Re: Communication and Travel

On 13 Jun 98 at 22:03, John Atkinson wrote:

> You wrote: 
> 
> >either. A guy with a rifle (ten guys with rifles... 100 guys with 
> >rifles?) Aren't much threat to state of the art systems. (q.v. road 
> >to basrah)
> 
> Speaking as someone who has, in exercises, "killed" fighting
> vehicles by placing a simulated satchel charge on them while they
> were parked in defensive positions, I'd say "Bullshit".  You've
> never tried MOUT personally, either, have you?  Remember, a war of
> occupation is not the same as sitting in the desert dropping bombs
> on everything that moves.  You gotta sleep some time, and that's
> when nasty light infantry like me are ruining your entire
> incarnation.	Or how about just having locals stabbing your troops
> with low-tech knives as they stumble drunkenly out of whorehouses
> (and don't tell me you'll prevent them from visiting
> whorehouses--never been an army yet that managed that, 'cept in
> Desert Storm, and that's coz the Saudis don't tolerate whorehouses,
> and at any rate there aren't any in the desert.)  Or we could ask
> the Chechens about whether or not light troops can stop tanks cold. 
> I think they'd have a few choice comments.  Guerilla wars rarely win
> by themselves in the long run, but they can cause a hell of a lot of
> damage in the meantime.
> 
> >'feel). However, elite units have come a long way (and learned a lot 
> >of lessons) as well as advanced technolgy and sensor systems looking 
> >carefully down from space.
> 
> All the sensors in the world won't penetrate triple-canopy jungle,
> or mangrove forests, or tell you if those peasants are hiding SMGs
> in the basement.
> 
> 
> John M. Atkinson
> 

Hey, no need to get uppity, I didn't make a personal attack against 
you.

Answers.

Keep most of your forces in orbit with those on the ground quickly 
reinforcable and with almost instant ortillery support.

Bring your whorehouse with you and keep it in orbit. 
or, be like the saudi example, don't base your troops near enough 
whorehouses that they wil visit them.
Also, if you take anything other than very infequent stabbings and 
killings while on local r&r, even the most hormone driven squaddies 
won't go there any more. (or if they do, it will be with a 
flamethrower).

However, I do take the point that an army of occupation facing a 
determined guerilla resistance is going to have problems. q.v. 
Vietnam. 

If the civil/guerilla disobedience is so bad that the planet is an 
overall liability, *and* if the political climate allows it, you kill 
or drive off everyone and resettle. Perhaps a bit unrealistic, 
I'll admit, but hey, look at ethnic cleansing today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Richard Slattery	     richard@mgkc.demon.co.uk
You don't tell us how to stage the news, and we don't tell you how to
report it. 
     Larry Speakes, press secretary for President George Bush,
addressing the media
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