From: Adam 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5324004.stm

"In small, isolated firebases in southern Afghanistan, British
soldiers find themselves under daily siege.

Some 300,000 rounds of ammunition are said to have been fired by British
troops defending places like Sangeen and Musa Qaleh."

Nota Bene:

UK PBI have always been trained to be "riflemen" i.e. single well
aimed shots & not some sort of American gangsta style blasting away on
automatic. The Old UK Assault rifle (the SLR) was a FN rifle adapted
specifically not to fire on fully automatic.

Fully automatic is only OK when in close company with a lot of enemy or if
firing as a support weapon.

So....300K rounds gives some indication of the sheer joy of being in a
sangar somewhere far from friendly faces.

" In Sangeen, for instance, a handful of British Paratroops have found
themselves facing similar, or greater, numbers of Taleban fighters. The
battle is sometimes grenade against grenade, British SA-80 automatic
weapons against Taleban Kalashnikovs.

The lightly-armed British soldiers often have to call for air support from
American A-10 Tankbusters or British Apache helicopters.

The soldiers can be cut off - for days or even weeks at a time - in these
isolated forward positions. Re-supply is difficult, and sometimes only
possible by helicopters, of which there are not enough.

Commanders describe the Taleban behaviour as reckless, throwing people
forward into exposed positions and losing many of them. That's why Nato
thinks it has killed 1,000 insurgents over the course of the summer. "


Geee sounds a lot like so many similar British Army engagements. Rorke's
Drift anyone?

"Military sources say they believe the campaign has turned a corner,
with the Taleban not beaten but certainly broken up into smaller groups.

The nature of the fight will therefore change, say these military sources.
There will be more emphasis put on mobility to chase and capture or kill
these smaller bands of Taleban. British forces will be mounting long-range
patrols from the bigger, rear bases in Helmand province.

The risk for the coalition is that a change of tactics could look like a
propaganda victory for the Taleban. And no military source I've spoken to
pretends the conflict in Afghanistan will be anything other than difficult
and bloody.

For the most part, British troops are not engaged in peacekeeping or
reconstruction but in a counter-insurgency warfare. "

Yup......but hey at least winter is coming & snow's a bugger to fight
in. It's most probably why the Taliban are moving back into smaller groups
as they are better wrt dispersal & logistics (inc food & shelter
amongst locals) than larger groups when the snows etc come.

Adam

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