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http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=409532002 The Scotsman April 17, 2002 Marines ready for the coldest welcome JOHN STAPLES -It is said that the Marines believe they are the "unit of choice" for the operation and it undoubtedly looks as if they are the most accomplished within NATO for what lies ahead. -Although their last major combat role was during the Falklands, when they defeated Argentine forces in the key battle for Two Sisters, they have made several tours of Northern Ireland and taken part in humanitarian operations to help the Kurds in 1991. They were also deployed to the Gulf to defend the Kuwaiti border against renewed Iraqi aggression in 1994. WHEN it became clear that the fight against the remaining al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan would be carried out in some of the world’s most hazardous mountain conditions, US commanders were said to have specifically requested the help of 45 Commando. The unit, which was formed in 1943 and trained throughout the Cold War to protect NATO’s northern flank in Scandinavia, are among the most skilled soldiers for this task. Not only are the Arbroath-based soldiers capable of operating in the extremely rugged terrain they will meet, they are also used to operating in temperatures below -20°C and at severe altitudes. Although their last major combat role was during the Falklands, when they defeated Argentine forces in the key battle for Two Sisters, they have made several tours of Northern Ireland and taken part in humanitarian operations to help the Kurds in 1991. They were also deployed to the Gulf to defend the Kuwaiti border against renewed Iraqi aggression in 1994. Charles Heyman, world armies expert for Jane’s publications, said they were virtually the only Western troops capable of operating in the Afghan mountains. He added: "They are one of the few military units in the western democracies which are organised, equipped and trained to operate in mountainous conditions. They have been training for this for some time." The marines specialise in deploying nimble units of less than 100 men into mountainous terrain without the need for vehicles or other back up. In their fight against Osama bin Laden’s men, they are expected to work in groups of between three and 50, depending on each particular operation. Although each mission will differ, the troops will find their tasks mainly consist of trying to locate the al-Qaeda fighters, encircling and destroying them and also searching for and destroying scores of enemy hideouts in caves and bunkers. However, the terrain where they will be set to work is so forbidding that many accomplished American mountain soldiers were removed with altitude sickness during the earlier Operation Anaconda. While 45 Commando is the British Army’s most specialised mountain unit and trains every year in the Arctic, only a handful of its top soldiers have worked above 10,000ft. Most of their work will be done between 8,000ft and 13,000ft. In contrast, the enemy, after 20 years of fighting, has an intimate knowledge of the terrain, home to many of the country’s estimated ten million unexploded landmines. However, the British force will have at their disposal state of the art equipment, with some items reportedly rushed into service specially for the mission. This includes a vast array of light machine guns, shoulder launch rocket systems, specialist grenades and hi-tech binoculars capable of picking out a man two miles away in the dark. Before being sent to Afghanistan, they took part in a training exercise in Oman before carrying out several weeks of mountain exercises in the Cairngorms. It is said that the Marines believe they are the "unit of choice" for the operation and it undoubtedly looks as if they are the most accomplished within NATO for what lies ahead. When it was announced they were being deployed, Major Richard King, the commanding officer of X-Ray company, said they had "trained for many years" and had been "held on a short leash for just such operations." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
