English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

I am watching Blackhawk Down on Channel 5 (UK). Did the US learn anything from this conflict?

2007-12-09 10:23:33 · 12 answers · asked by fuck off 5 in Politics & Government Military

12 answers

unfortunately the USA did not learn much as far as government goes. we in the military did learn a lot. i was there and we got a waxing, by second rate thugs . all this was due to the stupidity of governments interference.

by the way the movie is good but not completely accurate . several of the characters are not real as is allot of the fighting sequences and some of the fights. Hollywood you know.

what is real is the way the soldiers faught. we did not give up and we faught our way out of the intel mess. until we were clear. i lost good friends good men of honour

2007-12-09 12:00:34 · answer #1 · answered by IHATETHEEUSKI 5 · 4 0

The military analyzes all such incidents to try and avoid such problems in the future. One thing that was learned was the planning was terrible, that the tactical advantage of the availability of night vision gear was ignored, etc. When watching the beginning of that movie the warlords were shooting and killing people trying to get food. When asked if they should "engage" (open fire) on the warlords, they were told no, but I would have said "engage - yes sir" and opened fire on the people killing the people just trying to get something to eat. There were also cultural differences that Americans were not aware of, such as showing the soles of your shoes is considered an insult, and the soldiers would ride the helicopters with their boots outside the helicopter, inadvertently "insulting" the people on the ground below. It was an attempt at a humanitarian mission that was poorly understood, and turned into a failure because it was poorly understood. Somalia was a humanitarian disaster, but the way it was handled, including the videotaping of the "amphibious landing" (which made it look like an invasion), should have been very, very different.

2007-12-09 18:48:36 · answer #2 · answered by Paul Hxyz 7 · 1 1

Yes - they learnt that they`re not the untouchable warrior-supreme that they thought they were LOL and they learnt that no matter how advanced an attack helicopter is it can still be shot down by a man armed with a simple RPG.
Seriously though ,after the events portrayed the Blackhawk`s minimal armour was seriously improved as was it`s threat-managing systems ,consequently it is harder to shoot down and if it is then it is also so much safer to be in when it crashes.

2007-12-10 00:28:47 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 1

Apparently, don't get involved in other peoples conflicts. Don't meddle in local politics. Don't put heavily armed armoured troops into an urban environment. Don't try and dominate a guerrilla force. Massive technical advantage over your adversary does not guarantee a win. You're troops will be killed by a woman as well as by men. Watch your back. Don't fly Helios into the urban areas.

2007-12-10 11:27:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Yea, don't elect a president who withdraws 90% of the US Forces from an area, then changes a peace keeping mission, into a search and capture mission,

While with holding requested equipment from the Commanders.

Two months before the actions that lead to that movie, clinton withdrew 25,000 US soldiers from Somolia.

They were supposed to be replaced by UN Peace Keeping soldiers from other countries.

But they never were.

2007-12-09 21:04:24 · answer #5 · answered by jeeper_peeper321 7 · 0 0

Yes. If you mean in a geo-political sense, perhaps not so much. What did come from the leasons learned were better designs for body armor and a huge shift in the philosophy surrounding the treatment of traumatic battlefield injury. We also aren't so keen on doing so much without on-call CAS available.

2007-12-09 18:34:34 · answer #6 · answered by G.I. Reaux 5 · 1 0

II've learned that many people around the world enjoy seeing Americans die,Y'all best hope and pray we don't start feeling that way about you,asyou have seen it well not be 'black hawk down' it well be country gone

2007-12-09 23:34:48 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0 1

Thats a thoroughly entertaining film,edge of seat stuff,but it is embellished in the name of showbiz,so,enjoy but dont believe all you see is true.

2007-12-09 18:34:10 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

The US Military learns from every engagement.

Unfortunately our civilian leadership does not.

2007-12-09 18:30:33 · answer #9 · answered by SFC_Ollie 7 · 7 0

Don't hide behind a humanitarian gesture when you really want to protect the rights of the Shell oil company.

When you go to war, don't do it halfass. We still haven't learned that from Vietnam.

2007-12-09 18:31:16 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0 3

fedest.com, questions and answers