A Marine’s Afghan AAR (XI): On being ‘pinned down’
Here CWO2/Gunner Keith Marine says that being trapped by enemy fire is just something you think. "Pinned down." I have heard this term a few times out here. Being pinned down is a state of mind, nothing is holding you there. Get your base of fire going, firing only at targets and at the sustained ...
Here CWO2/Gunner Keith Marine says that being trapped by enemy fire is just something you think.
Here CWO2/Gunner Keith Marine says that being trapped by enemy fire is just something you think.
"Pinned down." I have heard this term a few times out here. Being pinned down is a state of mind, nothing is holding you there. Get your base of fire going, firing only at targets and at the sustained rate. Use the marksmanship fundamentals and you will rapidly reduce their numbers. Then assault. In areas we have done this, we killed them and they didn’t come back to play. They go and play in other folks’ areas [where they] . . . sit and wait for supporting arms.
I take his point, but also of course there are situations where there is an enemy machine gun staring at you and enemy mortars ready to plop on you. I guess he’d say that is all the more reason to get moving.
Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1
More from Foreign Policy

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak
Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage
The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine
The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

The Masterminds
Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.