Caves pose unusual challenge for Army

Washington Times ^ | Thursday, October 11, 2001 | Rowan Scarborough

[bigjoesaddle]

just take the infra red to find the entrances and then start using the bunker busters - and let their bunker be their grave.

That's what I was thinking...the winter will actually help us greatly, won't it? We'll be able to see the heat coming out of vents and enterances of the caves better in the winter.

[Skooz]

Caves pose unusual challenge for Army

Yeah. So did Normandy and Okinawa.

I once read a quote by a US General, I can't recall his name, but it goes like this: "The US Army does not solve problems, it overwhelms them."

[Nuke'm Glowing]

Sigh. I hope we follow the same policy they did in the movie "Starship Troopers". Whenever you find a cave full of critters you nuke'em. Saves our lives and is enviromentally friendly.

[prognostigaator]

Met a couple of you 'tunnel rats' in Mainz who were rotating from the bush..
It is a given that new technology will avoid personal sacrifrices
in order to get the Talibans who hide in caves these days....

[jimt]

To them I say "let you be accursed".

Waste of time - they already are.

[FReethesheeples]

Good solutions.

We ahve some powerful, deep penetrating bombs & missiles, don't we.

If our intelligence was good, we could reserve a special

*tactical nuke*

for al Q'aeda headquarters.

[FReethesheeples]

bump to you & dittos, below your post.

[Bill Rice]

I hope we retained the valuable lessons on tunnel warfare that were bought and paid for in blood by our tunnel rats! Osama owns a construction company, his tunnels will be way more elaborate than what we faced in Viet Nam. (And THEY gave us fits!)

These guys had big ones!

This page is about the excellent book I mentioned on an earlier thread.
"Cu Chi: The underground war" -Go check it out!

[bluetoad]

I suggest we use the same techniques used in WWII with the Japanese. Seal the caves with Bulldozers and Explosives.

[Bill Rice]

It won't be that easy! Go check out what the gooks did. You can Bet Bin Laden has.

They had 250 kilometers of interconected, well ventilated and engineered tunnels in just the Cu Chi distric alone, ALL dug by hand. Bin Laden owns an enfineering/construction firm, what will his be like?

Precision nukes may be the only sure fire way to ensure the TOTAL destruction of his tunnels and the occupants.

[The Wizard]

indeed, caves are easy, you blow up the opening and move to the next one......

[JohnHuang2]

indeed, caves are easy, you blow up the opening and move to the next one......

Amen.

[Bill Rice]

They'll just pop out elsehere. We tried explosive gas in Viet Nam. That didn't work either. They were safely protected in other chambers by blast proof doors, and there were so many ventilation shafts and spider holes that the blast was too dispersed to cause a collapse.

This will be much harder than you think!

[Harrison Bergeron]

"...without much gopher left."

Well, I dunno, I suspect gophers are a lot smarter than terrorists.

Nananananana... I'm allll righttttt!

[bluetoad]

I understand they are short Paved Road in that part of the world. We just start by flating Afganistan out a little, and start laying concrete say in the south and work north? Then they can sell parking spots for the next big war.

We could have done this in Nam too...

[No Truce With Kings]

indeed, caves are easy, you blow up the opening and move to the next one......

Dump lots of colored chemical smoke in first. Pink or yellow or royal blue -- something that cannot be mistaken for natural coloration. Watch to see where the smoke comes out. Mark all exits.

Make sure you wait an hour or two, to give the smoke a chance to percolate through the entire complex. Set up a fire team at the cave mouth, and security around that team. Keep two-three platoons and a troop of apaches in the air on-call in case the roaches attempt to scurry out of a back entrance.

Once you have all exits marked, seal with dynamite. Drop one 5-10K penetrator bomb in the center of the complex to stir throroughly. Move to next complex.

The challenges will be avoiding rock splinters and boredom.

[Bill Rice]

All that was tried in Viet Nam, with less than optimal results.

[No Truce With Kings]

All that was tried in Viet Nam, with less than optimal results.

I seem to remember that line being tried in the Gulf War -- (You know, we tried 500,000 troops in the Vietnam, we tried a sustained air campaign in the Viet Nam, we tried a ground war in Asia in Viet Nam) with less than optimal results.

I am sure your plaints will be just as effective as all of the similar whines I heard in 1990-91.

[realpatriot71]

Cave nukes would actually be a pretty good idea. An explosion of the nuclear kind would send deadly shock waves through the entire tunnel system of that mountain, not to mention the high temps generated from a nuclear blast. AND these blasts would be inside of a mountain, not a lot of troublesome radiation to have to worry about latter. The granite whould shield the outside quite well from any radiation.

[Bill Rice]

"We could have done this in Nam too... "

Yes we could have, and should have. It may require that here, too.

If I'm coming across as some defeatist, that's the wrong impression. That book on the tunnels in Cu-Chi made quite an impression on me. It really laid out how futile and costly our tunnel destruction efforts were in Viet Nam. Our country, with all it's military and industrial might, was stymied by a bunch of little piss-ants who lived in hand made tunnels.

I'm hoping this thread stays bumped long enough that many freepers will check out This tunnel warfare link, and maybe even do some research on their own about our Tunnel Rats. They were one of the largest groups of unappreciated and unsung heros in Viet Nam!

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