Sheer Insanity
Master Sergeant Shawn Simmons(1967-2008)
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When did Special Forces soldiers become Panzer Grenadiers riding around in armored vehicles? This is not what SF does.
SF in armored vehicles? This is a conventional tactic that is out of place in the SF mission. My question may seem callous, but it is no moreso than a war which is swallowing good soldiers at an alarming rate.
SF in armored vehicles? This is a conventional tactic that is out of place in the SF mission. My question may seem callous, but it is no moreso than a war which is swallowing good soldiers at an alarming rate.
"Three Green Berets [including Master Sergeant Shawn Simmons of Tallahassee] drowned last month when their Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicle rolled into a river in Afghanistan. Their deaths come amid growing concerns about the threat of catastrophic rollovers in the military’s silver bullet solution to improvised explosive devices (SF deaths come amid MRAP rollover concerns.)"
The MRAP is described as the military's "people-mover of choice in combat zones. This confused statement is representative of the muddled thinking at the Department of Defense on all levels. People are not moved in combat zones; rather, soldiers fight and maneuver in such zones and they do so in combat vehicles possessing offensive and defensive capabilities.
The MRAP is an armored taxi that moves people. Shuttle bus service is not a military function when in combat. Soldiers move only with the purpose of destroying an enemy. Swanning around the battle area in an MRAP is superfluous behavior.
The Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned released a report last month which said, not surprisingly, “Road shoulders in the Middle East do not meet U.S. standards and may collapse under the weight of the MRAP, especially when the road is above grade and can fall to lower ground (ditches and canals).” 30-ton truck, meet Iraqi dirt road built over a canal.
The Lessons Learned Center also mentioned the height of the MRAP as being problematic when its 16-ft' high antennae snags on 11-foot high power lines. "This may lead to electrocution," not to mention putting the kibosh on the whole the hearts and minds thing.
The problem is that the DoD is trying to equate countryside with combat zones. MSG Simmons and two others drowned when the road sheared and dropped them in the drink. "The weight of the MRAP, up to 30 tons depending on the model and equipment upgrades, prompted the road to collapse and the MRAP to roll over into a canal."
Any farmer knows about road shear when driving tractors; SF engineers can't figure that out?
Labels: master sergeant Shawn Simmons, road shear and MRAPs, SF as panzer grenadiers
posted by rangeragainstwar at 6:31 PM
8 Comments:
and for all its press, the MRAP is hitting the streets after a lot of publicity about the wonderfullness of its armoring against IEDs and EFPs.
they arrived with the insurgents having their countermeasure already up and working.
it's disgustingly simple. they take a propane tank (and in a country where service of gas for cooking and heating is decidedly spotty, fucking propane tanks are everywhere) take a stick and a rocket, weld on a few fins. and voila! something that absolutely fuck the shit of a down armored MRAP designed to deflect blasts from below right up.
who knows why SF are riding around in APCs. it might be the safest way to get from point A to point B.
still, it's a goddamned shame and a fucking waste of good soldiers.
And add to this mess the insanely overpriced clusterfuck that was procurement of these damn things.
The thing that really irritated me was that instead of reinventing the freaking wheel, we could have bought a whole slug of mine-resistant vehicles off the South Africans, who pretty much engineered this concept during the apartheid government's fight against the ANC, another guerilla group who liked mines and booby traps. Rigs like the Buffel and the Rooikat were designed for the piss-poor infrastructure of the South African veldt, poor mechanical support and extended patrol routes. But buying foreign vehicles off-the-shelf wouldn't have lined any Congressional pockets...
As far as what an SFOD was doing in the vehicle to begin with...I'm with MB - this may have been a "non-tactical" move. Or they may have been liasing with a conventional unit. With the clueless opacity that characterizes operations in the Middle East, it's anyone's guess...
MB,If it were the safest way then the 3 SF types would still be alive-there are more things to fear than ied's -and drowning in a vehicle is one of them. Look at the mountain roads and they all have a sheer potential- and where are the rivers
I'm all for our soldiers being safe BUT my solution would be to end both wars and deal w. al Q on a as needed ad hoc basis.Covertly with SOF not in combat vehicles.
If these soldiers are in armored vehicles i have a real hard time considering them SPECIAL.If they need armored infantry then send the 8th div or such.As always i rail v. misuse of assets.
I hope none of my cmts are taken as anything but general and not personal atks on the victims of this incident. jim
FDChief, i am against soldiers being killed and wounded for any reason in either theater.It's insane to believe that COIN in either country will make America safe for Terrorism-i don't care that Obama says otherwise-i'm not sucking ass for votes.Both wars need to end- and let them keep the MRAP's. jim
" I hope none of my cmts are taken as anything but general and not personal atks on the victims of this incident."
I don't think any of us feel that way, Ranger. One of the most maddening things about war is that so many of the deaths are the result of random, pointless shit, like these. To add to it what appears to have been bad choices on the part of the tactical commanders is worse. To add to THAT the geopolitical pointlessness of this hubristic wog-bashing...makes it almost unbearable.
And yet Dick Cheney STILL sleeps peacefully at night...
I hear the bad sleep well, Chief.
roger on all counts ranger. maybe i'm a bit more jaded having had my special ops team sent in on street fights, and bullshit frontal assualts (where we abandoned the hard won ground moments after achieving it) left me with a bad taste in my mouth for the unimaginative commanders that had no idea about things like force multiplication and the things we did best.
but, like all good grunts, we picked up our gear and charged when the bugles rang.
for transport to point A to B i was always a big fan of the oldest military transport ever. walking. quiet, easily maintained. i am a big huge fan of quiet. quiet in the dark is even better.
MB, i've always favored dismounting even for mech infy movements where there are restricted terrain features and possible hasty and prepared ambush or defensive positions for the enemy to exploit. A little ground pounding is cheaper than funerals. jim
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