I just thought this was interesting. sorry for the long read!

Iraq USMC Interview

Interview with a Marine officer in Iraq, source appears to be reliable but not confirmed, don't know the date. Interesting read...

This may be a little "raw" in places, but on ?rare? occasions, Marines do talk like that.

Subject: Situation from Iraq
No politics here, just a Marine (Captain Jordan) with a bird's eye view,
talking about weapons and the war to retired General G. Ilmoyal, USAF.
1) The M-16 rifle: Thumbs down. Chronic jamming problems with the talcum powder like
sand over there. The sand is everywhere. Jordan said you feel filthy 2
minutes after coming out of the shower. The M-4 carbine version is more

popular because it's lighter and shorter, but it has jamming problems also.
They lack the ability to mount the various optical gun sights and weapons
lights on the picattiny rails, but the weapon itself is not good in a desert
environment. The men hate the 5.56mm (.223) ammo. Poor penetration
on cinder block structures (common construction over here) and even
torso hits can't be reliably counted on to put the enemy down.
Fun fact: Random autopsies on dead insurgents show a high level of opiate use.

2) The M243 SAW (squad assault weapon): 223 cal. drum fed light
machine gun. Big thumbs down. Universally considered a piece of shit.
Chronic jamming problems, most of which require partial disassembly
(that's not easy in the middle of a firefight).

3) The M9 Bernetta 9mm: Mixed bag. Good gun, performs well in desert environment; but the
men hate the 9mm cartridge. The use of handguns for self-defense is actually fairly common. Same old story on the 9mm: Bad guys hit multiple times and still stay in the fight.
4) Mossberg 12ga. Military shotgun: Works well, used frequently for clearing houses to good effect.

5) The M240 Machine Gun: .308 cal. belt fed machine gun, developed
to replace the old M-60 (what a beautiful weapon that was!!). Thumbs up. Accurate, reliable, and the 7.62 round puts 'em down. Originally developed as a vehicle mounted weapon, more and more are being dismounted and taken into the field by infantry. The 7.62 round chews up the cider block structure over here.

6) The M2 50 cal heavy machine gun: Thumbs way, way up. "Ma deuce" is still worth her considerable weight in gold. The ultimate fight stopper, puts their dicks in the dirt every time. The most coveted weapon in-theater.

7) The .45 pistol: Thumbs up. Still the best pistol out there. Everybody authorized to carry
a sidearm is trying to get their hands on one. With few exceptions,
can reliably be expected to put 'em down with a torso hit. The special
ops guys (who are doing most of the pistol work) use the HK military
model and supposedly love it. The old government model .45's are
being re-issued en mass.

8) The M-14: Thumbs up. They are being re-issued in bulk, mostly in a modified version to special ops guys. Modifications include lightweight Kevlar stocks and low power red dot or ACOG sights. Very reliable in the sandy environment, and they love the 7.62 round.

9) The Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle: Thumbs way up. Spectacular range and accuracy and hits like a freight train. Used frequently to take out vehicle suicide bombers (we actually stop a lot of those guys) and barricaded enemy. It is here to stay.

10) The M24 sniper rifle: Thumbs up. Mostly in .308 but some in 300 win mag. Heavily modified Remington 700's. Great performance. Snipers have been used heavily
to great effect. Rumor has it a marine sniper on his third tour in Anbar province has actually exceeded Carlos Hathcock's record for confirmed kills with OVER 100.

11) The new body armor: Thumbs up. Relatively light at approx. 6 lbs.and can reliably be expected to soak up small shrapnel and even will stop an AK-47 round. The bad news is: Hot as shit to wear, almost unbearable in the summer (averages over 120 degrees). Also, the enemy now goes for head shots whenever possible. All the bullshit about the "old" body armor making our
guys vulnerable to the IED's was a non-starter. The IED explosions are
enormous and body armor doesn't make any difference at all in most cases.

12) Night Vision and Infrared Equipment: Thumbs way up. Spectacular performance. Our guys see in the dark and we own the night, period. Very little enemy action after evening prayers.
More and more enemy being whacked at night by our hunter-killer teams.
We've all seen the videos.

13) Lights: Thumbs up. Most of the weapon mounted and personal lights are Surefire's,
and the troops love 'em. Invaluable for night urban operations. Jordan carried
a $34 Surefire G2 on a neck lanyard and loved it. I cant help but notice that
most of the good fighting weapons and ordnance are 50 or more years old!!
With all our technology,it's the WWII and Vietnam era weapons that our men want. The infantry fighting is frequent, up close and brutal. No quarter is given
or shown.

Bad guy weapons:
1) Mostly Russian AK47's. The entire country is an arsenal. Works better in the desert than the M16 and the .308 Russian round kills reliably. PKM belt fed light machine guns
are also common and effective. Luckily, the enemy mostly shoots like shit. Undisciplined "spray and pray" type fire. However, they are seeing more

and more precision weapons, especially sniper rifles. (Iran supplied)
Fun fact: Captured enemy have marveled at the marksmanship of our guys and how
hard they fight. They are told in Jihad military school that Americans rely
solely on technology, and can be easily beaten in close quarters combat for
their lack of toughness. Let's just say they know better now.

2) The RPG: Probably the infantry weapon most feared by our guys. Simple, reliable and
as common as dog shit. The enemy responded to our recent up-armored
Humvees by aiming at the windshields, often at point blank range. Still killing
a lot of our guys.

3) The IED: The biggest killer of all. Can be anything from old Soviet anti-armor mines
to jury rigged artillery shells. Several IEDs found in Jordan's area were in
abandoned cars. The enemy will take 2 or 3 155 mm artillery shells and wire
them together. Most are detonated by cell phone and the explosions are
enormous. You're not safe in any vehicle, even an M-1 tank. Driving is by far
the most dangerous thing our guys do over there. Lately, they are much
more sophisticated "shape charges" (Iranian) specifically designed to
penetrate armor. Fact: Most of the ready made IED's are supplied by Iran,
who is also providing terrorists (Hezbollah types) to train the insurgents in
their use and tactics. That's why the attacks have been so deadly lately.
Their concealment methods are ingenious, the latest being shape charges,
in Styrofoam containers spray painted to look like cinderblocks. Cinderblocks
litter all Iraqi roads. We find about 40% before they detonate, and the bomb
disposal guys are unsung heroes of this war.

4) Mortars and rockets: Very prevalent. The soviet era 122mm rockets (with an 18km range) are becoming more prevalent. One of Jordan's NCO's lost a leg to one. These weapons cause a lot of damage "inside the wire". Jordan's base was hit almost daily his entire time there by mortar and rocket fire, often
at night to disrupt sleep patterns and cause fatigue (It did). More of a
psychological weapon than anything else. The enemy mortar teams
would jump out of vehicles, fire a few rounds, and then haul ass in a
matter of seconds.

5) Bad guy technology: Simple yet effective. Most communication is by cell and satellite phones,
and also by email on laptops. They use hand held GPS units for navigation
and "Googleearth" for overhead views of our positions. Their weapons are
good, if not fancy, and prevalent. Their explosives and bomb technology is
TOP OF THE LINE. Night vision is rare. They are very careless with their
equipment and the enemy GPS units and laptops are treasure troves of
intelligence when captured.

6) Who are the bad guys (that is what the Captain called them) Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group. They operate mostly in Anbar province (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly "foreigners", non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from all over the Muslim world (and Europe). Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, of course, the knowledge and complicity of the Syrian govt.), and then travel down the "rat line" which is the trail of towns along the Euphrates
River that we've been hitting hard for the last few months. Some are
virtually untrained young Jihadists that often end up as suicide bombers
or in various "sacrifice squads". Most, however, are hard core terrorists
from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas etc.). These are
the guys who run around murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off. The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless and the best fighters (they have been fighting the Russians

for years). In the Baghdad area and south, most of the insurgents are
Iranian inspired (and led) Iraqi Shiites. The Iranian Shiia have been very
adept at infiltrating the Iraqi local govt.'s, the police forces and the Army. They have had a massive spy and agitator network there since the Iran-Iraq war in the early 80's. Most of the Saddam loyalists were killed, captured or gave up long ago.

7) Bad Guy Tactics: When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their asses kicked
every time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges were very

common earlier in the war and still occur. They will literally sacrifice 8-10
man teams in suicide squads by sending them screaming and firing AK's
and RPG's directly at our bases just to probe the defenses. They get
mowed down like grass every time (see the M2 and M240 above).
Jordan's base was hit like this often. When engaged, the enemy have a
tendency to flee to the same building, probably for what they think will be
a glorious last stand. Instead, we call in air support and that's the end of
it, more often than not. These hole-ups are referred to as AWR (Allah's

Waiting Room). We have the laser guided ground-air thing down to a
science. Jet fighters, mostly Marine F-18's, are taking an ever increasing
toll on the enemy. When caught out in the open, helicopter gunships and

AC-130 gunships cut them to ribbons with cannon and rocket fire,
especially at night. Interestingly, plain artillery is rarely used.
Fun fact: The enemy death toll is supposedly between 45-50 thousand. That's why
we see less and less infantry attacks and more IED, suicide bomber shit.
The reason for the new strategy is just simple attrition. The insurgent tactic
most frustrating is their use of civilian noncombatants as cover. They know
we will do all we can to avoid civilian casualties and therefore schools,
hospitals and (especially) Mosques are locations where they meet, stage

for attacks, cache weapons and ammo, then flee to when engaged. They
have absolutely no regard whatsoever for inflicting civilian casualties. They
will terrorize locals and murder without hesitation anyone believed to be
sympathetic to the Americans or the new Iraqi govt. Kidnapping of family
members (especially children) is common to influence people they are
trying to influence but can't reach, such as local govt. officials, clerics,
tribal leaders, etc.).

The first thing our guys are told is "don't get captured". They know that if
captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the Internet. Zarqawi openly offers bounties for anyone bringing him a live American soldier.

This motivates the criminal element who otherwise don't give a shit about
the war. A lot of the beheading victims were actually kidnapped by
common criminals and sold to Zarqawi. As such, for our guys, every fight is a fight to death. Surrender is not an option.

The Iraqi's are a mixed bag. Some fight well, others aren't worth a damn. Most do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, but they are getting better. It is widely viewed that Zarqawi's use of suicide bombers, en masse, against the civilian population was a serious tactical mistake. Many Iraqi's were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the Army and the police forces went right up, along with their motivation. It also led to an exponential increase in good intelligence because the Iraqi's are sick of the insurgent attacks against civilians. The Kurds are solidly pro-American and fearless fighters.

Morale: According to Jordan, morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe that they are winning, but also believe they are winning decisively.
The men are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American
press, whom they almost universally view as being against them. The
embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. We are inflicting
casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see shit like "Are we losing in Iraq"
on TV and the news media. For the most part, they are satisfied with their
equipment, food and leadership. Bottom line though, and they all say this,
"There are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart
of the insurgency". Primarily because there aren't enough troops in-theater
to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and Syrians
just can't stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally (with, of course, permanent US bases there).
Anyway, that's it, hope you found it interesting.
GEN. GERALD E. MCILMOYLE, USAF (RET.)

Nice find.

I find it funny how they prefer the previous generation of firearms, opposed to the modern tactical and/or high-tech weapons.

I guess sometimes you need to go back to the basics.

appears to be time to add a S-308 to my collection....and a .45

Yeah, I love my AR, but AR+fine sand= No Bueno.

I don't find any of it that hard to believe... except maybe the thing about the M9 pistols opperating well. I've never heard a good thing about that pistol. Really, that doesn't matter though.

I would also like to say that one bullet hardly ever puts a person down, especially if they are high at the time. That was pretty common toward the end of our involvement in Vietnam as well. Let's not forget about the dear ole Britts fighting the Moros either. I also have no problem believing that Iran and Syria are actively supporting terrorists, or that the terrorists are taking advantage of the civillian population.

He's right.

We need to keep going at this hard to allow Iraq to grow. It takes time to set up a military. It takes time to train officers. Without the proper support from us, they will crumble under their own weight. I'm disheartened to hear plans calling for the recall of troops, the "review" of military spending, and even recently a proposal for splitting Iraq up into three sperate countries. Then there's Hilary. "I don't support the troops in Iraq.... I don't support a withdrawal of troops from Iraq." She cracks me up. I think, unless I missed our president saying this, that it was a mistake for him not to emphasize, and re-emphasize, from the beginning that this was going to be a long term engagement. There will be American troops in Iraq for years to come. As was pointed out, we will likely have permanent military bases there (if we don't already - I've been distracted from the news by personal events for quite awhile now). The other thing that we can not afford to forget is that we can not negotiate effectively with these people. <sigh> Preaching to the choir again (probably). Nevermind me. I get riled on occasion.

Hope everyone's having a good day, and keeping up the good fight - whatever that means to you.

Long ago the USA Military that used to train as love to use the ak, galils and some
old G3 and the Belgiun MAG that we used to use in Central America I wonder why.

Like I say before that .223 may give you second shoots in competition but
in real world don't work to well when comes to taking bad guys down
and going true crap.

Just and opinion.

Gimme a good ole M-14 any day...




God rest his soul. Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor was a member of SEAL Team 3, the operator in the center with the EBR.

The M4/M16 is just not an effective tool in that environment, or any in my opinion.

Thanks for posting.

Ditto. Perhaps an M14 as well.

A .45 and a .308 are absolute musts for stopping power. Though as noted, one shot stops are not to be counted on. One primary reason the US military went to the .223 (other than cost, ability to carry more ammo, etc.) was precisely because it would likely wound rather than kill outright. A kill in battle is great, but a serious wound often takes a couple of enemy combatants off the field as well to get their compadre to medical help.

If I shoot a guy with 1 or 2 rounds of .308, I'm pretty sure he's not going to whip out a sidearm once I get close enough. With the 5.56, I'd prolly put 5 or 6 and take my time walking up to him. I have to diagree with this guy about the 249. Though the 240B is a bad-mofo, it's fuckin heavy. I once went 2 weeks without doing anything to my 249 and when it came time to go full-cyclic out the truck window, it had no problems. It was dirty as hell. Maybe I was just lucky, but it made a believer out of me.

BTW, I didn't hit shit

+1 on the M9, what a piece of shit!!! I'd take 8+1 of .45 over 15 9mm ANY day.

Yep, my S-308 and Kimber 1911 would be my weapons if I could chose!

I sent this article to a buddy of mine. He carried a SAW M249 in Iraq. He said he never had any problems with it either. Of course he was in a MLRS most of the time!

kinda late bump, but thought this was relevant in the defense of my countries pride: FN (and well family pride as well as my great granddad worked for FN):

the M240B was never intended to be extremely mobile. you indeed do not want to carry it around for 2 weeks on foot... which is why FN is building mods of the Minimi in 7.62mm variant, for highly mobile squads.
other than that, it still remains one of the best vehicle mounted or fix position 7.62mm machinegun ever built.

as for the FN Minimi / M249 SAW-trouble some americans seem to be so pissed about, it appears it is solely related to the age and maintenance of the weapons. many of the weapons who have shown erratic action in the field have been traced back to being one of the first big purchases the USA made from FN. these guns need their oil changed. with a thorough cleanup (including changing a few parts), these weapons should be back to their old self. appearantly, the US armorers can't (for budgetary reasons?) or simply won't do that (time constraints?).