Michael Yon (born 1964)[1] is an American writer and photographer. He served in the Special Forces in the early-1980s, one of the youngest soldiers to pass the Green Beret selection process, and he became a general freelance writer in the mid-1990s. He focused on military writing after the invasion of Iraq.[2] Yon has been embedded on numerous occasions with American and British troops in Iraq, most prominently a deployment with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (Deuce Four) of the 25th Infantry Division in Mosul, Iraq that ended in September 2005.[3]
The U.S. military has learned NOTHING from the Vietnam War and Beirut 1983.
No rounds in the chamber?
It makes me get pains in my stomach.
This cannot be a real order.
maybe poppies in the barrels of their rifles?
Let's hope not posthumously.
WTF?!?!!?
As a civilian in a non-combat zone I carry with one in the chamber!!!
This doesn’t surprise me. Certainly, this comes down from Secretary of the Army or higher. No local command in Iraq would come up with such a lamebrain idea, as this will get our guys killed.
The time it takes to chamber a round plus the fact that the weapon isn’t up and ready is crazy if bad guys are anywhere nearby.
This makes it obvious that, to this administration, our troops are expendible.
I knew Michael, we went to HS together. Never knew he went SF. Small world.
My intentions were to write several more dispatches about missions, yet there seems to be so little interest in Afghanistan that it hardly seems worth the time to write about real missions.
There is little embedded work coming from Afghanistan. McChrystal's censorship seems to be working. (For now.) He's losing the war and covering it up. The deception is easy when so few people are paying attention. We are losing the war. At this rate it will be lost.
tracking. want more info too, please
http://twitter.com/michael_yon
He's got some interesting photos and updates.
So where is our great “conservative patriot” and champion of America, Mitchie McConnell, trumpeting this sort of disgrace all over FOX news (the only network which would run the story.) Perhaps he’s too busy supporting other RINOs and planning for fewer republican senate seats after November.
So what was SOP before that? Round chambered, safety engaged? I’d go safety off, bolt back, dustcover closed and use the bolt release as a safety.
What’s next, have them patrol with the clip removed too? So, if you come upon a bad guy, what do you do, club him with your rifle?
Someone needs to find out who the A-hole his tha issued that order and why they’re putting our troops into danger for nothing.
That commander who issued the order should be on a street patrol with No rounds in his chamber.
That could be why we lost a group of troops to a suicide bomber just yesterday.
Do these Commanders ever learn?
If true, then the REMF officer who gave the order should be placed on point on a patrol, at the end of a bayonet if necessary.
It’s a war zone and any soldier should be able to defend himself and his unit without any restrictions on his ability to do that.