quote:

Originally posted by arabiancowboy:

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Ironically, Al Asad used to be the safest place in Iraq. Short or Erbil, anyway.

Neither are great now, although both are way better than Balad circa 04-08. It’s interesting watching people concerned about 1-2 IDFs monthly when we used to operate 500% higher with 10-12 IDFs daily.

Rather remarkable that, we go in and set up numerous bases, some in semi-permissive environments, where there's an ongoing insurgency battle yet, higher-up failed to consider that the enemy has a vote and lobbing mortar rounds and high-arc RPG's was a daily occurrence in some places.

Sure counter-battery fire was available in some areas and C-RAM eventually got developed but, after Somalia and the amount of in-coming the base at the airport dealt with, you'd have thought some deeper consideration would've been given to base defense and technology development. I know, I know, not sexy enough for the brass....until their coffee maker has been destroyed.

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Originally posted by BBMW:
I just went on Google Earth, searched and found the base. It had decently high resolution images, and gave me detailed lat/long coordinates (how accurate, I don't know.) But between the two it would be enough to hurl the TBMs in the right direction.

At the time I felt that we should have retaliated, but in hindsight, I do agree that perhaps restraint was the best option.

But as a WWII history buff, I recently reread the detailed accounts of Midway, and so having the gen. pop. able to just find satellite images of most things on earth, the luck we had in some encounters, like Midway, is today astonishing.

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Originally posted by Doc H.:

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Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Ironically, Al Asad used to be the safest place in Iraq. Short or Erbil, anyway.

Apparently not now....

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/r...&utm_medium=referral

No, it fell apart with ISIL. When they infested the country, I saw a lot of images I recognized, places I'd been, overrun or laid waste.

When Iraq was the wild wild west, Erbil, under the care of the Kurds, was under control. A safe place to fly into, actually. Al Asad, on the other side, was actually far from the action. Not nearly as secure as Erbil, but still a far cry better than much of the rest of the country. I spent time in Mosul and other places that were never under control.

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Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
On my grandson's first deployment to the sandbox, he was tasked with setting up the air defenses around the base. Seems none of the officers knew how to do it. And grandson was a mid-level Special Forces NCO! He was also tasked with teaching a lot of enlisted personnel how to shoot a rifle, especially the female soldiers who had never fired a firearm. As I recall these were reservists.

Are you saying U.S. troops were deployed to the war zone with no weapons training? That's a major foul. What time frame?

Purely my opinion, but I think this was all for show. They gave warning then sent missiles so they could tell their people they avenged that guy and look all powerful but they did not want a war with Trump in the White House.

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Originally posted by HayesGreener:

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
On my grandson's first deployment to the sandbox, he was tasked with setting up the air defenses around the base. Seems none of the officers knew how to do it. And grandson was a mid-level Special Forces NCO! He was also tasked with teaching a lot of enlisted personnel how to shoot a rifle, especially the female soldiers who had never fired a firearm. As I recall these were reservists.

Are you saying U.S. troops were deployed to the war zone with no weapons training? That's a major foul. What time frame?

There’s just no way that’s real. None of the officers knew how to set up air defense on a base? I never cease to be amazed at how many enlisted folks think officers are all morons.

Anybody who spent any time in Iraq knows very well that there were a LOT of personnel there who couldn't tell one end of a weapon from the other, let alone shoot the broad side of a barn. There are a LOT of personnel today who have no business with a weapon. Even the Marines, which brag on pride of "every man a rifleman," have many who are not. Not remotely so.

There's a damn good reason that in most circumstances, weapons are kept unloaded on base, and in many cases, soldiers may be issued a weapon, but not ammunition.

It's a similar reason to why soldiers on base, in view of snipers, wear reflective belts and gear. Unwise, but still safer than the chance of being mowed down by someone exceeding the 5 mph speed limit.