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From April 01 TimesOnline:

A COMMANDER in the Royal Marines hit out at US forces for abandoning his men just minutes into a joint mission in southern Iraq.

Lieutenant-Colonel Buster Howes, Commanding Officer of 42 Commando, said the sudden US withdrawal put hundreds of lives in danger.

The unique US and British Marines operation planned to fly 1,000 Commandos behind enemy lines in 40 US helicopters — the largest airborne raid since the Vietnam War....

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 00,00.html

Those of you who, sometimes in jest, have a go at RAF helicopter pilots, (and you know who you are ), should read the above as it may change your opinion .............. though I did serve with some absolute PRATTS!

This should be made public.

To watch cnn/fox etc you would think there were no british forces.

Or that our men were just guarding prisoners while the usa fights.

May

Clivey said that the USAF wobbleheads 'even make the crabs look good!!!'

I can only say that I was fortunate enough in my career never having to fight alongside American troops.

Aye - Andy.

This reminds me of a conversation i once had with my uncle when he flew in the raf.

I was fascinated by nato planes. And i pointed out american planes were better than british.

He just replied, perhaps but the british plane has the better pilot

So much for "our brothers in arms"

I'd be more worried of getting killed by a blue on blue by the yanks than the iraqis. The iraqis couldn't hit a barn door at piont blank with a sniper rifle, the yanks on the other hand are over eager trigger happy fools with something to prove.

Well put......harsh.....but well put

our man in hospital said they were more worried about US planes than the iraqi`s, each time they heard an aircraft, it was look back and hope it was RAF.

Good to see your all being so decent about this thing. Alot of really stand up guys in this thread.

Specially you Jackal. You seem like you really have us all figured out. That part where you called us fools was nice. Too bad there arent more like you around.

Derek, who can you be referring to?
Tex, learn to sort the wheat from the chaff, ref some of the previous responses.
Said this before, me Dad served in WW11. They all (i.e. everyone, including American Personnel) used to say,
" When there are British aircraft in the sky, the Germans take cover,
When there are German aircraft in the sky, the Allies take cover,
But when there are American aircraft in the sky, every bastard takes cover"
Nice to see they are keeping up with tradition, Not.

It's been interesting watching some of the entrenched news film.

Some of the 'elite' USMC have no idea re fire and manoevre and if my jd's are correct, were engaging, with platoon weapons, targets at least 1000m away!

It seems that in this instance, more is best! Never mind what we hit, just keep firing!

its the only time you`ll mix blue and blue, and get red

But in the first wave of attacks a CH46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed, killing the eight British and four American troops on board.

US pilots immediately pulled out of the operation on March 20 and said the landing site behind enemy lines was unsuitable.


The American helo pilots were obeying orders. This is the danger of an Air-Assualt mission. US forces are trained to adapt and over come when the mission changes. It seems like all you guys do is complain. Did you ever stop to think that more lives could have been lost by inserting more helo's into a hot LZ?