Why is that we drop bombs from thousands of feet away and not fight the enemy face to face?

Question

I rather kill my enemy in the same manners he/she is fighting me. In that way, I will proof that it is not my technological or weapons that killed or hurted them but my skills and strength. Or else, it sends the wrong signals which will the enemy think that we are not good at ground combat.

Answer 1

They are a bunch of pansies. They rather kill thousands of innocent civilians then actually fight.

Answer 2

You would have to understand ground combat first. It takes higher levels of manpower, logistical support, and planning.... especially when you look at the fact that most insurgents only stay in place 6 to 12 hours at a hard location. The average ground assault mission takes 4 to 6 hours to plan out, if you have good, relevent, and current intelligence about the target and the surrounding area. The risk factor is also weighed each time a mission is planned out. There is less risk associated with an airstrike than there is with a ground operation. The insurgents know as per fact that we are very good at ground combat... that is why the weapon of choice is the IED. They don't seem to want to do heads up combat with us.
Then you have to understand terrorism. The terrorist wants the biggest bang for the buck. The most shock factor with the least amount of liability. Hence why they don't want, nor can afford a standing army, in uniform, that they as an organized group have to support. They have not the will nor ability to fight a heads up battle. In the few face to face encounters we have had with both Al Queida and the Taliban, they have walk away or been carried away wishing they hadn't tangled with us at that time. One of our platoons from the engneers (a 19 man element)... not infantry... took down a 37 man Taliban patrol in a chance encounter. It was discipline, bravery and technology that afforded us the upper hand.

Answer 3

Is anyone dumb enough to think this is a game? We're not competing or proving anytihng. War is not & never should be fair. A commander that would allow his force to engage one of equal relative strength is an idiot.

Just for the record though, I'd point a couple things out. We do in fact have troops on the ground going head to head with insurgents. During the initial invasion there were many cases of hand to hand combat. And oh by the way, our enemy hides behind women & children to detonate remote controlled bombs (IEDs) every day.

Answer 4

This isn't a high school wrestling match, it's a war! An overwhelming show of force can definitely impress the enemy and get the message across. Superior technical force often bring about quicker enemy capitulation. On a global scale, it's the ultimate victory that leads to peace that counts.

But just for the record, I assume your question comes from the way Zarqawi was captured. Well, we are fighting them on the ground everyday as well. How do you think so many of our guys are getting blown up and shot. It sure doesn't happen in an airplane.

Answer 5

You ask this question now because the US bombed Zarqawi. The first report of this sort of bombing in a heck of a long time after all you hear about is house-to-house fighting and convoys getting hit by IEDs, then followed up by small arms fire (rifles).

The fact is, since the invention of the cannon, defenses have been softened up by artillery, whether that be artillery pieces such as howitzers and field guns, or rockets, missiles, or bombs dropped from planes. Once that is done, the infantry, cavalry and armor go in. We have had boots on the ground in Iraq for over 3 years now. Over half a million multinational forces troops have walked on the ground in Iraq, and a good percentage of those have been on foot patrols in some of the most dangerous areas of the country. So you see Zarqawi gets blown up by a bomb so you take the opportunity to call the MNF cowards?

You want to know some good questions about certain people being afraid to fight face to face? Ask why terrorists hide amonst the population and wear civilian clothes. Ask why they detonate IEDs from hidden locations and then run away. Ask why they drive a car full of explosives into a crowd of kids being given candy and school supplies. Ask why they drive a pickup with a mortar tube in the back near a base, shoot of a few rounds and high-tail it away. Ask why they fly planes into crowded buildings.

Answer 6

There is no valor in dying in the least common denominator; you don't get points for dying better. It is war.. Why fight an enemy face to face when you can bomb said enemy;kill 1,000 of them and let you live to drop the next bomb? I love the romantic appeal that you make that you want to go man- e mano with the enemy; But why? They are the enemy, there's no point system in war, do you really think they're thinking as they are dying "Damn, that guy was not good at ground combat, I shouldn't die, but ...." Who gives a rat's *** if you're good at ground combat when you beat the enemy?

Answer 7

Your advice comes from not understanding war. We drop bombs to soften them up. Imagine the Army Saddam had in Iraq, 500,000 troops. The USA had roughly 100,000 so each American has to kill 5 people. Those are bad odds for fighting. By dropping bombs and taking out their means to fight we hope to ensure a swift victory. The faster the victory the less people will die. As a war wages on from day to day more people will die. If a war is short, in the long run less will die.

The USA has one of the best military's when it comes to ground combat. What is to say that the others are not fighting fair? Is it right to fight an enemy face to face like ww1, and ww2? Millions died in those wars. Is it right to set a bomb and then detonate it as a medical convoy comes by? Wars are not fair, and people die.

Nobody wins a war by dying for their country, they win a war by making someone else die for their country. Whatever way we do it, we want to win. Is it right to start a war by flying a plane into a building? Is it right to win the war by dropping A-bombs? Maybe not but in both cases it got results.

Answer 8

Well when you fight a war against terrorists and insurgents who don't wear uniforms so they can't be identified. Plus they hide behind things like improvised explosive devices ( ieds ) where they blow you up from a distance. How would you want to fight?

The thing is there will always be improvements in weapon technology. Such things will continue to become more precise and deadly.

Imagine if we didn't use pressision guided bombs. Imagine the civilian death count then.

The enemy fears us because they know we can see in the night, they know we can place a heat round through that truck he is using to transport mortar rounds from several kilometers away.

Answer 9

Wow what are you thinking? The idea is to win, not to show off your individual fighting skill. We are not cavemen trying to win the girl. If I can kill a person from 10000 feet rather than risk a person in the attempt than that is the better choice.

Answer 10

Who is the enemy? Do terrorists wear uniforms? Why do the terrorists sneak up with car bombs and kill innocents people? That's no different than dropping a bomb....they just drive the bomb. They don't fight face to face.....so we don't either!

Answer 11

B/C then we get in trouble for taking pictures
there are ground troops all over there fighting, if were where to fight like them we would strap bombs to childern and let them blow buses up.
besides the technology is really cool to play with.