Military Affairs

Belmont Club’s latest post is worth reading. Wretchard argues that the Iraqi insurgents are best understood as gangsters rather than nationalists; they seek not so much national political power as chaos, which they would exploit by carving out regions of local control where their violent business enterprises may thrive. In this regard they closely resemble the Afghan warlords and the gangs that have gained considerable power in some of the weaker Latin American countries. This argument implies that we should systematically reshape our national-defense tactics to deal with gangster insurgencies (as we are already doing, to some extent, in response to events if not by plan), and that we should recognize that the strategic threat posed by ruthless and increasingly powerful anational gangs may transcend more-visible nationalist threats to our security.

The Eurofighter Typhoon was supposed to be a state-of-the-art air superiority fighter plane. Developed as a cooperative effort between the aerospace industries of several European countries, it was envisioned as a project to meet the unique conditions and needs of European military forces and doctrine while keeping costs manageable. This was a good idea, maybe even admirable.

I’ve written a few posts about the Eurofighter over the years. The short answer is that it’s a waste of money.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. The plane is capable enough, and there’s no denying that it would perform its combat role if called upon. But it’s apparent that the performance of the Eurofighter is startlingly similar to an American F-16 while having a sticker price 8 times that of the US warplane.

European defense budgets have eroded so much that the powers-that-be decided to sell off the first run of Eurofighters at greatly reduced prices in order to generate some badly needed cash. This is sort of like selling the new family car at a loss in order to make the payments.

Unfortunately, even that isn’t working out as planned. Jane’s Defence reports that Singapore has formally announced that they won’t consider the plane for purchase. In other words, don’t let the door hit you in the backside.

I’m waiting to see which aircraft Singapore decides to buy. If it’s old Soviet designs then the blow to European prestige is going to be pretty significant.

Courtesy of Soldiers for the Truth

“We were moving down the street, clearing buildings,” Kasal recounted. “A Marine came out wounded from a building and said there were three more wounded Marines trapped in there with a bunch of bad guys (insurgents). As we entered, we noticed several dead Iraqis on the floor and one of our wounded.”

Kasal said there was no question of what to do. “If I was a general I would still think my job was to get the wounded Marines out of there,” he said. “So we went in to get them.”

As soon as he entered the two-story stucco and brick building, Kasal found himself in mortal combat. It was fighting to the death, and there was no quarter expected or given, Kasal said.

“An Iraqi pointed an AK-47 at me and I moved back. He fired and missed. I shot and killed him. I put my barrel up against his chest and pulled the trigger over and over until he went down. Then I looked around the wall and put two into his forehead to make sure he was dead.”

While Kasal and a young Pfc. Alexander Nicoll were taking out the insurgent behind the wall, another one with an AK hiding on the stairs to the second floor began firing at the Marines on full automatic. “That’s when I went down, along with one of my Marines (Nicoll). Then I noticed the hand grenade.”

It was a green pineapple grenade, Kasal said. It flew into the room out of nowhere and landed near the two downed men. Kasal now believes that other Marines who were watching their back left the room for reasons he still doesn’t know and an insurgent was able to somehow get behind him.

Kasal said his first instinct was to protect the young Marine lying bloody beside him. He covered the young man with his body and took the full brunt of shrapnel to his back when the grenade exploded. Kasal’s body armor and helmet protected his vital organs but the shrapnel penetrated the exposed portions of his shoulders, back, and legs, causing him to bleed profusely.

“I took my pressure bandage and put it on his leg,” Kasal remembered. “Then I tried to put Nicoll’s pressure bandage on a wound on his chest but it is very hard to get a flak jacket off a wounded man and I was bleeding and fading in and out.”

Nicoll survived the grenade blast and his previous bullet wounds but lost his right leg. “An artery was cut and they had to amputate his leg,” Kasal said. “I have seen him and talked to him several times since we got back to the States. He is doing OK.”

The grenade blast stunned Kasal. He floated in and out of consciousness. But in the back of his mind a voice kept telling him he had to stay alert or the Iraqis were going to come back and finish him and Nicoll off. “They weren’t going to let us live if they knew we were alive. It was kill or be killed,” he said.

Kasal wrestled his 9mm automatic out of its holster and lay on the floor waiting for help. It was thirty or forty minutes before other Marines arrived.

“That’s when I got shot in the butt,” Kasal recalled. “It was the shootout at the OK Corral – point-blank range. I was lying there shooting and somebody shot me through both cheeks. It smarted a bit.”

Kasal did not know the exact extent of his wounds until much later; all he knew was that he was badly hurt. He was floating in and out of consciousness, ultimately losing 60 percent of his blood before he was rescued. After first aid, Kasal and Nicoll were transported to a field hospital in Iraq, then flown to Landstuhl, Germany, where Kasal was hospitalized for a week before arriving at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

“I took seven rounds; five in my right leg, one in my foot and one to the buttocks area. When the grenade went off I got 30 to 40 pieces of shrapnel in my back,” Kasal said he later discovered.

What do you say to that? Makes me choke up just reading about it.

Thanks to Blackfive and Fred.

Did you know that there was a chance that we’d enter WWI as German allies? It’s true!

There was a huge hue and cry about the blockade that Britain used in an effort to strangle the Germans of needed material. The Brits would seize cargo that was bound for the Kaiser if it was deemed to “have military value”, even if it came from a neutral country like the US.

At first, the list of things to be banned was exclusively munitions or bulk material that was needed by those industries that directly supported the military. Oil was banned, which was to be expected, but so was bird guano from South America that was long used as fertilizer. (You see, the nitrate-rich guano was also used to make explosives……)

So the Brits soon found themselves making longer and longer lists. No matter what it was, from food to leather, books to pig iron, garter belts to chewing gum, everything could either be used directly to support the soldier in the field or it could be reworked into something that would. American companies began to feel the pinch.

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Kathryn, who is currently serving on board a US Navy warship, reports on how the military is showing respect.