Rebuilding Afghanistan

ynotdu

iceage wrote: »

Some interesting pics. Some of them quite eerie.

http://www.the-daily-politics.com/news/36-militarynews/1430-yon-under-cover-of-the-night-with-1-17th-infantry

Interesting pargraph re IEDS and tracked vehicles.

Great and informative post iceage even though small parts of it smelt of sour grapes by the journalist no longer being happy to be embedded,{don't know why he crows about his 'new found freedom' considering the case of Stephen Farrel}

My Cousin was deployed to Afghanistan in the last fortnight,since then We have heard no word as to where he is, or exactly when he was sent:(

iceage

I'm sure its just taking time to get settled in and probably has a lot on his plate at the minute. Best of luck to him and to a safe deployment. Whos he with?

ynotdu

iceage wrote: »

I'm sure its just taking time to get settled in and probably has a lot on his plate at the minute. Best of luck to him and to a safe deployment. Whos he with?

Hi iceage and sorry for taking so long to respond.
quick bit of background,I was born and still live in Ireland.

His Mother{My aunt} moved to England before He or I were born.
He is in the UK army and has already been stationed in Iraq,Northern Ireland,Germany and UK barracks.It is about five years since i met him last and he is a guy of very few words.He has even deleted his facebook page.
He intended to leave the British army but signed up again when their was poor chance of him getting a job when the economie's collapsed.
His brother is also in the British army but has it more cushy in that he is permanently stationed in UK as he trains recruits in self defense.

His Mother lives in denial so there was no point in asking her,{dare not even mention the names G Bush jnr or Tony Blair when she visits unless wearing a flak jacket}
So i had to use round-about methods to answer Your question.

He is in the 88battery 4th Regiment and is in Helmand province.
This will really be his first time in High danger,as his other postings did not require leaving Barracks.

Also is'nt there to be a big offensive in Helmand sometime around June ?
Hopefully like the last big offensive it will encounter very little resistance other than the the bombs and booby traps left behind by the cowardly scumbag Taliban.

With Manic now out of Afghanistan does anybody have a link to a blog by a serving soldier in Afghanistan?

Thanks in advance.

iceage

http://helmandblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogs.mod.uk/afghanistan/

/www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/DefencePolicyAndBusiness/4thMechanizedBrigadeToReplace11LightBrigadeInHelmand.htm

In particular
http://www.forums.theraa.co.uk/index.php?name=Forums
http://www.88bty.com/ Theres a forum here.


Try these out ynotdu, also I sent you a PM, which I hope might help.

Iceage.

ynotdu

iceage wrote: »

http://helmandblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogs.mod.uk/afghanistan/

/www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/DefencePolicyAndBusiness/4thMechanizedBrigadeToReplace11LightBrigadeInHelmand.htm

In particular
http://www.forums.theraa.co.uk/index.php?name=Forums
http://www.88bty.com/ Theres a forum here.


Try these out ynotdu, also I sent you a PM, which I hope might help.

Iceage.

Hi again Iceage and again excuse my 'apparent' ignorance in replying to Your post here and the PM so slowly.
Reason being i knew i was meeting friends Saturday that might have more news that i could post within the charter,nothing new came of that though.

Those links are just what i was looking for,Thanks a Million!
I swear anytime i get a bit disillusioned with boards someone like Your good self comes along and goes to all the trouble You did to answer My question!

Sincere regards!

iceage

Your welcome and best of luck.

Manic Moran

We had been cracking jokes about how much safer we were in Afghanistan than back at home, statistically.

http://www.8newsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12387509

NTM

iceage

Thats a really tough break. To have survived Afghanistan, return home and be killed in such a way in the line of duty, tragic. You just don't know when do you..

My deepest condolences to his Wife Family collegues and friends. RIP.

iceage

Speaking of snipers..

1.54 miles.. and not one but twice! My hats off to this guy.

A BRITISH Army sniper has set a new sharpshooting distance record by killing two Taliban machinegunners in Afghanistan from more than 1 miles away.

SNIP, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots — even though they were 3,000ft beyond the most effective range of his rifle.

“The first round hit a machinegunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” said SNIP, a Corporal of Horse. “He went straight down and didn’t move.

“The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead.”

The shooting — which took place while the sniper's colleagues came under attack — was at such extreme range that the 8.59mm bullets took almost three seconds to reach their target after leaving the barrel of the rifle at almost three times the speed of sound.

The distance to the two targets was measured by a GPS system at 8,120ft, or 1.54 miles. The previous record for a sniper kill is 7,972ft, set by a Canadian soldier who shot dead an Al-Qaeda gunman in March 2002.

In a remarkable tour of duty, this Soldier cheated death a few weeks later when a Taliban bullet pierced his helmet but was deflected away from his skull. He later broke both arms when his army vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

This Soldier was sent back to the UK for treatment, but insisted on returning to the front line after making a full recovery.

“I was lucky that my physical fitness levels were very high before my arms were fractured and after six weeks in plaster I was still in pretty good shape,” he said. “It hasn’t affected my ability as a sniper.”

The Sniper, from Gloucestershire, was reunited in Britain with his wife and daughter, last month. Recalling his shooting prowess in Helmand province, he said: “It was just unlucky for the Taliban that conditions were so good and we could see them so clearly.”

The Sniper and his colleagues were in open-topped Jackal 4x4 vehicles providing cover for an Afghan national army patrol south of Musa Qala in November last year. When the Afghan soldiers and SNIP troop commander came under enemy fire, the sniper, whose vehicle was further back on a ridge, trained his sights on a Taliban compound in the distance. His L115A3 long-range rifle, the army’s most powerful sniper weapon, is designed to be effective at up to 4,921ft and supposedly capable of only “harassing fire” beyond that range.

“We saw two insurgents running through its courtyard, one in a black dishdasha, one in green,” he said. “They came forward carrying a PKM machinegun, set it up and opened fire on the commander’s wagon.

“Conditions were perfect, no wind, mild weather, clear visibility. I rested the bipod of my weapon on a compound wall and aimed for the gunner firing the machinegun.

“The driver of my Jackal, Trooper SNIP, spotted for me, providing all the information needed for the shot, which was at the extreme range of the weapon.”

Sniper killed one machinegunner with his first attempt and felled the other with his next shot. He then let off a final round to knock the enemy weapon out of action.

This Soldier discovered that he had set a new record only on his return to UK barracks nine days ago. The previous record was held by Corporal Rob Furlong, of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, who was using a 12.7mm McMillan TAC-50 rifle.

Tom Irwin, a director of Accuracy International, the British manufacturer of the L115A3 rifle, said: “It is still fairly accurate beyond 4,921ft, but at that distance luck plays as much of a part as anything.”

News of the snipers success comes amid concern over a rival insurgent sharpshooter who in a five-month spree has killed up to seven British soldiers, including a sniper, in and around the Taliban stronghold of Sangin.

In a later incident during the tour, SNIP patrol vehicle was hit 36 times during a Taliban ambush. “One round hit my helmet behind the right ear and came out of the top,” he said. “Two more rounds went through the strap across my chest. We were all very, very lucky not to get hurt.”

iceage

Nice find.

http://www.the-daily-politics.com/news/36-militarynews/1584-40-commando-raid-ied-factory-in-sangin

Another rather shook looking but all the same lethal Lee Enfield.

iceage

Never a big soccer head, But he went down a storm on his visit. Well done DB I've a new found respect for ya.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8697996.stm

BuckJamesRogers

just reading that "taliban marksmanship" article, read a book recently (House to House by David Bellavia) that said the talibs would kill a hell of a lot more US troops if they used a simple 2 finger width lead on their targets. though his book was in Fallujah...

ynotdu

iceage wrote: »

Never a big soccer head, But he went down a storm on his visit. Well done DB I've a new found respect for ya.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8697996.stm

Why did they leave out the bit were He rolled around clutching his shin when He realised He had landed in Afghanistan instead of Hollywood:p:)?

Manic Moran

If you're on facebook, I get a bitpart in this forthcoming movie.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=128775260486037

NTM

minidazzler

Manic Moran wrote: »

If you're on facebook, I get a bitpart in this forthcoming movie.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=128775260486037

NTM

Looks class, can't wait to see it!

Victor

Manic Moran wrote: »

If you're on facebook, I get a bitpart in this forthcoming movie.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=128775260486037

NTM

I'm getting "This video has either been removed from Facebook or is not visible due to privacy settings."

minidazzler

Video has also been deleted from Youtube oddly enough.

Manic Moran

Some sort of formatting issue, apparently. He says it'll be back up in a few days.

NTM

Manic Moran

Back up. Turned out that the movie needed to be cleared by the Army Entertainment Office. (There is such a thing?!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdwuB6LGCw4

NTM

elius

Manic Moran wrote: »

If you're on facebook, I get a bitpart in this forthcoming movie.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=128775260486037

NTM

Whens the release date lad..

D.McC

Manic Moran wrote: »

On that note, today is the first day of my Afghanistan deployment, involved with an ISAF Provincial Reconstruction Team. I will have a reduced presence on Boards for a while.

NTM

Spent some time there myself. Good luck over there and keep your head down

Photo's and the odd update would be nice!

It wasn't me!

D.McC wrote: »

Spent some time there myself. Good luck over there and keep your head down

Photo's and the odd update would be nice!

Hehe, think you might want to read the rest of the thread, as it's exactly what you were looking for. Manic's been back a wee while now.