Marines have arrived in Syria to fire artillery in the fight for Raqqa


Marines from an amphibious task force have left their ships in the Middle East and deployed to Syria, establishing an outpost from which they can fire artillery in support of the fight to oust the Islamic State from the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, defense officials said.

The deployment marks a new escalation in the U.S. war in Syria, and puts more conventional U.S. troops in the battle. Several hundred Special Operations troops have advised local forces there for months, but the Pentagon has mostly shied away from using conventional forces in Syria. The new mission comes as the Trump administration weighs a plan to help Syrian rebels take back Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State. The plan also includes more Special Operations troops and attack helicopters.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/chec...m=.e0d8881835e2

Prayers that all our boys come home safe

Prayers for them all ...

Yes God bless them all.

This is the capitol of the Islamic State.(ISIS)

Resistance will be tough.

Part of an article on how al-Assad feels;

(CNN) -- Syria's President Bashar al-Assad scoffed and questioned US actions in Syria, calling American troops deploying to the country "invaders" because he hadn't given permission for them to enter the country and saying there's been no "concrete action" from the Trump administration toward ISIS.

"Any foreign troops coming to Syria without our invitation or consultation or permission, they are invaders, whether they are American, Turkish, or any other one," Assad said.

"And we don't think this is going to help. What are they going to do? To fight ISIS? The Americans lost nearly every war. They lost in Iraq, they had to withdraw at the end. Even in Somalia, let alone Vietnam in the past and Afghanistan, your neighboring country. They didn't succeed anywhere they sent troops, they only create a mess; they are very good in creating problems and destroying, but they are very bad in finding solutions."


The Syrian leader made the comments in an interview with Chinese media outlet Phoenix TV. It was published on Syria's state-news agency SANA on Saturday.


US Marines have arrived in northern Syria with artillery to support US-backed local forces fighting there, US officials said. The US-backed fighters are preparing to move in the coming weeks to assault the city of Raqqa, ISIS' self-declared capital, according to the officials.


The Pentagon and the Marine Corps have declined to confirm the deployment because of security concerns in the region. They have also declined to specify the exact location of the forces or how many are there.

The US has also deployed approximately 100 Army Rangers in and around Manbij, Syria.

US officials have taken the unusual step of publicly talking about the Ranger deployment and where they are located to protect against them inadvertently coming under fire from forces fighting in the region or Turkish, Russian or Syrian forces.

The US troops in Manbij are trying to deter hostilities due to their visible presence, rather than the typical mission of training, advising and assisting local forces.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/11/middleeast/syria-conflict-isis-us-military/index.html

Hope them guys go out there and dominate

Of this I have no doubt.

Assad may find we end up shooting the "ad" off of his name.

What a weird situation.

You need a scorecard.

Let's see, four players:

The Syrian Government
Syrian Rebels
ISIS
The U.S.


Deal the cards.



from left seated: ISIS, U.S., Rebels, Assad

Yes but you missed a few...

Turkey
Russia
Kurds
Sunnis

I was listening to a retired General and he feels we need to align ourselves with the Syrian Rebels, Sunnis and Turkey while ignoring
the Kurds, Russians and Syrian Army.

Then, once victorious the US and Turks need to pull out and go home,
leaving the Rebels and Sunnis in control.

Why would we ignore the Kurds, one of our biggest supporters in the region?

We love them Kurds! They fight ISIS like no one else!

BUT

Turkey hates the Kurds, the Kurds hate Turkey, so we would end up bringing the Kurds in while Turkey is bombing their ass.

Not good. Kurds gotta sit this one out.

Our, your boy could dialogue with turkey and tell erdogan to put a pause to his shenanigans until after ISIS is defeated.

Oh, forgot to mention...

The citizens of Raqqa hate the Kurds. Don't want them anywhere near the city.

And... We can't work with the Russians on this because they are working hand in hand with Iran, who everyone hates!

Interested to see how my boy pulls this one off. Very complicated.

It's complicated for sure. But one thing Trump needs to make sure he doesn't do is alienate the few allies we have in that region. We are gonna need their help. This is a battle of hearts and minds, not who has the biggest bombs.

I agree and this is why we are working closely with Turkey, I hope anyway. We will see how it all develops.

Honestly bro I don't think Erdogan is all that concerned with ISIS, even after these recent ISIS claimed attacks in that country. Dude seems more interested in gaining power, and that's sad.

I agree with that 100 percent.

I think Erdogan cares about Erdogan first, Turkey second.

As much confidence as I have in my fellow Marines and artillery men (that was my MOS) to get the job done, I wonder how wise it is to be going in there with so many different people you're trying to keep happy.

Yea bro there's so many different agendas going on in Syria, it's ridiculous.

Don't ya wish the world had leaders that were genuinely interested in serving their populations?

Oh to bring George Washington back from the dead...

That is the way of the Middle East and if we want to destroy ISIS we are gonna have to make these things work, diplomatically. Our exit will be just as important as our entry.

We all know what happens if you leave a void and go home.

Not to be TOO much of a patriotic homer, but I just don't understand why other countries don't look at our system of government (it's only been in place for 200+ years) and want to try to emulate that.

My Opinion, we are very very blessed and lucky that it worked for us through it all. Not easy for others to emulate and be successful.

I hope they all come home safe and sound.

So sick of sending our boys over there. Personally I would drag a tarp over the entire middle east and fumigate it like a cockroach infestation. There will NEVER be peace in that region. NEVER.

people around the world don't view our system as the best. a lot of people in their country think their system is the best. it is what it is.

now, you won't get any argument out of me with regards to comparing our system to most nations in the middle east. as far as i'm concerned that's not even up for debate.

but the system has to be tailor made for the people in that country/region. unfortunately, for them to model their system after ours, that means pulling religion out of it.

for example, Turkey has a secular government. but that doesn't stop asshats like Erdogan from trying to change the constitution in an attempt to gain more power, and have more religious influence in the area.

it gets sloppy really quick.

If they would only do it MY WAY everything would be just fine!

That's how Trump thinks too! But he is POTUS...

Yeah, but I was talkin' about me...

I have never served in the military so I wont claim any kind of great understanding of military strategy.

But, with all of our tech, why do we need to put soldiers in danger? Why cant we just blast them from a distance?

Thats what the Arty is for . Less expensive than drone strikes I would imagine plus the benefit of having boots on the ground shows we have a little more skin in the game . Shows commitment to both friend and foe . Imo there are a ton of things that can go wrong which would lead to an escalation and with some other big hitters involved ( Russia) this could go to hell in a hurry .

Troops on the ground can be looking over a target when they call in artillery. Limits civilian casualties. Missiles can't hold ground once it is taken, boots do that.

You mean unforeseen things like this?...

Turkey’s president stood firm behind his blistering comments that accused the Dutch government of “Nazism and fascism” and vowed on Sunday the Netherlands would “pay the price” for barring Turkish ministers from the country, a move that has dramatically swelled tensions between the NATO allies.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/03/12/netherlands-ban-turkish-ministers-as-dispute-escalates.html

I served in an artillery battery back in the 80's on an M198, we were so fast on a rapid fire mission we'd have the third round out the tube before the first one hit when doing a multiple round fire mission, that we were close enough to see the target.

And everything was done manually.

Put the round in the tube, take the ram rod and ram it into place, place the powder charge in the breech, close it, place the igniter thing (I forget what that was called) in the place where it goes, attach the laniard, pull the chord.

Repeat 2X.

Semper Fi.

We may have a job for you.

I read your post like 5 times trying to figure out eho who Arty is

But 1 dead American soldier is 500X more expensive than any drone or missile on earth

My best friends Dad was in Artillery during the Korean War, he told the story of when the Chinese attacked.

Blowing horns and screaming they came in waves.

He said his battery had their barrels level and they fired as fast as they could, directly into the advancing Chinese. He said the shrapnel returning from their own shells exploding so close had flattened the tires on their cannons and the only thing that saved their lives were those metal flanges sticking our of the side of the cannons.
Brutal.

Damn...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSRlQPD6Xiw

Growing up our neighbor was a retired army infantryman and he used to tell us if all the places he had been , made it sound like all he did was sightsee for all those years. After I enlisted and came home on leave for the first time we all sat on his porch and drank some beer . Only then did he share some of the stories he had put in in his years of " sightseeing "

He was wounded the first time in North Africa when the tank he was hitching a ride on ran over a tank mine . He was evacuated to England to a hospital for some time . He then got assigned the 101st where in time he got caught up in Battle of the Bulge . After that he saw the aftermath of some of minor the work camps run by the Nazis .

He finished off his story by mentioning Korea where he was also wounded by getting his ass shot off .Lol or at least a chunk of it when he was retreating with his unit in the face of countless Chinese regulars . He said he was on a crew served anti aircraft gun that they modified to shoot down a hill into a valley that was alive with enemy soldiers. He said you could watch the bodies falling in lines as each bullet passed through several people . In spite of that still they came .

The picture he painted that night scared the hell out of me because I wondered if I would have what it took when/ if the time came . Always amazed me that he was such a nice old man in spite of all the horror he saw and took part in .

Amazing the hardships these men suffered but somehow they managed to return to normal life.

I worked with a older guy when I was 18 who served on an LST during WWII. (Landing Ship, Tank) You may have seen one, it is the ship where the entire front opens up to load and unload tanks.

He talked of how the Germans had these giant torpedoes, big as a sub, that they could only launch from shore do to their size. The Germans would launch these things without a target, just knowing it would travel across the English Channel until it hit something. They had enough explosive power to wipe out an entire port.

One evening he was out on the rail of his ship when he saw something monstrous coming directly at him from the sea! With no time to yell out, it hit his ship right below his feet. He said he closed his eyes and cringed because it was time to die.

There was this terrible ripping of steel sound as the Torpedo tore into his ship and just kept on coming! It stopped, well embedded into the ship but it did not explode! Alarms were ringing and men were scrambling as he finally opened his eyes.

They sailed back to England with that beast in their side, never knowing when it would go off! He said it was like trying to sail an "L" through the water, very difficult and the longest trip of his life!

They would not let them come to port in England because of its destructive power so they had to abandon ship and go ashore in lifeboats.

No one would volunteer to sail out to get them!

My grandfather on my Dad's side fought in North Africa and a few other places too, the only reason we knew was because he said, 'I was there'. No stories or anything else ever said.

Lost some fingers over there, but would still beat you at a game of pool in his 80's.