The counterpart to that tactic is to emulate "Flame and Citron" and get very close, very calmly, shoot, then carefully leave the area.This is a true statement, however there are some serious caveats. First off, in the realm of military tactics, "You can get away with anything once." is a good rule to follow. But "better lucky than good" only gets you so far in any endeavor.
I will suggest that since Hollywood and video games have turned the sniper into a figure of popular culture, a well dressed fellow calmly walking away is less likely to even be considered.
Everyone will be looking up and away for the big gun with the big suppressor.
There is a reason that Soldiers in Iraq went to "aggressive scanning" in urban areas. Things like RKG-3 anti armor grenades have to be deployed close. However, an Iraqi student was able to walk up behind a Soldier, shoot him in the head, and then leave unmolested a few years ago.
So, you can get away with anything once. Eventually the odds catch up and the enemy adapts to your tactics. Warfare is like the "Red Queen" theory of evolution, sometimes you have to run as fast as you can just to stay in place. Think about the evolution of American Football. The "Shotgun" the "I Formation" and other such "tactics" each had their day in the sun until other teams caught on and developed the appropriate technique to counter those tactics.
Right now "flame and citron" will not work against any of the NATO forces that learned hard lessons in Iraq and Afghanistan. It might work against a different force such as the Norks or Iranians but getting close to a well armed opponent who is looking to kill you is a quick form of suicide.
Let me ask this, if you want to remain anonymous, with all the cameras in our world, would "Flame and Citron" be a viable tactic in an urban area? The answer is no in the developed world, and maybe in the developing world (like Iraq). In an rural area, where will you find a crowd to calmly walk into?
I'm not saying that "flame and citron" should be taken out of the playbook. I'm saying that you can't rely on it, you need to look specifically for terrain that would allow it to succeed, and then you need to have balls of steel to pull it off.
On the flip side Snipers don't live forever either. Anyone remember Juba? That bastard got hit with a 500 pounder. Do the same tricks over and over again and your number will come up. Fighting smart means thinking through options, in both time and space, and setting yourself up to conduct follow on operations. Conserve your combat power, think asymetrically.
If every chowhall in Iraq had burned to the ground in 2008 what do you think the EFFECT would have been on morale? It would have crushed morale.
First it would have conveyed the message that you weren't safe on the FOB. Everyone knows this is true in the back of their mind but a lot of people really want to FEEL safe even if it is a lie.
Second it would have meant MRE's, T-RATs, and UGR's for at least a few weeks. Bad chow sucks balls.
Third it would have shifted resources from rearming and refueling to rebuilding chow halls.
So fight smart.
7 comments:
Sir:
Wow, but the Army sure has changed!
I've got no idea what you're talking about.
"Flame and Citron"?
What is that?
What are "T-Rats" and "UGR"s?
When I was in the Army, MREs hadn't even been invented yet.
We ate C-rations, and considered LRRP rations a highly innovative luxury.
Boy, oh boy, but I'm really out of the ball game!
I wonder what the Army will be like when you're old and retired?
Thank you.
John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507
Excellent points on my comments.
Given the increased distribution of shot tracking technology, which is currently being deployed in our cities, I would suggest cameras are much easier to overcome.
If we look to England which has more CCTV than any other place on Earth, the cameras rarely if ever stop crime before it occurs. They are very good at providing leads afterwards, however this can be overcome with even minimal attempts to spoof through basic disguises. Face tracking technology is not yet able to overcome such. Terrorists have yet to do this as they are predominantly on martyrdom operations.
If every lamp post has an acoustic shot detector coupled with CCTV I will suggest the long range shooter will be easier to pinpoint as they will likely not be in a crowd.
Another saddening point to consider is that most people in a resistance role will not have the training to successfully make long range shots. Your success rates will likely be much higher at closer ranges.
Additionally, why would one engage kitted up troops actively scanning for enemy? That is the other part of "flame and citron".
Go after the collaborators. Find the homes of the drone operators. Find the relatives of the drone operators. Find the fast food outlets for soldiers just off base. Find the Walmart for marines just off base.
Engage when they are unarmed, unarmored, ideally with family.
It is horrible but so is war.
Mr. Mallernee, thank you for your service to our country sir.
I don't know what "T-Rats" and "UGR"s are either, but "Flame" and "Citron" were the code names of two Danish resistance fighters who killed a lot of Nazi officers in WWII. They were both killed by the Germans in the late part of the war.
JD
J.D.:
Thank you for that bit of information.
By coincidence, I recently learned I am biologically half Danish.
I and my siblings were adopted and raised by different families, with different identities, and our biological mother (who passed away last month) was pure Danish, as both of her parents emigrated from Denmark to settle in Wyoming.
A couple or three decades ago, I met a couple of the Danish resistance fighters who were now living in Salt Lake City, Utah and operating a construction company.
When I was on leave from the Army, I sometimes attended the old Danish Ward of The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints, even though I didn't speak or understand Danish.
Strangely, at the time, I did not know I had Danish ancestry.
I think I embedded a movie about the Danish resistance in an archived post somewhere on my web site, but I'm not sure, and don't remember the title of the movie.
In the archives of my blog posts, there are some embedded videos of Denmark.
A couple of summers ago, while driving across country, I stopped in Elk Horn, Iowa to visit the Danish Immigrant Museum.
It's very interesting, and if you ever get the opportunity, I recommend stopping in Elk Horn, Iowa.
They have a web site.
Just Google "Danish Immigrant Museum".
Thank you.
John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507
http://www.1channel.ch/watch-6119-Flammen-Citronen
Good movie. They were cops before the invasion.
T-Rats are "Troop Rations" and UGR's are "Unitized Group Rations"
Imagine MRE's just made on a larger scale.
Avidus said "...however this can be overcome with even minimal attempts to spoof through basic disguises. Face tracking technology is not yet able to overcome such..."
WRONG!
Facebook now automatically tags every picture uploaded with the name of each person in it!
People have already tried to beat it using various disguises, fake facial-hair, sunglasses... -- and FAILED!
This not only works on foreground, straight-up subjects, but even finds and tags people walking by in the background! People digging into this have found themselves -- TAGGED BY NAME -- in the background of pics taken by perfect strangers!
On the (very) rare occasion when it's wrong, STUPID SHEEP are helping to fine-tune the algorithm by correcting it!
"But that's just FACEBOOK" you're thinking - "It's not the .gov..."
RIIiiiiight!
The software is owned by "an Israeli company" (read:Mossad) so you can be damn sure our .gov is neck deep in it as well!
They're ALREADY using the so-called "Red-light cameras to track every vehicle movement in major cities - doing the same with facial-recognition would be TRIVIAL at this point!
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