11/17/2005
Once Again, the Press Just Doesn't Get Weapons & Tactics
You'd think, after almost 4 years of being at war, you'd think the press would maybe bother to learn something about weapons and tactics. Especially someone who writes for a group called DefenseTech.org. Of course, that would assume a responsible media.
Marines Quiet About Brutal New Weapon
War is hell. But it's worse when the Marines bring out their new urban combat weapon, the SMAW-NE. Which may be why they're not talking about it, much.
This is a version of the standard USMC Shoulder Mounted Assault Weapon but with a new warhead. Described as NE - "Novel Explosive"- it is a thermobaric mixture which ignites the air, producing a shockwave of unparalleled destructive power, especially against buildings.
Starts right in the the over the top rhetoric. "Unparalleled destructive power" my ass. 'Thermobaric' is another way of saying 'fuel-air explosive,' a type of weapon that's been around since Vietnam. Yes, exploding fuel vapor has more power per unit of mass that conventional solid explosives. It's also the same process that, on a much smaller scale, drives the pistols in your car's engine. {Note: I have since learned that the SMAW-NE warhead uses powdered aluminum to achieve it's explosive effect, which makes it more like a grain silo dust explosion, or the coal dust explosion which one theory says destroyed the USS Maine in Havan harbor. But the basic effect is pretty much the same. -HL}
The author is also apparently unaware that thermobaric warheads are also available for the RPG-7. I wonder if he'd complain if Haji was firing those warheads at our guys.
A post-action report from Iraq describes the effect of the new weapon: "One unit disintegrated a large one-storey masonry type building with one round from 100 meters. They were extremely impressed." Elsewhere it is described by one Marine as "an awesome piece of ordnance."
It proved highly effective in the battle for Fallujah. This from the Marine Corps Gazette, July edition: "SMAW gunners became expert at determining which wall to shoot to cause the roof to collapse and crush the insurgents fortified inside interior rooms."
So, apparently, the reason this weapon is "brutal" is that it's extremely effective. Or maybe our troops are now expected to kill bad guys without doing any property damage.
The author then goes on to quote the Marine Corps Gazette:
"Marines could employ blast weapons prior to entering houses that had become pillboxes, not homes. The economic cost of house replacement is not comparable to American lives...all battalions adopted blast techniques appropriate to entering a bunker, assuming you did not know if the bunker was manned."
This seems to make a whole lot of sense to me, but I'm just an Infantry officer. What do I know?
The author then proceeds to disparage this line of reasoning:
But in an era of precision bombs, where collateral damage is expected to be kept to a minimum, such massively brutal weapons have become highly controversial. These days, every civilian casualty means a few more "hearts and minds" are lost. Thermobaric weapons almost invariable lead to civilian deaths. The Soviet Union was heavily criticized for using thermobaric weapons in Afghanistan because they were held to constitute "disproportionate force," and similar criticisms were made when thermobarics were used in the Chechen conflict. According to Human Rights Watch, thermobaric weapons "kill and injure in a particularly brutal manner over a wide area. In urban settings it is very difficult to limit the effect of this weapon to combatants, and the nature of FAE explosions makes it virtually impossible for civilians to take shelter from their destructive effect."
This whole paragraphs is just asinine. I'm not sure how a JDAM (minimum size-1,000 lbs) would cause less collateral damage or not be "disproportionate force", and all the other precision guidance kits I could find required either a 1,000 or 2,000 lb bomb. Bombs that size tend to turn the target building into a large hole in the ground, as well as levelling a lot of the surrounding buildings. Whereas this SMAW-NE, when the gunner holds up his end and gets the round inside the building, only flattens the target. Sounds pretty precise to me.
As far as criticism of the use of thermobarics by the Soviets/Russians, given the Russian penchant for making up for a lack of precision with overkill, I'd be willing to bet they were using their weapons against the general area of the target. Whereas the Marines, according to the article, are putting the -NE rounds inside the target building. Which means that the fuel vapor powdered aluminum-and the resulting explosion-would be largely confined to that same building. Also, US forces have been using thermobaric weapons against Taliban/al-Qaeda cave complexes in Afghanistan for a few years now, and I haven't heard any complaints about how "brutal" they are. But maybe that's just because the reporters are too lazy to get up into the mountains where the caves are.
Let's just examine the tactical problem here for a minute, shall we? You're a Marine platoon leader, fighting in a urban area, and you're faced with a building that's been fortified and turned into a strongpoint by Haji. What are your options?
1) Take care of it yourself. Assault the building and clear it room by room, most likely taking several dead/wounded from enemy fire, booby traps, etc. Kill the bad guys with small arms fire and grenades, which means there's a good chance they'll die by bleeding to death.
2) If you've got air support available, have them drop one of those precision bombs Mr. Hambling likes so much, turning the building in question into a large hole in the ground (1,000 lbs, minimum, remember?) and flattening many of the surrounding buildings as well. Collateral damage anyone?
3) (This one's available to the Army, not the Marines-and is certain to warm the heart of the Master of Castle Argghhh!!!) Suppress the enemy so he can't get off an RPG shot, roll up an M109, put a delayed fuze on a HE round (so it'll penetrate the wall before it detonates), and let fly. Of course, the redlegs don't much like to roll their howitzers down narrow streets into places in areas infested with RPGs.
4) Or, you can have the weapons squad pull out the SMAW, and put an -NE round through a window (or a hole in the wall they made with an HE round) and bring the building down on top of any hajis who aren't killed by the explosion itself.
I haven't been to Iraq myself, but I know which option I'd choose.
"There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change; it is, 'To use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time.' " -Gen. George S. Patton
So it's understandable that the Marines have made so little noise about the use of the SMAW-NE in Fallujah. But keeping quiet about controversial weapons is a lousy strategy, no matter how effective those arms are. In the short term, it may save some bad press. In the long term, it's a recipe for a scandal. Military leaders should debate human right advocates and the like first, and then publicly decide "we do/do not to use X". Otherwise when the media find do find out – as they always do -- not only do you get a level of hysteria but there is also the charge of “covering up."
I'm not sure why Mr. Hambling thinks that this weapon system is controversial, or that the Marines are trying to hide it. They published news about it in their own magazine. Maybe he expects the DoD to announce every new warhead (and that's all this is-the SMAW launcher has been in service for over 15 years) on the front page of the New York Times or on Al-Jazeera or CNN? And the only 'controvery' he cites comes from human rights groups-groups that are notoriously anti-American, at least since Bush became President, and reporters don't know the difference between a thermobaric and a thermostat, and who also trend toward the anti-American, to put it lightly.
Suggestion to Mr. Hambling: take a cue from Michael Yon, get your lazy ass off your computer chair, put on a kevlar and IBA, and spend a few months with the Marines you're so critical of.
Suggestion to the DoD: Buy a lot more of these SMAW-NEs, and more SMAWs to fire them. And make sure the Army gets plenty of them, too.
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11/16/2005
Thoughts from the Castle
Bill and Dusty have thoughts on Dionne, Goldberg, and Bush's 'pushback.' Input from John expected.
Read it.
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OK, I'm watching Law & Order: SVU, (where they're refighting the Schiavo case) and they're showing trailers for tomorrow night's Law & Order episode, which, apparently, involves the Minutemen. From what I can gather from the trailer, apparently the 'Minutemen' captured some illegal immigrants, detained them, and it looks like they basically baked them to death in some sort of hot room.
Now, I know Dick Wolf is a liberal. I know he's no friend of the Second Amendment, in fact, most gun rights supporters are portrayed as survivalist types, at best, neo-Nazi/militia types at worst. So the fact that he wouldn't support the Minutemen isn't really a surprise.
But simply making shit up, based on his and/or his scriptwriters delusions about the Minutemen, is simply disgusting. The Minutemen first starting posting watches on the border in, I think, April. Since then, to the best of my knowledge, they have not killed anyone. Given the media's rabid opposition, I'm pretty sure it would have been front page news if they had. In fact, as far as I know, there has only been one incident, involving someone who may or may not have been part of the group, alleging unlawful detention and possible maltreatment. By all accounts, the Minutemen have been models of restraint, ignoring attempts by both the media and pro-lawbreaking groups (yes, illegal immigration is breaking the law) to provoke them in order to manufacture negative news stories about the group.
So why would Wolf et al, feel compelled to make shit up? My theory: they know their opinion isn't shared by the majority of Americans. They can't understand how the unwashed masses don't share their viewpoint, but they see it as their calling, as Hollywood types, to change our minds. And since, in their minds, the Minutemen are a bunch of nasty, rascist, militia-type, Tim McVeigh wannabes, who are easily capable of such a thing, it's not lying, because, well, in their minds, such a thing could, and probably will, happen. So they're not really lying.
Just more evidence of the further disintegration of the American left.
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11/15/2005
URGENT PSA FOR SF RESIDENTS
DEADLINE: 10 AM PST 16 NOV 05
-------
Chron seeking S.F. gun owners - Deadline: 10 a.m. Wednesday (San
Francisco)
Seeking S.F. gun owners - Deadline: 10 a.m. Wednesday, November 16
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 15:08:07 -0800
Thread-Topic: Seeking S.F. gun owners - Deadline: 10 a.m. Wednesday,
November 16
From: "Two Cents" TwoCents@sfchronicle.com
From: "Two Cents" TwoCents@sfchronicle.com
Greetings.
Reporter Cecilia Vega would like to talk with gun owners who live in
San Francisco and are not willing to give up their weapons in the wake
of the city's recent passage of a law banning handguns. She's hoping to
speak with people who do not want to give up their guns out of
fear for their safety.
If you can help with this story - or if you know someone who can -
please send me a brief e-mail that tells why you originally bought a
gun.
Responses are due by 10 a.m. Wednesday, November 16.
Although Cecilia would prefer to quote correspondents by name for this
story, she recognizes that some people may wish to remain anonymous and
will honor that request.
Thank you.
Heidi Swillinger
Community editor
--------------
Now, I'd only talk to this reporter if she agreed not to take your name, or even ask it. City might subpoena her to get names.
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Carnivals!
On politics:
Carnival of Liberty XX is up at Grumbles Before the Grave.
RINOs have been sighted, in the Strata-Sphere, of all places.
Resisting the Carnival of Cordite, #38, is futile.
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11/13/2005
In the Red Part of Washington
One of our NCOs decided to get his concealed pistol permit earlier this week. Keep in mind this is Yakima County, east of the Cascades, and attitude-wise, at least, far removed from the socialist paradise of Seattle.
So, right after lunch, he walks into the Sheriff's office, fills out the form, gets fingerprinted (did I mention that Washington state not only was shall-issue before Florida, but doesn't require any sort of class?), pays his fee, and asks when he can come pick up his permit.
"We'll be open tomorrow morning at 7." repled the nice lady at the desk. "We could have had it for you today if you'd come in earlier."
Can we kick Seattle out of the state, let them go back to being a federal territory?
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