weaknesses in urban reconnaissance

LRRP, LRP, RRD, LRSD, LRSU, etc...
Horned Toad
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Post by Horned Toad »

Desert Sloth wrote:This thread blows my mind, I thought the military would be setting the bar on this one.
there ya go with that thinking again :D
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Silverback
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Post by Silverback »

I think the underlying issue here is that we are a force that is "modernizing" the way we fight without modernizing the way we think. When the invasion force went into Iraq we occupied "Safe houses". The safe houses were the perfect way in our eyes to project force and make contact with the smallest element possible. SF has been occupying safe house for ages and this is something we did solely because it made sense. Fast forward 3-years thursday, I was getting an OIF O&I briefing from a unit that just returned and one of their success stories was...their Battalion commander had the vision to occupy "Patrol bases", The "Patrol Bases" were houses that his companies occupied in order to secure some of the routes within his sector and project his force into his sector.

Morale of the story? Rather than demonstrate the least amount of intellectual effort, the Army reverted to a doctrinal term to describe these "Patrol bases" rather than think freely and call them what they actually were....Safe houses.

As far as recon goes, the Humint in Iraq is primarily gathered by Iraqis on Iraqis. During the Invasion we passed out alot of money and we received alot of Humint in exchange. Some of the Humint was bad, Some of it was good. Here's are some of the particulars of Humint in Iraq

1. Everyone in Iraq has an agenda and will be motivated to shape the battlefield in order to achieve their agenda. Example: A member of the Jaburi tribe will give you all kinds of information on a member of the Obedi tribe. The same individual that gives you the information to "Make Iraq free" would never in a second tell you if a cousin from his tribe lived off of the flesh of live babies!

2. Money may create intelligence that didn't exist before the five dollar bill saw day light.

3. There are a very limited number of IED builders but an unlimited amount of IED emplacers. It's like high school, the guy smoking the weed isn't normally the guy who's selling the weed.

4. Just when you think you're sneaky...an Iraqi dog let's you know he's smarter than you (He barks)

Iraq is a unique enviroment in which we have fostered a very successful insurgency since the bginning of the gulf war. Iraq cannot be compared to the border with Mexico, Iraq cannot be compared to a rotation at JRTC. There are a whole slew of things that we will never understand about Iraq. The O&I briefing I received this week did teach me one thing, I knew alot of shit the last time I was there that I have to remember this time if I want my soldiers to return alive.
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