kerry savee wrote:Pat, in reading selewis' post, it appears that Professor John Arquilla (Naval Post Graduate School) is the one who made the comment regarding mounting SF on horses so they would be recognized as friendlies from the air, not V.D. Hanson. I don't see it as being far fetched, especially if it was mentioned as one of the considerations and not necessarily the primary consideration.
Thanks for the close reading, Kerry. You are correct.
I really need to get a copy of this book. Is it available as an e-book? My brother gets e-books from Australia for his Nook (a good thing as Nook has no service in Chile).
I was surprised this book was not reviewed here sooner, as it's right our alley.
The discussion with Hanson and Arqilla can be found in the Uncommon Knowledge website (and also via the NRO website). Hanson's got lots of apperances there.
What are we talking about regarding friend or foe identification from the air? From a raptor, a helicopter, a B-52? If we are talking of spotting horsemen from a B52 highu up near the straosphere, I got my doubts. If the observer's on a Blackhawk or uses a low level flight UAV, why not? Did not the Portuguese and Rhodesians used horses along helicopters and paratroopers?
The US does not use FAC planes anymore, this should be corrected. Australia just created a new FAC squadron and asigned 4 or 5 Pilatus PC9 planes for it. That way they can actually put an observer in the air who can see stuff with his own eyes, instead of just depending on drones and men on foot. Does the US new plans for lightweight COIN airplanes consider the FAC role? There's even a proposal to put the Bronco back in production. I'm sure a US unit of this sort would not be idle.
I bought and read the spanish translation hardcover. Expensive but well worth it. The translation seems decent. There is some akwardness with the military acronims but none of the usual stupid mistakes (I have come to a point I can actually tell what the original said in English by analysing the inconsistent Spanish translations).
The photos were very good too. I liked the horse action but also the cultural background and the study of the mindset of both the SF soldiers and the Northern Alliance fighters. Specially liked the parts concerning the local warlords. Anybody knows what has happened with Dostum? If he's still alive It would be cool if he were interviewed by someone like Michael Yon. Dostum's autobiography would be an interesting read (but probably not 100% trustworthy).
THe cultural and geography parts really show why horses, mules and other low tech solutions will allways be needed (remember the part on fording rivrs with the Gator ATV that had to be pulled by horses). Do the new Afghan army and police have mounted troops?
As for the questions on missing airstrikes, I'm surprised they could actually hit anything in those conditions. FAC duty, both ground and from the air is incredibly difficult. Not only do you need map reading and orientation skills, you need to do your math on your head under stress. You just can't always point a laser at targets. People have been mesing up coordinates since radioing for artillery and airstrikes was invented. A typical mistake is bombing the observer because the coordinates got mixed up.
