The psychological operations taking place in Afghanistan today are much different than the psyops we used during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Often times we would use loudspeakers to announce our presence to the Iraqis. Although I couldn’t understand the Arabic that was blaring from the speakers, I was told that we were trying to coax the fedayeen into fighting us by insulting their manhood. It was explained that this would bring them out of their hiding spots to separate them from the civilians they would position themselves next to.
On at least one occasion the psyops had an adverse effect on me. . .
We had taken over some fighting positions that a previous unit was holding before we got there. We were still moving up the main highway on our way toward Baghdad, about two or three weeks into the invasion, and the fog of war had started to take its toll on me.
The unit before us had shot a vehicle the previous night and it was just sitting in the middle of the road all burned up. As soon as we got to our new position my machinegun team moved to a berm and dug out a good hole where we camouflaged the gun. We were in a pretty good fighting hole, but we weren’t being very aggressive. People were walking past us all day checking out our positions. I wanted to go out in front of the berm to question them but I was also scared of land mines.
When night fell I stayed up trying to be as attentive as possible. I was on post staring through the night vision when it was about time to wake up my ammo man, Bonillia. I noticed that there were lights beaming at me from all directions. I thought there were vehicles all around us.
“Wake up,” I told Bonilla.
He did quickly and I briefed him on the situation. I wasn’t sure what the lights were or who they belonged to, but, despite my apprehension, I still wanted to lie down to get some rest. As soon as I bunkered down for the night bright flashes of light burst in the air.
“Get down!” I said, “Don’t let them see you.”
I thought we were surrounded and under attack. More flares went off and then I heard Arabic blaring out from somewhere behind me. I thought the fedayeen were screaming at us and were about to assault us from all sides.
“Stay low,” I told Bonillia, and then attempted to wake my team leader. He continued to sleep however so we made do without him.
“Do you see anything?” I asked.
“No. I don’t see nothing,” Bonillia said.
“Incoming rocket!” someone yelled.
“Get down! Get down!” I told Bonilla.
We popped our heads back up and stared out into the darkness as more rockets came our way. A couple impacted directly behind us where Weapons Company was posted. I scanned the entire area with my night vision goggles on, but I couldn’t see anything. Machinegun bursts were coming from our right flank shooting tracers in the direction my gun was pointed. I kept looking through the night vision scope on our gun but still didn’t see anything. The team to our right unloaded about a thousand rounds into what appeared to be an empty field.
Eventually the shooting ended and the rockets subsided and I managed to get about an hour of sleep before being woken up to stand post again.
In the morning we were debriefed and told that two Iraqis had been killed and that the flares were ours all along and the blaring Arabic was coming from the loudspeakers mounted on one of our vehicles. If the speakers were being used to draw enemy fire than I guess it worked, but the psychological impact it had on me was probably not what our commanders were thinking of when they ordered the loudspeakers to be played.
On at least one occasion the psyops had an adverse effect on me. . .
We had taken over some fighting positions that a previous unit was holding before we got there. We were still moving up the main highway on our way toward Baghdad, about two or three weeks into the invasion, and the fog of war had started to take its toll on me.
The unit before us had shot a vehicle the previous night and it was just sitting in the middle of the road all burned up. As soon as we got to our new position my machinegun team moved to a berm and dug out a good hole where we camouflaged the gun. We were in a pretty good fighting hole, but we weren’t being very aggressive. People were walking past us all day checking out our positions. I wanted to go out in front of the berm to question them but I was also scared of land mines.
When night fell I stayed up trying to be as attentive as possible. I was on post staring through the night vision when it was about time to wake up my ammo man, Bonillia. I noticed that there were lights beaming at me from all directions. I thought there were vehicles all around us.
“Wake up,” I told Bonilla.
He did quickly and I briefed him on the situation. I wasn’t sure what the lights were or who they belonged to, but, despite my apprehension, I still wanted to lie down to get some rest. As soon as I bunkered down for the night bright flashes of light burst in the air.
“Get down!” I said, “Don’t let them see you.”
I thought we were surrounded and under attack. More flares went off and then I heard Arabic blaring out from somewhere behind me. I thought the fedayeen were screaming at us and were about to assault us from all sides.
“Stay low,” I told Bonillia, and then attempted to wake my team leader. He continued to sleep however so we made do without him.
“Do you see anything?” I asked.
“No. I don’t see nothing,” Bonillia said.
“Incoming rocket!” someone yelled.
“Get down! Get down!” I told Bonilla.
We popped our heads back up and stared out into the darkness as more rockets came our way. A couple impacted directly behind us where Weapons Company was posted. I scanned the entire area with my night vision goggles on, but I couldn’t see anything. Machinegun bursts were coming from our right flank shooting tracers in the direction my gun was pointed. I kept looking through the night vision scope on our gun but still didn’t see anything. The team to our right unloaded about a thousand rounds into what appeared to be an empty field.
Eventually the shooting ended and the rockets subsided and I managed to get about an hour of sleep before being woken up to stand post again.
In the morning we were debriefed and told that two Iraqis had been killed and that the flares were ours all along and the blaring Arabic was coming from the loudspeakers mounted on one of our vehicles. If the speakers were being used to draw enemy fire than I guess it worked, but the psychological impact it had on me was probably not what our commanders were thinking of when they ordered the loudspeakers to be played.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment