in a situation like Iraq a deserter would not want to drive a Humvee around. in fact they would want to abandon their Humvees because that's like wearing a big sign on your neck saying ''hey i'm prime target, shoot me or capture me, i'm right here ISIL"
ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
in a situation like Iraq a deserter would not want to drive a Humvee around. in fact they would want to abandon their Humvees because that's like wearing a big sign on your neck saying ''hey i'm prime target, shoot me or capture me, i'm right here ISIL"
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Early in the Iraqi ISIL conflict, when Iraqi troops deserted, ISIL turned vindictive and hunted down any one with any evidence of being in the Iraqi Army. A pair of boots, dog tags camouflage pants if ISIL even smelled gun oil they black bagged the SOB and well unpleasantness. If the deserting troops were caught in uniform or a Hummer by ISIL they were dead. If they were seen by there reserves fleeing from the enemy in a Humvee they could have been confused for an enemy VBIED and killed.
A catch 22 as it were. Advancing enemy or waiting allies will both mow you down unless you just a abandon all of it and flee as a civilian.
As to the numbers I think that Wolfie might have a point I suspect that those might have been the numbers of Humvees captured in Iraq throughout the whole conflict.
A catch 22 as it were. Advancing enemy or waiting allies will both mow you down unless you just a abandon all of it and flee as a civilian.
As to the numbers I think that Wolfie might have a point I suspect that those might have been the numbers of Humvees captured in Iraq throughout the whole conflict.
thunderchief
Senior Member
Realistically, those troops had much better chance fleeing in Humvees then on foot or in civilian vehicles . Humvee has limited off-road capability and some armored protection , so they could have drove them between ISIS checkpoints on major roads (and in many cases ISIS didn't even have those checkpoints ) . But instead of that, many of those "soldiers" dropped they weapons and uniforms and started fleeing on foot like sheep . They were then captured by ISIS fighters driving around in Toyota technicals and slaughtered exactly like sheep.
kwaigonegin
Colonel
Most abandon and blend in, some flee others maybe even switch sides. At the end of the day it doesn't matter.
What matters is they have lost the will to fight, the motivation to continue on and have lost sight of the overall mission. Maybe they are war weary because Iraq has been at war pretty much since the 1980s with just a small gap of relative peace here and there since then. When you lose those things, when you have lost all hopes for your country, then everything falls especially when faced with an opponent like ISIS which is as much brutal as they are effective.
It's very sad if you think about it. IMHO Iraq is a lost cause. There is only 1 way to win this fight and 1 only.
Massive amounts of ground troops from US and NATO. Either that or Iran goes in full steam with all the other Shia militants like Hezbollah etc to end ISIS in Iraq. Anything short is not effective and prolong an unending war. All this counterattacks, drone strikes, occasional airstrikes, mobilizations of tribes etc to counter ISIS is good for the civilian population and make good headlines but at the end they are futile.
ISIS recruitment is amazingly effective and with a potential pool of 100 million Sunnis recruits from ages 10-50 all over the world they basically have unlimited supply of cannon fodders.
Except that the Belgians and Germans didn't do it a few hundred years ago but just one hundred years ago.
janjak desalin
Junior Member
More of the same:
ISIS kills 34 Iraqi police with explosive-laden tank, officials say
Unfortunately, the article details that the guards on duty fired on the tank but could not stop it. Maybe those RPG-29s the US didn't allow the Iraqi army to procure could have saved some lives, here.
ISIS kills 34 Iraqi police with explosive-laden tank, officials say
Unfortunately, the article details that the guards on duty fired on the tank but could not stop it. Maybe those RPG-29s the US didn't allow the Iraqi army to procure could have saved some lives, here.
thunderchief
Senior Member
Let's not get ahead of ourselves with those figures
ISIS has relatively large support among Sunni Muslims (some polls claim up to 80% like this ) , but most of those supporting them are basically keyboard warriors , unwilling to really take up arms and go in harms way .On the ground , I doubt that ISIS has more then 100 000 fighters , mostly lightly armed . Combined offensive by world greatest powers (permanent members of UN Security Council : US, UK, France, Russia , China) would easily crush ISIS including most of their army . And their backers and supporters would be terrified for their lives to even attempt anything similar .
Problem is, ISIS is just one of many factions vying for influence in Middle East . And behind all of it are global struggles for power where ISIS represents just one of the pawns in great game . Therefore, as long we have Sunni-Shia conflict in ME , with support from global powers for both sides , ISIS and similar organizations could always be useful to achieve some strategic goal .
Much harder than you imagine.
ISIS is well equipped to stop such a convoy. They have RPGs, Recoiless Rifles, and they have crew serviced weapons as well...not to mention quite a bit of their own armor that they have captured.
Small convoys without proper support would be chewed up by ISIS fighters, if the ISI S personnel knew they were coming...or knwew the areas those convoys operated in and laid traps for them...particularly if all the convoy had were the .50 cals mounted on the vehicles.
kwaigonegin
Colonel
They also have something that no weapon can match. They are crazy and insanely dedicated to their cause however discombobulated it may be.
I mean we're talking about folks who would get upset and whiny about having to wait their turn in blowing themselves up... And I wish I was making that up.