From: "Mark" 

I like Yon's stuff, he's been a very interesting read from way back when he
made his first trip over there, I've sent him a couple of small donations
to help keep him going. Bill Roggio ( http://billroggio.com/ ) is another I
read and have supported.

"Adam" <""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the
field.near the bridge"> wrote in message
news:4648e8a7$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> Quite a long piece with some interesting snippets:
>
> http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/rattlesnake.htm
>
> "Any perception that British forces have it easy down here in Basra is
> wrong. In the nearly three weeks I've been here, I've seen more mortar
> and rocket attacks than during my cumulative time in Iraq. The rate of
> British soldiers getting killed in combat during April 2007 seemed to
> far exceed that for our troops up north in the same period; and was the
> most for the British since the first month of the war back in 2003. Last
> night, while answering email, we twice all hit the ground and at least
> two Brits and a pizza delivery man on base were wounded. I was told
> later that the Pizza Hut delivery man was sent back to India missing a
> leg. By all yardsticks, the situation in Basra seems to be deteriorating
> rapidly."
>
> Pull out to desert bases as CIGS has said but political "realities"
> militate against....
>
> "And British soldiers here do in fact look at their American
> counterparts with mixture of dismay and respect at the amount of abuse
> our people take but still keep going. The recent announcement that
> American soldiers' tours had been extended to fifteen months, in areas
> usually far more dangerous than Basra, was met with astonishment among
> British combat veterans here, followed quickly with profuse respect for
> their American brethren for keeping at it militarily, despite the
> political morass common to both London and Washington.
>
> British combat tours are six months."
>
> You poor bastards...was probably the comment....wrt the 6 month
> tour....yeah following on from a tour in the Balkans, West Africa &
> Afghanistan....
>
> "Ask a combat soldier a question, you get an answer. Ask the soldier
> next to him the same question, you get a different answer. There is wide
> and vibrant opinion among British soldiers and it runs the gamut from
> frustration with local mentalities that cling to futile violence, to
> disillusionment with politics, vexation with media, and consternation
> about the costs, calculated in so many kinds of capital. But all the
> British soldiers I've run missions with are of a like-mind when it comes
> to their readiness to fight on. They are soldiers. Proud and ready. I
> would find them practicing tactics at odd hours. They gave me combat
> instruction whether or not I asked. One day, on a different mission,
> when two soldiers were killed in the vehicle behind us, a young soldier
> sent me-without hesitation-to fetch machine gun lubricant in preparation
> for a gun battle. I was always more than comfortable going into combat
> with these men."
>
> ....Ah grousing...the right of any PBI...& then clean
your weapon....
>
> The rest is an interesting usage of javelin ATGM to snipe at the adoo
> (much as milan has been used).
>
>
> Adam

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