Interesting? I think so....

I have often made the point in various conversations that the Army is in many ways too interested in keeping good PR on the American TV than in doing the most effective thing to win the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The most obvious way this happens is the limits they put on troops to avoid casualties that prevent the troops from doing their jobs. I know, there are a lot of folks who will say, "but they are only trying to protect the soldiers!" And that is good. A soldier should never be wasted in a foolish operation. But, being a soldier in a combat zone is a risky proposition, and dying is part of the game. IF you are too worried about a soldier dying and getting a lot of bad press about it then you are preventing the soldiers from doing their jobs. This was brilliantly pointed out by some Marine snipers in a recent article in the New York Times.

But some snipers now worry that the difficulties they face have been compounded by rules and conditions placed on them by senior military leaders.

Marine snipers have customarily trained to work in two-man teams who hide and stalk for days, seeking targets a half-mile or more away. Often an area might be saturated with snipers, so they can support and protect one another while confusing an enemy force with different angles of fire.

This way, according to their thinking, they can kill more enemy combatants, and sow more fear.

Those two-man teams are not allowed in Iraq, in part because of the killings of two groups of snipers earlier in the war... The losses have made commanders hesitant to send out small teams, Marine officers said, a decision that many snipers said inhibits their work.

Snipers argue a counterintuitive point, saying that even though two-man teams have less firepower and fewer men, they are safer because they can hide more effectively.

Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin, the leader of the battalion'’s First Sniper Team, said the sniper community was suffering from an overreaction. “It’s sad that they got killed, but when you think about it, we’ve been here three years, going on four, and we'’ve only had two teams killed,” he said. "“That'’s not that dramatic."”...He said snipers were willing to assume the risk of traveling in pairs. "“It'’s a war," he said. "“People are going to die, and the American public needs to get over that. They need to get over that and let us do our job."” (emphasis added by exmi) Snipers also say that other force-protection issues are limiting their operations, including requirements to wear helmets and flak jackets, which slow snipers down and make hiding more difficult.

"“You go to a 10-week sniper course and never in that course are you in Kevlar and a helmet,"” Sergeant Jones said. "“Then you come to Iraq and immediately you'’re in your flak jacket and helmet, and you'’ve got a huge pack of gear."

Sergeant Chamblin agreed. "“We are carrying way more stuff than we can be tactically sound with,Â" he said. Â"My arms are numb because my pack is so heavy. Sometimes, on my missions, my pack has weighed more than I have, and I weigh 150 pounds."”

I have heard th same arguements and complaints from SF soldiers that I know or worked with in Afghanistan. These guys are volunteers, they are trained to do a certain job and they know the risks of that job. Let them go and do it.