The war HAS begun. [Archive]

96B

03-19-2003, 10:52 PM

You know how they said this would be 10 times the air strikes of 1991, and that it would be a Shock and Awe operation? Do you guys think the big mack daddy strikes are yet to come which will prove the shock and awe strategy, or is it a bunch of psyops and we wont have big bombing raids like in 1991?

MK133

03-19-2003, 10:59 PM

Hmm, they just said that leaders had a meeting this morning including Saddam himself and that he was probably the target of these first F117 and Cruise strikes. Can you imagine if we waxed him before the war really started?

Ratamacue

03-19-2003, 11:03 PM

In all serious, that would be laughter-enducing. I wouldn't be able to contain myself.

MK133

03-19-2003, 11:08 PM

Ok, 40 Cruise missles launched + F117's is the latest word, still waiting for damage assessment.

Vance

03-19-2003, 11:18 PM

Man, some news sources say Cruise missles and Stealth fighters, some say just fighters, some say 10 CM's, some say 40. Arg so confusing

OzMan

03-19-2003, 11:25 PM

The media is responding a little too quickly to be believable. I'm not taking any of this new info to heart yet.

...

03-19-2003, 11:35 PM

NBC also just annouced that a major operation just happened in Afghanistan.

OzMan

03-19-2003, 11:37 PM

1000 ground troops searching for al qaeda.

Merik

03-19-2003, 11:43 PM

HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!

OzMan

03-19-2003, 11:51 PM

82nd Airborne involved.

FallenAngel

03-20-2003, 12:40 AM

anyone see Saddam's speech?

"Iraq will win."

heh....man is more far gone than I thought. :fork:

Jedi

03-20-2003, 12:41 AM

Now, keeping in mind that Saddam is known to have MANY doubles, I have to ask:

Was that Saddam delivering the speach on Iraqi TV? Was this filmed prior to the strikes? Is Saddam alive?

OzMan

03-20-2003, 12:43 AM

There was nothing specific. Probably an old tape. UBL did it. Remember? I doubt that was live.

OzMan

03-20-2003, 01:00 AM

Foxnews just said the speech was confirmed a fake.

hood

03-20-2003, 01:07 AM

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20030320/capt.sge.mak82.200303053830.photo00.default-384x261.jpg

In the above picture, we can clearly see that Saddam's
personal website is being destroyed.

The 1,000 82nd Airborne troops in Afghanistan is Op
Valiant Strike. It was mentioned that radio transmissions
were being tracked to caves in the area where they
think Bin Laden is, so they called in the cavalry.

MolliG

03-20-2003, 03:30 AM

This copied from a post of mine on a different forum (people in the UK will know what GMTV is...but for all those who don't its a breakfast news programme thingy on one of the many channels over here in the UK)

2 explosions heard in N. Kuwait
Troops at Camp Coyote ordered to don gas masks and NBC suits
If you're watching GMTV (from 7:30 to about 8:20) you would have seen the alarm and the reporter getting in all her gear on.

Seems that it maybe just be regular explosions and not Chem'/Bio' warheads but at Coyote their all still in the gear (turn GMTV on)

Hope our troops go kick some ass! :)

Edit- Added this...
Special Forces are believed to be fighting in North Iraq and around Basra...I'm unsure about Basra but some reporters 'bumped' into American Special Forces in the North last night (I think it was on Newsnight [BBC2])

Some pictures-
http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1133263.jpg
http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1133361.jpg
http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1133367.jpg
http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1133373.jpg -Saddam or a double? Hmmm

Interesting- http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-12272321,00.html

robwarrior

03-20-2003, 03:41 AM

kick ass and take names!!! woot man i wish i was in the US military. u guys think i can volunteer for service?? (jus a thought) :P

JiJoMacLE45

03-20-2003, 09:00 AM

Just heard that a Pave Low had to make a controlled crash in southern Iraq. All six crew men were picked up. Air was called in to destroy the bird.

96B

03-20-2003, 09:15 AM

Other than Green Berets training the Kurds, wouldnt the only other SOF operating inside Iraq be Delta?

JiJoMacLE45

03-20-2003, 09:22 AM

You never know. During the Gulf War, Navy SEALs were the first forces in theatre and were running recon into southern Iraq before Special Forces were even on the ground. Air Force PJs are probably up on CSAR flights and CCTs are surely with the SF ODAs for CAS. Navy SEALs, Force Reconnaissance, and Army Rangers could certainly be part of the joint special operations task force that has been set up and may or may not be running hot ops. We'll just have to wait and see.

USAF G

03-20-2003, 11:28 AM

I hate to be nit-picky, but the first SOF troops on the ground in Iraq during the first Gulf war were Air Force Combat Controllers who marked target to clear the way for B52 strikes. All branches of Special Operations will be involved in any operations. SF in Afghanistan had USAF elements with them, because the CCTs are much better at talking to Air Force aircraft then they are. As described above, everybody gets to play when TSHTF. These guys are all top notch warriors and deserve our respect and support.
Sorry about the ramble, I'm antsy sitting here waiting for my unit to call me. G

FallenAngel

03-20-2003, 01:07 PM

3rd Inf. Div. artillery is opening up on Iraqi army units and the 1st Marines are breaching the berms.

Oh, and just in! IR views of Baghdad with AAA going off and bombs fallin'.

Looks like they WERE waiting for nightfall.

warchild1/27scout

03-20-2003, 01:57 PM

i heard sbs or sas might have made contact around basra.anybody have other info?

Minjin

03-20-2003, 02:39 PM

Warchild, I heard about that yesterday, so it may have been the first contact?? I will add my request for info on this to your own.

JiJoMacLE45

03-20-2003, 02:46 PM

SEAL platoons were the first US forces into the Gulf following the invasion of Kuwait. Iraq invaded on August 2nd and SEALs were on the ground within the month, and for a short time were the only American forces in theatre.

USAF G

03-20-2003, 03:25 PM

My bad, I was talking about the first US forces into Iraq during the first Gulf war, not Kuwait. Sorry.

JKD

03-20-2003, 03:35 PM

Wasn't the 82nd Airborne the first into Saudi Arabia following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait? I thought the SOF community had to do some serious lobbying with Schwarzkopf to get forces there at all?

hood

03-20-2003, 03:37 PM

BTW, in case anyone's interested... Geraldo Rivera has a video report about Op Valiant Strike in Afghanistan.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player.htm?732&FOX%20News%20Channel&wvx-300

FallenAngel

03-20-2003, 04:00 PM

latest news on whether or not this is the "shock and awe" attack from the pentagon:

"You'd know it when you see it...and this isn't it."

Sounds like Saddam is in for a world of hurt :)

David

03-20-2003, 07:03 PM

does anybody know the number of u.s. soldiers that have died so far, if any?

JiJoMacLE45

03-20-2003, 07:16 PM

The SEALs were attached to the ARGs in the Gulf. They went in and began doing reconnaissance along with borders before the 5th Group could get in and take over the job and leave the SEALs to do more maritime oriented missions.

The 82nd were the first conventional unit in the theatre.

Schwarzkopf did not want to send the SOF forces into Iraq though he had them spread out among the coalition units to provide 'ground truth'.
The SAS got to go in first b/c de la Billiere(sic) had the Bear's ear and was able to lobby for their involvement.

It also looks like the SEALs just retook some of the Iraqi oil rigs in the northern Persian Gulf like they did during the Gulf War.

As far as casualties, no KIA, the six men onboard the Pave Low then went down suffered 'minor injuries' and there have been no reports of any downed aircraft from the raids.

96B

03-20-2003, 07:20 PM

Where did you hear about the SEALs taking the oil rigs recently?

hood

03-20-2003, 08:30 PM

ABC news mentioned that a cobra helicopter was shot down by small arms fire today, but that they were able to meet up with it and repair it on the spot. It was supposedly flown back to base.

JiJoMacLE45

03-20-2003, 09:15 PM

MSNBC has reported that SOF has taken down the oil rigs.

FallenAngel

03-20-2003, 09:40 PM

Just in.

CH-46 Sea Knight has gone down in Kuwait with no survivors. 16 US and British Marines died. Unknown if hostile fire was the cause.

David

03-20-2003, 10:06 PM

it crashed due to mechanical failures.

Zoomie

03-20-2003, 10:21 PM

Well, ground troops and tanks are now moving by force into Iraq. woot The 3ID is moving their armor column right now. You can watch it on ABC.
Great to see all the Abrams and Bradleys to move in!

MK133

03-20-2003, 11:07 PM

Kind of reminds me of the Tu Pac California Love video! But with a can of woop-ass about to be opened! :D

96B

03-20-2003, 11:54 PM

Guys I heard about an incident where 3 or 4 Iraqi soldiers came running at a Bradley fighting vehicle with their AK's ablazing, I guess you can imagine the outcome of that encounter. I think I saw it on either Fox News or MSNBC.

hood

03-21-2003, 12:55 AM

it's amazing to watch fox news right now.. they've got a camera hanging off the side of their jeep or humvee and broadcasting their signal in realtime.. it's incredible that they can do it while moving.

96B

03-21-2003, 01:46 AM

I think that because of the great cooperation between the military and the media, the media has come to respect the military alot more and especially respect the things that need to go unreported such as future war plans. I think that if we had not allowed the media to be "imbedded" with our men and women, they would be trying to find a story alot harder and may have even accidentally revealed secret information. You can also definately expect some unsurpassed action footage in the near future because of the medias presence there.

Zoomie

03-21-2003, 07:19 AM

Also, what do you guys think about the missle attack on Kuwait? I guess it's been pretty much determined that one of them was a SCUD. Which is one illeagal missle that they're not supposed to have! Well France, inspect that! Bet they never saw that coming! :cantbeli:

MK133

03-21-2003, 01:42 PM

wow, that was intense! woke up everyone in Baghdad :lol:

Merik

03-21-2003, 02:05 PM

You guys see the live footage of the Baghdad bombings?????That was some pretty cool stuff.Also the live feed of the 3rd ID hauling ass into Iraq last night was just totally outstanding.Just remeber you are watching history in the making boys.

Zoomie

03-21-2003, 02:47 PM

Man, the footage of the air campaign is great! First I was watching the news when the Iraqis just stated shooting AAA aimlessly into the sky and they said that they would return to normal broadcasting, then BOOM! Man the Tomahawks came in. Right now a few are coming in on Baghdad again. I can't wait for the B-52s and B-1s to come hauling in!http://www.railroadforum.com/forum/icon_smile_fighterjet.gif

Minjin

03-21-2003, 02:48 PM

The footage via videophone is amazing, especially last night's stuff from the 7th Cav. blazing across the desert.

MK133

03-21-2003, 03:18 PM

There was mention of an "imbedded reporter" tagging along during a SEAL team operation! Keep your eyes peeled for that.

96B

03-21-2003, 03:19 PM

How long do you think until that video will be released?

hood

03-21-2003, 03:20 PM

:) probably after the whole thing is over...

MK133

03-21-2003, 04:01 PM

The reporter just described the mission but was not allowed to take any photos or video. However there was video recorded of the oil rig takedown from helo's with FLIR. Hopefully we can see that eventually.

Ichhabe

03-21-2003, 07:28 PM

It is NOT cool to see bombs and rockets fall over a city. This is WAR. People are getting killed. US and British soldiers, and innocent Iraqi civilians. This is not a show. Sweet Lord!

chickenhawk

03-23-2003, 03:23 AM

saddam is like clark kent. put on some glasses and fool everyone! well, we know the bombing obliterated his contact solution. USA #1!!!

Vance

03-19-2004, 03:44 PM

bump... ;)

MK133

03-20-2004, 12:22 AM

Hmm, that must mean it is my MilitaryPhotos.net anniversary! woot

Sierra

03-20-2004, 01:15 AM

wow!
happy anniversary
and this is the thread from when the war started.

Truthsayer

03-20-2004, 08:54 AM

Alongside with Richard Chaimberlin's "Peace in our time", Colin Powells speach to the UN and Bush adress to the nation are some of the funniest jokes I have ever heard.

Herrmannek

03-20-2004, 09:12 AM

Wow, this is the time I started to lurk on that forum :)

hood

03-20-2004, 09:55 AM

I look forward to a democractic Iraq that's free of terrorist activities when next we've completed an annual cycle.

MolliG

03-20-2004, 10:38 AM

Whoa, it has gone by fast! A year ago this/next week I was sat at home, bunking :lol:, flipping through Sky News and BBC News watching Marines push into Iraq in their AAVs, reporters ****ting themselves in Kuwait trying to find respirators they left in their hotel rooms, Challenger IIs and Warriors dealing with resistance from cameras mounted on their guns and Marines/Soldiers shouting "Woohoo!" as their Dragon or Javelin smacked into a building... It certainly has gone by fast.

:)