Ask a Soldier

[cav scout]

'Technically' the drill is to lay down fire while simultaneously running like hell the way you came, and to hope that they haven't got a very big cut-off group watching to make sure you're not doing just that - generally, they'll have well over three times your numbers, so attacking them is normally suicide, it's just that we don't exactly fight the world's finest right now and so can get away with things that would be impossible if the enemy tried them on us.

American doctrine is in fact to charge a near ambush (when you are within hand grenade range of the enemy). For a far ambush you lay down fire and break contact. Things are always situationally dependent though so various techniques such as the australian peel might be appropriate in certain cases.

 

[Glassfan]

On looking him up, he was that journalist who was with us in the Falklands - didn't remember the man's name...

I mentioned him because he was a former Para himself, and knew some older men of the unit and therefor had some "privilages" other newsmen didn't. Of course as a vet and a military historian, his book, The Battle for the Falklands, was one of the most cogent and well-informed on that war. The real journalists had no clue about things. And, of course, to just stroll into Darwin (Stanley?) by himself on that one-man recon was pretty ballsy.

So you were there, huh? Goose Green? Mount Kent? Two Sisters?

 

[kochman]

'Technically' the drill is to lay down fire while simultaneously running like hell the way you came, and to hope that they haven't got a very big cut-off group watching to make sure you're not doing just that - generally, they'll have well over three times your numbers, so attacking them is normally suicide, it's just that we don't exactly fight the world's finest right now and so can get away with things that would be impossible if the enemy tried them on us.

Yes, many units will, in fact, go into the battle drill called (in the US) "break contact"... but for rangers/paras, we had "react to ambush"... since we were more highly trained/disciplined than the regular units (when I say regular, I mean, if you ambush a supply column for example, their reaction is most likely going to be break contact, rather than charge head on!)...

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

My unit wasn't supposed to attack. For us a bullet fired was a huge failure. It was a bit sad since we didn't learn a lot about being offensive.

Our training was that if shots are fired look at the area that you are supposed to observe, take cover and shoot any enemies that you see. Then we move in formation, some shoot cover fire, some move.

Our goal was to capture small groups of people, mainly lone individuals. We sneak up, two of us cover, the other two go forward and capture them/take their guns.
We where really stealthy

Question:

After combat the squad leader yells amounition and injuries (in swedish) if the first soldier is fine and has one mag he says zero injured 2 magazines. If the second guy is fine and has three magazines he says zero injured 5 magazines.

What is the command for this in English? In swedish it is amskad.

 

[cav scout]

Question:

After combat the squad leader yells amounition and injuries (in swedish) if the first soldier is fine and has one mag he says zero injured 2 magazines. If the second guy is fine and has three magazines he says zero injured 5 magazines.

What is the command for this in English? In swedish it is amskad.

In the U.S. Army we call that an ACE report (ammo, casualties, equipment). It's pronounced "ace" like the playing card.

 

[Flying Pig]

American doctrine is in fact to charge a near ambush (when you are within hand grenade range of the enemy). For a far ambush you lay down fire and break contact. Things are always situationally dependent though so various techniques such as the australian peel might be appropriate in certain cases.

Yeah, within grenade range we would almost certainly charge, but it would be a bloody mess whatever happened.

I mentioned him because he was a former Para himself, and knew some older men of the unit and therefor had some "privilages" other newsmen didn't. Of course as a vet and a military historian, his book, The Battle for the Falklands, was one of the most cogent and well-informed on that war.

Really? I never recognised him, and nobody saw fit to mention it. Mind you, as I said, I didn't exactly go out of my way to learn about the journalists.

The real journalists had no clue about things. And, of course, to just stroll into Darwin (Stanley?) by himself on that one-man recon was pretty ballsy.

Stanley, I think it was, and wasn't that after the surrender? Still a lot better than most journalists would have done - they tend to alternate between dangerously overconfident and paralysed with the weight of their own uselessness, both of which mean we have to waste people babysitting them. Not that everyone neccessarily minds doing that!

So you were there, huh? Goose Green? Mount Kent? Two Sisters?

Two Sisters and Mount Kent (actually, there were two out there, one of which was the SAS, but not the 'famous' one) were both done by Royal Marines, but it was my battalion that took Goose Green.

In the U.S. Army we call that an ACE report (ammo, casualties, equipment). It's pronounced "ace" like the playing card.

We would check all that as part of the 're-org' after an attack, which includes digging in, sending out searchers and getting a sitrep back up the chain of command. Cas-and-Ammo is the check done by the platoon sergeant/section 2IC after an attack; it's normally down to the guys to make sure their own kit's not been broken - hopefully they'll have realised if it has

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Are there any measures taken to make command and control elements less conspicuous (e.g. tanks with antennas that obviously have superior officers or communications specialists)?

 

[GoodGame]

Are there any measures taken to make command and control elements less conspicuous (e.g. tanks with antennas that obviously have superior officers or communications specialists)?

One is that you don't salute in the field----so therefore you don't mark officers to enemy snipers. And no one is supposed to be wearing shiny bits that they would back in their home countries.

Antennas are usually whipped along the body of the vehicles, I believe. Not sure if that's to minimize recognition or not.

 

[Flying Pig]

One is that you don't salute in the field----so therefore you don't mark officers to enemy snipers. And no one is supposed to be wearing shiny bits that they would back in their home countries.

That's essentially it - it's actually quite hard to spot someone's rank if you don't know it in the field, because they're black or green on camoflage. Another one is that officers aren't supposed to talk too much when the enemy might be observing, and likewise should share in the work - the logic being that if twenty-nine men are digging trenches and one is walking around talking to several of them, he's probably the one in charge.

 

[Samez]

Perhaps a stupid question but nevertheless:
How will paratroopers and other small sized units handle POWs?
Obviously you shouldn't execute them but on the other hand they might corrupt a whole operation as they are a huge problem for supplies and stealth.
I once read that the allied troops executed some of the POWs on D-Day simply because it was impossible to keep them all detained without having a save bridgehead ready. It was even speculated whether Hemingway shot an SS officer during that time.

 

[Flying Pig]

Perhaps a stupid question but nevertheless:
How will paratroopers and other small sized units handle POWs?
Obviously you shouldn't execute them but on the other hand they might corrupt a whole operation as they are a huge problem for supplies and stealth.
I once read that the allied troops executed some of the POWs on D-Day simply because it was impossible to keep them all detained without having a save bridgehead ready. It was even speculated whether Hemingway shot an SS officer during that time.

Obviously shooting them is out of the question - although you'll always hear rumours of soldiers going mysteriously deaf when they reach a machine-gun nest and hear 'I surrender!' - but you're right, we can hardly carry them around with us. We were generally taught to take anything of theirs that we could use, disassemble their weapons and either destroy or take the bolts, and to gag them and tie them to a tree and tell another unit where they were and could you please pick them up before it starts snowing too hard. Not nice, but then again they are the enemy.

 

[TheMulattoMaker]

One is that you don't salute in the field----so therefore you don't mark officers to enemy snipers. And no one is supposed to be wearing shiny bits that they would back in their home countries.

Antennas are usually whipped along the body of the vehicles, I believe. Not sure if that's to minimize recognition or not.

The main (perhaps only) reason for antenna tiedowns is so the antennas don't hit a tree branch and snap off. (Or come in contact with a power line- somewhat worse than a broken antenna.) When the vehicle gets parked back at the motorpool, the antennas go back up, because they'll get warped if they stayed bent all the time.

As a part-time commo guy back in the day, it still amazes me how 50% of my job was just telling knuckleheaded soldiers to tie down their antennas and put them back up.

 

[Flying Pig]

As a part-time commo guy back in the day, it still amazes me how 50% of my job was just telling knuckleheaded soldiers to tie down their antennas and put them back up.

Hey, your lot make up for it every time you mention 'sporadic e'.

 

[kochman]

Perhaps a stupid question but nevertheless:
How will paratroopers and other small sized units handle POWs?
Obviously you shouldn't execute them but on the other hand they might corrupt a whole operation as they are a huge problem for supplies and stealth.
I once read that the allied troops executed some of the POWs on D-Day simply because it was impossible to keep them all detained without having a save bridgehead ready. It was even speculated whether Hemingway shot an SS officer during that time.

The rule is, search them, silence them, separate them, and speed them to "the rear".
When paratroopers jump in, these days, an airfield is often the objective, so that follow on supplies/personnel/etc can be flown in... and flying out things like wounded, POWs, broken equipment, etc to the places that are properly equipped for dealing with them.

When I was in Iraq, we would try to get any captured insurgents to the proper place (Military Intelligence) as quickly as possible, generally the same day if not sooner. No one wants to have to watch a bunch of prisoners when they are supposed to watching out for their own safety.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Is there a military term for "drive-by shooting"? I would imagine that kind of tactic wouldn't be too useful nowadays though, especially with IEDs and what-not.

 

[cav scout]

Is there a military term for "drive-by shooting"? I would imagine that kind of tactic wouldn't be too useful nowadays though, especially with IEDs and what-not.

Bypass with battle handover to other friendly forces

 

[Eat_Up_Martha]

Is there a military term for "drive-by shooting"? I would imagine that kind of tactic wouldn't be too useful nowadays though, especially with IEDs and what-not.

Not entirely relevant, but I think I remember reading somewhere that the SAS pretty much invented the drive-by.

 

[Flying Pig]

Is there a military term for "drive-by shooting"? I would imagine that kind of tactic wouldn't be too useful nowadays though, especially with IEDs and what-not.

Can't think of one - 'ground strafing run?' - British troops don't like to fight from within vehicles at all because they're nice big targets and not anything like as safe as they feel. Wouldn't swear that the King's Regiment have never tried one of those though... [they used to be recruited from Manchester and Liverpool]

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Can't think of one - 'ground strafing run?' - British troops don't like to fight from within vehicles at all because they're nice big targets and not anything like as safe as they feel. Wouldn't swear that the King's Regiment have never tried one of those though... [they used to be recruited from Manchester and Liverpool]

I like that phrase, I should use it. But what about Eat_up_Martha's comment? Is it true?

 

[MobBoss]

Well, folks. I just got notifed this morning. I am being forced to retire, and will finish with 26 years of military service.