The First Anti-Tank Pistol

[Aesop]

Lest We Forget


Linky

The NYTimes, true to form, got one little detail wrong.
The officer in question was quite specific and matter of fact (as was the Israeli officer) that what he told the Israeli LtCol was
"Turn your tanks around, or I'll blow your fucking head off."
Which pistol was, in fact, locked, cocked, and pointed at his head at the time.

Proving yet again that you get farther with a kind word and a gun, than you do with a kind word alone.

[Darrell]

When Captain Johnson repeated his orders, the Israeli said he would pass through anyway and mounted his tank. ''At this point,'' the Pentagon statement said, ''the company commander drew and loaded his weapon and stated that the tanks would have to go over him to pass.''

Really? He was carrying unloaded? I like to think I understand ROE, but damn, that's crazy.

[Greg]

When Captain Johnson repeated his orders, the Israeli said he would pass through anyway and mounted his tank. ''At this point,'' the Pentagon statement said, ''the company commander drew and loaded his weapon and stated that the tanks would have to go over him to pass.''

Really? He was carrying unloaded? I like to think I understand ROE, but damn, that's crazy.

It was 1983, Marines in Lebanon. What's amazing is he had ammo at all.

[skb12172]

Pretty cocky, weren't they? Considering that without us they don't even have a fucking military.

[Windy Wilson]

It was 1983, Marines in Lebanon. What's amazing is he had ammo at all.

I recall Colonel Cooper writing once about how when he was in Africa on some counter-insurgency operation he wasn't supposed to have live ammo and loaded mags, but he viewed that rule as superseded by survival, so he always had a full mag in his pocket.