Combat occurring in the civilian theatre requires snipers. Discrimination of targets can't be automated in a civilian theatre. This is where the military is most vulnerable when we pull back our superior weaponry and enter the civil policing business.

One has to stop thinking like a military man and approach it from a policing POV.

Here's the formula:

Multiple vehicles in a patrol convoy
At least one armored vehicle.
A team of snipers networked throughout the city - changing locations regularly.
Sufficient firepower to take out multiple attackers.
Increased intelligence on the ground.

Re: survivability

Your post is really about survivability. Many of those who attack a convoy know they are dead meat. They are suicidal and fanatical. We have enough firepower to obliterate attackers, but in the civil theatre we keep losing our men at a ratio no one likes because we use kid gloves. There are a few things in the works to increase the survivability ratio. These are the most promising:

EHPA
ARO

Personnel in civilian theatres are employing SWAT methods but, because of the greater firepower they encounter, require better armor. EHPA and similar ideas have been floated numerous times and should've been funded a decade ago. Personnel in Hummers wearing advanced armor are better protected against ambush, sniper and automatic weapons fire - which is another high source of US casualties in the civilian theatre of operations.

They have good stuff now - but it needs to be better if one wants to reduce the ratio. It's all a dollars/lives ratio. Increase significantly our already high dollar to soldier ratio and you increase survivability. How much are we willing to cough up?

Take the survivability concept one step further and you have the next logical evolution and the next significant step up in dollars spent:

UCGS - Unmanned Combat Ground Systems

Unfortunately most of the work on these projects is classified and unable to be discussed. However, the idea of a human controlled "Terminator" is obviously attractive to those who want to increase survivability. The dangers of complete automation are probably not lost on those who are working on such programs. No "rise of the machines" will be forthcoming so long as the basic concept is rooted in the bomb squads' remote detonation bots.

The survivability issue is important but, think about it Davin, we have subdued and taken control of a nation the size of California and have received under 500 US casualties. That's unprecedented in human history.

That's not just amazing - it's a marvelous testimony to the DOD, the battle plan and the well equipped and well trained fighting men and women of the US armed forces. Indeed most of those 500 have been from ambush attacks in civilian theatres. Training an Iraqi police force and military has been a top priority - but does it hurt any less if the deaths are Iraqis fighting for their freedom?

Let's hope that the capture of Saddam shifts the tide. The 78 captured insurgents is a dang fine start. Time will tell.

SDAI-Tech1