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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

PS That is a weak army by the standards of the neighborhood. Even Kuwait has more armor and a stronger Navy and Air Force...


15 posted on 06/09/2011 10:27:13 AM PDT by DJ Elliott (Montrose Toast Blog)
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To: DJ Elliott

Yes, but Iraq has received both division and corps level operations training. While it’s common to have paper divisions in the region, the largest organic command they can functionally field is brigade sized.

An operational division can often outperform twice or three times its size of separate brigades. This is one tremendous force multiplier. Then a second is an appreciation for logistics, maintenance, air transport and resupply.

The typical ME country sinks all its efforts into combat arms with no interest or attention to maintenance or resupply. For this reason, their operations are “brittle”. If anything breaks, or they have to sustain operations, they quickly grind to a halt. Even in peacetime much of their equipment is waiting on parts or essential maintenance.

And as the Israelis noted, they think ammunition is fireworks, so have zero fire discipline.

Last but not least, the Iraqi training programs would make WT Sherman proud. Most of the ME just throws hot bodies into uniforms and hands them a rifle. On top of it, the Iraqi army has a lot of experience in lower level combat operations.

By comparison, with some US military training, the ARVN, with no resupply, still managed to hold out against the NVA with bottomless resupply, for two years on their own. The US military bitterly remembers that betrayal, so has gone to extreme lengths to insure it does not happen again to the IA, even if the US congress tries the same abandonment.


16 posted on 06/09/2011 11:55:21 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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