Infantry Journal

October 20, 2005 12:15 PM

Infantry Journal:Articles from the professional journal of the American ground fighter. Counter-mortar operations. Quick Reaction Forces. Snipers. Lessons Learned.
posted by atchafalaya (5 comments total)

Hmm, interesting house style; having soldier as a proper noun.
posted by scruss at 12:31 PM on October 20, 2005

Interesting articles. Nice post.
posted by unreason at 1:19 PM on October 20, 2005

scruss, it's an Army thing (cf.) A "soldier" is a man of arms in any army; a Soldier is an Army man.

The enemy does not possess the system or launchers to fire these rockets and have been forced to develop improvised techniques to effectively fire them. The technique most commonly used is to place the rocket on a slope such as a dried canal, oriented towards the selected target. The angle of the round placed on the slope determines the range.

Holy fuck. That's low tech.
posted by dhartung at 1:34 PM on October 20, 2005

I only read the Counter-mortar operations article, but...

From August to February 2004, the enemy quickly recognized that they were running out of mortar systems and adapted their TTPs to keep the mortar systems they used.
...
In addition to the evolution of mortar sophistication, the enemy began using stolen rockets (seized from existing ammo storage sites during the early days of the war) to fire at friendly larger fixed sites

So this is recognition that the insurgents are using weapons captured in the early stages of the war from Iraqi Army facilities - weapons which could have been secured. So much for the weapons from Syria and Iran theories...

The actual counter-mortar tactic:

The key to success is to quickly acquire the acquisition grid, announce the grid, clear fires immediately, then fire counterfire within three to four minutes using all available indirect fire assets while simultaneously maneuvering ground forces to predetermined checkpoints To aid in more responsive fires, it is best to have battalion mortars laid on priority targets.
...
The keys to it all were immediate counterfire

This policy was roundly criticized last year - US tactics condemned by British officers - interesting to note that nothing has changed.

Finally, this sounds familiar:

The vegetation is very thick in central Iraq especially the areas along the banks of the Tigris River.

Firing WP in conjunction with HE rounds serves two purposes. First, it immediately marks an area and alerts aircraft and ground maneuver forces to the POO. Second, it burns a small area thus destroying the vegetation in the immediate area denying the enemy use of that firing point in the future.

posted by Chuckles at 3:01 PM on October 20, 2005

Indeed, Chuckles. Willie Pete is always your friend.
posted by Smedleyman at 3:15 PM on October 21, 2005