EasyRSS: Clipmarks | Vietnam Clips

Clipmarks | Vietnam Clips Weapons failed US troops during Afghan firefight clipped by: cptenaud clippers remarks: A week ago, eight U.S. troops were killed at a base near Kamdesh, a town near Wanat. Theres no immediate evidence of weapons failures at Kamdesh, but the circumstances were eerily similar to the Wanat battle: insurgents stormed an isolated stronghold manned by American forces stretched thin by the demands of war. Army Col. Wayne Shanks, a military spokesman in Afghanistan, said a review of the battle at Kamdesh is under way. "It is too early to make any assumptions regarding what did or didnt work correctly," he said. Complaints about the weapons the troops carry, especially the M4, arent new. Army officials say that when properly cleaned and maintained, the M4 is a quality weapon that can pump out more than 3,000 rounds before any failures occur. The M4 is a shorter, lighter version of the M16, which made its debut during the Vietnam war. Roughly 500,000 M4s are in service, making it the rifle troops on the front lines trust with their lives. Clip Source: www.google.com WASHINGTON ? In the chaos of an early morning assault on a remote U.S. outpost in eastern Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips M4 carbine quit firing as militant forces surrounded the base. The machine gun he grabbed after tossing the rifle aside didnt work either. When the battle in the small village of Wanat ended, nine U.S. soldiers lay dead and 27 more were wounded. A detailed study of the attack by a military historian found that weapons failed repeatedly at a "critical moment" during the firefight on July 13, 2008, putting the outnumbered American troops at risk of being overrun by nearly 200 insurgents. Which raises the question: Eight years into the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, do U.S. armed forces have the best guns money can buy? Despite the militarys insistence that they do, a small but vocal number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq has complained that the standard-issue M4 rifles need too much maintenance and jam at the worst possible times. Tags: troops, expendable zum Artikel... THE VIETNAM WAR WE IGNORE clipped by: ellington clippers remarks: A CLOSER LOOK AT KEY ASPECTS OF HOW THESE MEN RETHOUGHT THEIR WAR MAY PROVE INSTRUCTIVE Clip Source: www.nytimes.com The Vietnam War We Ignore AS President Obama and his advisers contemplate a new course for Afghanistan, many commentators are suggesting analogies with earlier conflicts, particularly the war in Vietnam. Such comparisons can be useful, but only if the characterizations of earlier wars are accurate and lessons are appropriately applied. Vietnam is particularly tricky. While avoiding the missteps made there is of course a priority, few seem aware of the many successful changes in strategy undertaken in the later years of the conflict. The credit for those accomplishments goes in large part to three men: Ellsworth Bunker, who became the American ambassador to South Vietnam in 1967; William Colby, the C.I.A. officer in charge of rural ?pacification? efforts; and Gen. Creighton Abrams, who became the top American commander there in 1968. A closer look at key aspects of how these men rethought their war may prove instructive to those considering our options in Afghanistan today. Tags: vietnam, afghanistan zum Artikel... Für die Inhalte dieses Feeds ist alleine der jeweilige Autor/Anbieter verantwortlich. Die Inhalte stellen nicht die Meinung von EasyRSS dar. Dies ist eine automatisch generierte E-Mail. Bitte antworten Sie nicht auf diese E-Mail. Wenn Sie Feedback an EasyRSS senden wollen, nutzen Sie bitte das Feedback Forumlar. Wenn Sie sich von EasyRSS abmelden wollen, gehen Sie bitte auf den Menüpunkt "Meine Daten". Ihr EasyRSS Team http://www.easyrss.de