I just want to jump back in here for a moment and hopefully end the "my tour was xxx" and so forth. This isn't about tours, who's done what, etc.
(First of all, for basrah, Op ARCHER "
is the deployment of about 12 senior CF members in Kabul with the Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan (CSTC-A), a U.S.-led multinational organization that provides mentors and trainers to help Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Interior organize, train, equip, employ and support the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police."
If you were on TF 1-08 (BG or OMLT or PRT), then you were part of Op ATHENA, but that's neither here nor there).
Now, the argument of "it wasn't using properly, therefore the proper way to use it" is a fallacious argument. I know of at least two specific cases where a GPMG set for firing using map and firing table would have been appropriate. There are more, I'm certain of it.
Here's the thing. In every case where there were contacts within about 2 km from any position with GPMG, in most cases (not all), use of the GPMG in this way would have worked. Let me give a hypothetical.
Imagine that there is a high feature somewhere in Darfur. It overlooks a plain that stretches for kilometres in all directions. On that plain is a network of roads that the CF as part of Op DEUTERONOMY, uses for supplying its OPs, checkpoints, etc. On top of that high feature is a platoon or so of soldiers who monitor the ceasefire between the Sudanese Army and the Rebels of Darfur. The Rebels are mounting an insurgency, and IEDs have become a threat.
WO Jack Stone, a tough as nails fellow, is the platoon warrant officer. Lt Hymie Newguy, is the platoon commander, barely seven months out of the Infantry School. Looking around their AOO (Area of Operations) on the map, WO Stone points out that there are five identified "hotspots" where insurgents like to place IEDs every few days. They do so at night, and recently there have been cases in which the supporting artillery battery has been unable to fire their missions due to higher priority targets being engaged. All five are within two kilometres or so of the COP (Combat Out Post). The platoon commander talks about setting up ambushes along the hotspots. The Warrant has a better idea.
"Sir, we due to us being out here on our own, we have two GPMGs with SF kits. I can set them up such that they both can engage any of the five hotspots."
"Why, that's crazy? How can you do that?"
"Let me tell you," begins the Warrant, whose brother is Vince from Sham WOW. "I can have them set up and use those five targets as recorded targets. If we see someone down there doing 'stuff', and if we are cleared to engage, then I can have fire on them instantly, without having to resort to calling in a fire mission."
"That's great, Warrant, but what if someone finds a new place to set them up? Surely we can't engage them unless we see them!"
"That's where you're wrong. All I need is the grid of the bad guys, and I can engage them as well."
So, after explaining the methods, the good warrant, along with Sgt Tony Rock, set the guns up and dry record them.
That night, as Lt Newguy worried, some insurgents were seen setting up IEDs at Grid 123456 (how convenient!). As it turned out, that grid was not visible from the outpost due to some intervening terrain. (A goat herder saw them, reported it, and it was verified by an un-armed UAV overhead). After some quick calculations, WO Stone deduced that the trajectory of the bullets would clear the intervening terrain. The guns were laid on a bearing and elevation, and using the live feed from the UAV to apply corrections, the guns engaged. One quick adjustment was needed, and soon the three insurgents were struck down in a hail of gun fire.
"Wow, warrant, that was awesome," said Lt Newguy.
Anyway, the proper employment of the GMPG with SF kit is but one tool in the tool box. People may have been using rocks as hammers over there, and sometimes that's necessary; however, that doesn't mean that we don't need hammers. The GPMG with SF is but one hammer, and it's a crying shame that it's not being used to full potential.
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