We’re going to be in the desert for probably another two weeks. That means very limited access to the internet, which of course means limited posting.
US forces have completed their withdrawal from the cities of Iraq. In an attempt to sow instability, terrorists are trying to ramp up a bombing campaign in the cities to undermine faith in the Iraqi government and its forces. So far, while they are succeeding in producing some spectacular bombings, they aren’t having too much success destabalizing the government. We’ll have to wait to see how the campaign plays out.
An American soldier has been captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. He apparently went outside the secured area of his post without taking along a buddy. He may well pay for a moments folly with his life. Pray for him.
We’ll try to pop in every couple days or so, but no promises.
We’re going to be on the road for a while, and have little hope that we’ll have more than intermittent access to the interwebbythingies. As a consequence, posting (which has been shamefully light) will be even lighter than usual. Our apologies to you. On the other hand, you get what you pay for here.
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to hit the road without at least giving you something to think about in my abscence. And since so much of our audience is male, I figure, if you are going to think about women, it might as well be done here. And done well at that.
Here’s an Academy Award winning actress for you. Nominated three times as best supporting actress, she’s won only once, but who among us can forget her in My Cousin Vinny. She stole the show. And for a woman of 44 years, she did an excellent job as a stripper in The Wrestler.
Not surprisingly, the experiences of returning soldiers has had an impact on the training new soldiers receive when they first report to the Army and undergo Basic Combat Training. Also not surprisingly, the Army is a large beauracracy, and any change takes time. Sometimes, too much time.
Here’s an interesting article on some of the changes in Basic Combat Training, now that experienced leaders from Iraq and Afghanistan are rotating back to run the training installations:
We were very much trained in the old way, and given our previous long familiarity with firearms, found it grating and somewhat insulting. We understand the peacetime Army’s concerns about safety, but the effect was so oppressive as to undermine any real competence with weapons.
Our Basic Rifle Marksmanship training was actually slightly different from most people’s of the era. The Army was on the cusp of adopting the M-16A2 to replace the M-16A1 and considered revamping the marksmanship course at that time. Most troops, when firing for qualification, would fire 20 rounds from the prone supported position, resting the rifle on a sandbag, at targets ranging from 50 meters to 300 meters. They would then fire 20 rounds from a foxhole supported position, at the same targets. The targets would pop-up for a period of time, falling either when hit, or when their exposure time expired.
Pop up target
Our own training was somewhat different. We actuall fired on a “Known Distance” range for familiarization, firing at 200, 300, 500, and 700 yards. This was far in excess of ranges normally required by the M-16 series rifles, but did serve to inspire quite a bit of confidence in our abilities.
Pits of a “Known Distance” rifle range.
After that, we fired as well on the regular qualification range, with pop-up targets at the usual 50m-300m distances. But we fired a somewhat different course of fire. We fired 10 rounds from the kneeling position, 10 rounds from the prone unsupported position, 10 from the prone supported position, and 10 from the foxhole supported position. We didn’t consider it the best course of fire possible, but it was certainly more realistic than the regular course of fire. In combat, especially in the offense, there are few opportunities to find a good supported position to fire from. And while firing from the prone is condusive to good marksmanship, and lowers your profile, making you a smaller target, very often, lying in the prone will prevent you from seeing anything. Think of a field of knee high grass. What will you see while you are on your belly?
Sadly, this was the only time we fired this course of fire. The Army didn’t adopt it, and we spent the rest of our Army career qualifying every six months with 20 rounds on our belly, and 20 rounds from the foxhole.
Mind you, this was the Basic Rifle Marksmanship course. As implied, there is an Advanced Rifle Marksmanship course of fire as well. People outside the infantry have to be content with BRM. But infantrymen, in the later part of their training, move on to ARM. My memory is a little fuzzy on the details of the various courses of fire in ARM. There was an opportunity to fire on full-auto, which was fun. We also fired “instinctive” courses, engaging pop-up targets while walking at short ranges, say 25m to 75m. Still, given that this firing was done on a nice open field, it wasn’t terribly realistic.
The article doesn’t mention it, but one aspect of the new firearms training is that not only will recruits be issued their weapons earlier, they will carry them loaded at all times. Not with live ammo, to be sure, but they will have a magazine in the weapon, with a few rounds of blank ammo. This is an excellent way of reminding troops to always pay attention and consider the weapon loaded at all times. It will breed familiarity for the weapon without breeding complacency or contempt. And removing the infantile requirement for rodding the weapon on and off the range shows a bit of respect to the native intelligence of our soldiers.
What say you? What changes should be made to weapons training in Basic Combat training, and to the Army as a whole? What other training evolutions in Basic should we adopt or delete?
We’ve kinda been keeping this week’s selection in our back pocket, waiting for her to resurface on network television.
Laura Prepon is famous for portraying Donna on the long running Fox series That 70’s Show, and has also starred in the critically aclaimed ABC series October Road. She just appeared on USA’s In Plain Sight, in what we suspect will be a recurring role.
We loved Donna, and we admired, if not enjoyed, Hanna on October Road.
But mostly we love Laura because she’s hotter than a firecracker. A natural redhead, she’s also a knockout blonde.
I’ve held off on blogging about it. There’s not much I could add that others haven’t said, and said better.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t think about it a great deal. For 30 years, the people of Iran have chafed under a regime that did nothing to fulfill the promises of the ‘79 revolution. That’s a very common problem with revolutions. Most fail, not in overthrowing the regime, but in establishing the institutions needed to form a stable government.
Our own revolution is a poor template to use for most nation states. We threw off the yoke of a distant power. Those that sided with the British were for the most part, somewhat tepid in their support. And they had a safe haven to move to, Canada, when the revolution succeeded. And most of the institutions of a successful government were in place here. We already had a tradition of several hundred years of common law to build upon.
But in any event, it is clear that a huge swath of the population of Iran has felt betrayed by their government. This started as a protest over the rigged elections. And why? Because the Iranian people just may have noticed that their neighbors, Iraq and Afghanistan, after being invaded by the Great Satan, suddenly got to have free and open elections. But Bush was Evil.
Where this will go, no one can say. Should the protesters succeed, they will still have to deal with a huge chunk of the population that has just seen its rice bowl knocked over. Remember, there are many thousands of folks who either made their living via the regime, or were granted some level of power or prestige by it. They will not be very happy in whatever replaces it. That’s a big part of why revolutions so often go awry when trying to establish order. They must use repressive measures just to stay afloat, and in the process, risk becoming the very things they sought to damn.
In any event, I am concerned that our government has taken such a weak position, instead of reminding the whole world that we stand for freedom, and stand with any and all who seek to popularly depose an illegitimate regime.
I don’t know how things will turn out. No one does. But I can certainly pray that freedom and liberty just may gain another toehold in the Middle East.
Recently, with the election of President Obama, the subject of gays in the military has garnered attention again. Currently, by law, the military follows the policy of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell, Don’t pursue.” That is, the military no longer asks potential recruits if they are gay, and if the servicemember doesn’t announce that he or she is gay, the military won’t pursue allegation that they are in fact gay. The application of this policy is of course, often flawed. There’s no such thing as a perfect policy.
I’m curious what my readers think of allowing gays to serve openly in the military. Should we scrap DADT and go with a policy allowing openly gay soldiers to serve? Should we keep DADT? What are some of the practical problems with either option?
We supported the pre-DADT policy on prohibiting gays to serve. And we came to realize that DADT was not the end of the Republic.
Our concern with gays in the military has never been about gays per se. It has been about the ability of military units to form cohesive teams with high esprit de corps. This is absolutely critical to success in combat. It may or may not be fair to exclude gays from the service, but the military isn’t about fairness, first and foremost. It is about winning.
In our own experience, we believe that openly serving gays would have had a very disruptive effect on units and hurt the ability of teams to perform at their peak. The military serves under conditions that few other occupations impose. The close quarters of both garrison and field duty, let alone combat, mean that you are cheek by jowl with your co-workers not only during duty hours, but off duty time as well, to an extent that most people can scarcely comprehend.
Our service began almost a quarter century ago, and ended over a decade ago. It is quite possible attitudes towards gays in the public sphere have changed a good deal in the interveneing years. I see a lot of older folks decrying any attempt to allow gays to serve. I also see quite a few mid to senior NCOs and mid-grade officers with the same stance. But I’m seeing an increasing number of junior servicemembers who think the current policy is outdated and should be scrapped. I’m also starting to see some numbers of mid- to senior-level officers who think gays should serve openly.
We have an open mind on the topic right now. Our concern is not social justice, but what is the best way to fill the ranks with motivated servicemembers who can fight and win.
Now comes Argent, a longtime friend of our humble blog. He has a definite viewpoint. He is openly advocating for gays to serve openly in our military, and has started a blog to promote that. It is intended to be a venue for serious discussion of the topic, so please stop by and see what he has to say.
Argent, also known as Aaron, is an interesting character. He’s Australian, openly gay, and has never served in any military. But he is a robust supporter of the military, both his and ours. And he is self taught enough to have a good grasp of most military concepts, even if he doesn’t know the inner workings and the exact feel of the culture. But most interestingly, he also wants to not only advocate for gays in the military, he wants to give the gay community a better understanding of the military. He sees his task as building a bridge between what are essentially two separate cultures. As we have seen our task here as helping the public better understand what their Army is all about, we can certainly support the latter endeavor wholeheartedly, even as we are undecided about the former task.
So, where do you stand? Take the poll, and leave your comments. I’m interested in hearing from servicemembers of all branches and grades, of course, but I’m also deeply interested in hearing from the civilian community (it’s your Army, after all) and from the gay community. It’s an emotion laden topic for many, so I’ll ask that you please keep a civil tongue.
Ah. A new season of Burn Notice on USA Networks. We enjoy the show. It has smart writing, Bruce Campbell, and the irony of the one gun crazy person on the show being a petite little woman. Gabrielle Anwar.
Not me. The United States Army. Established by an act of the Continental Congress on 14 June 1775, the Army was initially composed of six companies of infantry, and was to act as the umbrella under which the various militias would serve to fight the British Army during the Revolutionary War.
Since that time, the Army’s strength has waxed and waned several times. Historically, the people of the United States had an aversion to a strong standing Army. It wasn’t until after WWII, at the beginning of the Cold War, that the Army maintained a large peacetime force. Since then, the Army has been at war several times, while arguably, the Republic has not.
Today, the Army is one of the most trusted institutions in American life. Soldiers enjoy a public approval greater than almost any other period in the history of the Army.
Each year, the Secretary of the Army selects a theme to emphasize during the year. This year is the Year of the NCO. The NCO corps, Corporals through Sergeant Majors, is the backbone of the Army. They are the middle management. They get things done. They are the folks who train soldiers. They provide purpose, direction and motivation to their teams. If you want to learn about leadership, learn about NCOs. As you’ll see below, you can’t recruit NCOs from another industry. You have to grow your own.
We are extremely proud of our service as a Noncommissioned Officer. While much of what was fun in the Army consisted of shooting things and blowing stuff up, what was rewarding was leading, training, and mentoring younger soldiers. Even some aspects of recruiting duty were similarly rewarding. I met a lot of young folks that just weren’t going to join the Army. But I still had a blast talking with them about their plans for the future. Some were obviously on the right path. To them, I said, more power to you. Others hadn’t figured out their path in life. I hope I was able to give a little substanative guidance to some of them.
Today’s NCO is entrusted with a level of responsibility that I could only dream of. They still have to execute their core competencies of leading and training soldiers. But they are also in many ways the face of America in lands far from home. When the average Iraqi or Afghani sees an American, it is a damn good chance that he’s seeing a Sergeant in the US Army. His perceptions of America and her people are formed by how that meeting goes. There’s a concept put out by a former Commandant of the Marine Corps called “The Strategic Corporal”- the actions of a junior NCO can have immense impact on how our foreign policy is shaped and executed. The NCOs of today’s Army have embraced that and realize they have a heavy burden.
NCOs also have a burden to make sure that none of their soldiers are killed or wounded because they weren’t well trained. Training never stops. No, not even in war. Before missions, briefings and rehearsals. After missions, and After Action Review to see what worked and what didn’t.
We personally aren’t big fans of leadership by slogan. We weren’t a big fan of fads. We tried to stick with what had worked over 200 years of experience. From time to time, the Army comes up with things like various creeds and mottos. We don’t spend a lot of time memorizing them. But there are seven core values that the Army has promoted. It’s kinda cheezy, sure, but the fact is, we support and endorse these values. They put into words what NCOs put into action.
Loyalty – Bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the Army, your unit, and fellow Soldiers.
Duty – Fulfill your obligations.
Respect – Treat others as they should be treated.
Selfless Service – Put the welfare of the nation, the Army, and your subordinates before your own.
Honor – Live the Army Values.
Integrity – Do what’s right, both legally and morally.
Personal Courage – Face fear, danger, or adversity, both physical and moral.
If you look, the first letter of each value forms the an acronym, LDRSHIP. Leadership. It’s what NCOs are all about.
And let’s not forget that today is also Flag Day. Long may she wave.
That’s S4 at War, talking about counterinsurgency techniques (and HIV research). His point is that Army units engaged in counterinsurgency need to get into communities and learn to identify who the local centers of influence are. If you can sway the Big Man on Campus, you have solved half your problems.
It is interesting though, that this is an approach that troops at the home station rarely take. In most communities with a large military presence here in the US, there’s something of a “town vs. gown” aspect, much like the tension between locals and students in a university town. Not a hostility. There’s a symbiotic relationship. But for all the interaction, there’s a good bit of self segregation as well.
The Army is a large organization. And like any large organization, leadership and management are important parts of successfully achieving the organizational goals.
Troops start leadership training from Day 1, mostly by learning how to be a good follower, but soon learn leadership and management both by on-the-job training, and through the Army’s formal schools system. There isn’t a pay grade in the Army where you stop learning leadership and management.
The Navy of course, is much the same. They take a justifiable pride in their ability to train and teach leadership. Unlike a business, they can’t really go out and hire mid-level managers. They have to grow their own.Currently, there’s a fad in the Navy to adopt business practices as the best way to manage the Navy’s assets and people. This is not universally appreciated by the sailors and officers in the fleet. Some are downright skeptical.
But the Army and the Navy are also somewhat insular organizations, with limited interaction with the rest of the community. So it is nice sometimes it is nice to see what others think of what the Navy is doing. As a part of an effort to better explain what the Navy is and does, they recently invited several influential bloggers, most of whom are not affiliated with the services, to partake in brief “embark” aboard the USS Nimitz and see what life was like aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier underway and conducting operations.
Bill Reichert is an entrepenuer and blogger. Here’s a taste of his take on how private business can learn from the Navy (and I would argue, most of this applies equally to learning from the Army).
4. Recruiting and Training: There is a common misperception that the military attracts the lower performers in our society who have no other choices. The Navy is very fortunate to have more people who want to join than there are available slots. But more important, the men and women who make it through training are astoundingly competent people. The lesson here is that it’s not about fancy degrees and prior polish; it’s about a commitment to excellence in each individual, and the willingness to work to exhaustion to make sure you live up to your commitment.
We’ll be out of town the next day or two, so no posting. Sorry.
In the interim, here’s a little something to tide you over. Our best tour in the Army was in the 4th Infantry Division, rising to the position of a section leader for a section of two Bradleys. In garrison, we were responsible for the crews, training, and maintenance of both vehicles. In the field, the Platoon Leader took command of the other Bradley, and we worked as his wingman. Here’s a good look at some of the firepower and mobility of a Bradley. Lots of nice shots of the 25mm and the TOW missile system.
There’s some obvious Iraq footage, and some from operational units, but a lot of the footage seems to come from the 29th Infantry at Ft. Benning. The 29th is the demonstration unit at the Infantry School. They provide the vehicles for basic training for infantrymen, and troops for young infantry officers at school to practice with. They also periodically provide firepower demonstrations to VIPs to show what the taxpayers are getting for their money.
We’ve mentioned the Nightstalkers before, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR). They’re the Army’s dedicated unit to provide aviation support to special operations. They are the most highly trained helicopter unit in the world.
Sorry we’re a little late this morning. We had a late night and kinda forgot what day it was. Never fear, however, as we are now prepared to continue looking at beautiful redheads from Hollywood.
Kate Walsh first came to our attention on The Drew Carey Show, where she played Drew’s love interest. She’s also been on the wildly successful Grey’s Anatomy, and has now spun off onto her own show, Private Practice. Private Practice is set in sunny Southern California, but I can assure you, our doctor doesn’t look anything like this.
As we’ve mentioned before, we like bashing the French as much as the next guy. But they really do have an army, and they really are in Afghanistan. I’ll leave it for the folks that have been there/done that to comment on any interactions they may have had with our Gallic cousins. In the meantime, here’s a quick clip of the French on the ground.
I’ll note without snark that the air support is from A-10s, none of which are in French service, but only operated by the US Air Force.
We’ve talked before about how the post-Vietnam era Army found itself facing down an enormous Soviet Group of Forces in East Germany, and struggling to find a way to deter them from rolling over NATO forces.
The standard Soviet tactic was the echelon attack. A US brigade might find itself under attack by a full Soviet Motor-Rifle Division. Fair enough. As a rule of thumb, units in the defense are expected to be able to handle an attack by a force up to three times their size. The problem came when the second echelon of Soviet forces would slam into our US brigade, before they have had time to reset after the first attack. And if the second echelon didn’t break through, there was a third echelon behind that. Sooner or later, our US brigade would be overwhelmed.
The key to defeating the echelon attack was to disrupt the follow-on second and third echelons. We’ve discussed the Cobra and Apache attack helicopters in the deep strike role. And the Air Force would do its part by performing interdiction missions, dropping bridges, disrupting supply and fuel depots.
But there was another tactic, designed to compliment the strenghts and minimize the weaknesses of attack helicopters and close air support aircraft like the A-10. That was the Joint Air Attack Team, or JAAT. Utilizing artillery, scout and attack helicopters, Airborne Forward Air Controllers, and close air support aircraft like the A-10, a JAAT could overwhelm the air defenses of a Soviet unit and pound it into the dirt. Even if the unit wasn’t destroyed, it would be so disrupted that it couldn’t keep to its schedule. This would buy our defending ground brigade time to reset from the first echelon and prepare for its attack.
Here’s a training film from either the late 70’s or early 80’s showing the basic concept.
With the exception of the A-10, all the platforms shown have been replaced. The M-60 tanks have been replaced by M-1s, the OH-58 scouts by updated OH-58D Kiowa Warriors, the AH-1Qs by AH-64s, and the OV-10 by modified OA-10A’s. Still, the basic concept is still a viable one.
There were a couple of real challenges to making a JAAT work. First, airspace management. It can be a real challenge making sure artillery rounds and airplanes don’t occupy the same airspace. For obvious reasons, the aviators, both Army and Air Force are kinda picky about that. There’s also the challenge of making sure the helicopters and fixed wing air know where each other are, to avoid collisions.
The other challenge was timeliness. It takes some time to put a JAAT together. If the JAAT takes too long to assemble, it can miss its chance to catch the follow on echelon. But if units have trained together before, and have worked out the kinks, it can be put together much more quickly.
I’ve been looking for good video of the D-Day landings. There isn’t much to choose from. I mean, there’s tons of clips, but most of the footage is the same. So I said what the heck- to give a more visceral impression of just how rough it was on Omaha Beach, go with the dramatic interpretation.
For the most part, the Army was confident it would get ashore in Normandy. They’d had the experience of four major landings in the war- North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio. They knew what they were doing. The real challenge would be to build up troops in the beachhead faster than the Germans could be reinforced.
But of the troops originally scheduled to land, none had seen combat. Gen. Bradley, the American ground force commander, decided to use the 1st Infantry Division, to ensure that at least some combat-blooded troops were on hand. The 1st, The Big Red One, wasn’t very happy about it. But they understood why it had to be.
Of the two major beaches the US troops landed on, Utah was a fairly simple matter. Only a little over 200 casualties were inflicted on the 4th Infantry division.
It was over at Omaha beach, where elements of the 1st and the 29th Infantry Divisions landed, that the Army expected trouble. And did they ever get it. It wasn’t till well after noon that the first troops on Omaha even made it to the top of the bluffs. Omaha was critical because it was the beach between the British/Canadian landing on Gold, Sword and Juno beaches, and Utah beach. If the landings at Omaha failed, the Germans could attack down that seam and turn the flank of the British and defeat them in detail, then turn and defeat the Americans at Utah.
In the end, the great leaders of the war, the Generals and the Admirals could exert no influence on the battle at Omaha. It was up to small unit leaders, Lieutenants, Sergeants, Corporals, and the individual initiative of Private soldiers to overcome the fierce German resistance on Omaha. Men had to make the decision to flee the false safety of the seawall and assault into the teeth of the guns. They did. And they overcame. And we owe them a debt that can never be repaid.
We had planned an extensive post on this, the 65th anniversary of the invasion of Europe. There’s no shortage of things to write about. The heroism of the soldiers of the 1st, 4th, 29th, 82nd(Abn.) and 101st(Abn.) Divisions, the struggles of the Engineer Special Brigades (half of all soldiers landed on D-Day were engineers dedicated to clearing the beaches for follow-on elements). The valor and sacrifice of Navy and Coast Guard small boat crews plunging through intense fire to deliver troops. The efforts of thousands of Airmen to clear the skies of the Luftwaffe and provide support.
But we were distracted by PBS. Specifically, we came across this video on Hulu.com regarding the Medal of Honor. It has been our privilege to meet several Medal of Honor recipients. In fact, I used to work for one. I told him that I didn’t think I could ever do what he did. He said, “Neither did I”.
Here’s a little video, courtesy of Right Wing Video, showing the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) in action. I’m pretty sure the second rocket set off a large secondary explosion. For sure, that’s a lot bigger bang than a regular 250# warhead would normally make.
Today is the 67th anniversary of the turning of the tide in the Pacific Theater in WWII. For the first 6 months of the war, the Japanese had their way in almost every battle. They seemed almost unstoppable. They weren’t.
100 Seconds that Changed the World
We’re an Army blog, but the son of a Naval Aviator, and we grew up not just knowing about Midway, but knowing veterans of Midway. We’ll leave it to the huge collection of excellent Naval bloggers to tell the story. Today is their day. Hats off to the heroes of one of the most desparate naval battles of all time.
We spent a fair portion of our military service making fun of the Air Force. I’m pretty sure it’s in the regulations somewhere that troops are required to…
But the Air Force isn’t all just hanging around the pool and collecting per diem. There’s a fair number of folks in the Air Force who are filling jobs in Afghanistan or Iraq that might rightly be considered Army jobs. That’s one of the problems that having such a small army causes. And many folks in the Air Force aren’t happy about it. If they wanted to play soldier, they would have joined the Army. There’s a lot of folks in the Navy in the same boat (if you’ll pardon the pun).
Not surprisingly, some of these folks blog. Mike at “A Year in the Sandbox” is an Air Force Staff Sergeant blogging about his tour with a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
Ground units, including PRTs of course have a basic load of ammunition for their weapons. But over time, ammo collects dirt, dust, grease, you name it. When possible, troop units rotate their ammo, receiving a fresh load, and using the old load for some live fire training. Here’s an example from Mike of what that can look like.
Mike’s got several more along the same lines, so go here and check them out.
Ah. We’ve been on a redhead kick, but that doesn’t mean we don’t like blondes as well. Tho I suspect there might just be a hint of ginger in Scarlett Johansson.
I can’t believe it took us almost a year of blogging to get around to Ms. Scarlett.
We’ve covered briefly before the history of gunships as a close air support platform. The Marines have never used the C-130 as a gunship, mostly for reasons of cost. The current cost of an Air Force AC-130U is somewhere around $140 million, making it one of the most expensive planes in the inventory.
But the Marines would really like to have access to some form of very persistent overhead gunship platform, if only for the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconissance (ISR) capability it provides.
There’s news out that the Marines are looking at a “bolt-on” gunship capability for their KC-130J SuperHerks. Under a program called “Harvest Hawk,” this would entail replacing one of the drop tanks with a sensor package, the other with launch rails for Hellfire missiles, and bolting a 30mm gun package to one of the troop doors.
It may not be a perfect solution, but the Marines think it would be better than none.
This site is in no way affiliated with the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, the Department of the Air Force, or the National Guard Bureau and nothing said herein should be considered to have any official sanction by those (or any other) agencies.
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