Any Soldier, Sailor, Airman or
Marine that went on patrol in Iraq or Afghanistan found a majority of the
events surrounding the bombing of the Boston Marathon very familiar. Everything from the methods and tactics of
the explosions, to the injuries seen and, especially the hunt for those
responsible, were almost as if they had been ripped right out of the war they
fought. The mainstream media even
started to acknowledge this after a fashion by calling the explosives “IEDs.” Many veterans were left with very haunting
memories coming back full force. Others
were possessed with an almost overwhelming urge to grab service rifles they no
longer had, put on body armor that was now belonging to someone else, and go
hunt those assholes down. Regardless of
their reaction each veteran felt a moment of horror at the thought that their
war had followed them home.
The video images of runners
crossing the finish line and people cheering broken up by a huge plume of dust
and flame, followed seconds later by another a few hundred meters away were
shockingly familiar to anyone that ever ran a convoy. Despite the fact that the devises were not
command detonated like the troops are used to seeing, the tactics employed,
first detonating one device, then another in the direction movement (in this
case the opposite direction the runners were traveling) were exactly the kind
of tactics that delivered so many casualties in Iraq. Thankfully the IEDs were not daisy chained,
and their overall power was weak compared to some of the anti-vehicle, and
anti-personnel IEDs that have been
employed, or the damage would have been a lot worse.
When News commentators were asking
questions as to why BPD told all their officers to stay off the radios and
“just head over there”, with great confusion, but any veteran of Iraq and
Afghanistan could have told them without thinking that radio signals can set
off IEDs that are Command Detonated. The
assumption that the cell service had been shut off (it actually was overwhelmed
by people calling, not shut down) had a lot of talking heads scratching those
empty skulls, but veterans knew why you would jam cell phones. The confusion that a majority of the
Americans felt at seeing the video that the news ran on continuous loop was not
felt by veterans. They knew exactly what
it was.
The pictures of the injuries were
graphic and shocking to the American public.
One showing a man with is tibia completely devoid of flesh, his calf
flayed open and hanging was particularly popular, but ask anyone who has gone
up to a vehicle that had suffered a catastrophic kill and these types of
injuries were sadly common place. So
common in fact that some of the veterans that were at the site, some of whom
had just finished the marathon, leapt into action and may have prevented a
greater loss of life. Pictures of the
scene, and its aftermath, awash in blood, and bits of detritus that used to be
people, are pictures Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have seared into their
minds.
The manhunt that followed was very
much a classic example of the counter IED ops that are still being employed in
Afghanistan. Identify persons of note,
get public cooperation, and then pile on the pressure. The use of social media showed the public the
kind of SigInt (Signals Intel) that American service members use to narrow in
on the cell(s) that are attacking them.
Once the bombers were identified, the HumInt (Human Intel) factor played
a role, and every set of eyes in Eastern Massachusetts acted as a force
multiplier leaving fewer and fewer options for the would be terrorist
masterminds. In their desperation they
attempted to steal a car at a gas station to use as a getaway car. Ultimately
their mistakes allowed police to zero in on them and the full force of Federal
as well as Massachusetts’s Local and State Law enforcement’s assets came down
on them like a ton of bricks, but not before they took one last victim, Officer
Sean Collier of the MIT police department.
The final few hours leading to the
standoff in a boat were extremely familiar to any veteran of Iraq and
Afghanistan, because the same cordon and clear tactics are the bread and butter
of counter insurgency (COIN). If one
were to see the black or green clad SWAT teams they look almost identical in
profile to the Soldiers now overseas.
Telling people in no uncertain terms that they needed to stay in their
homes for their own safety, while actively hunting and engaging a shooter is
the same thing I myself did while engaging in such missions in Iraq. The only
real difference between any of the thousands of knock and clears troops did,
were the flashing lights that the troops would never employ.
The ultimate aim of the police, to
capture the suspects is far different from the role the troops take. For them the mission is usually to kill and
if possible capture. The end of the
final standoff that the rest of America saw would probably have ended very
differently had a platoon of US Infantry been there. There would have been no hostage negotiators,
and the air assets would have been very well armed. The Media would also not have been allowed
access, and the scanners which everyone were listening into would most
definitely not been available to the public.
So, for now at least there is still a line between our military and our
police forces.
One thing any veteran of Iraq of
Afghanistan could have told you is that it all could have been a lot
worse. There were as many as five bombs
were used the day of the bombing, with only two going off. Seven more devises were used, or found during
the running gun battle with police to include a suicide vest. Fortunately those additional devices did not cause
aditional casualties. The explosives used were not directed, like many of the
shaped charges seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The IEDs were not designed specifically for fragmentation, so the
shrapnel was not as lethal as it could have been. There were also no attempts made to bomb
rescue workers, or to follow up the bomb with a conventional attack. For this we should all be very thankful.
We must all hope this is an
isolated incident. It doesn’t matter if
this was an actual Islamist terror attack or a couple of jack asses looking to
make a name for themselves, if this is part of a larger pattern the implications
are unsettling. The war we fought may
have followed us home. The sheltered way
the American public views the world may not last. If that is the case, the veteran community
will be called upon to once again serve, to be the guiding light in dark
times. We may have to teach the American
people in a very firsthand way the hard lessons we learned “over there”. The events in Boston taught us that the
American people are strong and resilient, but wholly unprepared for the
realities of insurgent terrorism on their doorstep.
Perhaps one of the only silver
linings we can pull out of this, is the very injuries that have so scared so
many veterans have left us with a prosthetic technology that will help a lot
of the victims of the bombing lead next to normal lives. Any of the people who lost legs may actually
be up and running in time for the next Boston marathon, and there are plenty of
amputees from OIF/OEF that are on call to help the victims. The experiences from the traumatic injuries
both physical and mental, many service members experienced will go to help many
of the victims get back their lives. We
have a whole crop of young men and women that know just what it takes to bring
these people back to health, and perhaps by doing so some veterans might find a
little healing themselves.
For 48 hours the people of Boston
and America had a front row seat to a little slice of the war millions of its
veterans have experienced. The exemplary
work of Boston’s Finest was very reminiscent of the work that often goes unsung
by American troops overseas. For a few
hours the residents of Watertown Mass knew what it was like to be a spectator
of the war. Undoubtedly this observation
will be noted by some, and quietly forgotten by a majority of the American
public, but maybe, just maybe it can be a bridge for people to gain a greater
understanding of the things our troops have to deal with.
No comments:
Post a Comment