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2005-04-28 Iraq-Jordan

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Posted by Steve 2005-04-28 9:15:15 AM|| || Front Page|| [9 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 This is probably the most highly trained fighting force in Iraq,

The USMC might beg to differ.

Posted by RWV 2005-04-28 10:18:03 AM|| 2005-04-28 10:18:03 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 The Marine Corps can beg all they want .

I know some of these guys (and know of some of the others through them): Many are former Marines (recon) - As well as Seals, PJ's, Rangers, Green-Beanies, Brits out of SAS & SBS, Aussies from SASR, Germans from GSG, Russian Spetz, even the odd Canadian or two from JTF-2 and the old CAR.

These aare the hard core of the hard core. THe only thing they lack is the organization above about a company/battalion level. They function like independant cells, but I think they do miss the higher echelon support in terms of intel and later-links that the normal forces have.

Posted by OldSpook 2005-04-28 7:18:54 PM|| 2005-04-28 7:18:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 OS, Do their Iraqi clients all speak English? Or do the commandos speak enough arabic to communicate with them in their own tongue? What do the Russians and Germans speak with their clients?

Posted by thibaud (aka lex) 2005-04-28 7:27:02 PM|| 2005-04-28 7:27:02 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 sounds right OS, but how do they link up when an Apache strike is needed? Or Evac is needed? Just curious to know the protocol...

Posted by Frank G 2005-04-28 8:03:25 PM|| 2005-04-28 8:03:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 I think that the CEOI is unofficially shared - stuff that would usually get guys written up in peacetime, but which is apparently not bothered with too much in war (unless they need a scapegoat), especially if they know the other guys are operating in the area and will give good tipoffs.

And a lot of these guys are Arabic speakers, alebit of different dialects. Little known: Arabic in Morrocco is different from Arabic in Eqypt which is different from Arabic in Iraq. And by different, I mean that its difficult to communicate beyond routine talk - the idioms, etc can cause complete misunderstandings in addition to bafflement.

The reason they are getting that money is that they are able to operate, interoperate, and communicate. Thats the basis for all good operators - and you'll see that sort there. The Russians and others have linguists the same as we do, although they dont train them assembly-line like we do at DLI (where I learned my Arabic a long time ago).

Posted by OldSpook 2005-04-28 11:09:45 PM|| 2005-04-28 11:09:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 thx

Posted by Frank G 2005-04-28 11:16:17 PM|| 2005-04-28 11:16:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 One other thing - I put a "smiley" after that statement about the Marines - dunno what happened to it, it was there to show I was just yanking the chain of any Marine here. They are a solid fighting force, and up until recently were trained far and above the US Army standards. But war has a way of forcing the Army to actually train people to fight and win, like the Marines, instead of doing paperwork and filling out charts and quotas. This is especially true when the Drill Sgts have combat experience. So thats why the Army and Marines fought so well at Fallujah, almost arm-in-arm: they were both trained and experienced to the same high level, and troops like that know what needs to be done and do it reliably.

Posted by OldSpook 2005-04-28 11:17:13 PM|| 2005-04-28 11:17:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 i would expect there would be cooperation, especially at the "need to" levels... anything less would be counterproductive regardless of bureaucratic orders...."wink and nod" agreements?

Posted by Frank G 2005-04-28 11:29:11 PM|| 2005-04-28 11:29:11 PM|| Front Page Top

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