Making COIN operations better

[Metal 0-1]

I was noticing casualties during previous days. Army suffered some damage but operations were successful. More sacrifices are going to be made till we completely weed out terrorism. But we can reduce the casualties, moreover we can make COIN more effective.
Infantry is rough and tough no doubt but it is need to train better and equip them better.

We can do different things to make it better.

Fire Support on station:
This includes fire support form every means.

CAS( Close Air Support); TACPs and CCTs belonging to PAF SSW which are embedded with SOF or Infantry can call in air support when when things go wrong. Army Aviation and Air Force birds must remain on station.
Artillery or Mortars; Again TACP/CCT come into play they also can direct fire support from Ground Elements.
OR From Overwatch; SF guys in Area or Snipers from any unit in AO can play its role.

Medical Support:
Medevac on station really helps in reducing casualties. Combat Medics are must for SOF Community and Regular Troops or LCBs. JTACs do not only direct fire support they also are handy in calling medevac. PJs of PAF SSW must remain on station to pull out wounded in heavy fire. PJs can also remain or embedded with Teams to provide medical help on spot.


Training:
Yes Pakistani army has changed and evolved its training regime with time. We must focus on training them in reacting under stressed conditions, reaction to ambush, more CQB. NCTC Pabbi is doing a great job we just need to improve standards. FC Balochistan have suffered more casualties as a result of ambushes than head to head fight. I am not very good at putting forward my arguments but Seniors do understand.
Need to add more training courses in our training regime.

1. Combat Medic

Like other courses a person from every branch can join this course. Military should encourage personnel to join Medic courses. This include many terms but on thing which is more important is TCCC( Tactical Combat Casualty Care). TCCC important components are:

• Care Under Fire (CUF)
• Tactical Field Care (TFC)
• Tactical Evacuation Care (TACEVAC)

Combat medic or not everyone should learn basics of TCCC. If its not possible in such short notice embed some PAF SSW PJ (Para-rescuemen) with SF, Infantry, LCB or keep them on station.

2. JTAC
Joint Terminal Attack Controller its another course where you learn to make contact to rotary or fixed wing aircraft and call in airstrikes. Like US military all sister branches personnel can go through JTAC course whether he is Air Force TACP/CCT or not.
Yes its not feasible to join many persons for this purpose don't have such resources. Limit it to LCB and to SF community or we can do which makes sense a lot embed PAF SSW TACP/CCT with Infantry, SF, LCB which can call in air support.

3. Marksmans
Our Infantry, SF or any other Unit roles with SMGs or M-4s whatever some of them are equipped with Aimpoints or EO-Techs which are used for fighting in closed ranges. None of them are equipped with long range optics like ACOG which is helpful in long distance firefight. One or two marksman equipped with DMR must be present in every Team and one or two ACOGs wont hurt.

Equipment:

These type of fancy dreams are only possible with right equipment.

Mediacal IFAK

1x SOFTT-W Tourniquet - Rescue Orange
1x Naso Airway w/ Lube, 28 Fr
1x Hyfin Vent COMPACT Chest Seal, Twin Pack
1x NAR Compressed Gauze
2x TritonGrip SE Nitrile Gloves XL - 1 Rolled Pair
1x Israeli Emergency Bandage, 4"
1x RE Mini Sharpie Marker
1x Combat Medic Reinforcement Tape, 2" x 100"
1x RE Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) Card
1x Survival Rescue Blanket-Compact
1x QuikClot Combat Gauze, Z-Folded, 3" x 4yds
1x Rescue Essentials 600D Compact IFAK Rip-Away Pouch - BLACK

DMRs:
We are producing DMRs now its tome to equip men on the ground the them. That'll be helpful.

NOTE: I am just not experienced in writing so, I will appreciate if you point out mistakes. If you taunt it will doesn't matter either.
Again not very experienced. Just my ideas from my Brilliant mind.

 

[V. Makarov]

For the past 6 months, I am looking at high casualty rates of our armed forces in COIN operations. On average I see operations with 10 deaths of insurgents and then there is one officer and 3 Jawans of Pak army martyred.

I think most of such news I see on television are ambush attacks (or IEDs) and not COIN operations. Such a high fatality rate of a trained army during COIN operations is very alarming and obviously points towards a possibility that there are no COIN operations, but only unilateral attacks from Afghan infiltrators and RAW funded Balochi insurgency.

In order to weed out the remaining insurgents , we are looking at another operation, which is not carried out by sitting in cobra helicopters and shooting rockets at random hills, but a combing operation with boots on ground coupled with strict border control with Iran and Afghanistan.

 

[babrum]

suppose op is in dera ismail khan densly populated neighborhood sniper cant be placed just for some reason such as no vantage point we got 10 insurgents in a house air strike is not possible because of risk of collateral damage what do you do? you dont send infantry in every situation my humble opinion is use special forces for such ops like hayat abad dont you agree? because they know cqb and have right equipment like stun grenade and good protection problem is you cant fly in SF team in matter of minutes you can loose element of surprise .For that lcb is there but they need better equipment.Other than that we need timely and actionable intel like most of soldiers and commanders dont know what they walk in.

 

[Cuirassier]

A major problem is the emphasis on local units to conduct IBOs. Regulars move in to cordon off the compound or hideout but in process give away element of surprise. Hence the militants are prepared and inflict casualties to the barging troops.

The threat level faced by the insurgents here should also be kept in mind. Balochistan and KP have a terrain that suits militants in setting up ambushes and brisking away with little risks, as the military cannot expend resources for a full-fledged high-tempo operation - requires accurate intel, resources and possibility of achieving end-goal.

The insurgents in Balochistan fully exploit this factor. They are no ragtags; they use LMGs, RPGs and sniper rifles too. And dur to reasons unknown, many ops against them are not disclosed by the Mil PR.

The COIN war will continue to be like this - encounters based on dubious MI reports with relatively high casualties, meticulously planned ambushes using home terrain and local support in the barren sh*thole that is BLN and NWA, and cross-border attacks at fencing patrols and posts.

You can only get rid of this by switching gears - going on the offensive. We all know the militants have sanctuaries in Afghanistan; but the civ-mil apparatus has other priorities for now (such as saving the economy).

 

[babrum]

local support in the barren sh*thole that is BLN and NWA

Comeon dont call it that it is part of our country maybe things willl improve there

 

[I S I]

So we're not going to talk about MRAPS? They are the only way to reduce casualties as most of the attacks from coward terrorists come in the shape of IEDs or road side planted bombs.

 

[babrum]

So we're not going to talk about MRAPS? They are the only way to reduce casualties as most of the attacks from coward terrorists came in the shape of IEDs or road side planted bombs.

how many pakistan army operate?

 

[I S I]

how many pakistan army operate?

Not many in forward areas & the ones we have are tin boxes. Not qualified to be even called MRAPS. Though we got some hundred Turkish otokar MRAPS they are good while we may have some hundred US Military's retired MRAPS. Don't know what happened to this deal.
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/pak-to-get-40-mrap-vehicles.478633/

Either way, we have far less than required. We should have like atleast 10k MRAP vehicles. Nothing is as expensive as a soldiers life.

 

[Cuirassier]

Comeon dont call it that it is part of our country maybe things willl improve there

History of warfare mate - can't change it'd fate much.

 

[Cuirassier]

So we're not going to talk about MRAPS? They are the only way to reduce casualties as most of the attacks from coward terrorists come in the shape of IEDs or road side planted bombs.

Saw a recent Baloch insurgent ambush video on an armoured car of the FC - pretty much survived as they fired RPG rounds inaccurately.

 

[I S I]

Saw a recent Baloch insurgent ambush video on an armoured car of the FC - pretty much survived as they fired RPG rounds inaccurately.

Video?

 

[Cuirassier]

Video?

YT - random search.

 

[Metal 0-1]

suppose op is in dera ismail khan densly populated neighborhood sniper cant be placed just for some reason such as no vantage point we got 10 insurgents in a house air strike is not possible because of risk of collateral damage what do you do? you dont send infantry in every situation my humble opinion is use special forces for such ops like hayat abad dont you agree? because they know cqb and have right equipment like stun grenade and good protection problem is you cant fly in SF team in matter of minutes you can loose element of surprise .For that lcb is there but they need better equipment.Other than that we need timely and actionable intel like most of soldiers and commanders dont know what they walk in.

I didn't really said use massive amount of blasting force in every Operations. Some Operations use Scalpel approach which is a SF thing. I agree with you. My Combat medic point still applies.

how many pakistan army operate?

More than 150 solid

 

[Old School]

COIN has to remain covert as much as possible. This is specifically true when the theater is within the territorial boundary. General population must not see infantry men in uniforms as that precisely the enemy forces want.

 

[Ahmet Pasha]

Posted a couple of threads about new combat roles you are talking about and Nato squad structure/roles. The old zehniat afsars here on PDF shrugged it off.

The typical reply PA kniws everything better than you OR they don't have need/resources.