Wolf Pack 103: Sole Mates

Michael Yon Online Magazine ^ | 03 December 2012 | Michael Yon

[neverdem]

REMEMBER THIS PRINT. The terrain in Afghanistan is great for tracking: prints are often sharp and clear, and quarry is frequently channelized. During a mission with British forces, this print pinged my senses so I made the photograph in the morning light. Soldiers found many bombs nearby, and we were ambushed by machine gun. A smartphone app could compare this image to others in a database. Moments like this offer an opportunity to track down the wearer of this shoe. STUDY THIS PRINT and REMEMBER.

There are countless types of footwear around the world. If you sit down with a coffee and watch the passersby, it will be difficult to spot two people wearing the same shoes.

If you see many people wearing the same footwear, you are at a military base, a police station, a football game, or a prison. Or kids are wearing a uniform.

When you go to a house party with special operations folks, you will see the same shoes and watches. If you are downtown, their shoes are a giveaway. Noting the watches and the shoes that people wear is one of the oldest discovery methods. This is true of many wars...

[goodnesswins]

Hmmmm....wonder if anyone is looking at tracks along our southern border?

[HiJinx]

wonder if anyone is looking at tracks along our southern border?

Yes. That's how we know who killed rancher Rob Krentz 2-3 years ago.

[Rebelbase]

Thanks for posting, great read.

[stockpirate]

Whille informative this post should be deleted, it wrong for this writter to post such information and aid those who we seek to know our methods.

[MHGinTN]

Agree ... this thread should be pulled, but will it be?

[wolficatZ]

“Whille informative this post should be deleted, it wrong for this writter to post such ..”

Sorry bub, but the “writer” happens to be one of the preeminent war correspondents of our time.

I’ll defer to his better judgement on this story.

[goodnesswins]

Let the ADMIN know...

[wolficatZ]

It’s already been posted on his blog, Facebook, twitter and social media.

Deleting this thread would be pointless.

The abject cluelessness around here never ceases to astound.

[MHGinTN]

So the author posts the methods we use to ID terrorists and splays it all over ‘Twitter’, facebook, social media, and you want us to agree that this author is some kind of wonderful journo? ... Reminds me of the notion that Leaky Leahy used to justify his perfidy and the democrats regularly use to justify their publishing details of SEAL operations. *puke*

[Travis McGee]

Yon’s point is that this is NOT our method, but should be. He is trying to sell combat tracking to warfighters. It’s not surprise that trackers track. I can’t imagine the Afghans are unaware of tracks, and cameras. We’re digitally fingerprinting, photographing and retinal scanning all detainees and suspects. Footwear is another useful data point, esp. in a poor country where folks don’t have many shoe options.

[VanShuyten]

Skechers, one of the world’s most popular brands and widely counterfeited. Photo from three years ago. This won’t be much help.

[1010RD]

Right - basic tracking is a proprietary American intelligence device. Nobody else in the world ever uses tracking or even thinks about it.

I’m going to check the Internets to see if I’m right or not.

[1010RD]

Make certain the Admin knows to delete the entire history of Counter-insurgency from the World Wide Web as well. If we don't stop this someone will read this and know that:

The Rhodesians and others in southern African countries like Namibia were masters at boxing and killing, often using helicopters to leapfrog. The Rhodesians made it an art. The British and our own Army used to be masters at this, but now we can hardly tie our tracking boots.

The Rhodesians would get on track, often simply by flying in helicopters and looking for it in grass or other opportune traps, especially during morning or evening patrols. You simply cannot move through many sorts of grass without making a color change.

You can try to hide track from air observation, and it can help, but that wastes time in the open. If numerous men go single file, there is no way to hide it. If they spread out, they leave more trails. Real accounts of combat tracking against good anti-trackers sound like a Tom Clancy submarine story. The submarines cannot see each other, but they can sense each other through various means. Even the stealthiest submarine creates disturbance.

Luckily our enemies don't read history and we've got FReepers hawking articles like this.

[Renderofveils]

You do understand that the “journo” in question here is a former Green Beret, right? Mind you, I’m not saying that because he’s a former SpecOp operative that he’s immune from criticism. Just in the same way that accusing him of working on the side of terrorists by “leaking” tracking information that’s been around for thousands of years wasn’t your intention.

[1010RD]

What’s with the Yoda talk?

Don’t vent your spleen at me because you’re ignorant of basic military operations since the beginning of time.

Yon’s on the front lines dealing with REMFs and the Obama/Clinton WH ROAs trying to keep our guys alive and kill off the baddies. Discussing tracking and intelligence methods that are a half century plus old isn’t a loose lips situation. You called it wrong. Eat yer crow and move on.
;-]

[MHGinTN]

I have no quarrel with a 'former Green Beret'. I just do not like the idea of reminding these animals of how our side tracks them down when possible. You will no doubt notice that one or two idiots posting on this thread are more focused upon insulting posters than the issue at hand.

IF I were working as a 'with the troops' journo, and I discovered that a few were carving out an "x" channel in the bullets they load into their weapons, would I want to pass along the details of how well it 'explodes' a target on impact? No. It is proprietary even as the enemy discovers that some bullets seem to be doing more damaged than other bullets. Will the enemy be doing it if they think it will make their hits more deadly? Yes, so why remind the bastards if they aren't doing it? I sort of equate this 'reminding the enemy' with reaching to assist the opposition just knocked down repeatedly in football ... you just don't do it because it in some way assists your opponents.

[Nebr FAL owner]

Get a grip . Mike Yon is not revealing anything that anyone who isn’t a booger eating moron already knows & understands . It is literally looking down at the dirt & noticing somebody has left tracks in the dust & then took a picture of it . As for the possible claim that the smartphone app is a trade secret its a SMARTPHONE APP !!! How secret can it be.

[MHGinTN]

Nice try ... the issue as I take it is reminding these camel humpers, not revealing something new. But you got your little chance to tell someone to ‘get a grip’ don’tchaknow.