Small Unit Tactics AAR

[Peter Cairns]

Against a human, I would prefer to play the Syrian guerrilla type over US forces. Their tactics seem to better reflect my tactical personality.

i.e. I am a coward....

Peter.

[Imperial Grunt]

Originally posted by Waleed:

Hi Steve, thanks for the quick reply - just got back to the Forums.

I assumed no co-operation as the AAR infers all the lessons were learnt by the USMC in recent combat. Most of what is in there I knew in 1992, an example, the following...

"The Marines should have some dispersion, and the pace of the running should not be so fast that the Marines are uncontrolled and not maintaining all around security"

...the British Army was teaching this 20 years ago...why didn't our US allies learn from us?

I was in the Reserves so I never had to serve in Northern Ireland, but all my PI's (Permanent Instructors) did, and they weere always willing to teach...hell, we were all taught that the guy who gains the first entry gap and lobs the grenades is NOT the guy who then ebters the room first.

I am astonished that the USMC needed the AAR and the lessons learnt therin - surly it must have known all of this BEFORE Fallujah ?

Almost all of the points listed in the AAR are standard doctrine and covered in detail in MCWP 3-33.3 MOUT. It is all part of the MOUT training in formal schools and unit training. The techniques about breaching, dispersion, etc.. are all there. The Marine battalions involved were all well-trainined in MOUT.

But when a squad is clearing multiple structures every day and you are in high intensity combat for weeks, people tend to begin to skip steps. The part about Marines following thier own breach, remaining bunched up (and dispersion can be very difficult anyways in a dense city like Fallujah), and other comments are meant as reminders from one Marine NCO to other Marine NCOs.

[ December 04, 2006, 07:00 PM: Message edited by: Imperial Grunt ]

[Dirtweasle]

Just came across this article, Imperial Grunt or others, can you comment?

Serious Use for Silly String

New Jersey Woman Collects Silly String for Serious Use

By REBECCA SANTANA

STRATFORD, N.J. Dec 6, 2006 (AP)— In an age of multimillion-dollar high-tech weapons systems, sometimes it's the simplest ideas that can save lives. Which is why a New Jersey mother is organizing a drive to send cans of Silly String to Iraq.

American troops use the stuff to detect trip wires around bombs, as Marcelle Shriver learned from her son, a soldier in Iraq.

Before entering a building, troops squirt the plastic goo, which can shoot strands about 10 to 12 feet, across the room. If it falls to the ground, no trip wires. If it hangs in the air, they know they have a problem. The wires are otherwise nearly invisible.

Now, 1,000 cans of the neon-colored plastic goop are packed into Shriver's one-car garage in this town outside Philadelphia, ready to be shipped to the Middle East thanks to two churches and a pilot who heard about the drive.

"If I turn on the TV and see a soldier with a can of this on his vest, that would make this all worth it," said Shriver, 57, an office manager.

The maker of the Silly String brand, Just for Kicks Inc. of Watertown, N.Y., has contacted the Shrivers about donating some. Other manufacturers make the stuff, too, and call their products "party string" or "crazy string."

"Everyone in the entire corporation is very pleased that we can be involved in something like this," said Rob Oram, Just for Kicks product marketing manager. He called the troops' use of Silly String innovative.

The military is reluctant to talk about the use of Silly String, saying that discussing specific tactics will tip off insurgents.

But Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said Army soldiers and Marines are not forbidden to come up with new ways to do their jobs, especially in Iraq's ever-evolving battlefield. And he said commanders are given money to buy nonstandard supplies as needed...

[aka_tom_w]

Dirtweasle your post should have its very own thread..

it started here:

time-life first article

time-life second most recent article

"Shriver told TIME today that her one-car garage is now stacked with more than a thousand cans of the stuff. She's looking for more. TIME has also received inquiries from teachers around the country whose students read the story and want to help Shriver in her Silly quest.

"You've gotten me into this mess," she wrote TIME via e-mail. "And I love it!" It will all be worthwhile, she says, if it can save one person's life.

If you'd like to send donations of money (make checks payable to Marcelle Shriver) or cans of Silly String or other items for troop care packages, the address is:

Marcelle Shriver

c/o St. Luke's Church

55 Warwick Rd.

Stratford, N.J. 08084"

[MartinEden]

Yeah, the Syrians have extensive experience at having their asses handed to them by the Israelis. Me thinks the Americans would treat them the same way.