Page 78 - Combat Operations News Today

Honor to captain florent a. groberg. for task force mountain warrior, fourth infan try by decade combat team during combat operations against an armed enin afghanistan on august 8, 2012. on that day, captain groberg was with two brigade commanders, two command sergeants major and an afghanistan national army brigade commander. captain groberg observed an individual walking close to the formation. while the individual made an abrupt turn, he noticed an abnormal bulge underneath the individuals cl...

Thats what he said poll clearly, there are boots on the grond. there always were. this goes back to the original iraq war when combat operations, as they said, were stopped, but there were still thousands of troops there for an entire year under a whole new mission name and they changed the entire brigades from combat action brigades to advise and assist brigades. so this kind of -- these monikers, these names have always been troublesome. finally were getting to a place we might see the white h...

There. so were serious with our commitment. and so its an effort to broaden the coalition which is 65 countries. we want the saudis and others to help with the combat operations more than they have. so i think its the right move. i personally think that eventually were going to need a no-fly zone but i think the administration right now is hesitant on that because of the potential of the russian confligeration with them. but i think weve got to recognize this is a rapidly evolving tactical chang...

Forces would actually be based in syria. they will probably be based outside that area and brought in for specific operations alongside the kurds. there maybe an adviser here and adviser there, but in terms of those combat operations, those would be on a per call basis. >> and richard engel, lets talk about the -- and you mentioned this in our chat just a few minutes ago, about how this could be perceived among american allies in iraq and in other countries in the middle east that are having to ...

Which is why this is, i think, as little as youre going to see from the administration. as little. at the same time, there are thousands of air strikes. theres a lot of combat going on. the spokesman in baghdad, the secretary himself, have all acknowledged this is combat. what these guys are doing is combat. you can say its combat operations. thats all beside the point now. i think going forward, now we know a little bit more clearly, this is what the war in afghanistan looks like, across the mi...

Away from them. we have three layers of potential combat operations inside syria that we did not have when they were moving in and out. the placement of them in syria for any length of time implies these other levels of protection which are all combat, correct? >> again, i think what you primarily described are air combat operations that these are military pilots taking military strikes against enemy targets. they have been under way for more than a year. so im not sure that this represents a dr...

Syria, they will be confined at least temporarily in the quasi headquarters of the friendlies, whether theyre syrian arabs or the kurdish forces to train, advise and assist. and at some point, and the official did not rule out the possibility that some point in the future these forces could actually embed on combat operations and begin very slowly as they work to, again, gauge whens possible with these forces and what the americans can do to assist them. now, there was one section in this briefi...

Their back and if they are in some ways either encircled or in jeopardy, they will have military extraction operations to support them if they get into a dicey situation, also correct? >> theres no denying the significant risk that they are facing. is that risk elevated because they wear the uniform of the united states of america? i would allow that thats probably the case. but what those contingency plans are, check with the department of defense. >> reporter: just for the record, im trying to...

Of honor. jack, as i hear this phrase advise and assist and i dont mean to be flip, i do recall you were at one point a u.s. military advisor for south vietnamese army forces and how did that work out? >> it worked out just like we expect this to work out. you had people on the advisory business who were supposed to be training people, indigenous forces to conduct combat operations and in order to do that, you go on combat missions with them. you help them plan to be sure. youre there to assist ...

>> yes. the simple answer is, yes. theres no other way around it. >> so whats the big deal? >> well, i agree with you, neil. i think were worrying too much about parsing on words. what we said all along, and my prior capacity speaking for the pentagon, obviously american troops, some, were involved in combat operations in iraq and syria, when you are dropping bombs on an enemy, thats an act of combat. what we have always said and remains true today is that theres no mission of combat operations ...