Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: willey@arrakis.nevada.edu (James P. Willey) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Low tech warfare Message-ID: <12610@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 27 Dec 89 03:41:17 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Lines: 40 Approved: military@att.att.com From: James P. Willey In article <12539@cbnews.ATT.COM> bxr307@csc.anu.oz writes: [stuff deleted] > >I was not so much interested in what the US learnt politically as what >it had learnt militarily. We have been seeing for the last 15 years that >the US government failed to learn any real lessons from it Vietnam experience. >What I was trying to find out was whether the US Army in particular, and the >rest of the US military in general, had learnt any *tactical* lessons from >Vietnam. A recent example of how the US military is how the armed forces in Panama are dealing with the "Dignity Battalions". In Vietnam, the military didn't go out of its way to protect the civilian population. The military policy towards civilians usually was to the detriment of the civilians. In Panama however, the US military is going out of its way not to harm the civilians. When all is said and done down there, there may well be proof of American soldiers shooting several innocent civilians. This can't be helped because the "Dignity Battalions" don't wear uniforms and hide among the civilians to snipe at US soldiers. For the most part, the US soldiers surround the sniper and wait him out. There was an interview with a sniper in the 82 Airborne on either ABC or CBS in which he said that when confronted by one of these snipers, they surround him and then a US sniper tries to get a shot at him without hitting a civilian. If he can't get the shot, then they just wait until he runs out of ammo. This is NOT the way the military would have handled this problem in Vietnam. Because of this change of tactics, the US military has won over the Panamanian civilians, who are even helping the invaders. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- James P. Willey willey@arrakis.NEVADA.EDU Disclaimer: I'm now employed, but I'm responsible for my employers opinions, not vice versa. It was just a case of overcompensation again: We went from having no plan to too much plan! (Robotech)