Military Ring Info

NATO forces are still massing around the town of Marjah in Afghanistan for the upcoming offensive against it. The town is effectively cut off by NATO forces which will keep the Taliban from receiving supplies during the seige.

Skirmishes have begun between US forces and the Taliban which is normal during this stage of the operation. Skirmishes will occur when opposing forces are in close proximity to each other so this is perfectly normal. Each side is checking out the other and they will test each other with small battles.

There are estimated to be between 400 to 1000 Taliban fighters in the town of Marjah. Our military ring customers who are facing the enemy will use overwhelming force to take the town. Part of the wait time is designed to give the Taliban a chance to escape before the actual attack. The object of the attack is not necassarily to kill people but to recapture the town.

This is a personal war story of an event which happened to me when I was a Fire Support Officer in the US Army. This is the kind of story that all of our military ring customers have to tell and goes into the fond memories file.

Back in the day when our armored task force was training at the National Training Center in California we were tasked to conduct a defensive operation. We were expecting the enemy to attack through a certain area which he did. We had set up a screening force whose only job was to fire a few shots at him to slow him down and then skedaddle back to the area where we wanted to fight him.

This worked fine except for the fact that one of my Fire Support Teams decided that he didn’t want to break off contact and run. That was all well and noble but the problem was that when he was killed in his one man fight (he did actually cause some enemy casualties) the maneuver team which he was attached to lost all of their artillery support.  We needed him to stay alive so that he could continue to call in artillery and air strikes and do more damage that way.

I wanted to chew off a piece of his rear end but I never did. Every time I thought of the bravery of his actions I couldn’t do it. http://www.militaryringexpress.com

Al-Qaeda is still attempting to get American Muslims to attack targets here.  If we look at this we should see that al-Qaeda has not been able to mount another successful attack in the US for quite a long time and I attribute this to the vigilance of our own government.

We take our safety for granted until something happens but I submit this question to you. Why is it that we have been safe from terror attacks? Its not because terrorists are laying low. They would like nothing better than to cause terror and confusion in this country. They haven’t been able to. Our government has kept them at bay. We need to commend our government agency ring customers for keeping us safe on our home soil.

I will bet that there are dozens of stories which could be told which the American public will never know. Our special operations ring customers always downplay their role in keeping us safe but it is much greater than most people will ever know. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our government service ring customers and all who keep this country safe and secure.

The European Union will use different more aggressive tactics now to combat the actions of Somali Pirates who have been a major cause of disruption in international shipping. The Navies of the EU have been authorized to go after the “Mother Ships” which serve as logistics resupply points, and assembly points for the smaller pirate skiffs. The use of Mother Ships enables the pirates to operate the smaller skiffs farther out at sea where they can refuel and resupply and sustain operations for longer.

This is a good tactic for two reasons that I can immediately discern. The first is that our Navy ring customers who have the job of finding and neutralizing pirate attacks won’t have to play the guessing game of wondering where they need to be at any particular time to protect merchant ships. This is like finding a needle in a haystack because there are just too many places for the pirates to attack.

The second reason that this is a good tactic is because this is a way for our military ring customers to effectively take the battle to the pirates. The mother ships are easier to find and take out. When you eliminate them you choke off the pirate ships because they have no way of being to sustain operations. I certainly hope that this operation is a success for our Navy ring customers.

Eliza Manningham-Buller who is the retired head of MI5 (British Intelligence) says that the United States was not forthcoming with the truth about how it treated some of the terror detainees which we captured from time to time.

The issue revolves mainly around al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and the fact that he was waterboarded 160 times to get information.

Now this is a two sided issue with me. On the one hand the information that we got out of Mr Mohammed undoubtedly saved many American and British lives. The life of one American is far more valuable than the comfort of a terrorist in my opinion. It would not have bothered me if he had been waterboarded 1,000 times. The main thing that our government must do is to protect innocents from terror attack.

The problem is how do you know before hand that the person that you plan on torturing is a terrorist and not an innocent civilian instead of a criminal. Thats the real kicker.

I think that part of the revelation of this mistreatment by Buller is to keep some of the heat directed elsewhere and not at home. I can’t believe that this knowledge was very much of a surprise to MI5 because it wasn’t much of a surprise to me. http://www.militaryringexpress.com/products

This post will raise some interesting questions for you because the information that I read when I did the research was very interesting indeed. It involves the case of Binyam Mohamed who is an ex Guantanimo Bay detainee.

Mr Mohamed had alleged that he was tortured while he was in captivity, beaten, psychologically abused, and even had his genitals cut with a scapel.

Well it turns out that according to classified documents released by the British government there is some truth to the matter. The documents show that Mr Mohamed was indeed subjected to torture and cruel treatment while in captivity but I do not know to what extent or by which government.

It seems that the US and British governments knew what was happening whether they were the ones administering the punishment or not I don’t know. The thing that is a kicker to me is the fact that he was released without charges. Obviously he was innocent. To be honest the thought of a terrorist being thumped on doesn’t bother me but an innocent man should not be subjected to this type of treatment.

Now my custom military ring customers the question that I put to you is this. How do you know who is the enemy? I don’t have any sympathy for people who maim and torture innocents but I take exception to torturing people on just a whim of suspicion.

I do not condone torture my military ring customers but how do you stop terrorists plans to kill innocents if you are not able to do whatever you have to do to get information from them? This is very shaky ground that we are walking on here. Nothing gives any government the right to abuse the lives of innocent people.

As all of my military ring customers know who follow this blog the “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy is under very close scrutiny. My personal feelings are that there have always been gay men and women serving in our armed forces. Althuogh I never knew of a man or woman to flaunt his or her sexuality many of them didn’t make an effort to hide their sexual orientation either.

I have said before my precious military ring customers no one should be deprived of the right to serve their country because of their sexual orientation. However we must keep military discipline and order in mind.

A soldier, airman, sailor, or marine must look the part. There are not gay soldiers and straight soldiers, only soldiers. The personal lifestyle of the soldier is secondary to the dictates of the military. Males must have haircut and dress standards. So also do females. The military is not the place for individuality.

Any soldier, sailor, marine, or airman who recognizes and abides by the dictates of of military conduct should be allowed to serve in the armed forces.  

The latest operational security concession that NATO has made in the war in Afghanistan is to place severe limits on their night raiding activities. The reason that this is such a concern is that our military ring customers serving in that conflict have a greater advantage when they conduct night operations. The night vision technology that we use gives us this advantage. The picture that you see here is exactly how things appear on the darkest night when you are looking through a night vision device.

Terrorists know now that they can operate more freely at night because of the fact that we can’t take advantage of the superior technology that we posses.

The purpose of this concession is to not offend the Afghan population by our night raiding tactics. Many times the homes of innocents are invaded which really isn’t fair to them. Night raids will be used as sparingly as possible now and when they are used Afghan troops will take the lead in the searches. Our military ring customers in Afghanistan will benefit more from the information that they can get from cooperating nationals than information that they will withhold if they are angry with us.

We have written many posts about the nature of warfare and the changing evolution of military tactics and equipment. Lets look at the way our tactics have come full circle for our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers presently serving in Afghanistan.

The biggest threat to NATO troops in Afghanistan has been the roadside bomb. What did we do when roadside bombs came into fruition? We added armor to every vehicle that we had. Soldiers improvised until we developed the new heavier Humvee. So what did the enemy do? They made their bombs bigger and more powerful to defeat the heavier armored vehicles.

So now in order to defeat the bigger, more powerful, more sophisticated, roadside bombs some of our infantry military ring customers have come up with a simple solution; Just walk. Thats right, the best solution for defeating roadside bombs is to walk. It might take a little longer but I would rather be late than dead.

Walking defeats the use of a heavier IED that we see being used at this time. When our troops walk they are not restricted to using the road. They can walk across country etc. out of harms way. So we ave gone back to the basics. I wonder what my military ring customers will have to look for as the next terrorist countermove?

Insurgents in Iraq are doing everything in their power to disrupt the ongoing election and discredit the new governmnt in Iraq. I feel totally confident that the new government will stand and deliver for the Iraqi people.

Insurgents were not able to disrupt the operation of the new government prior to this time and quite frankly I don’t think that they can. The adversity that the Iraqi government is suffering now will only serve to strengthen their resolve. The Iraqi people survived Saddam Hussein and two seperate wars with us so I’m sure that they will get through this.

Our military ring customers who are veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom did an excellent job of transitioning to a different role of facilitator rather than soldier during this war.

I wrote a post a little while back where I stated that the Iraqi government will stand. Now there is no doubt in my mind that they will. They ave been around long enough to put down some roots. It will be interesting to see what the terrorists will try to throw at them when we leave. We wish the best to all of our military ring customers who are a part of the new Iraq and to every Iraqi citizen.