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Bingo

The way to be safe is to have the ability to dismount quickly and maneuver against the ambush

Also to have everyone facing out looking trained to execute the reaction to contact battle drill

The best thing to do when you get hit is dismount and return fire, Not everyone will be in the kill zone, those guys who aren't dismount immediately and roll up the flank of the ambush

. The key thing is: MAINTAIN CONTACT, the little fucks have just exposed themselves. Your reaction forces are alerted and homing in, the longer you can keep them in contact the better the chance of them running into someone else when they finally break contact (if they ever manage to) or being killed captured on site.

It's hard to do all that from an armored Hummer.

Low intensity conflict like this is a contact sport and it's best played on foot

Bad guys aren't stupid (well... a few of them are) if they see a trucks with people facing out in every direction and long guns, looking alert, they'll probably wait for someone who to drive along who's brain's in neutral

It's never just a drive from point A to point B. People who think an Armored Hummer is the solution are kidding themselves. It's a limited use tool, that's all. All the best

Qatar-6

I respectfully disagree with you. Most of the KIA are from the IED's that initiate the attack, not from the small arms fire that follows. Hardened vehicles will reduce the casualties from IED's, and mines. Having gunshields on HMMWV's allow the gunner to establish covering fire for dismounts to maneuver instead of making the gunner a sniper target. Ask the OPFOR at JRTC about picking off gunners in HMMWV's or ask the Rangers that were in Somalia about the life expectancy of a HMMWV gunner in a firefight.

The best thing to do when you get hit is dismount and return fire

You are a light infantryman, aren't you? From your perspective, with your experience, dismounting to fight makes perfect sense. Sounds like suicide to me, but I was a tanker. My firepower, mobility and shock are on the vehicle. If I'm afoot in an ambush, something is seriously < messed > up.

Returning fire, immediately, in huge volume, is the key. Too bad we gave all our old Quad .50's away. One advantage of tracked armored vehicles is that the tracks themselves can kill the enemy, and driving right over the ambushers is often an option.

Low intensity conflict like this is a contact sport and it's best played on foot

For cordon and search operations that's absolutely right, but much of the battlefield now consists of streets, roads and highways. How do you do convoy security dismounted?