Posted on 11/20/2007 10:27:47 AM PST by Tennessean4Bush
- Michael Yon : Online Magazine - http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp - Men of Valor: Part I of about VIII
November 20, 2007
Bizarre is an accurate word to describe how quickly a man can fly from, say, Orlando and land smack in the middle of a minefield. Not a metaphorical minefield, but a big, real minefield. The transition occurred in a matter of a few days: Goodbye Mickey Mouse, Hello Minefield. Hello Iran. [1] Telic 10: Sleep-deprived and hungry: welcome to British forces at war. The American name for the war is Operation Iraqi Freedom. OIF 1 comprised the initial invasion back in 2003. Subsequent rotations have led to OIF 2, 3, and so on until the OIF number has become nearly meaningless, and definitely confusing. The British name for OIF is Operation Telic, or Op Telic. The British designation is less confusing, but practically no British soldiers know what Telic means. Whatever the case, Op Telic 1 describes the invasion and immediately thereafter. Since the British rotate every six months, the Op Telic number changes every six months, and so, as I write this, we are in Op Telic 10 as we inch up to the 60th month since the invasion. Telic 1 was eventful because it was an invasion. Telics 2-8 were mostly uneventful, with the exception of Telic 4 which saw brief but sharp fighting. And so Basra fell off the map. Shots were rarely fired and journalists spent relatively little time in Basra. One could almost say the British were treading water while we sorted out Northern Iraq. The British call everything north of their area Northern Iraq, while for Americans Northern Iraq is more likely to denote areas north of Baghdad, and especially Nineveh Province and the peaceful Kurdish areas. Telics 2-8 were nearly sleepwalks, with exception of Telic 4 when 9 British soldiers were KIA and 35 wounded in a six-month period. But for the most part, the work of British soldiers in southern Iraq went largely unnoticed by the media and unappreciated by anyone else. On both trips with the British, I made a point of asking British soldiers how they were treated back in the United Kingdom. They said they are mostly ignored; occasionally expressing a muted desire to get the treatment they imagine American soldiers get. British soldiers seem to imagine our soldiers get big parades and so forth, and hugs from strangers at the airport. And to be sure, many do, especially in Texas, they say. American soldiers get care packages from people they do not even know, and those packages are morale boosters. American soldiers get cards from kindergartens from sea to sea, and the soldiers paste the cards all over the walls of their headquarters and hospitals. I dont know what it is about those homemade cards, with their squiggly letters, stick figures and smiley-faced suns, but whenever I am in hospitals in Iraq, those cards from the kids greatly lift my spirits. Ive seen the British get cards and packages like this, but nothing like the quantity, variety and frequency of what American soldiers get. And, of course, not everyone was indifferent to British efforts in Iraq. As for the British fighting, the enemy was always present in the background, but it was not until Telics 9 and 10 that the enemy truly came alive.
I first embedded with British troops during Telic 9, and during that approximate one-month embed, British casualties might have been, on a per capita basis, 2-3 times higher than American casualties for the same period. The math is difficult because there are many variablesat that time there were about 30 American soldiers in Iraq for every British soldierbut the British officers I spoke with generally concurred with that estimate. Certainly, for those approximate 5,000 Brits in Iraq, there was a lot of shooting and all kinds of exploding munitions, both improvised and off-the-shelf varieties. Some of it was hitting very close; during three consecutive missions that I went on, there were fatalities. One day [3] lost 2 British soldiers with others wounded. In three consecutive missions about 36 people were killed and the tempo was increasing. American units are typically designated by numbers; British units have names. For instance, the Royal Green Jackets were combined with the Royal Gloucester, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry and the Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry along with the Light Infantry into a new outfit called The Rifles. The Rifles consists of five battalions, named respectively 1 Rifles, 2 Rifles, 3 Rifles, 4 Rifles and 5 Rifles. Earlier in 2007, I accompanied 2 Rifles in combat in Basra, during the expertly planned and executed [5] Operation Arezzo. 2 Rifles killed about 26 enemy fighters without sustaining a scratch. Surely fortune smiled upon 2 Rifles that day, but it smiled especially brightly because 2 Rifles was loaded with combat veterans who had taken nothing for granted and were meticulously prepared for battle, as I chronicled in a dispatch about that mission.
2 Riflesphotographed after the battle described in the dispatch [11] British Soldiers at Warhad fought well, sustained losses and inflicted much greater, but the enemy had only been warming up for the most serious battles to come. It was this combat-experienced enemy that would welcome 4 Rifles to Basra, intent on squeezing out every possible drop of British blood.
Assessing the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, conventional wisdom has Op Herrick 4 (in Afghanistan) as setting the high-water mark for heavy fighting. But that is apparently only because so few people know about Telic 10 in Iraq. During the first 3 months of Telic 10, as many were killed and twice as many wounded as during 6 months of Herrick 4. [12] Telic 10: On 16 May, 2 Rifles turned over Basra Palace to 4 Rifles. Major Steve Webb, shown above, with his company from 2 Battalion the Royal Welsh, was assigned to 4 Rifles. Webb had served in Northern Ireland, and did two tours in Bosnia, but this was his first tour in Iraq. His 2 Battalion the Royal Welsh is also known as B (Rorkes Drift) Company, a name it earned after a major battle with Zulu warriors. Its 120 soldiers also go by the name of Welsh Warriors. When present on the 4 Rifles patrols and convoys, the Welsh Warriors always take point. This is because 4 Rifles mostly uses the older, armored Bulldogs, vehicles equipped with electronics that are not well-suited for spotting IEDs and other threats. Webbs company uses the more modern Warriors (similar to the American Bradley), which have more sophisticated gear, therefore landing them the unenviable job of being permanently on point. On 21 May, 4 Rifles would conduct its first mission in on the deadly streets of Basra. Enemy deathtraps were set. As always, the Welsh Warriors had point.
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Yon Ping
PING ~!
Heartening to see this:
~~~~
“American soldiers get care packages from people they do not even know, and those packages are morale boosters. American soldiers get cards from kindergartens from sea to sea, and the soldiers paste the cards all over the walls of their headquarters and hospitals.
I dont know what it is about those homemade cards, with their squiggly letters, stick figures and smiley-faced suns, but whenever I am in hospitals in Iraq, those cards from the kids greatly lift my spirits.
Ive seen the British get cards and packages like this, but nothing like the quantity, variety and frequency of what American soldiers get. And, of course, not everyone was indifferent to British efforts in Iraq. As for the British fighting, the enemy was always present in the background, but it was not until Telics 9 and 10 that the enemy truly came alive.”
BTTT
And, BTW, the caption on the first picture says "sleep-deprived and hungry." Aren't they getting supplies? We should do something about that. In a very minor way, my church sends care packages monthly to various units; is there an address where we can send these brave Brits care packages, too?
BUMP for Yon and the Brits!
Yon is the best. Mainstream mediots would be well advised to learn from this patriot.
That was awesome. Thanks for posting.
“In a very minor way, my church sends care packages monthly to various units; is there an address where we can send these brave Brits care packages, too?”
Oops, didn’t see your post there...
Thanks T4B.
"British soldiers seem to imagine our soldiers get big parades and so forth, and hugs from strangers at the airport. And to be sure, many do, especially in Texas, they say."
I can attest to that!
I fly through Dallas every two or three months.
Not only do folks let our troops know they are much appreciated, but there is a USO in the American terminal.
I've been on many American flights where the flight attendant announces their presence.
There's always a big round of applause, and many speak to them.
I've had some wonderful, and enlightening, conversations with America's finest.
That's not even to mention the big banner thanking our troops hung outside the terminal, by the jetways.
American Airlines remembers 9/11, and what our brave troops are doing to exact a price from those who would try that again.
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