No boots on the ground?
Note the name of this gun.
When Islamic State swept into Iraq in the summer of 2014, militant fighters seized a great deal of equipment from the Iraqi army garrison in Mosul. Between equipment seized from Syrian and Iraqi troops, the group had amassed a large arsenal.
As an air-defense-artillery unit, the Dragon Slayers specialize in counter-rocket, counter-artillery and counter-mortar operations. Their job is to help keep friendly bases and units safe from enemy strikes — something Bravo Battery had been doing in Afghanistan just a year prior.
Much of the news on the America war effort in Iraq and Syria has centered on Special Operations Forces and air strikes. But conventional artillery troops on the ground — providing indirect fire support to Iraqi forces and protecting coalition installations — have also played a huge role in the slow-boiling war against Islamic State.
Artillery is king of the battlefield. And if you are skeptical, be on the receiving end of it. It's no joke.
ReplyDeleteI hear tell the Russians have been doing a number on the Ukrainians using accurate and mass artillery fire.
DeleteCalled TOT - Time on target, artillery barrage fire with a shoot and scoot philosophy to prevent counter battery fire..
DeleteThe name on that cannon made me laugh!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing the "Screaming Eagle" patch on those guys' uniforms, as I served with the 101st Airborne when I was in the old Republic of Viet Nam - - - a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.