The ancient game of chequers - invented by pre mullah Persia - features cool playing pieces on the squares. Some are powerful - like Castle Towers, Bishops or Knights - some are not - like pawns.The most powerful piece of all is called the Queen. She can move any distance, any direction to attack.
Just like Great Satan's Modern Infantry - the "Queen of Battle."
Infantry can arrive in combat by any means imaginable - mechanized, airborne, seaborne and chopperborne. To close with the enemy, to kill him, destroy his equipment, shatter his will to resist and make him scream "GOD! PLEASE! STOP!"
Infantry are highly proficient in marksmanship, close combat, and fieldcraft. They should be proficient with other weapons in the unit as well as their own. They should also be familiar with foreign-made weapons they are apt to meet in battle. In the close fight, infantrymen must be skilled in the employment of all weapons (rifles, bayonets, LAWs/AT4s, grenades, mines, and even their bare hands).
This close personal fight requires combat-ready units composed of skilled soldiers and resourceful leaders.
At a magical place not far from Victory Drive is the Home of the Infantry.
Swearing a blood oath to never kiss and tell vital deets, GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD very recently scored a tete' a tete' with one of those skilled and resourceful infantry leaders.
A decorated infantry officer who has commanded platoons and companies with multi tours in Iraq and Afghanistan - earning a hard won promotion to his next gig - with a modern infantry unit fixing to hit the hood in A'Stan, graciously consented to moi pubbing a few anonymous thoughts on modern infantry and the task at hand.
"Courtney, first a disclaimer of sorts: I have not been in A-Stan since summer 2008. I HAVE however been deploying there off and on since October 2001.
"What I can say for sure is that the US has not earned the respect of the average person on the street in the ‘Stan due to a number of factors:
"The first being that Afghans have learned to respect the following things since the Soviet invasion: strength, brutality, and force. They do not respect you because you are nice to them and hand them free ****. They respect the strongest opponent carrying the biggest stick.
"Also, we are attempting to prop up a faltering, corrupt government. Yet, we cannot exert control on that one, for the simple fact that to replace Karzai forcibly would confirm so much Taliban and anti-coalition propaganda about the government being a puppet of the US.
"Third: it is still largely a tribal/feudal style of living for the countryside. This will continue to be the case until real and significant improvements in the country’s infrastructure can take place down to the lowest (most remote) levels.
"It doesn't look good, and it's all because we're fighting there with one hand tied behind our backs.
"We are not allowed to do operations and raids at night. We now must rely on the ANA and ANP to conduct operations such as clearing homes and religious sites.
"We need to get back into the fight, the way we were fighting the war during 2001-2004. Back before Karzai told us not to enter homes for fear of frightening civilians.
"They SHOULD fear us.
"If they learned to fear us more than the Taliban, and we maintained the momentum, we likely would no longer be in Afghanistan, and the insurgent movement of groups like the Taliban, Haqqani, and Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin would have been crushed.
"We've been too "touchy-feely" and that culture doesn't respect that. They have learned only to respect brutality, force, and strength. It's all they know."So, we will be bringing a showcase of kickass American asskicking & know-how, and show the love after the dust clears.
Pic "Follow Me" Modern Infantry Tribute
As it was explained to me last year in Khar, 15% of Afghans hate you and will never support you, 15% love you and will never leave you and the 70% in the middle are on the fence. They don't give a crap about western values or our military but they do care about supporting the winning side. If they think you're winning, they'll jump on your bandwagon, so it's not enough to win. You have to be seen to be winning. Two very different things. Like ROE vs Pushtunwali.
ReplyDeleteWhat he said...
ReplyDeletePULLER
PRINCIPLE,
R
2nd Anonymous here:
ReplyDeleteWhen I was there last, we learned a few cuss words in Pashto, some mullah jokes and ditched the sunglasses.
It helps.
Funny you mention Victory Drive. At Fort Benning, home of the infantry, it's appropriately referred to by its initials, "VD".
ReplyDeleteWhat a dumbass statement by that infantry officer! Doesn't that guy know a projection of "power" has already been done under Bush? Some good that did in alienating the population! Instead of weakening the opposition it only strengthened it. Fighting in Astan is futile it's time to pack up and go home!
ReplyDeleteActually A - that adjective could easily (and more better) be applied to your unconvincingly uninformed commentary. Not a cut - just saying. Leave Astan?
ReplyDeleteAs Colonel Nagl proved how ignorantly dangerous and lazily wishful such inappropriate weak and boring handwringing are:
"There is no safe haven that al-Qaeda covets more than the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, which present a unique opportunity for our enemies and a threat to us. Situated in rugged terrain hundreds of miles from any coastline, with weak or nonexistent governance and security services, this region provides both a home to al-Qaeda and possible access to nuclear weapons."
Great Satan should get loud that unassing Afghanistan - to split the AO where she was "...brutally attacked and in which more attacks are now being planned..." is never, ever going down, so long as there is the slightest chance, possibility or opportunity of a repeat.
Hope this helps.