Afghanistan

[BenfromBrooklyn]

Taliban with Abrams wouldn't be so bad.
Sure they'd run rampant. For a while, maybe, until Afghan dust got into everything.

The old Russian stuff may be third rate in combat but one reason it is still in third world countries is that they can keep it running.

[Splod]

The old Russian stuff may be third rate in combat but one reason it is still in third world countries is that they can keep it running.

I suppose there's a reason the same kit has been in use across Africa and the Middle East for the past 60 years

[MechCommander]

It looks like history repeated itself for the US military, first Vietnam, now Afghanistan.

[panzergator]

Stop talking. It's too early.

[panzergator]

Deleted

[7.62]

I'm 71. I've seen this before. It's very sad.

Panzer,
Eat healthy, bit of exercise and keep the grey matter going........
and I am sorry to say you will see it again.

All I will say on this sad state of affairs is that the specter of an all out urban conflict that would have destroyed Kabul (again) has been avoided, for now.
I do not think many people fully realize just how bad, how quick this could have gone and it is not over yet.
I am not naive in what peace in Afghanistan may look like but it is needed. Who's peace will it be, of what kind and at what cost?
The damage and tragic loss of treasure in many Countries will continues unless the correct peace is won.
The decisions taken in the next two weeks may well affect the next twenty years. Lets hope the people making those decisions are thinking that far ahead.

If you have eight minutes this former soldier can say it better than I.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chhy1Tdne_Q

[STS]

What amazes me is that 46 years after Saigon fell, the NVPA is still using some of the stuff the ARVN surrendered.
Charlie is still driving some of the ACAVs, actually flying a few of the Hueys and is still shooting some of the old 105 and 155 towed guns we left there . Many of the jeeps and deuce and a half’s the ARVN had are still running to this day .

So is the US. A few plane spotters found out, that one of the CH-46 Sea Knights the State Department used to evacute embassy staff in Kabul a few days ago, took part in Operation Frequent Wind in 1975, flying from USS Hancock.

She needs to go to the Smithsonian for retirement.

Unfortunately, it seems like it's luck ran out, though.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4 ... fghanistan

[Roger H]

Since the Taliban now have full control of the Blackhawks we left there and hold a larger inventory of them that the Australian Army Air Corps , I guess we won’t be seeing any of them trying to land on our carriers in the IO or the Arabian Sea .
Too bad we couldn’t see a Super Tucano try to catch a 3 wire on a carrier deck like the South Vietnamese did with a Bird Dog on the Midway in the 1975 . I do hope and pray most of the Afghani pilots made it to Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan and are safe .

[MechCommander]

I would honestly not be surprised if some Afghan pilots defected to the Taliban.

[nash88]

US trained Afghan pilots would be a welcome addition to a lot of other air forces around the world.
Maybe that's join the Northern Alliance but I wouldn't think so.

[Roger H]

A majority of the Afghan “Super Taco” pilots trained at Moody AFB in South Georgia (near Valdosta) . Seems a bit strange to train them near the Okefenokee versus somewhere like Kirtland or the training bases in Arizona . That’s why they trained the South Vietnamese helicopter pilots here in Georgia . They were used to the terrain .

[Roger H]

On the bright side there’s one thing we could have left over there with the Taliban that would be considered the most dangerous and destructive weapon in the army inventory
……….a second Lieutenant with a map .