rangers in a-stan video

[easyand]

I don't know if posted before :roll:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/imint/images/011020-D-6570C-004.mpg
Footage showing Special Operations Forces loading onto transport aircraft, taking off for the trip into Afghanistan, and exiting the C-130 aircraft and jumping onto their objective, an airfield in southern Afghanistan

http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/imint/images/011020-D-6570C-003.mpg
Footage showing deployed Special Operations Forces preparing for their missions

http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/imint/images/011020-D-6570C-005.mpg
ranger clearing buildings in an airstrip

[Red]

great vids

[flickme]

Cool videos.

[Dennis G]

never seen them, thanks

How can you tell they are Rangers and not like 82nd?

[hist2004]

never seen them, thanks

How can you tell they are Rangers and not like 82nd?

Rangers attack Taliban airfield
Raid signals new stage in U.S. war on terror

Knight Ridder Newspapers

Saturday, October 20, 2001

Washington — A company of Army Rangers staged a nighttime attack on the Kandahar airfield in southern Afghanistan early today, signaling a new and much more dangerous phase of the U.S.-led war against Afghanistan's Taliban military and Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.

There was no immediate word on casualties in the attacking force, but the Pentagon said two U.S. military personnel were killed in Pakistan in a helicopter accident. A defense official said the helicopter "was not part of the force that went into Afghanistan." The helicopter was providing support for the attackers. Pakistan has allowed the United States to base search-and-rescue helicopters at three of its air bases.

Names of the dead were not released, pending notification of their families.

In the raid on Afghanistan, more than 100 U.S. troops were involved in an operation that began and ended under the cover of darkness and lasted "a few hours," a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said late Friday. Another U.S. official said the raid involved about 200 troops and that their target was the airfield.

The first official did not provide further details or say whether there were any U.S. combat casualties.

"A group of special forces, including Army Rangers, went into Afghanistan today ? overnight Afghanistan time ? to conduct operations. As of right now, they are clear of Afghan airspace," the first official said.

Kandahar is the base of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

"This is a beginning," the second official told Knight Ridder. "It was a message that they (the Taliban and bin Laden) cannot feel secure in their home base or anywhere else."

Skilled in small unit tactics, helicopter assaults and close-in combat, the Rangers and other U.S. special forces can operate for considerable periods behind enemy lines, gathering intelligence, marking targets for aircraft with hand-held lasers, or training and working with local forces. They also can provide support to the Army's Delta Force, a super-secret unit trained in "snatch" operations that could be sent in to abduct bin Laden or his top aides.

The Rangers who attacked the Kandahar airfield came from an undisclosed location, but U.S. commandos are stationed on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk in the Arabian Sea, at an air base in Uzbekistan and at other locations.

Heavily equipped

In addition to parachute assaults, they are equipped to carry out reconnaissance missions, assist anti-Taliban forces inside Afghanistan and support covert operations designed to turn local Afghan leaders against the Taliban.

U.S. Army Ranger companies generally number about 200 men. A company consists of four platoons: three line platoons and a weapons platoon, plus a headquarters section that coordinates operations, communication and close air support.

Ranger platoons carry a much larger arsenal of firepower than a standard light infantry unit. Each squad generally consists of nine men: a squad leader, two sergeant-rank fire team leaders, two grenadiers armed with M4 carbines and M203 40mm grenade launchers, two riflemen and two squad automatic weapons gunners whose 5.56 mm machine guns can spit out as many as 1,000 rounds a minute.

During combat each squad gets an added three-man machine gun team. Their Belgian-made M240G machine guns can lay down accurate "grazing fire" at 800 to 1,000 rounds a minute at a range of 1,000 yards.

The weapons platoon in each company typically carries three 84 mm anti-tank, Swedish-made "Gustav" recoilless rifles, capable of taking out a tank or armored vehicle at 600 yards. Three 60 mm mortar teams provide indirect fire support for close operations.

In addition, forward artillery observers attached to each platoon can call in artillery or close-air support from helicopter gunships or Air Force and Navy fighters and bombers.

Depending on the operation, individual squad members also can carry an array of Vietnam-era 70mm light anti-tank weapons or LAWs, plus Claymore anti-personnel mines and hand grenades.

Hit hard and fast

The Rangers on the raid on the Kandahar airfield likely parachuted in with a minimum of food and water and a maximum amount of ammunition.

Raids such as the one of Kandahar are designed to hit hard and fast, killing as many of the enemy as possible and gathering whatever documents and other intelligence soldiers can find. They are usually planned to be as short and as violent as possible, so as to minimize the risk of casualties.

The United States also has some two dozen Special Forces soldiers in northern Afghanistan assisting the United Front, a loose coalition of fighters seeking to push the Taliban from power, senior officials told Knight Ridder, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The introduction of U.S. special forces to the campaign against bin Laden, who U.S. officials say is responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, had long been expected. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has repeatedly acknowledged that air power alone would not be enough.

"It's not going to be fast," Rumsfeld said earlier Friday en route to a ceremony at the B-2 bomber base in central Missouri. "It's going to take time. The people on the ground there are very tough. They have been fighting each other ? and others ? for a very long time. They're survivors."

He added: "It is going to be a lot easier in my view to try to persuade a number of them to oppose the Taliban, and to oppose al-Qaida ? than to, in fact, defeat them."

Strategy

The raid on Kandahar opens up a new front against the Taliban, this one on their home turf.

The U.S. strategy is to unseat the Afghan leaders so that they can no longer provide protection for bin Laden and his al-Qaida network, accused of being behind the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

To topple the Taliban, the United States is inducing military commanders in the ethnic Pashtun areas of southeastern Afghanistan to switch their loyalties. That effort reportedly is being undertaken by CIA operatives and smaller groups of U.S. special forces, in league with Pakistan's intelligence services.

It is unclear how solid the Taliban's grip on power remains.

Regards,
Hist2004

[NcDeuce]

Good stuff, we'll be seeing those on the History Channel when we're old and gray. :lol:

[Vance]

Good stuff, we'll be seeing those on the History Channel when we're old and gray. :lol:
Hopefully modern medicine will delay that somewhat ;)

[ArmyRanger]

Hooah = ]

[ICE_PIC_JAPAN]

About Mov.5
Was it PK Light Machine Gun after show RPG??
http://www.classic-supplies.com/ICE_RICE_SQUAD/index.html

[Gringo]

these have been posted before, but that was a while ago. It's good to see them again.
I just hope it doesn't turn into a similar recurring nightmare that is the 'Royal Artillery botched beach landing' video. :|

[pipaz]

cool vids though ;)

[Seraphim]

How many people were involved with that airdrop?

[MVSpartan117]

How many people were involved with that airdrop?

I heard something like 100

but.... that could be wrong