combatreform.org/johnpaulvann.htm combatreform.org/m113combat.htm

1. Light Mechanized COunterINsurgency:
Dutch Royal Marines in M113 Gavins
Save
the
Day
in
Afghanistan

2. Insurgency Rising in Afghanistan
“Thousands of fresh Western troops
have flowed into Afghanistan since last
year, seeking to counter the resurgent
Taliban before an expected spring
offensive. Many American units have
been conducting sweeps and raids.”
“Dutch Soldiers Stress Restraint in
Afghanistan” C.J. Chivers, New York Times,
April 6, 2007
www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/world/asia/06afghan.html?pagewanted=1&fta=y

3. Dutch Royal Marine Commander Colonel Hans van Griensven

4. Counter-Insurgency 101:
Right Strategy & Operational
Art Chivers on Colonel Hans van Griensven:
“He added that he could deploy
his units on sweeps, searches
and raids, and chase the Taliban
away. But each time after his
infantry left an area, he said, the
Taliban would simply move back
in.”

6. “The Dutch-led force of about 2,000 Soldiers
has adopted what counter-insurgency
theorists call the ‘oil spot’ approach... if
foreign military forces show restraint and
respect, and help the local government to
govern, then these areas will expand, slowly
but persistently, like an oil stain across a
shirt. As they grow, the theory says, the
Taliban’s standing will decline...construction
projects and consistent political and social
support will lure the population from the
Taliban, allowing the central and provincial
governments to expand their authority over
the long term.”

8. “Dutch commanders say they also draw
from their army’s experiences in southern
Iraq from 2003 through 2005, where
similar tactics were used. They say their
units had better relations with Iraqis, and
faced less fighting, than did American
units. Civilian deaths and property
damage caused by American tactics in
Iraq and Afghanistan, they said, have
hardened villagers’ attitudes, which helps
the insurgents with recruiting, intelligence
and protection.”

9. “Such counterinsurgency tactics are not
new; they are only back in vogue, with a
new generation of officers drawing
lessons from past military operations in
Indonesia, Malaysia, Borneo, Vietnam and
elsewhere. Similar tactics have reappeared
in American units in Iraq, as both the Army
and the marine corps have been rewriting
doctrine along the same lines.”
Colonel van Griensven: “The only thing we
believe is that using too much fighting is
counterproductive”

10. “The Dutch, aided by American Soldiers and
contractors who train Afghan police officers and
Soldiers, have helped Afghan units to coordinate
security and build police posts. Simultaneously,
they have sent teams of specialists and Australian
engineers to choose development projects and plan
them with village leaders. They have built or repaired
schools, mosques, police garrisons, courtrooms and
a hospital inside the more secure areas. A bridge
and a police training center are under construction
or in design. They also have opened a trade school
that teaches Afghan laborers basic job skills,
including carpentry and generator repair.”
Colonel van Griensven: “We’re here to make the
Taliban irrelevant.”

12. ounter-Insurgency 102: Right
quipment to Stay in Area and Light Tracke
rmored Vehicles to enable restraint
“But the Dutch have embraced the
theory more fully than most, to the
point that most Dutch units now take
extraordinary steps to avoid military
escalation and risks of damage to
property or harm to civilians.”
ENTER THEIR “BATTLEBOXes” and
M113 GAVINS!

13. Dutch Troops Live in Armored ISO
shipping container “BATTLEBOXes” on
FOBs in contested areas

16. M113 GAVINS: LIGHT TRACKED, GO-ANYWHERE
MOBILITY & SPACE INSIDE FOR MAXIMUM
AMMUNITION, FOOD, WATER UNDER ARMOR FOR
INDEPENDENT COIN COMBAT ACTIONS!

17. M113 GAVINS AIFV Left & Right Side
TC
25mm FIREPOWER 2 x Firing ports
7.62mm D
coax MMG
Dismount
Spaced Laminate Armor Leader Poz

18. “To encourage expansion of the government’s
influence, the Dutch infantry conducts patrols
around the secure zones, and reconstruction
teams try to identify future projects and allies who
can extend the ring of influence. ‘Inside the inner
ring, we try to do a lot of long-lasting development
projects,’ said Lt. Col. Gert-Jan Kooij, the task
force’s operations officer. ‘It’s not like it is 100
percent safe there. It never is. But it’s permissive
at least. And by showing that we have projects in
the permissive areas, we hope the people in other
areas will see that it gets better when they work
with their government.’”

19. An Ambush in the Taliban Heartland
C.J. Chivers, Photos by Tyler Hicks, New York Times, April 10, 2007
www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/world/asia/10afghan.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th
SURKH-MURGHAB, Afghanistan
“Captain Abdul Rakhman peered over a chest-high
mud wall as gunfire and shouts rose. Beside him
were two Afghan Army Soldiers and a Dutch marine.
A few yards away another Afghan Soldier knelt in the
dirt, reloading a rocket-propelled grenade. The patrol
was stuck, enveloped in a poppy field in a Taliban
ambush. Automatic rifle fire came toward them from
a tree line about 175 yards to the west and from a
row of mud-walled Afghan houses to the east and
north.”

21. “The patrol, an Afghan squad supported by a
Dutch mechanized infantry platoon, had set
out about an hour earlier from a small forward
base in Poentjak, in Uruzgan Province, an
isolated region of arid mountains and cultivated
valleys that is one of the areas where the
Taliban originated. ...the Afghan patrol planned
to walk to the edge of Surkh-Murghab, a pro-
Taliban village beside the base. Sergeant
Leendert hoped that Captain Abdul Rakhman,
an Afghan intelligence officer, could arrange a
meeting between the village’s elders and a
reconstruction specialist.”

22. Scene of the action

23. “The Afghans stopped their three pickup
trucks about 900 yards from the village and
began to walk, crossing fields and groves of
fruit and nut trees. A Dutch armored
vehicle crawled forward, shadowing several
Dutch engineers, who swept the road for
mines. A forward observer watched
from the base, prepared to provide mortar
fire.”

26. “The captain directed the patrol toward a
dirt road, hoping to walk on the village’s
edge and avoid a trap between buildings.
They were crossing open ground when
the Taliban attacked. The first shot was a
107-millimeter rocket, which flew
overhead and exploded on the opposite
side of the road. The captain and the
marine bounded to the wall. The ambush
began. Taliban fighters opened fire from
the west, north and northeast.”

29. “The patrol was exposed on three
sides, caught in a kill zone. But burst
after burst flew wide. Stray shots
buzzed past or thudded in the mud.
About 300 yards back, the Dutch
platoon commander, First Lt. Marcel,
directed fire from the vehicles’
machine guns and 25-millimeter
cannons. The patrol began to make
its escape.”

32. “Lieutenant Marcel gave the order to
withdraw. A Dutch Soldier near him fell,
struck near the neck. Medics began treating
him on the grass. The 81-millimeter mortar
section opened fire, trying to drop explosive
rounds into a compound with several Taliban
fighters. After finding the range, it began to
fire shot after shot into the same place, 18
rounds in all.

34. “With their heavier weapons, the Dutch had a
firepower advantage. They suppressed the
insurgents to the west. But the Taliban’s
fighters were local men; they knew the
ground. They moved through vegetation and
ditches along the eastern flank and opened
another angle of fire, giving themselves clear
shots across the only withdrawal route.
For a few minutes there was a lull in the
Taliban’s firing. But soon their shooting
intensified, forcing the Soldiers to run beside
armored vehicles, using the armor as rolling
shields.”

36. “The platoon made a wall of vehicles
around the downed Dutch Soldier,
Private First Class Rob, until medics
bandaged him and loaded him into an
armored ambulance.”

38. “A BlackHawk helicopter landed, took
on the wounded Dutch Soldier and lifted
away. The patrol was over. The Dutch
and Afghan Soldiers drove back to their
bunkers while smoke rose and drifted
over Surkh-Murghab.
Word of the wounded Dutch Soldier
passed among the troops. He had been
struck by the casing of a round fired
from a Dutch 25-millimeter cannon,
Lieutenant Marcel said. His wound was
not severe.”

42. “The captain still had questions he
wanted answered. Later, near
darkness, he slipped off base in
civilian clothes, to talk with
shepherds passing through the
fields. When he returned, he told his
squad more news: two of the
Taliban had been wounded, he said,
and four had been killed.”

43. Colonel van Griensven also said the task
force had developed underground contacts
in Taliban-controlled regions.
Since the task force began operations
last August, it has not suffered a combat
fatality.