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"Battle of Marjah" HBO Documentary
- Thread starter Swanee
- Start date
gaijin6423
Ask me about ninjas!
I recorded it last night, and I'm watching it now. Having flashbacks of mIRC traffic, radio calls, and telling various field grade officers where they can stick their 'good ideas'. Two deployments in support of 1/6 in the last 2.5 years, and those guys will forever remain in my mind as Warriors.
I watched it last night. It was nice to see the other side. I was overhead for most of those nights either giving gas or doing battlefield illum. We got to listen in to the radio traffic and, like gaijin, spent a few nights reading the mIRC traffic from KAF. The show still felt like nothing more than a snap shot in what was a much more complex op. What a fucking shit sandwich to unfuck with their hands tied ...
If you watched closely you might have seen us taxing or parked down at Dwyer. If you were there we probably gave you a ride to either Dwyer or Bastion.
If you watched closely you might have seen us taxing or parked down at Dwyer. If you were there we probably gave you a ride to either Dwyer or Bastion.
gaijin6423
Ask me about ninjas!
Unfortunately, I think the matting was still being finished up from being washed out when I went down there pre-Moshtarak, so I had to ride on a 53. Which isn't all that bad, except for the buckets of hyd fluid that gets dumped on you, and watching the occasional hole appear in the fuselage from Shithead X with AK. But thanks for the ride back to Bastion/Leatherneck.
You're right about it just being a snapshot of a much, much bigger deal. The planning alone for the op was so utterly painful, usually made so by some jackass from ISAF interjecting himself into things at inappropriate junctures. Not anyone in particular, just too many asshole staff bitches trying to stick their noses in where it didn't belong. And don't even get me started on the damn CAOC.
I know it was hard for 1/6 to deal with, having just returned from Helmand in 2008, when we rolled through Garmsir like a sledgehammer. Their OpsO (a friend from our previous deployment there) and I had a long conversation when they got into AFG about how things had changed, and I know for a fact that he took a couple of deaths related to their hands being tied pretty hard. You'll notice a couple times in the show that Marines kept saying things like, "Last year..." or, "We didn't do things like this last year..." Who said that war never changes?
One thing that I absolutely loved about Moshtarak, though, was being able to use the Harriers for more than 45 minutes at a stretch, thanks to the runway at Dwyer. Who knew that things work really, really well, when you USE THE AIRPLANE LIKE IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE USED?
You're right about it just being a snapshot of a much, much bigger deal. The planning alone for the op was so utterly painful, usually made so by some jackass from ISAF interjecting himself into things at inappropriate junctures. Not anyone in particular, just too many asshole staff bitches trying to stick their noses in where it didn't belong. And don't even get me started on the damn CAOC.
I know it was hard for 1/6 to deal with, having just returned from Helmand in 2008, when we rolled through Garmsir like a sledgehammer. Their OpsO (a friend from our previous deployment there) and I had a long conversation when they got into AFG about how things had changed, and I know for a fact that he took a couple of deaths related to their hands being tied pretty hard. You'll notice a couple times in the show that Marines kept saying things like, "Last year..." or, "We didn't do things like this last year..." Who said that war never changes?
One thing that I absolutely loved about Moshtarak, though, was being able to use the Harriers for more than 45 minutes at a stretch, thanks to the runway at Dwyer. Who knew that things work really, really well, when you USE THE AIRPLANE LIKE IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE USED?
If you loved the Harriers then, you'd love the Hornets now...they are flying 25% more hours a month than the Harriers. While it literally gags me to say it, the grunts are loving Harvest Hawk.
Helmand has changed a lot over the last year. I think you'd be really surprised. I know it was a huge burden on those units that kicked off Moshtarak due to ROE but Garm Ser, Marjeh and Nawa down through the "fish hook" have changed immensely since last year. This summer will show if Moshtarak has worked or not. Sangin up through the dam on the other hand...
For those with SIPR accounts check out the RC (SW), Division and Wing sites, particularly their BCD, Command Journal and daily Ops/Intel briefs. Lots of good gouge that doesn’t have the news media spin attached to it.
S/F
gaijin6423
Ask me about ninjas!
I don't doubt it in the least. Even Garmsir changed from our apocalyptic romp through it in 2008, to 2009. Hell, on a visit to one of my guys who got snagged to help a PMT in 2009, I landed at what was a Taliban stronghold in 2008, took a ride in a pickup to the DG's compound down a street that weapons company, 1/6 was ambushed on in 2008, bought some 'meat' on a stick in the market that still bore scars of our fight, and lost a dollar playing something akin to three card monty on the street corner. A year makes all the difference in the world.
I have several friends, formerly with TFH, who still refuse to talk about some of the shit they saw in the Sangin area. I think I mentioned before here that I was RIP'ing with my DET's replacements right around the time that sandwich was dumped into TFL's lap. I don't really regret not having much to do with it. I even illustrated it in my coping mechanism/comic...
Edit: Something got lost in the .jpg conversion, so the pic is kind of jacked up.
I have several friends, formerly with TFH, who still refuse to talk about some of the shit they saw in the Sangin area. I think I mentioned before here that I was RIP'ing with my DET's replacements right around the time that sandwich was dumped into TFL's lap. I don't really regret not having much to do with it. I even illustrated it in my coping mechanism/comic...
Edit: Something got lost in the .jpg conversion, so the pic is kind of jacked up.
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Hey, we've used Hornets more than the Harvest Hawk. It's just awesome to have a low CDE weapon on a bird with a low noise signature with hours and hours on-station. Works well in this "COIN" fight. They still can't shake and bake a compound. Fear not, you haven't been replaced yet.
/we used it first