Hell & Haditha

National Review Online ^ | June 2, 2006 | W. Thomas Smith Jr.

[SuzyQ2]

The vehicle, if close enough to the blast, flips into the air, snapping necks and spinal cords. Heads and limbs are torn from bodies. Gasoline ignites and ammunition cooks off, burning any survivors to a crisp. Those soldiers and Marines (many of whom are still teenagers) who witness the action are instantly shocked, physically sickened, grief-stricken, and enraged over the horror of having watched buddies—who have become closer than any sibling might ever hope to be—torn to pieces. Badly wounded buddies are screaming in agony. Yet the ones uninjured or with minor injuries have to respond as trained. They are dismounting from vehicles, simultaneously removing safeties from weapons and racing for cover or assaulting in the direction of the ambush where seen or unseen forces are shooting at them. The counterattack often requires the instant establishment of a base of fire by one group while an enveloping force prepares to overwhelm the enemy. Blood-pressure is peaking. Adrenaline is pumping.

[Hardastarboard]

removing safeties from weapons

1) You don't "remove" a safety from a weapon. Duh.

2) Safety on in a WAR ZONE? WTF?

[Coop]

2) Safety on in a WAR ZONE? WTF?

Sure. If you're walking point, not likely. But if you're convoying around with your rifle between your legs, probably.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

wow. The best write up and description of combat I have read.

The libs are immature teenagers whining and posturing while the real heroes are facing the ugliest of realities.
It is nauseating to hear the Libs and traitors like Murtha and Kerry who know this reality a little bit at least and still throw our troops under the truck...not for any good intentions for our country but for their own flabby political egos.

[Lurker]

Yep, safeties are on even in a war zone if you're inside a vehicle.

On an M-16 I did it by keeping my thumb on the safety and my trigger finger alongside the trigger guard.

As you move your finger towards the trigger, your thumb sweeps the safety into the firing position.

L

[jazusamo]

Thanks for the post, very good piece.

[SandRat]

Worth the read

[londonboy]

still this sounds like an excuse to me, a justification. Adrenaline makes me able to do things longer without feeling tired..it doesn't make me do irrational things.

[BIGLOOK]

Safeties are on in vehicles. Sometimes no chambered round was the rule. (At least it was in VN.)

[Hardastarboard]

I never served (it shows, doesn't it?), so I didn't know. Thanks for the (gentle) clarification.

[elhombrelibre]

Most weapons are on safe most of the time. Nonetheless, the number of accidental discharges are pretty high. Not all of these soldiers, air men, and Marines are too swift when it comes to handling fire arms.

[wizardoz]

Now I'm wondering, technically, how an IED is set off. It's not like a landmine where anyone who rolls over it sets it off, right? It's remote controlled? Or are there different kinds being used in Iraq right now?

[Lurker]

There are several different types being used now. At first they were using cell phones to set them off but our troops began jamming the signals as they moved into an area for operations.

There are literally dozens of ways to set off IEDs. They can be remote detonated, command detonated, set off by weight, set off by tripwires, or by timers of some type although from what I understand those aren't being used much over there now.

The most sophisticated and lethal variants are being smuggled in from Iran.

L

[SHOOT THE MOON bat]

I heard that quote too. There is more than one house in this town. There must be some reason that the Marines chose that one. There must be a reason the Marines went in blasting. Are we supposed to believe that they just chose it randomly? I don't think so.

[Ronaldus Magnus Reagan]

My solution? Do what the Israeli's used to do..blow up houses. When an IED goes off, after the clean up, blow up the nearest house after it gets evacuated. That'll put new meaning into the words "neighborhood watch"!

[elhombrelibre]

They're set off by a variety of means. Some are set off by radios, some are set off by wires, some are set off by cell phones, and some are set off by infrared. It's a tough thing to counter all of them.

[usmcobra]

Are Marine infantrymen, by virtue of the nature of their work, “cold-blooded” killers?

On the contrary: It is because of the nature of their work—usually performed under extreme stress and fatigue—that Marines truly have to be some of the most moral men on the planet if they are going to be effective warriors. That doesn’t mean they are flawless.

“[A Marine] lives on the razor’s edge of fury and retribution, along with disgust for what he sees, i.e., how the enemy treats their own people,” Col. Ripley says. “He is gripped with emotion when he sees children, many the same ages as his own brothers and sisters, and especially when he sees the mothers trying to protect them from the line of fire. He will put himself in great danger, exposing himself to that same fire just in an attempt to remove non-combatants from this danger.”

He adds, “a Marine is disgusted when he sees how the enemy treat their own people by putting them in situations where they will assuredly become casualties, for the obvious reason that they can blame it on the Americans.”

So it would be unfair and foolish to pass judgment on these Marines, without first finding what exactly happened at Haditha.

To truly understand the depthes to which muthra has sunk we should remember that at one time he knew this, believed this, and lived this.

[BunnySlippers]

Bump

[Coop]

still this sounds like an excuse to me, a justification.

I'm sure it does.