This is one of my favorite videos of a relatively typical outpost fight in Afghanistan. Paratroopers from Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, "The Rock", 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, defend their outpost in Chowkay valley, Afghanistan.
One of the first things I always note - movie combat always sounds more dramatic than this.
And, of course the Redleg in me loves the mortar crew popping out an "immediate suppression" mission - smoke, followed by HE, followed by smoke and then more HE. Intended to blind the bad guy and to get him to put his head down, so that you can maneuver to either get out of a kill zone or put direct fire on the bad guy and let *him* be in the kill zone. Since there are no extra powder increments on those rounds, the target is *close* and when they shift the gun, you can see they're doing "direct lay" - i.e., aiming by eye at a target they can see. Of course, that's also made clear when they start using their personal weapons, too... then they shift to charge 1 as they open the range a bit. The stress starts to tell when one of the loaders forgets to drop enough down/move away from the tube that he takes blast wave to the face. A bit after that, the 155mm starts landing and things get calmer. And the Gunner in me appreciates the fact that they start policing the position and cleaning the gun... Soldierly language - mind your environment.
Read the complete post at http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2012/03/defending_the_c.html
Posted
Mar 19 2012, 06:08 AM
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Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys..