CHINOOK DOWN & OPERATION NIGHTMARE

[quoted original message omitted]

sounds good to me ALAN.

and learning from mistakes is something that ought to be written on the back
of every soldier's hands!

aside from the sour grapes, sound, since this was from an ally, it made
me curious about WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT - OSCAR!

the thing about no entrenching tool really struck me-ESPECIALLY FROM AN
ELITE!

in the RVN, the only time AFTER the first time i went on ops without
an E-tool was on OP/LP outside the NDP, or on  ambush patrol! nothing
like digging a hasty hole with your steel pot while the AKs, and RPDs
chatter away, and those 7.62s zip by to make a GI love that E-tool!

after our first bit of E-tool idiocy, that thing went everywhere we
went on ops except for the above specified duties.

NOW here is a scenario for OPERATION NIGHTMARE!

high tech, first string grunt platoon conducting a sweep of Injun Country
reaches the designated area and sets up a temperary patrol base perimeter.

since the LT is a stupid jerk, the PSG is walking sick with malaria, and
the other NCOs/troops dragging/ beat doan give a shit from boredom and
lack of acclimitization, the platoon (against all common sense and tactical
doctrine!) just sets up in a rough circle in the jungle.
besides, E-tools are hevy, so they were left behind . . . .

the plan is after a breather and chow, to  run some half-assed patrols
out of this base on various azimuths then head back to the NDP and a "good
nights" sleep...

ENTER MURPHY!

the Injuns have been trailing the platoon for most of the day, avoiding
contact and waiting for a chance to lay into the off
worlders. now, the  idiots have halted, set up a half-assed perimeter,
and are eating lunch!

time to rock....

and this is just another real life example of how soldiers can SCREW UP!

> and learning from mistakes is something that ought to be written on

Tatoo it on the foreheads.

> the thing about no entrenching tool really struck me-ESPECIALLY FROM AN

Now the only contact I've had with the SAS was when one major gave me an
over-enthusiastic
handshake after a briefing and burst my thumb (this particular urban legend is
true, I was the victim*), but here's the situation AFAIK.

These guys regularly go out for days, sometimes weeks at a time with no
re-supply.
In rugged terrain. They must carry everything they need and can't scrounge,
and are loaded down with lots of comms and specialist observation gear. In
many
ops, each bloke in a 3 or occasionally 4-man stick might have 45 lbs of
this gear, in addition to a "combat load" of rations, water, sleeping gear,
cammo gear, perhaps bad weather gear, certainly at least one Claymore per
stick for breaking contact, then of course there's less important items like
ammo and personal weaponry. (Note that only one of the two actually carried a
bayonet/combat
knife. The other didn't even have a bone-dome to dig with.)

In certain terrain, there might be a choice between carrying a personal weapon
and ammo, or carrying additional survival gear. Or a spare battery for the
radar observation system, elint sniffer or satlink instead of either. A
mistake in what to carry could mean the difference between success and
failure.

As I said, these guys are trained in both doing recon while remaining unseen,
and/or bringing down the Wrath of God(tm), up to and including (in
theory, anyway) Nukes.

Something has to give. The question is what, and under what circumstances.

Entrenching tools - UNLIKE for the rest of the army - have not been as
high on the priority list as they should have been, under these circumstances
- where
they *weren't* operating alone, where re-supply was guaranteed etc.
Probably
sheer force-of-habit, otherwise knows as a grade A No 1 Goof. *DOH!*

* But like all NSTR Happened stories, the tale grew in the telling. I'd been
doing carpentry the day before, and had hit my thumb with a hammer. It had a
large blood blister on it. I gave a briefing on computer-aids to
training in
both TEWTs and mixed sims (exercise Water Buffalo 84 IIRC - where the
terrain's so inhospitable 99% of the problem's simulating the logistics). The
handshake
was firm, not a bone-crusher, it just raised the local blood pressure
enough to spectacularly burst the blister. I gained extra points with the guy
by not batting an eyelid, just wrapping a handkerchief around it to mop up the
gore. He was only a little bloke, about 5'2", with a Rhodesian accent.
(Amazing what you remember even after 20 years)

So the next time you hear the story about the SAS guy squeezing the Defence
Contractor's hand so hard his thumb burst, you'll know what really happened.

From: "K.H.Ranitzsch" <KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de>

> > Tatoo it on the foreheads.