Green Berets outfought, outthought the Taliban

http://www.usatoday.com/ ^ | 01/07/2002 | By Kirk Spitzer

[Bad~Rodeo]

Members of Green Beret team Tiger 03 spot Taliban targets for U.S. warplanes.

The soldiers operated largely in secret, with little direct support or supervision. They wore long hair and beards, lived in unmarked compounds and moved mostly at night. They called in airstrikes from hidden bunkers and shallow trenches, dodged artillery and mortar rounds and, when necessary, traded shots with Taliban soldiers across the frontlines.

[TomB]

The troops also looked at two Russian generators recently donated to the city of Dasht-e Qaleh...

Oooooh, that is going to have the tin foil hat crowd around here mumbling to themselves.

Well, more than they normally do.

[maica]

These thirty-somethings are much the same age as the heroes of NYC and even the risk-taking bond traders who worked and died on the top floors.

I, as a sixty something - older than the Boomers who have shaped our country's path for so many years, am VERY encouraged for our future by the actions we have seen so far in this group, often called the X- generation.

Now we can think of them on their ATVs directing bombing as X-fighters and HEROES!

[dts32041]

You have to understand, being a Solider is like any other career. There is a career path you follow, you start out young 19-20 learn your trade and progrees up a path.

These NCO's have any where from 10 to 15 years experience.

You look at a regular line unit, and you will still find the private 19-22 years old, with maybe 2 years expierence.

Nothing has changed, Soliders are still young.

[jslade]

bumperino! Hooyah!

[StriperSniper]

"You bomb one side of a hill and push (Taliban fighters) in one direction, then bomb the next hill over and push guys the other way. Then, when they're all bunched up, you bring in more ... (planes) and drop right on top of them ...

Gotta luv it!

[walden]

You have to understand, being a Solider is like any other career. There is a career path you follow, you start out young 19-20 learn your trade and progrees up a path. These NCO's have any where from 10 to 15 years experience. You look at a regular line unit, and you will still find the private 19-22 years old, with maybe 2 years expierence. Nothing has changed, Soliders are still young.

You misunderstand me-- there's nothing wrong with a soldier starting young and learning his profession, but what is profoundly wrong is using young, uneducated, untrained (and drafted) troops as cannon fodder. A friend of mine volunteered for the Marine Corps at 22, as a college graduate, and after a couple of additional training schools after basic, went to Vietnam (he was a regular guy, not an officer). In fact, he chose the Marines over the other services because he knew he would get more and better training. After a couple of purple hearts, he came home-- banged up, but alive, and in a few months recovered completely. He can tell lots of stories about poor dumb kids who died over there because they were young and foolish. I asked him once if there were many guys like him there, and he said that there were some, but not many. Even the age difference, only 4 years, between 18 and 22 is profound. When I look back and compare myself at 30 with myself at 20, it's like two different people, in terms of wisdom, knowledge, and expertise in my profession. Older is better.

Additionally, volunteers of any age are an entirely different story from draftees.

[jwalsh07]

The best of the best, brains, brawn and balls the size of cantalopes. God love'em.

[Redleg Duke]

But...but...but this can't be true! Ever since the Viet Nam War, the liberal elite on all of our college campuses have assured us that the only thing that Green Berets can kill are innocent women, children and especially babies!

And these liberals wouldn't lie to us, would they?

[b4its2late]

Directing bombs on the battlefield, called close air support, is part art, part science, Kevin said. Tiger 03 controllers noticed that Taliban fighters would come out of their trenches to watch bombs falling on their comrades nearby. They began choreographing bomb runs so that one or two minutes after bombs started falling on one hill, they would begin landing on the spectators on the neighboring hill.

Gary Larson could probably come up with a good cartoon depicting this..... LOL!

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

The top brass have never liked the idea of Special Forces, and have done much to relegate them to marginal status. Their thinking being, that there was to much tallent concentrated in a single entity.

It looks like once again this concentrated tallent has paid the USA quite a dividend, and that there will always be a need for such units. It is good to see.

True, but the flip side of that is a further chapter in the "asymmetrical risks" problem. Like the massively expensive weaponry with massive deployment expenses that are gulping down our taxes, these highly trained, experienced troopers are very lucrative targets for a determined enemy to hit. Also, even when the enemy doesn't make a direct score, events like the mechanical failure of that B2 on its way to/from a target cost US taxpayers something on the order of several hundred million dollars.

Sounds like the bombing actions have seriously dampened the enthusiasm, or just punched out the lights, of many of these fellows (which is good), but there will be plenty more where they came from, as long as the adversary can have occassional spectacular successes like the WTC, and some less spectacular successes like the 14 yr old kid, now hidden somewhere out there by his friends and relatives, who took out one of these excellent men.

These financial considerations may seem crass, but these are just the opening phases of a long struggle, and "marathons" are won by cost-effective strategic plans, not endless media/morale oriented spectacular "sprints" like the operations to-date in Afghanistan. Don't think months, think decades.

[Mama_Bear]

Reading this was a wonderful start to my day. I am so proud of these Green Berets! The team work, the dediction and the courage of these brave men is inspiring. It inspires me to be a better American in every way I possibly can and to pray extra hard for our troops on the seas and in the field.

Thank you Bad Rodea for posting this and thank you JH2 for the ping.

[mtngrl@vrwc]

HOORAY for our side! I am just filled with pride to be an American!

[tillacum]

These wonderful people are the very ones most of the diminutive/daschles are afraid to increase the budget for.

What a terrific bunch and what a GREAT military we have despite 8 years of administration decay.

HURRAH for our military.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

While a huge part of me was saying HOO AHHH.. another part of me was thinking "I hope we don't start giving away our strategies".

I think our military is so proud to serve under this Commander in Chief and his Cabinet and Staff, BECAUSE they KNOW that they put thier lives first over press releases etc.

So while I'm extremely proud of the awesome accomplishments of our troops, and the fact that they "blended" in so well and assisted (with great peril) the efforts over there,. I'm sure their mission isn't done yet. I mean, this didn't come from the Pentagon, but from a news outlet right?

If one persons life is endangered because of stories like this,.. it won't have been worth it.

Just food for thought.. and I'm NOT shooting the messenger (who obviously didn't "write" the article, and it "is" out there!)... just pondering. I'm open to debate regarding my opinion of it. But my first priority is the safety of our troops. As I know it is for all here.

Flame away ... (*as I'm sure a couple will do... but trust me, I can take it!!) :o)

I'm just not in the "We have a right to know crowd".. but rather belong to the "They have a right to as much safety as possible crowd".

[okimhere]

Wonderful read! Thanks. Had journalists (and Geraldo) been given access as they were demanding, they would have blown this operation big time. I've been waiting impatiently for the time we'd hear firsthand of the operations behind our successes. This is even more incredible than I'd imagined.

[Polybius]

Success in Afghanistan, a treacherous morass of changing political loyalties played out on a lunar-like landscape, could influence the conduct of U.S. military operations for years to come.

Let's be very careful about declaring sweeping changes in military strategy and tactics. A treeless, desert landscape is ideally suited for this kind of warfare. A jungle in the Phillipines is not.

[eureka!]

bump for a great read...

[Gritty]

Great story!

"It appears the point of the spear is still very sharp!" - John Lehmann (former Sec of Navy)

[lodwick]

Big Bumps - thank you.