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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: Speaking of mines....
During The UK-Agentinian Falklands War....The damn Agentinians literally shovelled land mines out of helicopters all over the island to make it rough on the poor Royal Marines and Gurhka bastards closing the snipe bag on the Argentinians. For years afterwards grazing sheep set the damn things off. A gentleman with the NATO/British Naval Liason Staff was riding down the road on a light moped when there was a blast and he got four feet of sheep intestine wrapped around his neck.....Those mines they sprinkled all over the place have been hell on sheep and little kids romping in meadows and playing in grassy fields. DEX |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1814
Location: Boydton, Virginia | Subject: RE: Speaking of mines....
I think I read somewhere that US is one of the biggest obsticles in instituting a world-wide ban on land mines.
Steamboat sends |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 877
| Subject: RE: Speaking of mines....
dex armstrong - 2008-06-09 11:41 AM
During The UK-Agentinian Falklands War....The damn Agentinians literally shovelled land mines out of helicopters all over the island to make it rough on the poor Royal Marines and Gurhka bastards closing the snipe bag on the Argentinians. For years afterwards grazing sheep set the damn things off. A gentleman with the NATO/British Naval Liason Staff was riding down the road on a light moped when there was a blast and he got four feet of sheep intestine wrapped around his neck.....Those mines they sprinkled all over the place have been hell on sheep and little kids romping in meadows and playing in grassy fields. DEX
There are still large areas in the Falklands, around Goose Green and Port Stanley, that are still off limits due to the mines... there's a scene in a movie called Blessed by Fire, an Argentinian view of the war from a guy who was at Mt. Longdon. The character returns to the Falklands to visit where he fought and talks to a Falkland Islander..they go by an area fenced off... laced with mines. |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 811
Location: NW Connecticut | Subject: RE: Speaking of mines....
I remember my Son talking of the millions of Land mines still buried in the Balkens..When he was in Bosnia back when that part of the world was our biggest worry he said dozens of people and livestock were killed weekly by the mines that were all over the place.. many of which were ceramic and very difficult to locate. he also has mentioned the many thousands of mines in Afgan that have been there since the Russians were there! They will be a problem for decades. |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1107
Location: Tucson AZ | Subject: RE: Speaking of mines....
The gift that keeps on giving: man's inhumanity to man. |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: Speaking of mines....
I remember that banning mines was a primary cause of Princess Diana's. The original purpose of mines was defensive in intent and they were confined to perimeter and flank protection of fortifications, entrenchments and defensive positions. In theory, the only people vulnerable would be those with aggressive intent. In other words, getting your butt blown off would be your opwn fault for attacking defensive works....and putting yourself intentionally at risk. "Wrong place...wrong time." Original mines were hand made and usually detonated on purpose from a "lanyard puller" in a protected location. With technological advancement...mines have evolved into mass produced viciously designed non-magnetic (plastic or fiberglas) damn near undetectable devices specifically designed to maim not kill the poor bastard whyo triggers the device. Most really nasty pressure triggered ordinance comes from Italian manufacturing outfits. Italian mines are cleverly designed to take off a foot, leg or your testicles....and leave you as a terrible example for your mates to have to deal with psychologically (terror weapon) and a casualty that your medical logistical chain will have to deal with. Troops FEAR mines....fear of detonating unseen devices, retaqrds advancement...presents the presumption of existence, whether or not they are present and drastically lowers force desire to engage. Mines do not deactivate with cessation of hostilities....they have no ability to determine the age of the person triggering the detonation....unexploded mines present an object of interest to naturally curious children of primitive societies and as in the Faulklands, effectively bar access to large areas until tedious, time consuming removal is conducted. Modern armies, run mechanized roller vehicles and chain flail devices over designated routes to detonate blow ground ordinance. The United States has always left all options OPEN...mines like our stockpiling of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons are viable options that may present the necessary edge. The advent and use of jelled gasoline (neplam) to clear the enemy from caves, bunkers and fixed positions on Iwo, Guam, The Phillipines, Okinawa saved countless American lives...Taking out the entire civilian populations of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, brought the war to a conclusion before American lads had to subdue Japan's home islands and deal with countless propaganda fed zealots and fanatics. There are many positive aspects to employing terror weapons....Whole sections on defensive intrenchments became abandoned in WWI simply because iof the use of phosgene and mustard gas....Germany crumbled because of round the clock ariel bombardment. In the words of Air Marshal "Bomber" Harris...when asked by Winston Churchill..."When do you think all this death and destruction will end?" Bomber replied.."When Jerry gets a bellyfull of burying his children and relatives." Captain Richaqrd O'Kane leaned over and whispered something to President Truman during the presentation of his Medal of Honor....According to O'Kane's wife, he said..."Mr. President, there will be those who criticize you for the decisions you made. I won't be numbered among them...If you hadn't unleashed those hounds from Hell, I wouldn't be here to shake your hand today Sir." Landmines no matter how insidious, horrendus and uncivilized they are...simply do the job...the are, as described by one defensive tactical expert..."Stand as silent, unpaid sentinals that effectively bar or retard advancement progress of advancing enemy elements. Nobody should willingly give up such a valuable chess piece....Princess Diana, God Bless her...never was caught in a position badly out numbered, where the dear girl was staring through three rows of concertina wire at an advancing enemy determined on doing her great harm....If so, I think she would have rapidly reconsidered her poswition on landemines. It is easy to be a rear eschelon theorist looking only at the negative aspects of weapons...Let's face it..."War ain't beanbag". The object of war, is to kill the enemy...having your butt detached from your lower spine by a MARK 14...isn't fun.....Having the mortgage on your Afghan mud hut rendered irrelivant by a drone delivered smart missile isn't fun.....being shot through the head by a sniper with a night vision scope, isn't fun and stepping on a hidden object that makes a loud noise before your cajones land on a roof three blocks away...isn't fun. But, if you are a misdirected practitioner of Jihad, the devices make you start thing about what kind of outfit you should be wearing when you shake hands with Allah and get in the 72 virgins issuing line. Having those guys cajones expressed to a neighbors roof in another zip-code somehow appeals to me...DEX |
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Speaking of mines....
