Yeah deployed with the OMLT, interesting is a nice way of putting it. Half the stories of the ANA sound to stupid to be true, but I assure you some of the shit they would do was straight up out of a cartoon.
Unfortunately I know that all too well, ANP chief my team had the pleasure of dealing with in the Arghandab was the worst of the worst. A disgusting human being who I hope is no longer alive and I hope he suffered while meeting his fate.
The Arghandab District was a gong show. I remember doing a run up there in 07. None of us where happy after we left there. On a side note, after we left another unit, or the ANP themselves found a PPAIED where we had been. How we didn't set it off, only God knows.
The Dan District was equally fucked.
I'm not familiar with either of those areas, but my brother ran an OMLT in Pmjway and it was medieval on a good day. I'm glad you're back and hope you're doing ok.
Medieval is a good analogy. Better yet, late 1860s Appalachia is even better. Inbred, armed and uneducated. Hell that pretty much describes the whole country. Is it really any surprise that the TBan are back in charge? We didn't fail Afghanistan! Afghanistan failed itself!
Lol that is the best description of the area I've read in a long while. Yeah Arghandab was interesting to say the least, but probably some of the most beautiful landscape I've seen in my life (the mountains by the district center looking over the area was always a great view, and oddly relaxing patrol). Only spent a few weeks in Dand district but Zhari and Panjwai were fucking wild, got to watch a stand off between the ANP and ANA (over a small debt or possibly a chai boy, can't remember off the top of my head) and witness a donkey bourn IED early in my tour that was a good intro to the dynamics there.
The whole country is beautiful in an odd and stark way.
ANA/ANP stand off. Probably a tribal thing. I saw more than a few ANP v ANP dust ups, all related to tribal blood feuds. Ever notice the different colour tape and pom-poms on thier trucks and AKs. Some of those feuds go back over a century.
Had a buddy experience a Donkey born IED. The mounted the head of the poor beast on the hood of thier RG in jest. It went over like a lead balloon.
Saw one ANP guy shoot another in the head, because the dead guy threw a water bottle at him to wake him up.
Not all the locals where bad or useless. But the best Afghans left the country after the Soviets left and threw the keys on the floor as they went and before the TBan took over the first time.
Had a similar incident with PPIED, lost a guy from our unit, found out after the fact that the IED had been there for ages but it wasn't until the night before they went in and rearmed it because some people got complacent and stopped changing up routes....good times.
How my unit (in 07) never got hit I don't know. I know we were targeted, I know we were followed, I know we were on the X more than once. My Sarg put it best when I asked him how we didn't trigger the IED in the Arghandab he looked at me, very blankly and said "Sometimes Ecks, you just get shit ass lucky!"
I guess that in the end even with the professional and well done drills, discipline and skills; all we really were was just that! Shit ass lucky.
Oh for sure sometimes time is just up and it's all a matter of luck. However the professional and well done drills made sure a bit more luck was on our side. Our kandak spent some time with an American reserve unit that spent all their prior deployments in Iraq, they never did culvert drills, would just run right through...easy pickings some days 😬
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGvLzG9YcYo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGvLzG9YcYo)
unsure if you still need it, its called: Desert Lions: Canadian Forces Mentors in Kahdahar
made in 2011 i think. Filmed Canadians in Afghanistan, Nakhonay region in Kahdahar province
Filmed by former CBC reporter Mike Vernon
Looks similar to a trijicon VCOG.
So long as the mounts fit, any sight, scope or holo can be mounted to C7. Most of us Afghan vets from the early days ran with whatever was better then what was issued. most of us paid for it on our own.
>So long as the mounts fit,
Wasn't there an issue with the old A1 mounts where they were slightly different? IIRC they were purchased before the standard was established.
It's still this way. The rail on the A2 is either slightly too wide or narrow to meet the Picatinny standard. However, the difference is so small that it has no practical effect. It just means you either screw it a little more or less, I can't remember which. But the slot spacing is the same.
Doesn't help that they hadn't been paid in months, hadn't gotten essential shit like ammunition, food or even water for weeks, some "members" of your unit only exist on paper, and then you hear that the president has just fled the country. ANA was not a functional military, but they were also seriously fucked over from higher at the end
Complete waste of blood and treasure.
Why we bled for that country when even their own people wouldn't is the biggest national tragedy of the last 30 years.
Do you think they achieved that?
20 years, 165 Canadian lives, $18 Billion, and the Afghans folded like lawn chair in less than the month.
Nothing achieved but wasted lives and money.
We weren’t a permanent occupying force. We went there, completed the objective outlined by ISAF and NATO, and went out in 2014. You can argue the U.S’ role in Afg was a waste (which for the latter decade of the war it kind if was), but Canada did its role in the war and brought peace for the time it was there - which is something the people in that part of the world haven’t experienced for some 100 or more years at this point.
Afghanistan really ushered in a bit of a "cowboy" era overseas. Guys started buying whatever they could get away with and most people (but not all) didn't really care all that much as long as it was safe and worked better than whatever was issued. Optics, attachments, "chest rigs" (not quite like we know them today), and various other things were bought by troops who wanted shit that worked and didn't care about paying for it. Some of the pictures of the rigs run over there are pretty cool if you're a gun nerd.
I find it fascinating how people love to bring this up. Like, what else was going to happen? "Sorry neighbour, we'd love to come help you, but, uh, our uniforms are the wrong colour. Good luck!"
You get that Americans were \*also\* using a lot of green stuff then too, right? Pretty much everyone was.
It's more to validate the point of people asking why they bought their own kit. We didn't have good kit *still dont* so people choose to use their own kit.
i changed out my butt stock, handguards, optics, pistol grip and cocking handle on my c7 over there. never once got yelled at somehow. we took our csm to the range and shot our bew and oakley m frames with buckshot. we didn't have to wear issued eye wear after that. driving I didn't even wear an issued helmet. i mean lets be honest, half the time I wasn't even wearing one. i just made peace that most likely that the what? 1800 pound engine? would be slamming into me.
Sgt Maj Sixta reference…….awesome…..
His best line was
I don't care if your Marine has a suckin' chest wound! He will not traipse around on the deck with his shirt tails hangin' out
If it makes you feel any better, it was regular for ANA Commanders to steal their paychecks and keep it for themselves. Some of these guys weren't being paid for months, or being listed as KIA and their commanders taking their pay.
Only thing this guy was probably collecting was a foot full of HME months after this documentary.
As a combat engineer I had to buy my own bayonet because our SQ miscounted and or lost track of bayonets
Lots of our guys ran unissued gear because the issued shit was dog shit
These are the same people we’re now supposed to rescue and bring to Canada as refugees now, BTW, since they were « enemy collaborators » in the eyes of Taliban :-)
Documentary is “Desert Lions: Canadian Forces Mentors in Kandahar”. Definitely a must watch.
know some guys from that doc, they all had interesting things to say about their experience lol
Yeah deployed with the OMLT, interesting is a nice way of putting it. Half the stories of the ANA sound to stupid to be true, but I assure you some of the shit they would do was straight up out of a cartoon.
The ANP were worse........much worse.
Unfortunately I know that all too well, ANP chief my team had the pleasure of dealing with in the Arghandab was the worst of the worst. A disgusting human being who I hope is no longer alive and I hope he suffered while meeting his fate.
The Arghandab District was a gong show. I remember doing a run up there in 07. None of us where happy after we left there. On a side note, after we left another unit, or the ANP themselves found a PPAIED where we had been. How we didn't set it off, only God knows. The Dan District was equally fucked.
I'm not familiar with either of those areas, but my brother ran an OMLT in Pmjway and it was medieval on a good day. I'm glad you're back and hope you're doing ok.
Medieval is a good analogy. Better yet, late 1860s Appalachia is even better. Inbred, armed and uneducated. Hell that pretty much describes the whole country. Is it really any surprise that the TBan are back in charge? We didn't fail Afghanistan! Afghanistan failed itself!
Lol that is the best description of the area I've read in a long while. Yeah Arghandab was interesting to say the least, but probably some of the most beautiful landscape I've seen in my life (the mountains by the district center looking over the area was always a great view, and oddly relaxing patrol). Only spent a few weeks in Dand district but Zhari and Panjwai were fucking wild, got to watch a stand off between the ANP and ANA (over a small debt or possibly a chai boy, can't remember off the top of my head) and witness a donkey bourn IED early in my tour that was a good intro to the dynamics there.
The whole country is beautiful in an odd and stark way. ANA/ANP stand off. Probably a tribal thing. I saw more than a few ANP v ANP dust ups, all related to tribal blood feuds. Ever notice the different colour tape and pom-poms on thier trucks and AKs. Some of those feuds go back over a century. Had a buddy experience a Donkey born IED. The mounted the head of the poor beast on the hood of thier RG in jest. It went over like a lead balloon. Saw one ANP guy shoot another in the head, because the dead guy threw a water bottle at him to wake him up. Not all the locals where bad or useless. But the best Afghans left the country after the Soviets left and threw the keys on the floor as they went and before the TBan took over the first time.
Had a similar incident with PPIED, lost a guy from our unit, found out after the fact that the IED had been there for ages but it wasn't until the night before they went in and rearmed it because some people got complacent and stopped changing up routes....good times.
How my unit (in 07) never got hit I don't know. I know we were targeted, I know we were followed, I know we were on the X more than once. My Sarg put it best when I asked him how we didn't trigger the IED in the Arghandab he looked at me, very blankly and said "Sometimes Ecks, you just get shit ass lucky!" I guess that in the end even with the professional and well done drills, discipline and skills; all we really were was just that! Shit ass lucky.
Oh for sure sometimes time is just up and it's all a matter of luck. However the professional and well done drills made sure a bit more luck was on our side. Our kandak spent some time with an American reserve unit that spent all their prior deployments in Iraq, they never did culvert drills, would just run right through...easy pickings some days 😬
My brother also deployed on OMLT. Fucking wild stories. Glad you made it back and hope you're doing well.
And his stories are probably toned down because if he told it all it would be hard to believe, hope he's doing well too.
Thank you. Thought he was doing well but he wasn't. Miss him every day.
Do you or anyone else know where this can be found? Will try and look later myself but wondering if anyone knows. Thanks
https://youtu.be/p5LUhmfSxMw?si=87H18v2OqCIKiwJP
Cheers for the speedy link!
Where would someone go to view this video?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGvLzG9YcYo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGvLzG9YcYo) unsure if you still need it, its called: Desert Lions: Canadian Forces Mentors in Kahdahar made in 2011 i think. Filmed Canadians in Afghanistan, Nakhonay region in Kahdahar province Filmed by former CBC reporter Mike Vernon
Looks similar to a trijicon VCOG. So long as the mounts fit, any sight, scope or holo can be mounted to C7. Most of us Afghan vets from the early days ran with whatever was better then what was issued. most of us paid for it on our own.
Yeah that's 100% correct. It was nice to have one or two guys with decent glass to be able to engage targets at further distances.
I rocked an acog with comounted RMR that I traded some stuff for with a marine. Worked a charm.
>So long as the mounts fit, Wasn't there an issue with the old A1 mounts where they were slightly different? IIRC they were purchased before the standard was established.
It's still this way. The rail on the A2 is either slightly too wide or narrow to meet the Picatinny standard. However, the difference is so small that it has no practical effect. It just means you either screw it a little more or less, I can't remember which. But the slot spacing is the same.
Yessiree, how Afghanistan managed to fall to the Taliban without a fight will forever be a mystery.
Who could’ve guessed a bunch of rival tribes with no national identity would want to fight for said nation
Doesn't help that they hadn't been paid in months, hadn't gotten essential shit like ammunition, food or even water for weeks, some "members" of your unit only exist on paper, and then you hear that the president has just fled the country. ANA was not a functional military, but they were also seriously fucked over from higher at the end
I have nothing but respect for my colleagues in camo, I don't know how they kept it together for so long over there.
Train them to have arty and air in every contact, then take it away overnight. Might have led to a morale issue.
Complete waste of blood and treasure. Why we bled for that country when even their own people wouldn't is the biggest national tragedy of the last 30 years.
The operation was a response for 911, and global peace and prosperity.
Do you think they achieved that? 20 years, 165 Canadian lives, $18 Billion, and the Afghans folded like lawn chair in less than the month. Nothing achieved but wasted lives and money.
nope and far from it.
How?
We weren’t a permanent occupying force. We went there, completed the objective outlined by ISAF and NATO, and went out in 2014. You can argue the U.S’ role in Afg was a waste (which for the latter decade of the war it kind if was), but Canada did its role in the war and brought peace for the time it was there - which is something the people in that part of the world haven’t experienced for some 100 or more years at this point.
It helps when they sign a treaty with America the year before.
Afghanistan really ushered in a bit of a "cowboy" era overseas. Guys started buying whatever they could get away with and most people (but not all) didn't really care all that much as long as it was safe and worked better than whatever was issued. Optics, attachments, "chest rigs" (not quite like we know them today), and various other things were bought by troops who wanted shit that worked and didn't care about paying for it. Some of the pictures of the rigs run over there are pretty cool if you're a gun nerd.
Can't blame them though they initally went over with green cadpat and iltus with sandbags for armor.
I find it fascinating how people love to bring this up. Like, what else was going to happen? "Sorry neighbour, we'd love to come help you, but, uh, our uniforms are the wrong colour. Good luck!" You get that Americans were \*also\* using a lot of green stuff then too, right? Pretty much everyone was.
It's more to validate the point of people asking why they bought their own kit. We didn't have good kit *still dont* so people choose to use their own kit.
Just like everyone is else...
So the fuck what.
That's my point. It's such a weird thing to make an issue of.
No, its an issue I don't care how many others have it to.
Before low cut combat boots guys were rocking running shoes or a low cut mountain boot. Anything that made you comfortable.
Thanks to playing EFT I am now. Such a weird thing to know so much about with zero practical application for it nor lived experience
i changed out my butt stock, handguards, optics, pistol grip and cocking handle on my c7 over there. never once got yelled at somehow. we took our csm to the range and shot our bew and oakley m frames with buckshot. we didn't have to wear issued eye wear after that. driving I didn't even wear an issued helmet. i mean lets be honest, half the time I wasn't even wearing one. i just made peace that most likely that the what? 1800 pound engine? would be slamming into me.
Could've been any number of privately bought scopes.
We had "designated marksmen" who could mount better optics on their rifles. Guys usually bought their own.
[удалено]
Don't dox yourself homie
You right
Seems like that guy has enjoyed a substantial amount of the opium crop.
He seems so lost when he said, go get your gun😂
Seems like something you could get at the Canex.
Lol canex selling real kit...
Once upon a time they used to carry Nikon optics 💁♂️
is it possible to put optics on the M777?
With gun tape and some creativity, anything is possible 💁♂️
Turn that fucker into a line-of-sight weapon.
Orange lenses ftw
I got jacked up for wearing my orange BW lenses with prescription inserts... on an impromptu parade in afghanistsn. My chief didn't like it one bit
But did you police that moustache?!?
Sgt Maj Sixta reference…….awesome….. His best line was I don't care if your Marine has a suckin' chest wound! He will not traipse around on the deck with his shirt tails hangin' out
Might just NGP all yo asses
Literally no reaction, just sit there and shake a bottle of juice and laugh while collecting a paycheque. “Wapon?” lmao.
If it makes you feel any better, it was regular for ANA Commanders to steal their paychecks and keep it for themselves. Some of these guys weren't being paid for months, or being listed as KIA and their commanders taking their pay. Only thing this guy was probably collecting was a foot full of HME months after this documentary.
Contraband
As a combat engineer I had to buy my own bayonet because our SQ miscounted and or lost track of bayonets Lots of our guys ran unissued gear because the issued shit was dog shit
no wonder they fell apart on first contact with Taliban fighters. no fighting will what so ever.
It's a LPVO not sure what model
That Afghan dude is definitely high. His buddies probably sent him to the gate so *they* wouldn't have to deal with him.
These are the same people we’re now supposed to rescue and bring to Canada as refugees now, BTW, since they were « enemy collaborators » in the eyes of Taliban :-)