Regarding the Ambush ‘Debate’: VIDEO
Regarding this post: *Facepalm*: re-complicating counter-ambush drills:
Here is a video of s soldier going forward, alone, into enemy machine-gun fire. Thankfully, it was not at closer range/more accurate. Here is what he said about the incident:
“I got a hit a total of 4 times. My helmet cam died and I made it down the mountain on my own. I was also hit in the side of my helmet and my eye pro was shot off of my face. We were doing overwatch on the village to recon and gather intel. I was point heading down the face of the hill with the LT. when we got hit. the rest of the squad was pinned down by machine gun fire. I didn’t start the video until a few mins into the firefight for obvious reasons. I came out into the open to draw fire so my squad could get to safety.”
“A round struck the tube by my hand of the 203 grenade launcher which knocked it out of my hands. When I picked the rifle back up it was still functional but the grenade launcher tube had a nice sized 7.62 cal bullet hole in it and was rendered useless. ”
So: have a drill, that everyone does. No random sua sponte activity by individuals. The squad could have broken contact, assaulted (not a good idea down that slope unless they could suppress the enemy), or called for fire support/close air support. I have not idea of the situation other than was in the video. Random heroic stuff by individuals potentiality put that squad in a very difficult position with a man wounded on the forward slope, pinned by enemy machine-gun fire.
Why?
Because….
Max
I have used this video as a teaching aid. I would add that it demonstrates terrible training in basic combat skills.
1) Completely ineffective use of the sling.
2) The worst reload I have ever seen.
3) Ineffective return fire. That is by far too great of a distance to place effective suppression on an enemy position. Aim your shots!
Good illustration of how things happen versus how you imagine they happen. DKYDK in action. Left screaming “I’m hit”/”i wanna go home now” and leaving your team to come save you from your boneheaded bad call.
I don’t know for sure…
totally shooting in the dark here. But to me, it seems like trying to exfil an AO, or patrol (whatever this was) down an open slope, during daylight, with almost zero cover, facing a complex of buildings which was a perfect position for a potential ambush makes very little tactical sense.
Next, why move down? Why not go back up? Go to their right where it seems they had some cover? Circle around? Call in backup or air support? It was obvious they were out of range of accurate AK fire, they could have easily moved back.
Seems a very poorly thought out patrol/exfil, or whatever that was.
It is impossible to tell from the video, but when they started taking fire, it is entirely likely that they were not near the top, but perhaps halfway down the slope, a slope that I might add offered little cover.
For those familiar with the often open mountainous terrain of Afghanistan, you can see why running downhill may be a quicker alternative than running half a klick uphill to break contact. Going down may have been the right call, but only if the rest of your squad is doing the same thing…
The typical Talib tactic with far ambushes such as this one is to engage from several hundred meters with PK machine gun variants. These belt fed machine guns fire the 7.62x54R round, which has significantly longer range than the 7.62×39 of an AK. The PKM on a tripod can be particularly deadly out to 500m.
Wow, wasn’t there, can’t say for sure, but man, that didn’t look too good. Would like to have seen an overall shot of the action versus the tunnel vision of the camera lens.
So much to guess at here, I’ll try and stick to just what I saw. First off, this dude was getting EFFECTIVE fire his way. Not just “the odd angry shot”. Continuing his COA was either very brave or very stupid, depending on your point of view. I mean once you could see that many rounds impacting around you, I would think you’d figure out that you’re about to get hit if you don’t do something (else). Now if the camera panned back and you could see he was truly trying to draw fire while his mates scrambled to cover, at least his thought was noble. Maybe the execution was a little sketchy. But again, he was there, I was sitting at home drinking coffee.
The movement looked slow, laborious. Difficult terrain? Too much gear? Out of shape? Or just combat fatigue? Dunno. Just if I was taking that much fire, I would like to think my ass would be moving faster. But these guys had probably been humping for awhile and were already pretty tired. Nothing said these cavemen weren’t smart. Pretty effective far ambush.
On the sling thing. Yeah that’s a good lesson learned. I wander if it was adjusted up for patrol carry, and too tight to fight with. Good point for a quick adjustable feature.
On the mag change, yeeah, it looked like he was sorting through a bunch of partials/empties, until he found a fresh one. Reminded me of that Costa line, on the Magpul vids, as he demonstrated ammo management: “Empty, empty, pistol mag, twinkie…”
On being hit. Again, wasn’t there, but, if you have all the energy to yell, you have the energy to do self-aid. That’s what the bleeder kit and TQ are for. Get that shit on yourself, and get the fuck out of there. Don’t jeopardize your corpsman or medic. Yeah I know, easy say, hard to do.
He had an M203 that was functional until it got hit. How about popping some smoke to give himself concealment while he moved ? Even if he was out of smoke he could have used HE to give them something to think about. I suppose fatigue and adrenalin may have played into it.
I do not criticize the warrior in the arena because he is the only one who knows the whole story. I have learned that everyone, no matter how smart they are, loses about 10 IQ points for every round that whizzes by your head.