http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGabL8fpRW4
A very professional young man with a helmet cam!
awesome, another PR victory for the opposition. security forces routed and pushed out by light ineffective harassment fire. they just increased their sphere of influence and decreased the confidence in gov forces.
close with, destroy, and make a show of having the bodies ID’d… will make for a better endstate.
Maybe it’s because I’ve never been in anything remotely close to what they were just in, but I shuttered at the 0:11 second mark. (Couldn’t listen with sound for the whole thing being at work, but that was pretty intense)
And you’re getting the full field of view of the helmet cam, imagine getting sucked down your optic and seeing him pass by in front of you! :eek: Yet another reason for both eyes open, situational awareness and all that jazz. I’m no one to judge, but from what I can tell, if everyone was doing the same job that the helmet cam operator was, the situation would have turned out differently. It seemed like way too many people were just hiding, waiting for the enemy to go away. 
I was thinking the exact same thing. Everything I was taught in the Army was to fight through the ambush. What little was shown in the video the soldier with the helmet cam was basically the only one returning fire. Most of the others had taken cover and were not returning fire. I shuddered also in the very beginning when the one soldier ran in front of the slodier with the helmet cam. Thankfully he was aware of what was going on around him and lowered his weapon until the guy cleared his field of fire. We only saw a little bit of the whole exchange. On the other hand, what if they had fought through and tried to advance on the enemy positions, routes to those positions could have been mined with IED’s. Or the initial fire from th enemy could have been drawing fire to bring our troops into the actual kill zone where more of the enemy would have been able to bring a greater volume of fire down upon our troops. Who knows for sure though.
Doctrine hasn’t changed in 50 yrs. Near ambush, effective fire, grenade range, assault through. Ineffective, maneuver to advantage and kill em.
Sad commentary on leadership/roe’s/current status of army infantry operations.
The Helmet cam operator seemed to have good initiative but the unit seemed to lack communication and fight as a whole. I didn’t notice any heavy return fire or firepower superiority. Where were the M249 SAWS? Some sustained M240 fire would have helped. 5.56 doesn’t seem to have much of a psychological effect on the enemy in the suppressive role. I noticed the cam op had a couple stoppages with his M4 and transitioning between the M4 and M320 was awkward. I have no combat experience so I’ll try to be respectful, but to me, they need some firepower (M249’s, M240’s and a M32) along with some smoke grenades, initiative/leadership and fire and maneuver.
anybody see the malfunctions? :eek:
also, no speed reloads.
I have to respectfully ask that if you have no combat experience in Afghanistan that you not try to armchair quarterback this one. He is leading soldiers in an urban area, babysitting the incredibly incompetent ANA, under ROE that wants him to withdraw.
Yea, doctrine still says to push through, but this isn’t a doctrine fight.
To whoever had the camera on, I say hooah.
A lot of malfunctions on his M-4, would be interested in whats up with that. Several guys never seemed to return fire, just hanging behind cover. The cam operator seems like a real stud.
Looks like he is running P-Mags around 3:30 when he reloads.
Why did I retire again? I’ve issues with what I’m seeing, but of course I’m in a nice safe house so WTF do I know…
DMR, all I can say is Holy…
There is a lot to say about this video. I will refrain and leave it as this is not the Norm.
I have served 2 tours there and the problem is not the ROE. The problem is not understanding the ROE. If you as a Soldier or a Leader use the phrase " I fear for my life" as the ROE you are failing yourself and your Soldiers and should seek other employment. This is not my house in Small town, USA.
I have never been restricted from Attacking, destroying legit targets, or using supporting arms by the ROE. Nor have I seen an ROE other than inside Kabul itself, limiting those things.
I have however seen Leaders who due to their lack of Spine, use the ROE as a smoke screen for their cowardice.
This.
I was sadly disappointed to not see any of the above and no fire and maneuver towards the enemy.
Ash,
Glad to hear it. Good luck with your deployment. I’m working some issues for you all. Hope to have them resolved for you soon. Well most of them. A couple have me scratching my head.
Robert
Has this changed recently? Could you elaborate? (Feel free to PM me if you’d rather not discuss ROE in the clear.)
This was more what I experienced:
I was in Afghanistan when McChrystal took over and it was a very dramatic shift in the mindset and course of action taken. I caught the last couple months of the “wild west” stage. I have not been back since Patraeus took over. I don’t want to go into specifics because I am not sure what parts are sensitive anymore so I would prefer to just say nothing IRT the spins/roe.
The two keys here are the “urban” setting and the ANA en tow.
Understood. Thanks for the info.
I’ve not gone to the war. I’m not qualified to judge who was or wasn’t shooting who should have been, except that the cameraman damn near messed up in a serious way. I was trained that when shooting over someone, you stand on them. People firing over or past someone when they shouldn’t be is a leading cause of fratricide.
I am looking at our ROE right now. All is well. Very well explained, clear, and very acceptable.
It is simply what you would expect from a professional that lives by a moral code
I expected as much. Rock on, sir.
I don’t want to come across the wrong way, as I am not looking to debate this, nor claim to be the expert on roe. My real intent was to stop people who have no idea what they talking about from giving their John Madden breakdown of how they should have done it. There is room for more aggression, but IMO, it was not “wrong.”