thedrifter
01-18-09, 08:03 AM
January 18, 2009
Troops learn Iraq tactics are not for Afghanistan
Armor too heavy, vehicles too slow for hilly terrain
BY NANCY A. YOUSSEF
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
DELARAM, Afghanistan -- On a sunset patrol in late December, U.S. Marines spotted a Taliban unit trying to steal Afghan police vehicles at a checkpoint.
In a flash, the Marines turned to pursue, driving off the main road and toward the gunfire coming from the mountain a half-mile away.
But their 6-ton vehicles were no match for the Taliban pickups.
The mine-resistant vehicles and heavily-armored Humvees bucked and swerved as drivers tried to maneuver them across fields that the Taliban vehicles raced across.
The Marines, weighted down with 60 pounds of body armor each, struggled to climb up Saradaka Mountain. Once at the top, it was clear to everyone that the Taliban would get away.
Second Lt. Phil Gilreath, 23, of Kingwood, La., called off the mission.
"It would be a ghost chase, and we would run the risk of the vehicles breaking down again," Gilreath said.
The Marines spent the next hour trying to find their way back to the paved road.
A different kind of terrain
The Marines, based at Camp Lejeune, are discovering in their first two months in Afghanistan that the tactics they learned in nearly six years of combat in Iraq are of little value.
Their MRAP mine-resistant vehicles, which cost $1 million each, were specially developed to combat the terrible effects of roadside bombs, the single biggest killer of Americans in Iraq.
But Iraq is a country of highways and paved roads, and the heavily-armored vehicles are cumbersome on Afghanistan's unpaved roads and rough terrain where roadside bombs are much less of a threat.
Body armor is critical to warding off snipers in Iraq, where Sunni Muslim insurgents once made a video of American soldiers falling to well-placed sniper shots a staple of recruiting efforts. But the added weight makes Marines awkward and slow when they have to dismount to chase after Taliban gunmen in Afghanistan.
Even the Humvees, finally carrying heavy armor after years of complaints that they did little to mitigate the impact of roadside explosives in Iraq, are proving a liability.
Marines say the heavy armor added for protection in Iraq is too rough on the vehicles' transmissions in Afghanistan's much hillier terrain, and the vehicles frequently break down.
The Marines have found other differences:
In Iraq, American forces could win over remote farmlands by swaying urban centers. In Afghanistan, there's little connection between the farmlands and the mudhut villages that pass for towns.
In Iraq, armored vehicles could travel on both the roads and the desert. Here, the paved roads are mostly for outsiders -- travelers, truckers and foreign troops. To reach the populace, American forces must find unmapped caravan routes that run through treacherous terrain.
In Iraq, a half-hour firefight was considered a long engagement; here, Marines have fought battles that have lasted as long as eight hours.
U.S. military leaders recognize that they need to make adjustments.
During a Dec. 24 visit, Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway told the troops that the Defense Department is studying how to reconfigure the bottom of its MRAPs to handle Afghanistan's rougher terrain.
And Col. Duffy White, the commander of the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force, said he anticipates that Marines will be wearing less armor by spring, when fighting season begins again.
"Hopefully we have not become wedded to the vehicles," White said, a reference to the MRAPs, which currently are required for every patrol. "We have to set the standard operation procedure for how to do this. This not Iraq."
Time for the switch
Just how quickly the U.S. military can shift its weapons, tactics and mind-set to Afghanistan after nearly seven years of training almost exclusively for Iraq is a major question as President-elect Barack Obama takes office promising to transfer combat units out of Iraq and into Afghanistan.
Students of the Iraq war know that change came slowly and only after years of casualties made worse by inadequate equipment.
When the Taliban does take on the Marines, it's a different kind of fight, Marines said.
For one, the Taliban will wait until they're ready, not just when an opportunity appears. They will clear the area of women and children. And when the attack comes, it's often a full-scale attack, said one Marine captain and Iraq veteran who asked not to be identified because he wasn't sure he was allowed to discuss tactics.
Afghans "are willing to fight to the death. They recover their wounded, just like we do," said the captain. "When I am fighting here, I am fighting a professional army. If direct fighting does not work, they will go to an IED. ... To fight them, you are pulling every play out of the playbook."
Additional Facts
5 killed, 7 wounded in Afghan suicide car blast
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide car bomb attack Saturday on a heavily guarded road between a U.S. military base and the German Embassy killed one U.S. service member and four Afghan civilians, officials said.
The blast also wounded six U.S. troops and a U.S. civilian, they said.
Germany has 3,200 troops in Afghanistan, mainly in the country's north. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said Germans were the target.
Separately, a U.S. service member died when militants fired at a CH47 transport helicopter and it made a "hard landing" in Kunar province, the U.S. military said.
Military spokesman Col. Greg Julian said it wasn't immediately clear whether the incoming fire brought down the helicopter.
The United States has said it will send up to 30,000 new troops into Afghanistan this year, including about 3,000 forces in two provinces adjacent to Kabul, where militants now have free rein. There are now about 32,000 American troops in Afghanistan.
Associated Press
Ellie
Troops learn Iraq tactics are not for Afghanistan
Armor too heavy, vehicles too slow for hilly terrain
BY NANCY A. YOUSSEF
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
DELARAM, Afghanistan -- On a sunset patrol in late December, U.S. Marines spotted a Taliban unit trying to steal Afghan police vehicles at a checkpoint.
In a flash, the Marines turned to pursue, driving off the main road and toward the gunfire coming from the mountain a half-mile away.
But their 6-ton vehicles were no match for the Taliban pickups.
The mine-resistant vehicles and heavily-armored Humvees bucked and swerved as drivers tried to maneuver them across fields that the Taliban vehicles raced across.
The Marines, weighted down with 60 pounds of body armor each, struggled to climb up Saradaka Mountain. Once at the top, it was clear to everyone that the Taliban would get away.
Second Lt. Phil Gilreath, 23, of Kingwood, La., called off the mission.
"It would be a ghost chase, and we would run the risk of the vehicles breaking down again," Gilreath said.
The Marines spent the next hour trying to find their way back to the paved road.
A different kind of terrain
The Marines, based at Camp Lejeune, are discovering in their first two months in Afghanistan that the tactics they learned in nearly six years of combat in Iraq are of little value.
Their MRAP mine-resistant vehicles, which cost $1 million each, were specially developed to combat the terrible effects of roadside bombs, the single biggest killer of Americans in Iraq.
But Iraq is a country of highways and paved roads, and the heavily-armored vehicles are cumbersome on Afghanistan's unpaved roads and rough terrain where roadside bombs are much less of a threat.
Body armor is critical to warding off snipers in Iraq, where Sunni Muslim insurgents once made a video of American soldiers falling to well-placed sniper shots a staple of recruiting efforts. But the added weight makes Marines awkward and slow when they have to dismount to chase after Taliban gunmen in Afghanistan.
Even the Humvees, finally carrying heavy armor after years of complaints that they did little to mitigate the impact of roadside explosives in Iraq, are proving a liability.
Marines say the heavy armor added for protection in Iraq is too rough on the vehicles' transmissions in Afghanistan's much hillier terrain, and the vehicles frequently break down.
The Marines have found other differences:
In Iraq, American forces could win over remote farmlands by swaying urban centers. In Afghanistan, there's little connection between the farmlands and the mudhut villages that pass for towns.
In Iraq, armored vehicles could travel on both the roads and the desert. Here, the paved roads are mostly for outsiders -- travelers, truckers and foreign troops. To reach the populace, American forces must find unmapped caravan routes that run through treacherous terrain.
In Iraq, a half-hour firefight was considered a long engagement; here, Marines have fought battles that have lasted as long as eight hours.
U.S. military leaders recognize that they need to make adjustments.
During a Dec. 24 visit, Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway told the troops that the Defense Department is studying how to reconfigure the bottom of its MRAPs to handle Afghanistan's rougher terrain.
And Col. Duffy White, the commander of the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force, said he anticipates that Marines will be wearing less armor by spring, when fighting season begins again.
"Hopefully we have not become wedded to the vehicles," White said, a reference to the MRAPs, which currently are required for every patrol. "We have to set the standard operation procedure for how to do this. This not Iraq."
Time for the switch
Just how quickly the U.S. military can shift its weapons, tactics and mind-set to Afghanistan after nearly seven years of training almost exclusively for Iraq is a major question as President-elect Barack Obama takes office promising to transfer combat units out of Iraq and into Afghanistan.
Students of the Iraq war know that change came slowly and only after years of casualties made worse by inadequate equipment.
When the Taliban does take on the Marines, it's a different kind of fight, Marines said.
For one, the Taliban will wait until they're ready, not just when an opportunity appears. They will clear the area of women and children. And when the attack comes, it's often a full-scale attack, said one Marine captain and Iraq veteran who asked not to be identified because he wasn't sure he was allowed to discuss tactics.
Afghans "are willing to fight to the death. They recover their wounded, just like we do," said the captain. "When I am fighting here, I am fighting a professional army. If direct fighting does not work, they will go to an IED. ... To fight them, you are pulling every play out of the playbook."
Additional Facts
5 killed, 7 wounded in Afghan suicide car blast
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide car bomb attack Saturday on a heavily guarded road between a U.S. military base and the German Embassy killed one U.S. service member and four Afghan civilians, officials said.
The blast also wounded six U.S. troops and a U.S. civilian, they said.
Germany has 3,200 troops in Afghanistan, mainly in the country's north. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said Germans were the target.
Separately, a U.S. service member died when militants fired at a CH47 transport helicopter and it made a "hard landing" in Kunar province, the U.S. military said.
Military spokesman Col. Greg Julian said it wasn't immediately clear whether the incoming fire brought down the helicopter.
The United States has said it will send up to 30,000 new troops into Afghanistan this year, including about 3,000 forces in two provinces adjacent to Kabul, where militants now have free rein. There are now about 32,000 American troops in Afghanistan.
Associated Press
Ellie