I recieved this e-mail from a friend of mine pretty intresting I don't know the peolple in the e-mail so take for what it's worth, but I have heard and read similar stuff in other places!!
Rick , Received this from brother in law ,Larry.
> Real interesting info! Spread the word!
>
>
>
> : Saturday, December 23, 2006 9:25 PM
> Subject: Fw: Combat Report From Iraq - Interesting
>
>
>
> Interesting reading...Forwarded to me by a Marine
> friend
>
>
>
>
>
> Subject: Combat Report From Iraq
> Hello everyone,
> This is straight from the shoulder of the combat
> grunts (Marines in this report) doing the heavy
> lifting over there. Well worth your time to read a
> couple of times. Note the last line in paragraph
> #13.
>
>
> The last half of this Marine's report is a great
> analysis of what is truly happening. Unfortunately,
> you will never read, hear, or see the truth in our
> biased news media. No surprise there.
> On the Scene Report from Iraq - LONG 31 Oct 2006
>
> This email is from a guy who is there...No
> politics here, just a Marine with a bird's eye view
> opinion:
> 1) The M-16 rifle: Thumbs down. Chronic jamming
> problems with the talcum powder like sand over ;
> there. The sand is everywhere. Jordan says you feel
> filthy 2 minutes after coming out of the shower. The
> M-4 carbine version is more popular because it's
> lighter and shorter, but it has jamming problems
> also. They like the ability to mount the various
> optical gun sights and weapons lights on the
> Picattiny rails, but the weapon itself is not great
> in a desert environment. They all hate the 5.56mm
> (.223) round. ; Poor penetration on the cinderblock
> structure common over there and even torso hits
> can't be reliably counted on to put the enemy down.
> Fun fact: Random autopsies on dead insurgents
> show a high level of opiate use.
> 2) The M243 SAW (squad assault weapon): .223
> cal. Drum fed light machine gun. Big thumbs down.
> Universally considered a piece of ***. Chronic
> jamming problems, most of which require partial
> disassembly (that's fun in the middle of a
> firefight).
> 3) The M9 Beretta 9mm: Mixed bag. Good gun,
> performs well in desert environment; but they all
> hate the 9mm cartridge. The use of handguns for
> self-defense is actually fairly common. Same old
> story on the 9mm: Bad guys hit multiple times and
> still in the fight.
> 4) Mossberg 12ga. Military shotgun: Works well,
> used frequently for clearing houses to good effect.
> 5) The M240 Machine Gun: 7.62 NATO (.308) cal.
> belt fed machine gun, developed to replace the old
> M-60 (what a beautiful weapon that was!!). Thumbs
> up. Accurate, reliable and the 7.62 round puts' em
> down. Originally developed as a vehicle mounted
> weapon, more and more are being dismounted and taken
> into the field by infantry. The 7.62 round chews up
> the structure over there.
> 6) The M2 .50 cal heavy machine gun: Thumb's
> way, way up. "Ma deuce" is still worth her
> considerable weight in gold. The ultimate fight
> stopper puts their dicks in the dirt every time. The
> most coveted weapon in-theater.
> 7) The .45 pistol: Thumbs up. Still the best
> pistol round out there. Everybody authorized to
> carry a sidearm is trying to get their hands on one.
> With few exceptions, can reliably be expected to put
> 'em down with a torso hit. The special ops guys (who
> are doing most of the pistol work) use the HK
> military model and supposedly love it. The old
> government model 45's are being re-issued en masse.
> 8) The M-14: Thumbs up. They are being re-issued
> in bulk, mostly in a modified version to special ops
> guys. Modifications include lightweight Kevlar
> stocks and low power red dot or ACOG sights. Very
> reliable in the sandy environment, and they love the
> 7.62 round.
> 9) The Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle: Thumbs way
> up. Spectacular range and accuracy and hits like a
> freight train. Used frequently to take out vehicle
> suicide bombers ( we actually stop a lot of them)
> and< /SPAN> barricaded enemy. Definitely here to
> stay.
>
> 10) The M24 sniper rifle: Thumbs up. Mostly in
> .308 but some in 300 win mag. Heavily modified
> Remington 700's. Great performance. Snipers have
> been used heavily to great effect. Rumor has it that
> a marine sniper on his third tour in Anbar province
> has actually exceeded Carlos Hathcock's record for
> confirmed kills with OVER 100.
> 11) The new body armor: Thumbs up. Relatively
> light at approx. 6 lbs. and can reliably be expected
> to soak up small shrapnel and even will stop an
> AK-47 round. The bad news: Hot as *** to wear,
> almost unbearable in the summer heat (which averages
> over 120 degrees). Also, the enemy now goes for head
> shots whenever possible. All the bullshit about the
> "old" body armor making our guys vulnerable to the
> IEDs was a non-starter. The IED explosions are
> enormous and body armor doesn't make any difference
> at all in most cases.
> 12) Night Vision and Infrared Equipment: Thumbs
> way up. Spectacular performance. Our guys see in the
> dark and own the night, period. Very little enemy
> action after evening prayers. More and more enemy
> being whacked at night during movement by our
> hunter-killer teams. We've all seen the videos.
> 13) Lights: Thumbs up. Most of the weapon
> mounted and personal lights are Surefires, and the
> troops love 'em. Invaluable for night urban
> operations. Jordan carried a $34 Surefire G2 on a
> neck lanyard &nbs p; and loved it. I cant help but
> notice that most of the good fighting weapons and
> ordnance are 50 or more years old! With all our
> technology, it's the WWII and Vietnam era weapons
> that everybody wants! The infantry fighting is
> frequent, up close and brutal. No quarter is given
> or shown.
> Bad guy weapons:
> 1) Mostly AK47's. The entire country is an
> arsenal. Works better in the desert than the M16 and
> the .308 Russian round kills reliably. PKM belt fed
> light machine guns are also common and effective.
> Luckily, the enemy mostly shoots like ***.
> Undisciplined "spray and pray" type fire. However,
> they are seeing more and more precision weapons,
> especially sniper rifles.
> (Iran, again)
> Fun fact: Captured enemies have apparently
> marveled at the marksmanship of our guys and how
> hard they fight. They are apparently told in Jihad
> school that the Americans rely solely on technology,
> and can be easily beaten in close quarters combat
> for their lack of toughness. Let's just say they
> know better now.
> 2) The RPG: Probably the infantry weapon most
> feared by our guys. Simple, reliable and as common
> as dogshit. The enemy responded to our up-armored
> Humvees by aiming at the windshields, often at point
> blank range. Still killing a lot of our guys.
> 3) The IED: The biggest killer of all. Can be
> anything from old Soviet anti-armor mines to
> jury-rigged artillery shells. Al lot found in
> Jordan's area were in abandoned cars. The enemy
> would take 2 or 3 155-mm artillery shells and wire
> them together. Most were detonated by cell phone,
> and the explosions are enormous. You're not safe in
> any vehicle, even an M1 tank. Driving is by far the
> most dangerous thing our guys do over there. Lately,
> they are much more sophisticated "shape charges"
> (Iranian) specifically designed to penetrate armor.
> Fact: Most of the ready made IEDs are supplied by
> Iran, who &nb sp; is also providing terrorists
> (Hezbollah types) to train the insurgents in their
> use and tactics. That's why the attacks have been so
> deadly lately. Their concealment methods are
> ingenious, the latest being shape charges in
> Styrofoam containers spray painted to look like the
> cinderblocks that litter all Iraqi roads. We find
> about 40% before they detonate, and the bomb
> disposal guys are unsung heroes of this war.
> 4) Mortars and rockets: Very prevalent. The
> soviet era 122-mm rockets
> (with an 18-km range) are becoming more
> prevalent. One of Jordan's NCOs lost a leg to one.
> These weapons cause a lot of damage "inside the
> wire". Jordan's base was hit almost daily his entire
> time there by mortar and rocket fire, often at night
> to disrupt sleep patterns and cause fatigue
> (It did). More of a psychological weapon than
> anything else. The enemy mortar teams would jump out
> of vehicles, fire a few rounds, and then haul ass in
> a matter of seconds.
> 5) Bad guy technology: Simple yet effective.
> Most communication is by cell and satellite phones,
> and also by email on laptops. They use handheld GPS
> units for navigation and "Googleearth" for overhead
> views of our positions. Their weapons are good, if
> not fancy, and prevalent. Their explosives and bomb
> technology is TOP OF THE LINE. Night vision is rare.
> They are very careless with their equipment and the
> captured GPS units and laptops are treasure troves
> of Intel when captured.
> Who are the bad guys (remember that is what the
> Captain called them!)?
> Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al
> Qaeda group. They operate mostly in Anbar province
> (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly
> "foreigners", non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from
> all over the Muslim world
> (and Europe). Most enter Iraq through Syria
> (with, of course, the knowledge and complicity of
> the Syrian govt.), and then travel down the "rat
> line" which is the trail of towns along the
> Euphrates River that we've been hitting hard for the
> last few months. Some are virtually untrained young
> Jihadists that often end up as suicide bombers or in
> "sacrifice squads". Most, however, are hard core
> terrorists from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda,
> Hezbollah, Hamas). These are the guys running around
> murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off.
> The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are
> supposedly the most ruthless and the best fighters
> (they have been fighting the Russians for years). In
> the Baghdad area and south, most of the insurgents
> are Iranian inspired (and led) Iraqi Shiites. The
> Iranian Shia have been very adept at infiltrating
> the Iraqi local govt.'s, the police forces and the
> Army. They have had a massive spy and agitator
> network there since the Iran-Iraq war in the early
> 80s. Most of the Saddam loyalists were killed,
> captured or gave up long ago.
> Bad Guy Tactics:
> When they are engaged on an infantry level they
> get their asses kicked every time. Brave, but
> stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges were very
> common earlier in the war and still occurs. They
> will literally sacrifice 8-10 man teams in suicide
> squads by sending them screaming and firing AKs and
> RPGs directly at our bases just to probe the
> defenses. They get mowed down like grass every time
> (see the M2 and M240 above). Jordan's base was hit
> like this often. When engaged, they have a tendency
> to flee to the same building, probably for what they
> think will be a glorious last stand. Instead, we
> call in air and that's the end of that more often
> than not. These hole-ups are referred to as Alpha
> Whiskey Romeo's (Allah's Waiting Room). We have the
> laser guided ground-air thing down to a science. The
> fast movers, mostly Marine F-18s, are taking an ever
> increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in the
> open, the helicopter gunships and AC-130 Spectre
> gunships cut them to ribbons with cannon and rocket
> fire, especially at night. Interestingly, artillery
> is hardly used at all.
> Fun fact: The enemy death toll is supposedly
> between 45-50 thousand. That is why we're seeing
> less and less infantry attacks and more IED, suicide
> bombe r ***. The new strategy is simple: attrition.
> The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use
> of civilian non-combatants as cover. They know we do
> all we can to avoid civilian casualties and
> therefore schools, hospitals and (especially)
> Mosques are locations where they meet, stage for
> attacks, cache weapons and ammo and flee to when
> engaged. They have absolutely no regard whatsoever
> for civilian casualties. They will terrorize locals
> and murder without hesitation anyone believed to be
> sympathetic to the Americans or the new Iraqi
> govt.&nb sp; Kidnapping of family members especially
> children) is common to influence people they are
> trying to influence but can't reach, such as local
> govt. officials, clerics, tribal leaders, etc.). The
> first thing our guys are told is "don't get
> captured". They know that if captured they will be
> tortured and beheaded on the internet. Zarqawi
> openly offers bounties for anyone who brings him a
> live American serviceman. This motivates the
> criminal element whom otherwise don't give a ***
> about the war. A lot of the beheading victims were
> actually kidnapped by common criminals and sold to
> Zarqawi. As such, for our guys, every fight is to
> the death. Surrender is not an option.
> The Iraqis are a mixed bag. Some fight well,
> others aren't worth a damn. Most do okay with
> American support. Finding leaders is hard, but they
> are getting better. It is widely viewed that
> Zarqawi's use of suicide bombers against the
> civilian population was a serious tactical mistake.
> Many Iraqis were galvanized and the caliber of
> recruits in the Army and the police forces went up,
> along with their motivation. It also led to an
> exponential increase in good intel because the
> Iraqis are sick of the insurgent attacks against
> civilians. The Kurds are solidly pro-American and
> fearless fighters.
> According to Jordan, morale among our guys is
> very high. They not only believe they are winning,
> but that they are winning decisively. They are
> stunned and dismayed by what they see in the
> American press, whom they almost universally view as
> against them. The embedded reporters are despised
> and distrusted.
> They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1
> and then see *** like "Are we losing in Iraq" on TV
> and the print media. For the most part, they are
> satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership.
> Bottom line though, and they all say this, there are
> not enough guys there to drive the final stake
> through the heart of the insurgency, primarily
> because there aren't enough troops in-theater to
> shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The
> Iranians and the Syrians just can't stand the
> thought of Iraq being an American ally (with, of
> course, permanent US bases there).
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." ~Thomas Jefferson, 1776
In hunting, the finding and killing of the game is after all but a part of the whole." - Theodore Roosevelt