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LIVING SUPPORT AREA 5, KUWAIT
Hand-to-hand combat possible
By Scott Bernard Nelson, Globe Staff, 3/20/2003
''This is when it gets personal,'' Staff Sergeant Charles Wilson told a group of Marines recently while training them in the finer points of hand-to-hand combat. ''You have to have the confidence to stick a bayonet in an Iraqi.'' Although allied troops are expected to overwhelm the Iraqi Army, military strategists say small units of Iraqi commandos could hide and then attack easier targets left behind. Anti-American terrorists or enemy soldiers could blend in with the expected influx of Iraqi citizens who surrender to US forces in an attempt to get food or medical help. And there is no way to know how Iraqi citizens will react to coalition forces invading their neighborhoods. The Marines aren't taking any chances. While mechanics and technicians were putting the finishing touches on weapons and equipment, the ''grunts,'' as they call themselves, went back to basics.
Chief Warrant Officer Chuck Schuster, overseeing a training exercise that included knife fighting and hand-to-hand grappling techniques, reminded his mostly 19- to 21-year-old charges not to look in the eyes of someone they're about to kill. ''There are only about 1 percent of the people in the world who can stick a knife in somebody or pull the trigger without feeling remorse,'' he yelled.
ince the end of the Vietnam War, the Pentagon has tried as much as possible to fight wars at a distance. With US Marines set to roll into Iraq, they are prepared to battle an enemy who might turn out to be close at hand.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
