time with my son Jordan, who was on his first leave since returning from Iraq. He is well (a little thin), and already bored. He will be returning to Iraq for a second tour in early '06 and has already re-enlisted early for 4 more years. He loves the Marine Corps and is actually looking forward to returning to Iraq.

Jordan spent 7 months at "Camp Blue Diamond" in Ramadi. Aka: Fort Apache. He saw and did a lot and the following is what he told me about weapons, equipment, tactics and other miscellaneous info which may be of interest to you. Nothing is by any means classified. No politics here, just a Marine with a bird's eye view's opinions:

1) The M-16 rifle : Thumbs down. Chronic jamming problems with the talcum powder like sand over there. The sand is everywhere. Jordan says 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, but it has jamming problems also. They like the ability to mount the various optical gunsights and weapons lights on the picattiny rails, but the weapon itself is not great in a desert environment. They 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. Fun fact: Random autopsies on dead insurgents shows a high level of opiate use.

2) The M243 SAW (squad assault weapon): .223 cal. Drum fed light machine gun. Big thumbs down. Universally considered a piece of *@%&. Chronic jamming problems, most of which require partial disassembly. (that's fun in the middle of a firefight).

3) The M9 Beretta 9mm: Mixed bag. Good gun, performs well in desert environment; but they all hate the 9mm cartridge. The use of handguns for self-defense is actually fairly common. Same old story on the 9mm: Bad guys hit multiple times and still in the fight.

4) Mossberg 12ga. Military shotgun: Works well, used frequently for clearing houses to good effect.

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 are being dismounted and taken into the field by infantry. The 7.62 round chews up the structure over there.

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 their dicks in the dirt every time. The most coveted weapon in-theater.

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 on one. With few exceptions, can reliably be expected to put 'em down with a torso hit. The special ops guys (who are doing most of the pistol work) use the HK military model and supposedly love it. The old government model .45's are being re-issued en masse.

The M-14 (see below): Thumbs up. They are being re-issued in bulk, mostly in a modified version to special ops guys. Modifications include lightweight Kevlar stocks and low power red dot or ACOG sights. Very reliable in the sandy environment, and they love the 7.62 round.

9) The Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle: Thumbs way up. Spectacular range and accuracy and hits like a freight train. Used frequently to take out vehicle suicide bombers ( we actually stop a lot of them) and barricaded enemy. Definitely here to stay.

10) The M24 sniper rifle: Thumbs up. Mostly in .308 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 a marine sniper on his third tour in Anbar province has actually exceeded Carlos Hathcock's record for confirmed kills with OVER 100.

11) The new body armor: Thumbs up. Relatively light at approx. 6 lbs. and can reliably be expected to soak up small shrapnel and even will stop an AK-47 round. The bad news: Hot as *@%& to wear, almost unbearable in the summer heat (which averages over 120 degrees). Also, the enemy now goes for head shots whenever possible. All the bull*@&% about the "old" body armor making our guys vulnerable to the IED's was a non-starter. The IED explosions are enormous and body armor doesn't make any difference at all in most cases.

12) Night Vision and Infrared Equipment: Thumbs way up. Spectacular performance. Our guys see in the dark and own the night, period. Very little enemy action after evening prayers. More and more enemy being whacked at night during movement by our hunter-killer teams. We've all seen the videos.

13) Lights: Thumbs up. Most of the weapon mounted and personal lights are Surefire's, and the troops love 'em. Invaluable for night urban operations. Jordan carried a $34 Surefire G2 on a neck lanyard and loved it.

I cant help but notice that most of the good fighting weapons and ordnance are 50 or more years old!!!!!!!!! With all our technology, it's the WWII and Vietnam era weapons that everybody wants!!!! The infantry fighting is frequent, up close and brutal. No quarter is given or shown.

The M1A SOCOM 16:

 

[N8 v2.0]

Continued...

Bad guy weapons:

1) Mostly AK47's . The entire country is an arsenal. Works better in the desert than the M16 and the .308 Russian round kills reliably. PKM belt fed light machine guns are also common and effective. Luckily, the enemy mostly shoots like *@%&. Undisciplined "spray and pray" type fire. However, they are seeing more and more precision weapons, especially sniper rifles. (Iran, again) Fun fact: Captured enemy have apparently marveled at the marksmanship of our guys and how hard they fight. They are apparently told in Jihad school that the Americans rely solely on technology, and can be easily beaten in close quarters combat for 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 common as dog****. The enemy responded to our up-armored humvees by aiming at the windshields, often at point blank range. Still killing a lot of our guys.

3) The IED: The biggest killer of all. Can be anything from old Soviet anti-armor mines to jury rigged artillery shells. A lot found in Jordan's area were in abandoned cars. The enemy would take 2 or 3 155mm artillery shells and wire them together. Most were detonated by cell phone, 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 do over 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 also providing terrorists (Hezbollah types) to train the insurgents in their use and tactics. That's why the attacks have been so deadly lately. Their concealment methods are ingenious, the latest being shape charges in Styrofoam containers spray painted to look like the cinderblocks that litter all Iraqi roads. We find about 40% before they detonate, and the bomb 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's lost a leg to one. These weapons cause a lot of damage "inside the wire". Jordan's base was hit almost daily his entire time there by mortar and rocket fire, often at night to disrupt sleep patterns and cause fatigue (It did). More of a psychological weapon than anything else. The enemy mortar teams would jump out of vehicles, fire a few rounds, and then haul a$$ in a matter of seconds.

5) Bad guy technology: Simple yet effective. Most communication is by cell and satellite phones, and also by email on laptops. They use handheld GPS units for navigation and "Google earth" for overhead views of our positions. Their weapons are good, if not fancy, and prevalent. Their explosives and bomb technology is TOP OF THE LINE. Night vision is rare. They are very careless with their equipment and the captured GPS units and laptops are treasure troves of Intel when captured.

Who are the bad guys?:

Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group. They operate mostly in Anbar province (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly "foreigners", non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from all over the Muslim world (and Europe). Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, of course, the knowledge and complicity of the Syrian govt.) , and then travel down the "rat line" which is the trail of towns along the Euphrates River that we've been hitting hard for the last few months. Some are virtually untrained young Jihadists that often end up as suicide bombers or in "sacrifice squads". Most, however, are hard core terrorists from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas etc.) These are the guys running around murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off. The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless and the best fighters. (they have been fighting the Russians for years). In the Baghdad area and south, most of the insurgents are Iranian inspired (and led) Iraqi Shiites. The Iranian Shiia have been very adept at infiltrating the Iraqi local govt.'s, the police forces and the Army. The have had a massive spy and agitator network there since the Iran-Iraq war in the early 80's. Most of the Saddam loyalists were killed, captured or gave up long ago.

Bad Guy Tactics:

When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their asses kicked every time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges were very common earlier in the war and still occur. They will literally sacrifice 8-10 man teams in suicide squads by sending them screaming and firing Ak's and RPG's directly at our bases just to probe the defenses. They get 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, we call in air and that's the end of that more often than not. These hole-ups are referred to as Alpha Whiskey Romeo's (Allah's Waiting Room). We have the laser guided ground-air thing down to a science. The fast mover's, mostly Marine F-18's, are taking an ever increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in the open, the helicopter gunships and AC-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 *@%&. The new strategy is simple: attrition.

The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use of civilian non-combatants as cover. They know we do all we can to avoid civilian casualties and therefore schools, hospitals and (especially) Mosques are locations where they meet, stage for attacks, cache weapons and ammo and flee to when engaged. They have absolutely no regard whatsoever for civilian casualties. They will terrorize locals and murder without hesitation anyone believed to be sympathetic to the Americans or the new Iraqi govt. Kidnapping of family members (especially children) is common to influence people they are trying to influence but cant reach, such as local govt. officials, clerics, tribal leaders, etc.).

The first thing our guys are told is "don't get captured". They know that if captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the internet. Zarqawi openly offers bounties for anyone who brings him a live American serviceman. This motivates the criminal element who otherwise don't give a *@%& about the war. A lot of the beheading victims were actually kidnapped by common criminals and sold to Zarqawi. As such, for our guys, 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 a *@%&. Most do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, but they are getting better. It is widely viewed that Zarqawi's use of suicide bombers, en masse, against the civilian population was a serious tactical mistake. Many Iraqi's were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the Army and the police forces went up, along with their motivation. It also led to an exponential increase in good intel because the Iraqi's are sick of the insurgent attacks against civilians. The Kurds are solidly pro-American and fearless fighters.

According to Jordan, morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see *@%& like "Are we losing in Iraq" on TV and the print media. For the most part, they are satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership. Bottom line though, and they all say this, there are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren't enough
troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syrians just cant stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally (with, of course, permanent US bases there). Anyway guys, that's it, hope you found it interesting, I sure did.

 

[LordOpie]

Cool, but too bad snopes says it's false propoganda.

 

[H8R]

Good reading

If you define "good reading" as "retarded spoon-fed bullsh*t" then yeah, that was.

Stuff like this makes me want to puke more than Michael Moore's BS.

 

[Slugman]

If you define "good reading" as "retarded spoon-fed bullsh*t" then yeah, that was.

Isn't that what defines N8...

 

[N8 v2.0]

Cool, but too bad snopes says it's false propoganda.

Wrong tale loopie!

 

[N8 v2.0]

If you define "good reading" as "retarded spoon-fed bullsh*t" then yeah, that was.

Stuff like this makes me want to puke more than Michael Moore's BS.

puke away!

 

[Ciaran]

You have some documentation to prove it's real?

Looks like more e-mail propaganda to me.

 

[The Amish]

Well, if nothing else it was more entertaining than reading about that stupid twit that got outed at the cia. God knows we care as much about that as we did slick willies nob polishing.

Team America F#*k Yea

 

[DRB]

This is an absolute crock of sh!t.

 

[jdcamb]

Not to back N8 but I just spent some time talking to a grunt just back from Iraq and he firmly backs up what he says. His description of the weaponary and the conditions are almost to letter the same... I believe his purple heart. Buds still over there kind of say the same in a limited way.

When he watched the news he couldn't believe how inaccurate the reports were. Folks are going to believe what they want.

 

[jimmydean]

I know how many guys I lost in my unit to death and injury, and I know how bad the retention nubmers are because only about 10 of the 600+ that deployed re-upped (besides the full timers).

But I was in the National Guard, not the USMC. Jarheads are a whole different breed.

 

[TheMontashu]

The M1A SOCOM 16:

GIMMI GIMMI GIMMI GIMMI jest in the longer version so it will be better for out to 6 and 7 hundres yards

 

[H8R]

GIMMI GIMMI GIMMI GIMMI jest in the longer version so it will be better for out to 6 and 7 hundres yards

Go back to school and learn to spell and THEN ask for guns.

 

[N8 v2.0]

GIMMI GIMMI GIMMI GIMMI jest in the longer version so it will be better for out to 6 and 7 hundres yards

Actually the 16" barreled version has been reissued to special ops units. Its a cut down M14.

 

[dante]

parts where he talks about fighting capabilities of both our troops and theirs - good read.

parts where he talks about things that he could have zero 1st hand knowledge of - propaganda.

How the hell could he know that most of the fighters are not iraqis, that they enter through syria and that syria is fully backing these insurgents?

Most, however, are hard core terrorists from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas etc.)

Do you really think a grunt in the field would be able to tell whether a dead body is an Iranian-trained Lebanese Hezbollah fighter or a Palestinian Hamas fighter? These guys don't wear uniforms, carry banners, or even ID cards.

Sorry, smacks a little too much like propaganda too me, including the "evil media" aspects of it.

edit: also, all 3 suicide bombers in Jordan recently were Iraqis... might tell a bit more about how ordinary (sunni) iraqis feel about the conflict.

 

[LordOpie]

dante, good breakdown of the "story".

The problem is, when you have an administration that routinely manipulates the media by planting a pigeon in the white house press corp, by using NY Times reporters to push their agenda, by staging interviews with soldiers, by supplying partisan talking-heads with releases to carry a common message.

I'm not saying the Dems don't do it either, we don't know cuz they suck at it, but the odds that this email story is real, well, it's far more likely it was released by the whore, err, white, house.

 

[Andyman_1970]

I didn't realize the M16/M4/SAW sucked so bad.............

 

[N8 v2.0]

I didn't realize the M16/M4/SAW sucked so bad.............

They don't call the M16 a Jammin' Jenny for nothing!

 

[Reactor]

Even given my other views on the war I have to say the M1A SOCOM 16, is a great looking gun. I trained with the M14's and If the synthetic stock has cut some of the weight, and it's guts are from the M-14, I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't prefer it over an M-16. When my father was in the early years of 'nam he told me everyone who could was getting rid of the M-16 and grabbing up M-14s as fast as they could find them.

 

[manimal]

Actually the 16" barreled version has been reissued to special ops units. Its a cut down M14.

i'd have one in my quiver right now if they weren't so friggin expensive! beautiful weapon.

and yes, jimmydean, us jarheads are a whole different breed. it's not an "army of one" it's the friggin marine corps!

while this email may be a mix of propoganda and heresay stories, the view on the moralle and weaponry isn't too far off key. i keep in touch w/ a lot of guys from my old unit, many of which are forward deployed right now. ALL of them are absolutely disgusted with the misrepresentation of the war by the media, their biggest beef is that only the negative setbacks are reported and none of their many successes are hit on. they feel as if the american public wants them to fail.

some of my buds will not be reenlisting, mainly due to more lucrative offers in the civilian sector by private security companies over there, but they'll still be involved in the fight..just paid much better for it

others are die hard dedicated marines that are living their dream. who knows, i guess some of us are just ignorantly blind idiots that believe some things are worth fighting for, no matter how convoluted politics and the media make them out to be.

"Join the Marines: Travel to exotic places, meet exciting people....and kill them"

 

[N8 v2.0]

I qualified with the M14 when I was stationed in the Alaska. I love that rifle. Talk about reach out and touch somebody...

 

[N8 v2.0]

As I sit here in my office I can hear the SP's firing their M240's on the range.