Command Post - Marines "Dirty Deeds" in Fallujah
Done Dirt Cheap too.
From the AP via The Australian comes a detailed report of the situation in Fallujah.
In Fallujah’s darkened, empty streets, US troops blast AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells” and other rock music full volume from a huge speaker, hoping to grate on the nerves of the city’s gunmen and give a laugh to Marines along the front line.
Unable to advance farther into the city, an Army psychological operations team hopes a mix of heavy metal and insults shouted in Arabic - including, “You shoot like a goat-herder” - will draw gunmen to step forward and attack. But no luck this night.
[…]
Laying on his stomach on a rooftop and wearing goggles and earplugs, a Marine sniper keeps an eye to his rifle site. His main task in recent days has been trying to hit the black-garbed gunmen who occasionally dash across the long street in front of him. To dodge his shots, one of the gunmen recently launched into a rolling dive across the street, which had the sniper and his buddies laughing.
“I think I got him later. The same guy came back and tried to do a low crawl,” said Lance Cpl. Khristopher Williams, 20, from Fort Myers, Florida.
Others have run across the street, hiding behind children on bicycles, said the sniper. In his position - reachable only by scaling the outside ledge of a building - he sits for hours with his finger poised on the trigger of a rifle that fires 50-caliber armor piercing bullets with such force that the muzzle flash and exiting gasses from the weapon have blackened the bricks around the gun.
[…]
At night, the psychological operations unit attached to the Marine battalion here, sends out messages from a loudspeaker mounted on an armored Humvee. On Thursday night, the crew and its Arabic-language interpreter taunted fighters, saying, “May all the ambulances in Fallujah have enough fuel to pick up the bodies of the Mujahadeen.”
The message was specially timed for an attack moments later by an AC-130 gunship that pounded targets in the city.
Those in the military reading this will now be saying “Ooh, That’s gotta hurt.”
Later, the team blasted Jimi Hendrix and other rock music, and afterward some sound effects like babies crying, men screaming, a symphony of cats and barking dogs and piercing screeches. They were unable to draw any gunmen to fight, and seemed disappointed.
There’s a reason why the Australian military likes to play with Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children. Kindred Spirits. |
