The British Army has hired a Canadian professional tracker, Terry Grant, to teach troops how to use his stalking skills to detect IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices, mainly roadside bombs) and the signs (spoor, the signs people leave on the ground as they move) of enemy troops. This is an ancient skill among professional soldiers, that tends to atrophy in peacetime, and become urgent again in wartime. Terry Grant has become famous with his TV show, Mantracker, where he hunts down people in the wilderness. Grant has long been called upon to find people who were missing in rural areas. The British army noted this and made the connection with combat operations.
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps have long had similar programs, that have become more popular since September 11, 2001. Two years ago, the marines even added hunting skills instruction to its combat training. You'd think this would already be a standard feature of infantry training, but the need to master lots of new tech had pushed it out. However, noting that in Iraq and Afghanistan, the enemy tried to remain hidden in plain sight (often among civilians), and then set up a bomb or just (more frequently) get off a few shots and run away, the marines sought methods that would make it easier to spot these irregulars, and quickly hunt them down.
Like the British, the marines called in some professional hunters and quickly developed a training course that emphasized observation and deduction. That's what hunting is mostly about, spotting the prey first, and knowing where to position yourself to do that. Hunting irregular fighters turns out to be much the same. Over the last few thousand years, armies have gotten away from this hunting aspect of warfare. But the first "soldiers" were simply good hunters now going after different game. Terry Grant developed a similar program to help the British troops to get back to the ancient basics.
This shift to more tracking training for troops began nearly a century ago, with the appearance of the infantry squad. This was truly a 20th century development, even though the original squad size fighting organization was the hunting party that was turned to wartime use. The Germans were the first to introduce the infantry squad as an independent combat unit in modern times. This happened when the Germans perfected their "Stosstruppen" (storm troopers) tactics in 1917. After that, the infantry squad was no longer an administrative unit, but became a more independent and effective combat organization in all the world's armies. This changed infantry combat dramatically, but the significance of the change was rarely noted.
The marines rediscovered that a hunting party organization is only as good as its hunting skills of its members. So now marines practice looking at crowds and villages, to see if they can be the first to spot who the bad actors are. Terry Grant taught British troops to do the same, to look hard, and think carefully.
#1
It still impresses me that there might be a better way to detect IEDs, from the air, after they have been emplaced.
When an IED corridor is suggested, send out a helicopter crop duster, spraying a very fine mist of an otherwise invisible fluorescent chemical. There are an enormous number of such chemicals, many of which are cheap and plentiful.
Once it has been sprayed, the ground can be surveyed, again by air, and mapped for by UV fluorescent signature. For several days thereafter, a quick UV overflight map should clearly indicate "holes" left by digging up dirt. Computers can do a lot of the work.
While it doesn't prove an IED has been emplaced, it is a very potent indicator of what to pay attention to.
#3
Tech has been deployed to find hidden IEDs. It works in many cases, but the challenges are substantial. See: JIEDDO - Joint IED Defeat Office within DOD.
A nearly forgotten tyrant remains alive and well in West Africa. He's "Colonel" President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia.
The Gambia once rarely hit headline. Actually, at one time, the only prevalence vice was that of the pelvic. That's before then Captain Jammeh ended President (Sir) Dawda Karaiba Jawara's 30-year rule in the 1994 bloodless coup. Human rights activists and organisations soon took notice.
Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean surround The Gambia. A river by that name dissects one of the smallest countries in mainland Africa. Unlike some West African countries, The Gambia lacks resources that invite bloodbaths. Peanuts, cotton lint, fish, foreign aid and, tourism, keep the country afloat. Mr Jammeh hopes petroleum lurks in the 10,500 square kilometre land, the offshore economic zone, or both.
Despite the country's leanness, Mr Jammeh thinks highly of it. The Gambia "is one of the oldest and biggest countries in Africa that was reduced to a small snake by the British government who sold all our land to the French," he has said.
Mr Jammeh isn't about to allow any messing with the "small snake." Two weeks ago a court--and courts please the president--convicted ten people of high treason and sentenced them to death.
The charges included plotting to topple the government with mercenaries and weapons imported from neighbouring Guinea. A former army chief was among high-ranking government officials convicted.
The trial is a high point of slithering repression. Human rights organizations drew attention to this around Mr Jammeh's Freedom Day, the 22 July coup date.
Reported state misdeeds include suppression of political opponents, unlawful detention, torture, disappearances, incommunicado detention, unfair trials, rape, and extra-judicial killings. "The Gambia is torture state, where the authorities commit widespread violations with impunity," Said Ms Estelle Higonnet, Amnesty International's West Africa researcher.
A commission Mr Jammeh established eight years ago keeps the media on leash. Security agencies take care of perceived miscreants. The law allows, of all things, imprisonment for libel and slander. Dare write or say one of Mr Jammeh's cronies isn't up to the job.
Mr Jammeh "won" his third five-year term late 2006. During his tenure, he has survived two coup attempts and dispatched prisoners in retaliation. In his favour, the opposition remains spineless. Mr Jammeh, 45, remains put, awaiting a fourth term next year. His list of enemies now includes Britain.
Ironically, or is it cynically, the African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies pontificate from The Gambia. For what use?
Human rights organizations say state-sponsored "witch hunts" have forced approximately 1,000 people into secret detention centres. State agents made them consume hallucinogens and later tortured them into confessing witchcraft.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The Gambia: Come for the cotton lint, stay for the pelvic vices.
Don't know whether to put it in Afghanistan or in Fifth Column. Link found via Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor Mail.
Time to scarf up head WikiWanker, the excremental Julian Assange. Fire up the black helicopters, fit him for an orange jumpsuit and put him on the Rendition Express. He is now responsible for the deaths of brave Afghans and there will certainly be more to come.From Newsweek:
Late last week, just four days after the documents were published, death threats began arriving at the homes of key tribal elders in southern Afghanistan. And over the weekend one tribal elder, Khalifa Abdullah, who the Taliban believed had been in close contact with the Americans, was taken from his home in Monar village, in Kandahar provinces embattled Arghandab district, and executed by insurgent gunmen.
Just a heads-up, guys, it's apparently started. I didn't think they were gonna act on their windfall until later.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
08/09/2010 12:11 ||
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#1
Measure Assange for a coffin while you're at it. Khalifa Abdullah's clan will be after him soon.
#5
well, the US can't try him for treason, tho' OZ could if the gov't had any stones. The US could pick him up for espionage however. Along with anyone associated with Wikiwanks.
The military retirement system is unsustainable and in dire need of repair, according to an influential Pentagon advisory board.
That sounds oh-so familiar ...
The Defense Business Board -- tasked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to find ways to reduce the DOD budget -- says annual Treasury Department payments into the system will balloon from $47.7 billion this year to $59.3 billion by 2020.
The 25-member group of civilian business leaders suggests that the Defense Department look at changing the current system, even hinting at raising the number of years troops must serve before being eligible for retirement pay.
The current system "encourages our military to leave at 20 years when they are most productive and experienced, and then pays them and their families and their survivors for another 40 years," committee chairman Arnold Punaro told board members at their quarterly meeting late last month.
Making troops serve longer before receiving pay does not sit well with some servicemembers.
"No rational person would put up with 20 years of the hardships that you're forced to endure if it wasn't for the brass ring at the end of it all called instant retirement," said Petty Officer 1st Class Ethan Gurney, an electronics technician based in Naples.
It's not really fair to compare military service to the civilian work force, said Gurney, who, at 38, is only a few months from retirement.
"The continuous deployments, living conditions, remote and hazardous duty stations are unique to the military," he said. "This isn't a civilian company, so any civilian model that you use to compare to the military is impertinent. To do so is irresponsible at best."
The talk of changing the military retirement system isn't new.
#1
...That's okay, they want to freeze military pay and kill the military medical system as well. OTOH, I'd have no problem with going to 25 years for full retirement - the problem is the 'up or out' rule, which is really what would need to be changed.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/09/2010 7:38 Comments ||
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#2
Treasury Department payments into the system will balloon from $47.7 billion this year to $59.3 billion by 2020.
But we have 10 billion dollars this year as political rewards for unionized teachers at the state and local levels. I don't see schools in the federal Constitution as a responsibility.
#3
"This isn't a civilian company, so any civilian model that you use to compare to the military is impertinent. To do so is irresponsible at best."
Any civilian job, even public employees as with police and fire, can quit their job tomorrow. Nothing said, nothing done. Why not give that civilian option to the military? Why do you have a separate set of laws governing land and naval forces if it's comparable to civilian jobs? /rhet questions.
#4
Practically speaking, with a collapsing economy, the military will take a huge hit. Nationally, there may be a 50% unemployment rate, so Privates may only get $50/mo, and junior officers, $100/mo, with room and board. No marriage until E-7 or O-4. Families stay in the US. No new weapons systems.
Retirement will probably be on a par with Social Security, which is to say, none.
#5
A military takes a physical and mental toll on your body that simply can't be ignored. Yes I get free medical care and a stipend each month for my service. While the medical is great, the actual pay is nothing close to live. So most "retirees" go into a second career which they pay taxes, SS, etc. It's not simple math and IMHO they can find a LOT better ways to trim the budget.
#6
If the military retirement system is in need of revision then at 20 years, transfer to the civil service and work your last five years as a civilian.
No hardship, deployment, or separation from family. No need to change the up or out strategy. A kind of try before you buy double-dip ....
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
08/09/2010 9:27 Comments ||
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#7
Seems like there are a lot of broken systems lately run into the ground by the Feds: Medicare, Medicaid, Post-Office, Social Security, Freddie and Fannie, etc. Many blue States are also going broke because of Federal mandates foisted upon them coupled with years of irresponsible spending and policies, and corruption.
#8
Why do you have a separate set of laws governing land and naval forces if it's comparable to civilian jobs?
Military jobs are NOT comparable to civilian jobs. Military pensions, IMHO, are the only pensions the gov't should be paying. The rest of the government employees can save their dough the way the rest of us do (or don't). Obama can lead the way by cutting the pensions of future presidents to ZIP, ZERO, NADA.
(BTW, I'm not & never was remotely eligible for a military pension.)
#10
Y'know, it's yet more passive-aggressive cocksucking bullshit. They never asked themselves "Can We Afford This" during their last three trillion dollars or so of past decisions, but they trip over the military pension thing, and _SUDDENLY_ they wanna pretend to be Responsible?
GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK.
When the finance industry got in trouble, they got their two trillion dollar check, with little or no questions asked.
#11
The military can't be counted on to vote for them. If I were a smart progressive I would pay the only class of citizen capable of upsetting my socalist revolution.
#12
We could destroy the military's budget entirely, force all the retirees out onto the street, and still not be able to make up for all the extra money the government has wasted, both in profligate spending and profligate regulation, over the past couple years. DoD's budget is what, 1/3 of what got spent on TARP in a year?
Not to mention we only had the 90's boom economy because of the money DARPA threw into computer networking back in the 70's. And now we've restructured that shit so China makes money off of it now, but we don't. Where's the next big idea supposed to come from? THE LAST ONE WASN'T ANYTHING ANYONE WAS EXPECTING.
If you're sitting at your damn laptop now, like I am, and reading the internet, YOU'RE MOOCHING OFF OF THE 1970'S DEFENSE BUDGET.
#13
But it was Al Gore who invented the Information Superhighway Thing - not DOD...
25-member group of CIVILIAN leaders? WTF does that have to do with the MILITARY?
There's a big difference between civilian service and military service. For example in military service you may be call upon to DIE for your job - you also endure hardships and hazards which have no correspondance in a civilian - or political - 'job'.
How about we raise the number of terms congresscritters have to serve to earn their pension (and healthcare) - to like 20 terms?
(And I too have never served in the military - but I appreciate all those who have!)
#17
I draw a military retirement AND a VA disability (double-dipping?). Between the two of them, I can make ends meet, but just barely. I'm going to have surgery on my cervical spine in two weeks - at a civilian hospital, because the military has no space to do it. That will cost me money - $25, believe it or not - because that's what TRICARE dictates as the co-pay. Memorial Hospital is a city-owned hospital, and CAN'T refuse, or they'd lose their Medicare/Medicaid business.
Increased military benefits are scheduled to raise $12 billion. How much, in the same period of time, will the cost of retirement of presidents, congress-critters, and "civilian" government employees raise? Who gives the biggest 'bang for the buck'? How many of those "civilians" ever pulled a 24-hour+ shift, or got fired at, or worked in hostile territory where the "natives" hated you? How many people in civilian life HAVE to keep up their education in order to get promoted? Try making E-7 without at least an AA degree, and a Bachelor's or higher for E-8 and E-9. If you're an officer, you MAY be able to make Major/LtCdr with a Bachelor's degree, but if you want to go higher, you MUST have a Master's or better. I doubt there are many generals without a PhD. In the civilian world, you can screw up half the time and still continue your job, probably even get promoted. Make a mistake and see how quickly your career comes to an end.
The "civilians" on that board more than likely never spent even one day in the military. I doubt half of them could have made it through boot camp - even Air Force boot camp.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/09/2010 20:04 Comments ||
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"Soldiers are instructed to open fire. This is the army's decision," a senior Lebanese officer, General Abdul al-Rahman Shitli, said on Wednesday evening while describing Tuesday's skirmish on the Israel-Lebanon border as calculated and approved by the proper channels.
A fully satisfactory account of the events that left a senior Israeli officer and at least four Lebanese dead remains to emerge. It appears, however, that a main beneficiary of the incident is Hezbollah, and despite claims that its leader Hassan Nasrallah had been surprised by it, it is not hard to see the Shi'ite organization's shadow behind the clash.
There are two main versions of what happened: either Hezbollah instigated the clash, through its strong influence in the army, or the army tried to "out-Hezbollah" Hezbollah, perhaps in an attempt to reassert itself over the militia.
Firstly, the background to the crisis. The incident may have much less to do with Israel than with internal Lebanese tensions, and more specifically with the persistent rumors that the United Nations' Special Tribunal for Lebanon will indict members of Hezbollah next month in connection with the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, Benjamin Joffe-Walt argues in a story published by The Media Line. He writes: "In a matter of weeks, Lebanon is set to face what some local analysts are predicting will be the beginnings of another Lebanese civil war and which others are predicting will be the largest political crisis since the country's former leader was assassinated five years ago."
Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla concurs: "Our own sources in the Lebanese military indicate that they were trying to avoid a major crisis; what they were trying to do in this latest border skirmish was to try to divert attention from the Special Tribunal crisis to the Israeli threat and try to galvanize support among Lebanese factions in support of the Lebanese army."
It is established that the Lebanese army fired first, and that the Israeli soldiers were operating inside Israeli territory, having notified, moreover, both the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese in a proper manner. Lebanese fire on troops of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) working on the border was "wholly unjustified and unwarranted", said US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley on Wednesday, shortly after UNIFIL reached a similar verdict. Despite some early reports to the contrary, Hezbollah did not directly participate in the violence.
Something that stands out is the Lebanese military command's open admission that their side fired first, and that they stand by their soldiers' actions (exemplified by General Shitli's words). This can mean one of two things: either they are desperately trying to cover up the fact that they don't have full control over the rank and file of the army, or that this was indeed a deliberate and calculated policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
This can mean one of two things: either they are desperately trying to cover up the fact that they don't have full control over the rank and file of the army, or that this was indeed a deliberate and calculated policy.
#4
As far as I'm concerned, this and Hezbollah's arsenal of missiles built under the noses of UNIFIL justify their use of tactical, battlefield nukes in the opening salvo of any new Israel/Lebanon war. That includes every square inch of Lebanon from the Israeli border to about 20 miles north of Beirut, ALL of the Bekaa valley, and the land between the Lebanon/Syria border to 20 miles east of Damascus. So they'll be hated by all the Arabs, and despised by Europeans - how is that different from today?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/09/2010 20:11 Comments ||
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We Muslims know the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation
By Rahee Raza and Tarek Fatah, Citizen Special
Last week, a journalist who writes for the North Country Times, a small newspaper in Southern California, sent us an e-mail titled "Help." He couldn't understand why an Islamic Centre in an area where Adam Gadahn, Osama bin Laden's American spokesman came from, and that was home to three of the 911 terrorists, was looking to expand.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
08/09/2010 00:00 ||
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Raheel Raza and Tarek Fatah, board members of the Muslim Canadian Congress, said:
...we Muslims know the ... mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation, to thumb our noses at the infidel. The proposal has been made in bad faith, ... as "Fitna," meaning "mischief-making" that is clearly forbidden in the Koran.... As Muslims we are dismayed that our co-religionists have such little consideration for their fellow citizens, and wish to rub salt in their wounds and pretend they are applying a balm to sooth the pain.
#4
Once upon a time (circa 2001-2003), I thought muslims like Rahee Raza and Tarek Fatah were the hope of Islam.
Since then, I've come to realize that such muslims are the theological human shields of Islam. They allow apologists to pretend that Islam isn't what it demonstrably is. They are kind of like the 'blue dog democrats'. It would be better if they simply renounced Islam or said, 'we will sign up again someday when its fixed'.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/09/2010 14:51 Comments ||
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#5
It would be better if they simply renounced Islam or said, 'we will sign up again someday when its fixed'.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
By Victor Kotsev 
