Category Archives: Afghanistan

NSWC MK13 Mod 3 sniper rifle in the wild

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CMP has a rare and very legit NSWC MK13 Mod 3 sniper rifle up for grabs at auction. The heavily modded AICS platform built on a Remington 700 Long Action in .300 Win Mag has a Harris Ultralight bipod and McCann scope mount but sadly, no glass. Of course, it wears a five-color desert camo all over, and the images are sure to be of interest for cloners.

It was a workhorse among Navy SEAL snipers in Afghanistan and Iraq back in the GWOT. Coupled with Mark 248 and Mark 248 Mod 1 ammo, it was credited with some very long shots.

The auction ends 5/3/2025, and proceeds go towards the CMP’s mission of promoting marksmanship, primarily to America’s youth.

Mad Max of Chad…and Iraq

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A very Mad Max-looking (or possibly Le Dernier Combat) scene from 24 February 1986. It shows a bush patrol (patrouille en brousse) of 3e section du 8e régiment parachutiste d’infanterie de marine (8e RPIMa) near Moussoro, Chad, doing what they could to modify their uniforms in the 120 degree F heat.

Réf. : 1 986 072 34 13, Patrice George/ECPAD/Défense

Note the FAMAS bullpup of the assistant gunner and the holstered SACM pistol of the anti-tank man. Speaking of which, the pipe is a Luchaire Defense SA Lance-Roquettes AntiChar (LRAC) model F1 STRIM 89mm rocket launcher with a 3x APX M 309 optical sight and two spare rockets at the ready.

Introduced in the early 1970s as a marginally better (but 100 percent more French) weapon than the 90mm M20 Super Bazooka, the launcher weighed 11 pounds, sans sight, with HE rounds pushing another 7 pounds a pop. Capable of penetrating 400mm of armor, the French never confirmed or denied that it was used in combat in Chad.

The French Foreign Legion used the LRAC in Iraq as they served as the far left hook of the Desert Storm ground campaign. 

24-26 February 1991 Al Salman Iraq A two-man anti-tank rocket launchers (LRAC) of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e Régiment Étranger d’Infanterie, 2nd REI) sitting near a concrete hangar at the air base. Ref.: 1 991 001 239 17. Christian Fritsch/ECPAD/Defense

It was replaced by the MBDA Eryx after 1993, which is slated to be replaced by an updated 84mm Carl G.

As for 8e RPIMa, the “Chicken Thieves” (voleurs de poules) shown in the top image are still around and still specialize in light, fast-moving operations that often tend toward the desert environment, having deployed to Afghanistan (2008), Central Africa (2013) and the Sahel (2015) in recent years.

Getting Greasy

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Just 40 years ago this week.

Official caption: “Private First Class (PFC) Jose Ledoux-Garcia of Company C, 5th Battalion, 77th Armor, guards his M60A3 main battle tank during Central Guardian, a phase of Exercise REFORGER ’85. He is armed with an M3A1 .45-caliber submarine gun. Base: Giessen, West Germany (FRG), 22 January 1985.”

How about that open bolt on the M3! Note the short receiver M85/T175 (M19) .50 caliber machine gun in the tank commander’s copula, as identified by its crimped flash hider. It was distinctive for being one of the most unreliable machine guns ever adopted by the U.S. DF-ST-85-13234

It is hard to believe that only 40 short years ago, M60 Pattons and M3 Grease Guns were still on the front lines of the Fulda Gap. Both would linger on through Desert Storm.

As for the “Steel Tigers” of the 77th Armor, formed originally as the 753rd Medium Tank Battalion on 25 April 1941, they trained at three different bases in the south that have all been renamed since then and, receiving their first M4A1 Shermans in early 1943, shipped out for North Africa attached to the 45th Infantry (“Thunderbird”) Division.

Just missing the end of the Afrika Corps in Tunisia, they were soon fighting in Sicily (Operation Husky) under Patton’s command and their tanks spearheaded the first Allied unit into Messina, losing six tanks to 28 enemy tracks claimed. They fought for Naples and Rome, earned a French Croix de Guerre for the liberation of the Vosage in 1944, and continued on into Germany through the Ardennes and the Rhineland for VE-Day.

The Sherman-equipped 753rd fought in Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe, typically in platoon and company-sized elements spread out through the 45th ID. 

Post-war, they were redesignated as the Japan-based 77th Heavy Tank Battalion, equipped with M-26s and M4A4E8s, and saw much service in Korea, earning six campaign streamers with the 7th ID.

Then came eight campaigns in Vietnam with M48s in 1969-70, equipped with M60s, continued Cold War service first with the 5th ID and then with the 4th ID, including deployments back to Germany.

Eventually upgrading to the M1 Abrams, they deployed to Bosnia and Kosovo, then moved heavily from Schweinfurt, Germany in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, and 2012 to the sandbox in support of the 1st Infantry Division and then the 1st Armored Division.

They are one of the few Army armor units to carry a Navy Unit Commendation, on the recommendation of the Marine Corps Commandant, earned during Operation Iraqi Freedom VI-VIII in support of I MEF.

Today, the Steel Tigers remain as part of the 1st ID’s 3rd BCT at sunny Fort Bliss, Texas, but, in true globetrotter fashion, they are currently on a rotational deployment to Poland, getting some snow time in.

Their official unit motto is Insiste Firmiter (To Stand Firm) and their battle cry is “Blood on the Axe” for obvious reasons.

Evan Wright, Gone

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Embedded with fast-moving but lightly armored Marine 1st Reconnaissance Battalion’s Bravo Company during the invasion of Iraq in 2003–typically in the lead Humvee– was a 30-year-old Rolling Stone reporter who would pen a series of articles on the experience titled “The Killer Elite” which, in 2004, received the National Magazine Award for Reporting, the top prize in magazine writing.

He then spun that up into the book and later HBO series, Generation Kill, which probably best captured the very pear-shaped pre-Fallujah American experience in Iraq during the Second Gulf War.

Of course, Wright had already been to Afghanistan, would go back to Iraq in 2007, and profile figures as diverse as Quentin Tarantino and Shakira then picked up a second National Magazine Award for his Vanity Fair profile titled “Pat Dollard’s War on Hollywood.” He also worked on Homeland and The Man in High Castle.

Hey, what is a guy with a degree in medieval history from Vassar to do, right?

Wright died by suicide on July 12, 2024, at the age of 59. 

Check-in with your friends, guys. Some are hurting and don’t know it.

Son of the Regiment, T-34 edition

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80 years ago today, 27 June 1944. Tankers of the 17th Guard Tank Brigade, 1st Guard Tank Corps, 1st Belarusian Front, on their T-34-85.

On the photo from left to right: Senior Sergeant Boris Vorontsov – tank driver; Alik – сын полка (syn polka= son of the regiment); Jr. LT Vladimir Viktorovich Ponomarev, tank commander. To the rear of Ponomarev is Jr. LT Gennady Fatysov, a friend of his from the Kurgan Tank School.

This is the last shot of Ponomarev who was killed less than a month later, on 25 July, in the battle for Brest, in the area of the Bialostok-Brest highway, near the village of Cheremkha in Poland. He was awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War and the Order of the Red Star (posthumously).

As for Alik, the son of the regiment was lost to history, as they have almost always been going back to the days of the Romans and Greeks.

He reminds me of George Dzundza’s Commander Daskal in The Beast, who retells a story of how he was a Molotov-wielding 8-year-old lad in Stalingrad who earned the moniker, “Tank Boy.”

According to the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, during WWII there were at least 3,500 front-line soldiers under the age of sixteen, a figure that did not include those in irregular underground and partisan detachments. This number is likely a drastic undercount as commanders typically did not list these “tag-alongs” on unit rolls.

Nonetheless, they often gave their all, with one youth, six-year-old Sergei Aleshkov, being decorated in combat with the 142nd Guards Rifle Regiment, which he served with for eight months across 1942-43, including being wounded and instrumental in digging out a blocked bunker entrance.

50 Years of German CH-53s

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While we are familiar with the mighty CH-53 Sea Stallion and Super Stallion in USMC (and lesser USN RH/MH Sea Dragon and USAF HH/MH Jolly Green Giant) service since Vietnam, the German Bundeswehr has also been operating the type for a half-century.

Ordering 110 CH-53G (modified CH-53D) models in 1969– license produced by VFW-Fokker in West Germany– going past the Cold War, the type has been flown by the Germans in Albania, Bosnia, Iraq (including their first overseas deployment in German service, Desert Storm, where they flew 805 sorties), Kosovo, Congo, Mali, Lebanon, and Afghanistan, often to the delight of forward-deployed U.S. Marines who seemingly always need a lift.

The Germans deployed the CH-53 in Afghanistan for 18 years. Around 22,500 flight hours were flown and around five million kilometers were covered. One was lost in Kabul in 2002, resulting in the loss of 7 aboard. Bundeswehr/Sandra Elbern

They are also heavily involved in humanitarian missions. Two CH-53s were sent to Pakistan in 2005 to help with earthquake relief and the big Stallions have been a welcome sight in Europe during wildfire season, dropping 5,000L of water at a time in their “Smokey” configuration. In 2018, they were credited with stopping a fire from enveloping the town of Klausdorf.

Die CH-53 kann etwas über fünf Tonnen transportieren. Bei Waldbränden kommt der Löschbehälter „Smokey“ zum Einsatz. Bundeswehr/Jane Schmidt

Re-engined and updated with an IFR-capability, the remaining German 66 CH-53GS variants operated in three squadrons assigned to Hubschraubergeschwader 64, are set to continue in service until they are phased out in the next decade by 60 new CH-47F Block II Chinooks in an $8.5B deal announced last May. Until then, with a little help from old USMC CH-53Ds in the boneyards in Arizona, the German CH-53 will endure.

Denali Paratroopers Test New Next-Gen Weapons at 25 Below

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The only Arctic, Airborne, Recon cavalry squadron in the U.S. Army has been busy trying out the service’s new Next Generation Squad Weapon systems in some of the worst weather Alaska can offer.

The 1st Squadron (Airborne) of the 40th Cavalry Regiment, working with Fort Greely’s Cold Regions Test Center in one of the coldest parts of Alaska, has been putting the NGSW platform through its paces. The program includes SIG Sauer’s XM-7 rifle, which will fill the role currently held by the M4 Carbine series, the SIG XM250 light machine gun slated to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, and the Vortex-produced M157 Fire Control optics system used on both platforms.

“Extreme environmental testing is critical to ensuring reliable systems,” noted Col. Jason Bohannon, the Army’s Project Manager Soldier Lethality on Feb. 9.

Meanwhile, a social media page for the 1st Squadron-40th Cav noted that they have been experiencing “sub-Arctic conditions in the vicinity of Ft Greely where temperatures haven’t topped above -25 degrees.”

If your range gear includes “Mickey Mouse” Boots, you may be testing an NGSW in Alaska in winter. (Photo: PEO Soldier)

That just seems…really cold. (Photo: PEO Soldier)

The 40th has a long military history of making it work under terrible conditions. Based in its current form in Alaska since 2005– from where they deployed to Iraq (Southern Baghdad) once and Afghanistan twice (Paktya and Khost Provinces)– it draws its lineage from the old 40th Tank Battalion which entered combat on August 15 1944 fighting across northern France into Belgium where it made a significant contribution to the defeat of German forces at St. Vith during the Battle of the Bulge then drove into Germany linking up with the Soviets on the Baltic coast.

M4 Shermans in temporary position near St. Vith, Belgium, fire on enemy positions beyond the city. 40th Tank Battalion. 7th Armored Division.” Date: 24 January 1945. Salis, U.S. Army Signal Corps photo 111-SC-199467

Vale, Chubbs

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Pouring one out for New Orleans-born Carl Weathers over the weekend.

A big part of my childhood, I can’t remember how many times I saw him on bootlegged-off-HBO Betamax tapes as Apollo Creed– including his death at the hands of Ivan Drago, which was one of the most chilling parts of the Cold War to me as a kid. Plus, there was the terribly underrated Force 10 from Naverone, and, of course, Predator.

As an adult, I just recently attended the Chubbs Peterson Memorial Rifle Golf Tournament in Utah last year, and everyone was full of Carl Weathers humor at the time.

Although he didn’t serve directly in the military, he was a big part of Red Tight Media, which specialized in producing tactical training films for the U.S. armed forces and in constructing simulated Afghani and Iraqi villages at the NTC at Fort Irwin, California, all of which certainly helped keep guys alive in the sandbox.

Thus closes another chapter on my childhood.

The Canadian Army in Afghanistan

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You have to hand it to the Canadians when it comes to the archival history of their military operations. They have three 500-600 page volumes of their time in the Afghan barrel spanning from 2001 to 2014.

All are free and in pdf format, making interesting reading for any student of military history.

Put on your pakol hat and enjoy!

One last laugh with Billy Waugh

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You may have previously heard that ARSOF legend, Retired SGM Billy Waugh, recently packed his duffle for the last time at the age of 93. His military career spanned 30 years from Korea to Vietnam, joining the Army in 1948 (after an unsuccessful attempt to join the Marines at 15 during WWII to make the final push on Japan).

Once retired, in 1977 he joined the CIA’s paramilitary guys and, among other places, took part in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom– in his 70s. While most of his agency work is lost to history, he for sure took part in operations against Quadaffi’s Libya, the Soviets, and in chasing Carlos the Jackal.

In noting his death, the 1st Special Forces Command said Waugh had “inspired a generation of special operations.”

There are three services planned:

12 May: Fairview Cemetery, Bastrop, Texas: There will be a small, private, gathering of family and close friends to spread a small amount of BIlly’s ashes at the Waugh family plot. Billy’s parents, infant brother, and sister are buried there.

27 June: A large memorial, organized by SOCOM, will be held at MacDill AFB. Location and time not provided yet.

22 July, 11:00: Jumping of the ashes. Billy requested that his ashes be HALO jumped and scattered by the HALO team. The time is not known yet, but it will be at Raeford Drop Zone, Raeford, North Carolina.

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