Re: [GZG] Armoured utility vehicles and IEDs in SG/DS

On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 12:47 AM, Adrian1 <al.ll@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:

> My only knowledge of explosives is second and third hand (tv and
history
> books) but isn't it supposed to be possible to DIY you own "shaped
> charge" with these type of thing.

Short version:	It's not as easy as it sounds.	EFPs are easier than
shaped charges.  And even EFPs aren't truly easy.  That's one reason
that in places where neither AQI nor Quds Force operate, there aren't
any damn EFPs.	Al-Anbar Province, to name one.  Those things come in
from out of country, just like a lot of the mortar rounds and a lot of
the rockets and piles of cash--and no, I can't document that on the
internet or from the news media, but I have seen pieces of ordnance
manufactured in Iran and located in Iraq less than two months after
the date stamped on the side.

> I don't know it that actually makes it more effective but I suppose it
> depends if your aiming for a mobility kill or a total kill.  One would
> be perfect for and ambush while the other would be useful if you
lacked
> the men to form an ambush.

It also has to do with what your political objective is.

Here's what most people in this conversation aren't tracking.  As much
as you want to put together scenarios that approach or incorporate
elements of real-world situations, they make shitty games.  Sorry.
Your average IED incident lasts moments, and rarely incoporates
anything more than a device and possibly a few secondary devices.  If
small arms fire is encountered as part of the attack, you're talking a
handful of jackasses blazing away with unaimed fire from a building
far enough away that it can't be positively identified.  It's over in
less than a minute, because if they stick around, they end up very,
very dead.  We've been killing lots of insurgents for five years, and
most of the ones who want to die for Allah already have.  The rest are
linking up with cells capable of putting them behind the wheel of a
car loaded with explosives to drive into an Iraqi Police Station or a
market full of women and kids.

Even that isn't successful often enough to be a winning tactic, which
is why the majority of IED attacks these days are targeted against
public places (markets, etc), local Iraqi Police who lack the
training, discipline, and equipment to defeat IEDs, and political
figures such as local sheiks.

The object of insurgents is not and cannot be to achieve a tactical
success as you all might be thinking from watching Red Dawn one too
many times.  The objective is destabilize a country enough to prevent
effective civil governance, and to get on the evening news enough
times that they can sell their narrative to the ignorant jackasses who
comprise the majority of West's voting populace.

You want an IED scenario?

Quality die to hide it, downshifted by one if hasty emplacement.  Each
vehicle that rolls up gets to roll quality die to see it.  Once at
distance, once when you're right up on it.  If it isn't seen, Hajji
gets to roll QD to find out whether or not it works and then gets to
make his attack if it works.  Then, you set up a cordon around the
suspected device and wait (d20+5 x d20 minutes) for EOD to show up,
disarm the damn thing, and take the pieces back to a lab.  Lather,
Rinse, Repeat for 8-12 hours.

I was up early today and the AC in the office was out.

John
-- 
"Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again
and again. We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani

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