March 26, 2005
PROFESSIONALISM WINS
AFTER ACTION REPORT: Raven 42 action in Salman Pak (Blackfive.net, 3/25/05)
The sergeant runs low on ammo and runs back to a vehicle to reload. She moves to her squad leader's vehicle, and because this squad is led so well, she knows exactly where to reach her arm blindly into a different vehicle to find ammo-because each vehicle is packed exactly the same, with discipline.We don't usually repeat links from Instapundit. After all, if we see it on Instapundit, then so will you. But this is just an exceptional posting: an after-action report on an attack on a coalition convoy that was repulsed by a squad of MP's and medics. The AAR gives us great insight into the modern professional Army and an immediacy that helps us understand the war against the insurgency -- called "Anti-Iraq Forces" or AIF in the AAR.As she turns to move back to the trenchline, Gunner in two sees an AIF***** jump from behind one of the cars and start firing on the Sergeant. He pulls his 9mm, because the .50 cal is pointed in the other direction, and shoots five rounds wounding him.****** The sergeant moves back to the trenchline under fire from the back of the field, with fresh mags, two more grenades, and three more M203 rounds. The Mk 19 gunner suppresses the rear of the field.
Now, rejoined with the squad leader, the two sergeants continue clearing the enemy from the trenchline, until they see no more movement. A lone man with an RPG launcher on his shoulder steps from behind a tree and prepares to fire on the three Hummers and is killed with a single aimed SAW shot thru the head by the previously knocked out gunner on platform two, who now has a SAW out to supplement the .50 cal in the mount.
The squad also captured a videotape of the beginnings of the attack from the enemy.
Posted by David Cohen at March 26, 2005 10:44 AMOne thing I thought was great about this account was that the group of terrorists who advanced on the convoy were carrying handcuffs. These morons thought they were going to take prisoners, maybe they thought the convoy was being escorted by a bunch of commies from an Italian newspaper.
The second great bit was when they machine-gunned the terrorist's getaway cars. Whaling on a row of jihadi scumbag's sedans with a vehicle-mounted .50 cal must have been the high point of that young soldier's life to date.
And another cool thing was the video footage, listening to the idiot with the camera shouting allu akbar in that moronic way they do as some paper goods retailer from Kansas shot him. It's un-Christian to gloat at the deaths of your enemies, especially this being Easter and all, but since I'm not a Christian I'll do it on behalf of the others here who might be following Jesus' more grown-up example.
Posted by: Amos at March 26, 2005 6:49 PMIsn't the more interesting thing the positive press on this? It's not like inspiring incidents like this didn't happen in Vietnam, yet they certainly didn't get coverage like this. Is it a function of the much smaller number of casualties? Or an overall shift in public mood?
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at March 26, 2005 9:51 PMI think the Iraqi election was just too big for even the press to cover up. It even sank into the thick skulls of the democratic underground idiots for a while. The day after the poll they were struggling with some pretty serious cognitive dissonance befor the old instincts kicked in and they sent he whole troubling business down the memory hole.
The election changed everything simply because it couldn't be hidden or explained away, the press now has no choice but to get with the program or to be seen to be (openly) supporting mindless, vicious fascists. They're not quite shameless enough to do that.
Posted by: Amos at March 26, 2005 10:26 PMIt's getting good press because there were women in combat and they kicked butt.
Posted by: David Cohen at March 27, 2005 9:21 AM