[youtube width=”560″ height=”340″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsyNvgDvvQw[/youtube]
- Boxes of ammunition, mortars, rockets, missiles?
- Tons of fuel left in the tanks?
How hard would it have been to put everything on a pile and blow it up? I don’t buy it… My guess is the Taliban is just making that up to appear stronger.
I do think its odd that the U.S. never bothered to blow up all the buildings on the base though. Why bother leaving anything for the enemy besides a pile of rubble?
Hat Tip: Solomon
Comments
38 responses to “U.S. Abandoned Position in Korengal Valley And Apparently Left Lots Behind”
when big news pops up on /k/ its always seems to wind up here within a matter of hours lol
Now that there’s Taliban forces amassing in a known location hit the base with a MOAB and move on. :)
I kinda like that idea. Would be pretty easy to rig a good amount of C4 and wait for the taliban to come and rejoice in that the Americans left them so many presents, then Boom, there goes the base.
This would be a good idea, but it brings to mind a certain saying about military intelligence and oxymorons.
Also, at 3:10; that guy has a Gatorade. WHY GATORADE, WHY DO YOU SPONSOR THE TALIBAN WITH YOUR THIRST-QUENCHING DELICIOUSNESS?
LOL that’s awesome. Very observant Aleksander!
http://i43.tinypic.com/xnw3np.jpg
Couldn’t resist.
haha nice… I’m just finishing up some photoshops playing off your idea. I should have them posted in about 5 minutes so stay tuned. :P
That is a damn good idea.
They’ve captured American rockets and missiles, yet don’t bother to display them for Al-Jezera TV, huh?
I’d expect a concealed entrance or approach for when our troops retake the area. I’d also expect any munitions to be booby trapped. Wasn’t that a SF tactic in Vietnam?
There was a big article in one of the American Rifleman issues from a few years back about that. A joint SF and CIA, if I remember right, was set up, they’d do an ambush or hit a stockpile, kill or run off all the enemy there, then put a round that was set up to blow the AK’s reciever up in one of the dead enemy’s magazine’s, or else replace the magazine with one they already have set up, then leave it all there. They started with the AK ammo, and worked their way all the way up to leaving behind rigged mortar rounds. The rounds looked perfectly fine, unless you were a really good forensics guy or whatever’d apply to munitions.
VC or NVA’d come through, find their dead buddy’s scavenge the ammo, and try to use it later, only to have a guy’s AK blow up in his face, or a mortar tube explode and take out the whole mortar team. NVA started thinking that China was giving them crap ammo, never got the slightest hint about what the team was doing. Added a good bit of political tension to the bad guy’s side of the fight, and I’m sure a lot of badass people still giggle in their sleep when they think of it. How much more devious could you be? :D
I call BS on any ammo and munitions left behind. If you couldnt take it you would shoot the ammo and destroy any and all munitions. The taliban are masters of propaganda. Think about it they found rockets and missiles the best thing they can show the camera is 50 or so linked 50cal rounds. BS
O yea there is nothing to prove the ammo cans had anything in them.
Yeah, all bullshit.
Quite possible that it was actually turned over to Afghan Militia forces who then “abandoned” the base (or likely gave it to the Taliban at a profit…)
now THAT makes perfect sense Fred!
Now that I’ve had time to watch it…
They’ve been left with a bunch of empty ammo boxes, and as for “underground tanks,” those are spill pits where the above ground fuel bladders would have been kept.
As to the rounds on the guy’s neck, He can go ahead and try to fire off those .50bmg rounds in any of those Soviet weapons… I’ll just stick behind the sandbags when he tries it. Either way, those were the only American looking ordinance or supplies actually shown.
And if it comes down to it, it’s not like we don’t have the precise coordinates of the FOB if they decide to try and operate out of it.
Yea they should just cook that whole FOB from the air
BS. They got nothing but empty ammo cans. And those rounds around his neck are rimmed. No US ammo is rimmed.
I agree with many of the previous statements. These roustabout irregulars are blowing smoke. Even if they found ammunition, how are they going to use it? They are talking shit because they’re arrogant yokels who assume Americans are fools. They also assume the news media is made up of a bunch of fools, which isn’t always so far from the truth. It’s a shame our folks and allies have died over these chuckleheads. Not that dying for any other reason would be better.
Carlos,
Take a closer look. At first I didn’t think it was .50BMG either, but after blowing it up and comparing it to rounds on-hand that’s what it is. You can see in the pic that they are NOT rimmed cases.
http://bit.ly/dgKfyy
Sweet good detective work Chad
Did you say “ENHANCE…” before you cropped out that portion? :P
I could be wrong, as it has been some years since I’ve handled them… but those links do not look like M9’s to me.
This must be a joke or a ruse.
Since when do USAF leave their goodies behind without trail of detcord? I don’t have super spy enhancing software…but I think that is 12.7x108mm…
..not 50 bmg. I may be wrong.
Fud?
I think you are wrong. Do a search for 12.7×108 (Wikipedia has a picture) and compare the links. Very different.
Oops, I see if I had read down the page I’d have noticed someone beat me to it.
Nikhai, you might be correct. I’ve never been very good at estimating size, just approximation. I was primarily pointing out the fact that it is a rimless case. ;)
They look like 50BMG to me, not 12.7×108. And the links are US type. Trouble is that that particular ammo & belt has only been in use for 70 years or so. Any good Surplus store will have some, demilled, on display. Hell that ammo could be from Africa in WWII or I believe Israel has some M2s which could have been used in any of their several wars in the region. But the simplest explanation is they found an a full ammo can which either fell off a truck or was scattered in an IED explosion.
Shouldn’t every 5th round be a tracer? They all look like M8 rounds.
You are 95% right in your assertion, Travis. M2 Links have been out of production (in the U.S.) since the 1950’s, when the M9’s were adopted. No foreign manufacturer (i.e IMI, Bosnia, Singapore, etc.) have produced M2’s in at least 25 years.
I think he’s saying that Israel has some M2 MACHINE GUNS, which could have been used in several wars. Not M2 links.
We can speculate to our little hearts content.
I typically don’t take a Taliban militant at his or her word though.
The link spacing could suggest .50 BMG, and there sure is enough of it floating around the world. However the 12.7×108 has a couple of link systems that are dead ringers. The lack of red tips in that belt MAY indicate that they aren’t from the current supply of .50 BMG.
If my memory serves me, the Kord and similar Russo guns/amunition, that utilize the 12.7×108 were manufactured in the area of Kazahkstan. And its a real toughy to gauge distance and relative size, particularly since the two are so similar.
Although it pains me to say it, I don’t find it hard to believe that a careless supply officer or engineer crew left something behind. Also don’t find it hard to believe that the ANA isn’t selling gear to the Taliban.
regardless if 12.7 or .50 cal I doubt they got that from us…there is not problem getting either across the border in the Peshwar black markets…the ammo cans have sand in them if anything…….A/N TH3 grenades are plentiful and easy to use, just pile you crap in a pile (unloaded) put one or two on top and pull the pins, instant slag, one on the engine block will reduce a HUMVEE to a burning pile in a few minutes…we wouldn’t leave anything like that behind….but you got to give credit to those talibastard psyops guys for giving it a try…..
[…] my previous post about the U.S. abandoning their position in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, frequent commenter Aleksandr Mravinsky pointed out that the video showed one of the Taliban bozos […]
Also, I’m wondering, what underground tanks? Why would you keep tanks on a mountain? Furthermore, it would be hilarious if they take that position, and a UAV carpet bombs that area later
It’d be funny if their “underground fuel tanks” were filled with our sh*t.
LOL yea, hopefully they try to “fuel” up some stuff without checking first.
There was an article in the Stars and Stripes last week (15 April edition) about this. The FOB was slated for closure as the unit pulled out of the valley, in a gesture of good will, the Army sat with the local elders and agreed to leave behind a crane, some generators and 6000 gallons of diesel fuel in a fuel bladder. The Army took most of its equipment with them when they left, it was an operation that spanned a few weeks, not a hasty dash out of the valley. Any equipment or ammunition that they could not remove was destroyed, could some small arms ammo have been overlooked, more than likely, but it is not a huge Taliban victory as was portrayed by the media. Love the blog by the way.
Thanks Geoff! Nice gesture that the Army left behind some stuff for the “good guys” on the other side, but hasn’t the Taliban historically be known to out muscle them? Seems kind of odd to leave supplies that you know would probably just be acquired by your enemy. I suppose they consider it part of building a relationship with the elders though to gain more trust, which probably isn’t a bad idea most of the time.
What they didn’t tell was that several hours after this was filmed, a US F-18 dropped two guided bombs onto the outpost, to destroy it, killing 5-6 people – most likely the few showed in the video.