Field equipment lessons learned in A-stan

[RECON DOC]

Official U.S. Army Natick report on 'Field equipment lessons learned in Afghanistan'


I stumbled across this article, it's full of great info and a treasure trove of related links and thought some of you might be interested in having a look.

http://www.geocities.com/usarmyafghangearproblems/

Hope this is not a repost. I did an extensive search and could not find a thread with this data.

[Royal]

It is a repost - I remember reading it it a couple of years ago.

But it's not been up for a while. There's some good stuff and some not so good. Well worth a read.

[RECON DOC]

It is a repost - I remember reading it it a couple of years ago.

But it's not been up for a while. There's some good stuff and some not so good. Well worth a read.

This was updated May 06

[Connor Oz]

It was posted 07/21/2002 it says, anyways interesting never the less.

[AlexNenadic]

Oh God, not Sparky again.

How the **** can a civilian organization be "Airborne"? The guy is such a joke.

[PvtPyle]

The link is dead, did anyone copy it?

[LthrnckZero]

There is a lot of good info on that website. The problem is that you have to wade through all his BS crying about how the military should do things his way in order to find the good info. I use to go on there quite a bit but eventually I would get pissed off at all the Marine bashing and have to leave. The really funny thing about it is that he complains without end about how Marines think so highly of themselves, yet 75% of that website is him talking about how great he is and how much he knows about the military.

I would suggest that anyone who spends time on that website must realize that this guy definitely has an agenda, and just keep that in mind so that you can read between the lines. That being said, I do believe there is some worthwhile info on there, and he does some outside the box thinking which is always good, so give it a shot.

[AZRON]

Sparky ' The Gavin Meister '.

[PvtPyle]

Not being able to access the site right now....Has the guy ever been in the military, or is he just parroting what the BTDT's say?

On the subject of how great Marines are, having been one many moons ago, and having had them as support for us out at the firebases in Afghanistan I can say this with absolute certainty. They fu@&in rock. The Marine mentality may not be for me anymore, but they do a fine job and should be proud of themselves. Most of us would rather have a Marine unit as security and support than most of the Army infantry units that we had to support us.

[Erik2a4]

Sparky ' The Gavin Meister '.

Bwaaaahahahahahaha...

Nice...

Sparks is a Caterpillar: i.e., one big effing tool.

This AAR is old, and as Royal said, some is good, some is crap...

[Erik2a4]

Not being able to access the site right now....Has the guy ever been in the military, or is he just parroting what the BTDT's say?

On the subject of how great Marines are, having been one many moons ago, and having had them as support for us out at the firebases in Afghanistan I can say this with absolute certainty. They fu@&in rock. The Marine mentality may not be for me anymore, but they do a fine job and should be proud of themselves. Most of us would rather have a Marine unit as security and support than most of the Army infantry units that we had to support us.

So, in a recent survey, 99% of armorers said that they would prefer USMC security to US Army security? :lol:

I'm just busting your chops...Sparks is a douchebag, and obviously has issues regarding everyone from the USMC to Congress to his mother.

You have every right to be proud of your USMC service, just as I am proud of my US Army time. However, quoting speculation never helps anything.

There are good and bad units on both sides. Neither has a monopoly on "good units." Or bad units. People figure this out once they start working in a joint environment.

[LthrnckZero]

You have every right to be proud of your USMC service, just as I am proud of my US Army time. However, quoting speculation never helps anything.

There are good and bad units on both sides. Neither has a monopoly on "good units." Or bad units. People figure this out once they start working in a joint environment.

It is nice to finally hear something other than the usual chest thumping stuff that all of our services try to instill in us.

[ABNINF]

I had the chance to work under a Marine CoC, while in Afghanistan. I was thoroughly unimpressed, and at times madder than he11. Now, before this becomes a pissing contest hear me out. The Marines I worked under, were for the most part not combat arms. The NCO's I worked with were top notch, unfortunately, they were under the control of their officers. Almost to the man, the Marine officers I worked with were phucking idiots. They were "career" officers that were politically driven/minded in a war zone, which is a dangerous thing. After my FOB took some SAF one night, I was getting ready to roll out with my QRF to set up a hasty TCP, as the bad guys would have to come back by due to the route they took. The Marine Col. told me we weren't allowed to go out, and asked me, "What are the headlines going to say tommorow?". I do not generalize all the Marines by the actions of a few. Most of the Army officers on my FOB were the same way (maybe it's just an officer thing;-)) Everybody has bad experiences.

[James]

Ja, I was at a place in E. A'Stan on my last trip and many of the officers were knuckleheads - USA and USMC. NCOs were good to go.