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2006-08-24 Iraq
British to adopt the tactics that beat Rommel
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Posted by Anonymoose 2006-08-24 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11140 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Some interesting first person accounts of the Long Range Desert Group have been published. Worth reading.
Posted by phil_b 2006-08-24 00:36||   2006-08-24 00:36|| Front Page Top

#2 And I'd add that if they are using the same tactics as the LRDG, it would mean they intend to interdict Al Sadr's (etc.) supply lines from Iran.
Posted by phil_b 2006-08-24 00:38||   2006-08-24 00:38|| Front Page Top

#3 Hmmm we seem to be inching closer and closer to Iran. :)
Posted by djohn66 2006-08-24 00:44||   2006-08-24 00:44|| Front Page Top

#4 The Army stresses that this redeployment is not linked to constant mortar and rocket attacks on the old base of Camp Abu Naji.

yep,

ye will have to redeploy and pee
if thee drink too much Spin Zone Tea

Posted by RD 2006-08-24 01:00||   2006-08-24 01:00|| Front Page Top

#5 As a boy in grammar school, I loved "The Rat Patrol".
Posted by Penguin 2006-08-24 01:09||   2006-08-24 01:09|| Front Page Top

#6 I remember reading on one Milblog, just a snippet of our special forces going out "bare".. without up-armoured vehicles. Was their perferred way. Was in a discussion of the overturning of HUMMVEs (sp) due to the extra weight.

About this assassination rule we have, of no assassinations, does Britain serve under that same rule?

Man -- if only our movie makers would get some smarts, and make movies of all of this.. so many dollars to be made!!

And just imagine, all that "stuff" that is being tested and used in this fight, that years from now, the Military Channel will be telling us about.

Winning a huge lottery, I think I would make even more money, 'cause, the producer that begins to turn out some war movies of the exploits of our warriors that have and continue to happen in this fight, would make some great movie making. And, we love our heros. We do so need some new ones.

I know very little about making a movie, but I'm very good at finding and hiring folks to get a job done.

Wish me luck in the lottery! For now, close your eyes tight, take a deep breathe, and will these warriors to be safe, and come home to their nation, their families and friends.
Posted by Sherry">Sherry  2006-08-24 01:11||   2006-08-24 01:11|| Front Page Top

#7 Now the Shia militiamen loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the fiercely anti-western cleric, have taken to firing barrages.

I dread to think of the far more deserving creatures, like cockroaches, lice and scorpions, that Sadr is depriving of their rightful oxygen.
Posted by Zenster 2006-08-24 01:37||   2006-08-24 01:37|| Front Page Top

#8 declare the iranian border area a free fire zone from sunset til sunrise. That will shut the rat line down.
Posted by anymouse">anymouse  2006-08-24 01:40||   2006-08-24 01:40|| Front Page Top

#9 Wearing corduroy breeches and smoking Players if what Grandfather told me was true...
Posted by Howard UK 2006-08-24 03:32||   2006-08-24 03:32|| Front Page Top

#10 "These people are a little like Texans - armed and against anyone who is not one of them."

LOL. He doesn' know any many Texans, LOL. Armed, yes indeed. Against? Naw, not unless you talk funny, LOL. Then we take you from bar to bar and show you off to the real hicks, the Okies and ArkoAmericans. :)
Posted by flyover 2006-08-24 03:48||   2006-08-24 03:48|| Front Page Top

#11 Article: These people are a little like Texans - armed and against anyone who is not one of them.

Another obligatory oblique reference to Bush. You gotta love these Brit officers. It's a compulsive thing with them - they can't resist getting their licks in. Only it used to be that they used snide remarks with respect to the heathens - today, they only dare to do it to Uncle Sam, who's good-natured enough to shrug it off as a misunderstanding.
Posted by Zhang Fei 2006-08-24 04:13|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com]  2006-08-24 04:13|| Front Page Top

#12 ArkoAmericans

Ha!
Posted by 6 2006-08-24 07:17||   2006-08-24 07:17|| Front Page Top

#13 I predict "hunting" will be very, very good for these lads. I cannot wait to hear of their successes. Thank you Great Britain!
Posted by Besoeker 2006-08-24 08:34||   2006-08-24 08:34|| Front Page Top

#14 Texans aren't like that at all. Speaking as one, I'd gladly welcome any one of these British Soldiers to visit.
Posted by mcsegeek1 2006-08-24 09:19||   2006-08-24 09:19|| Front Page Top

#15 Hey, let me know if you win that lottery, Sherry, and I'll take care of the rest. But it will cost you anywhere between $85-$125 million for budget, and there are location problems to consider . . . of course the script has to be written first, so plan on 1-3 years for that, considering the research that will have to go into it to make it accurate and worthwhile. But we all liked Black Hawk Down, yes? I'd love to see some good stuff coming out of this war that truly reflects the everyday heroism of the soldiers on all sides battling terrorism and theological facism ala Islam, but most in the industry can't see past their own brainwashed idiotic liberal ideology and misinformation.

"These people are a little like Texans - armed and against anyone who is not one of them."

Yup, and there be cowboys and indians out there in them wild western plains--not at all a suitable place for more civilized activities--tea time and all. Cheerio.
Posted by ex-lib 2006-08-24 09:49||   2006-08-24 09:49|| Front Page Top

#16 Mph. Only half of Maysan province is sand-dune. The rest is half-restored swampland, including some of the most-fought-over sections from the Iran-Iraq War. More to the point, the locals are swamprats by descent and inclination, not desert-nomad Bedouin types. I doubt much smuggling is going on over the open dunes. Marsh Arabs are much more likely to be smuggling through the restored wetlands on the eastern fringes of Maysan than sneaking through the salt-pan desolations of the northern or central border.
Posted by Mitch H.">Mitch H.  2006-08-24 09:59|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]">[http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]  2006-08-24 09:59|| Front Page Top

#17 Hunting, huh? Well, let me tell you there are no size restrictions and screw the limit!
Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader  2006-08-24 10:13||   2006-08-24 10:13|| Front Page Top

#18 Texans are well-known for friendliness. The very word "Texas" means "friends". Obviously this nitwit short colonel has never been there.
Posted by gromky 2006-08-24 10:21||   2006-08-24 10:21|| Front Page Top

#19 #5 As a boy in grammar school, I loved "The Rat Patrol".
Posted by Penguin 2006-08-24 01:09

Yep! I'll do you one better ... I had a metal "Rat Patrol" lunchbox!
Posted by Lancasters Over Dresden 2006-08-24 12:08|| http://www.michaelcalderonscall.com/HomePage.asp]">[http://www.michaelcalderonscall.com/HomePage.asp]  2006-08-24 12:08|| Front Page Top

#20 British to adopt the tactics that beat Rommel

You mean defense in depth, interdiction of his sea lines of communication, establishing air superiority, and use of massed armor in close conjunction with coordinated close air support, artillery and infantry? Those tactics?

The LRDG was a bunch of brave men, but their efforts were hardly decisive by themselves. Like the SEALION article below, this article misses the point. Modern military forces (and I include jihadist and guerilla forces here) are highly redundant and survivable and have to be engaged in depth to be defeated. It takes a team of teams, as someone once said. Of course articles about combined arms and joint warfare don't sell magazines and books.
Posted by 11A5S 2006-08-24 12:24||   2006-08-24 12:24|| Front Page Top

#21 If you're going to make a movie version of these Brits, don't make them as annoying as Lt. Col. Labouchere.

For that matter, you might want to see if you could avoid telling the truth about Monty too. It might be bad for ratings or international relations.
Posted by Abdominal Snowman 2006-08-24 12:55||   2006-08-24 12:55|| Front Page Top

#22 That was pretty funny, Abdominal.
Posted by 11A5S 2006-08-24 13:02||   2006-08-24 13:02|| Front Page Top

#23 Music video interlude: Bomb Iran
Posted by Legolas 2006-08-24 15:26||   2006-08-24 15:26|| Front Page Top

#24 " I remember reading on one Milblog, just a snippet of our special forces going out "bare".. without up-armoured vehicles. Was their perferred way. Was in a discussion of the overturning of HUMMVEs (sp) due to the extra weight."

That made me think about when I was in Fallujah during the 04-05 timeframe. I had 6 hummves in my section and only one was up-armored. I liked the regular hummves better because you could see the IEDs before you ran over them. Let's face it, a hummve will never be a good source of protection from a 155mm shell that goes off 5 meters away. In the up-armored vehicles, you could not see as well, so you were more likely to drive pass and IED without knowing it. Of course, if one goes off, the armor will help, but I'd rather not be by it at all if I can. But, a friend of mine who in Fallujah with me back then, and now is in Ramadi, swears by the up armored hummves. He said there are so many IEDs (in Ramadi) that you can't find them all of the time like we did in Fallujah. So in that case, maybe you want an uparmored vehicle.

Anyway, for what the British are doing, I think light is the way to go.
Posted by Bama Marine 2006-08-24 15:35||   2006-08-24 15:35|| Front Page Top

#25 LOD, if you didn't have the lunchbox WITH the graphics-covered thermos inside, you didn't have squat! So there :-)
Posted by Frank G 2006-08-24 15:53||   2006-08-24 15:53|| Front Page Top

#26 If the people of Maysan province were more like Texans, there wouldn't be any problems. If we let the Texans handle their own southern border with Mexico, nobody would be crossing that border illegally. The problem is, we hogtie those that really WANT to do something, instead of letting them get on with it. Turn the SF loose on the Iran/Iraq border with shoot-to-kill orders, and the border will be closed, period. Too bad we're trying to "play nice" instead of playing "kick their a$$".
Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot  2006-08-24 15:59|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]  2006-08-24 15:59|| Front Page Top

#27 --These people are a little like Texans - armed and against anyone who is not one of them.--

That's a feature, not a bug.
Posted by anonymous2u 2006-08-24 22:08||   2006-08-24 22:08|| Front Page Top

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