RIP

Duncs:ok:

RIP Otis, you were a good friend to the UK F-35 crowd and one of the finest Marines. You will be sadly missed.

Taking a completely dispassionate view of this incident, when the SAS carried out an identical raid on Pebble Island, it went down in British military history as an outstanding piece of soldiering. Like it or not, this is the Taleban equivalent and will undoubtedly go down in insurgent military history as perhaps their finest piece of soldiering for a generation or more.

This incident, unfortunately for us, serves as a stark reminder that despite being the 'guys in flip flops' they are still very capable fighters; we would do well not to underestimate them or their capabilties.

One small difference....the SAS guys did not wear suicide vests and had every ambition of having a Pint or two after the raid.

Lt. Col. Chris Raible, USMC
Sgt. Bradley Atwell, USMC

Semper Fi, and RIP. :{

*taps*

Who needs a pint when you have 70 virgins waiting for you ?

I think that's largely irrelevent when set against the skills required to infiltrate a heavily defended installation and successfully render an entire FJ sqn non-operational. There have been many operations conducted by 'traditional' military forces over the years that in theory were one way trips - just ask any of the Cold War era pilots with targets in Russia. The limited prospects for return wouldn't have stopped us executing those missions.

As for 70 virgins - really? They must be onto 'sloppy seconds' by now?

Well I guess whatever floats yer boat! If it is Virgins they want....


http://www.barelyhangingon.com/wp-co...thingsuits.jpg

flip flops really?
 

A determined foe prepared to fight to the death and take as many as they can with them.

Rather than 70 virgins wouldn't you rather have some slutty chicks who knew what they were doing?

This attack was straight out of the David Stirling textbook, and a very expensive (blood & treasure) object lesson in underestimating your enemy.

Melchett01 is quite right; this attack stands up well alongside the Pebble Island job, with the added dimension of a suicide aspect.

I long for the day when the last NATO troops depart this ungovernable, medieval cess-pit, which will then gracefully subside back to its' normal modus operandi. Declare victory & go home.

HB

Isn't that the truth.

Nobody ever said the virgins are female!

Or in fairness, human.:eek:

Seems that whole NATO Afghan strategy is now is disarray anyway, with the announcement of the end of joint patrols?! Talk about a Taliban victory. We should just pack up and leave before any more lives are wasted unnecessarily.

I can never understand the ignorance and stupidity of our "leaders"...

It has been demonstrated several times throughout history that the longer someone stays in Afghanistan the more likely they are to leave unceremoniously.

Good work Rocks... Per Ardua!!!

Grim, indeed an expeditious victory parade at home is called for. The snag would be getting out with your a*** intact.

Taliban uses Google Earth
 

http://cryptome.org/2012-info/camp-b...mp-bastion.htm

Nicely followed with a whole series of photos from inside the wire and indeed showing the camp layout, accommodation, flight lines and perimeter. Irony?? :hmm:

We are making great progress towards the publically announced departure date aren't we?

The stated goal was to handover the security of the country to the Central Government....now we cannot do joint patrols due to the risk of Green on Blue attacks.

We just had a very successful attack on our Bastion base.

The protests and attacks on our Embassies are wide spread and frequent.

What am I missing here....the President goes golfing, misses half of his Daily Intelligence Briefings....just what the hell is happening to our grand strategy?

It seems to be in shambles or is it just me?