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Got this from a former Marine first
sergeant - thought you might be interested in his son’s
assessment of weapons and enemy tactics in Iraq (the boy is
home from his first tour, going back in early 2006, and early
re-enlisted for another 4 years.)
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 s***. 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 d*** 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.
8) The M-14: 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 s*** 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 bulls*** 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 can’t 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.
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
s***. 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 dogsh**. 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 (Improvised Explosive Device):
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 ass 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 [butts] 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 s***. 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 s*** 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 s***. 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 s*** 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).
That’s it, hope you found it
interesting, I sure did.