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MANPADs were not delivered until 1986: by that time my dad already completed two 18-month rotations to Herat. Anyway MANPAD handling skills are irrelevant to w
by varjag 6y ago
MANPADs were not delivered until 1986: by that time my dad already completed two 18-month rotations to Herat.
Anyway MANPAD handling skills are irrelevant to what we discuss here.
- 082349872349872 6y agoNot so irrelevant, because at USD 40k per, they were a bit more than teaching jumping jacks. I mentioned them specifically because they seem to have been the least-deniable part of the package. The author of the lines «Горы стреляют, Стингер взлетает / Если нарваться, то парни второй раз умрут» also seems to have accorded them more respect than you do... I've heard the Chechens were able to manufacture their own small arms. Afghanis certainly had that capability; did they have it at the scale provided? Would they have been able to source their own MANPADs?
- varjag 6y agoVastly more Soviet troops were killed by Communist Chinese AK clones than by Stingers. But of course the impact on morale and logistics was profound. This is however not what we discuss here. How much US attrition was due to Islamic fundamentalist MANPAD use, during the whole War of Terror? See, it's irrelevant.