Taliban Attack Kills Two U.S. Marines, Destroys Six Jets

WSJ ^ | 9/16 | nathan hodge

[freeandfreezing]

British press reports that the attackers passed checkpoints since they were unarmed, and then retrieved weapons cached near the base. The attackers then tunneled under the fence wire and entered the base near the US airplanes. The two US Marines killed were the first resistance that the Taliban met, and no doubt their brave actions saved the base from further damage.

According to the same press reports the attackers were within 400 yards of Prince Andrew at one point.

[lowbridge]

See my tagline

[philman_36]

Late Friday night, insurgents disguised in U.S. Army uniforms...

The story still needs some ironing out so reports don't conflict...

Prince Harry targeted in fatal Taliban attack on 'impregnable' military base
Senior defence sources have told The Sunday Telegraph that the Taliban launched the attack after posing as farmers in a near by maize plantation.

Men in US Army uniforms posing as farmers?

[philman_36]

The only way they could have done this is for our guard to have been completely down.

Some interesting details pertaining to that mentioned in the link at reply 23.

[philman_36]

No mention in that article of US Army uniforms either.
And if the intention was to blend in wouldn't Marine uniforms be more appropriate since Marines, not the Army, are stationed there?

The remaining fighters poured into the base firing mortars and RPGs, as well as Kalashnikov AK-47 automatic weapons.

And I really wouldn't give a flying (%^) what uniform they're wearing.
When they're using the weapon of the enemy they're dead meat.

This is the AK-47 assault rifle, the preferred weapon of your enemy;
and it makes a distinctive sound when fired at you, so remember it.

[RummyChick]

I think the farmer bit is them casing the place.

[Cvengr]

According to that account:

Camp Bastion, which is currently estimated to occupy an area similar to the town of Reading, is ringed by 30ft wire fences topped with triple concertina barbed wire. ...Large areas of the base are also protected by a 24 mile long, 30 ft high concrete blast wall interspersed with watch towers equipped with floodlights and manned by heavily armed, specially trained troops. ...The camp is located in the central Helmand desert and is completely isolated, with the exception of a few small farms close to the eastern perimeter. ...All approaches to the base are carefully monitored and the British protection force is equipped with a variety of surveillance devices and radar which should be able to identify any movement on the ground or in the air out to a range of 20 miles.

An air base with a 24mile perimeter wall and fence which is 30 ft tall?

[philman_36]

The attackers then tunneled under the fence wire and entered the base near the US airplanes.
Where the hell did you read that?!
The accounts I've been reading say one dumb ass blew himself up to make a 5' wide hole in the fence.

They must not be able to get wire cutters over there.
Or maybe that simply would have taken too long.

[Cvengr]

From the Telegraph..

[philman_36]

An air base with a 24mile perimeter wall and fence which is 30 ft tall?
I can believe the 24 mile perimeter. The 30' tall fence? Not so much.

[philman_36]

Yeah, I saw it. It doesn’t mention US Army uniforms in that article either, does it?

[philman_36]

See my reply 25?

"No mention in that article of US Army uniforms either."

It was in reply to the reply with that article in it.

[blueunicorn6]

Maybe one of our generals could call them and ask them to consider stopping this kind of behavior because it might upset someone.

[tanknetter]

The USMC just bought the ENTIRE fleet (less two aircraft that went to museums) of RAF Harrier GR.9s for a total of around $100 million. Some of them were going to be put back in service as attrition replacements, I guess the Marines will just pull 6-8 more out of AMARG.

[philman_36]

I think the farmer bit is them casing the place.
Why would they need to "case the place" if they got "insider info" on a hole in the defense? Just drive right up to it and attack.

It's not like they couldn't get an overhead image of the base and pinpoint the location that way.

[3Fingas]

No mention of a challenge and password being used. Uniforms are easy to obtain, passwords and comms frequencies are not.
I could not read the rest of the article to see if there was any mention of it.

I doubt that any of the attackers were taken alive. If so, after they have properly interrogated him/them, they should promptly execute him/them for violating the rules of war.

[3Fingas]

I don’t understand why a newspaper would publish this info in the first place.

[Cvengr]

Could be.

Perhaps there is confusion regarding a jet blast wall somewhere being 30 ft tall.???

I would think in the middle of the desert, a wider strip of multiple fence lines would present a better barrier, but I don’t know the topography involved. Maybe it provides concealment for tarmac activity from off base observation/direct fire weapons.

I would think an immediate response would be to get the heliborne resources aloft immediately. A couple of Cobras would seem to have nipped lots of the problem in the bud.

Local security might be airdale implemented. Maybe a grunt company needs to be dispatched to the area for immediate response.

[ex-snook]

Whose interests are we serving in being there being targets?

[philman_36]

And think about this...they drove up in pickup trucks and then jumped out and ran in through the breached fence.

Why not simply breach the chain link fence by driving the trucks right through it instead of blowing up the fence and alerting everybody to your presence?
And trucks would also get you to your desired location much faster than running on foot.

If that's the best these guys can do...it just boggles the mind.