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Taliban Ambush US Soldiers In Complex Terrain
Published 4 years ago
Helmet cam combat footage from Afghanistan shows Taliban forces attempting to trick US soldiers into a crossfire. They take a few potshots from in between two maneuver elements and hope the soldiers will do the rest for them.
Luckily, the NCO cameraman had good situational awareness and knew that returning fire would risk fratricide against their nearby sister element, so he refused to let his troops fire.
Standard procedure during an ambush is to immediately return fire in an attempt to gain fire superiority. Instances like this is where initiative and discretion of smart combat leaders comes into play.
Had they opened up on the enemy with friendlies on the other side, the outcome could have been disastrous. They are equally lucky to not have had an indigenous fighting unit with them, who would have immediately executed a "death blossom" of ammunition and RPG expenditure in all directions.