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Chris Bell (British Army Officer)
Major General Christopher James Bell, is a former British Army officer. Bell served in both the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. Military career After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in geography Bell was commissioned into the Scots Guards, alongside Ben Wallace, later the UK Defence Secretary. Bell's military career began with active service tours and public service. His Northern Irish service led to his promotion to Platoon Commander, Company Second-in-Command, Adjutant and Officer Commanding. His public duties involved acting as an Ensign at Queen Elizabeth II's 1997 birthday parade. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003 where he took part in Operation Telic. Afghanistan At the age of 35 he commanded a Mechanized battalion during the Battle of Musa Qala in Helmand Province. Speaking subsequently to the investigative journalist Stephen Grey, Bell recalled the situation being "in a pretty bad way" on their arrival, British positions being under heavy mort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas, and 28,330 volunteer reserve personnel. The modern British Army traces back to 1707, with antecedents in the English Army and Scots Army that were created during the Restoration in 1660. The term ''British Army'' was adopted in 1707 after the Acts of Union between England and Scotland. Members of the British Army swear allegiance to the monarch as their commander-in-chief, but the Bill of Rights of 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 require parliamentary consent for the Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army. Therefore, Parliament approves the army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years. The army is administered by the Ministry of Defence and commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. The Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mechanized Infantry
Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also mechanized force). As defined by the United States Army, mechanized infantry is distinguished from motorized infantry in that its vehicles provide a degree of armor protection and armament for use in combat, whereas motorized infantry are provided with "soft-skinned" wheeled vehicles for transportation only.Infantry Division Transportation Battalion and Transportation, Tactical Carrier Units. (1962). United States: Headquarters, Department of the Army. p. 15 Most APCs and IFVs are fully tracked or are all-wheel drive vehicles (6×6 or 8×8), for mobility across rough ground. Some nations distinguish between mechanized and armored (or armoured) infantry, designating troops carried by APCs as mechanized and those in IFVs as armored. The support weapons for mechanized infantry are also provided with motorized transport ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armoured Brigade
The Armoured Brigade ( fi, Panssariprikaati) is a Finnish Army training unit located in Parolannummi, near Hämeenlinna, in southern Finland. The brigade specialises in training armoured and anti-aircraft troops. In case of mobilization, the Finnish Defence Forces would field one armoured brigade. The war-time armoured brigade has a strength of around 5,700 men, and fields 63 main battle tanks, 110 infantry fighting vehicles, circa 100 armoured personnel carriers, mainly of Soviet origin, and roughly 70 other armoured vehicles. However, the remaining war-time armoured brigade is being phased out and replaced by smaller mechanized battle groups. The new mechanized battle groups will field the Leopard 2 MBTs that are not included in the organization of the contemporary war-time armoured brigades. Organisation Since Finnish Defence Forces reform in 2015, the structure of the Armoured Brigade is the following: * Häme Armoured Battalion (HämPsP, ''Hämeen Panssaripataljoona'') ** M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chief Of Staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide-de-camp to an important individual, such as a president, or a senior military officer, or leader of a large organization. In general, a chief of staff provides a buffer between a chief executive and that executive's direct-reporting team. The chief of staff generally works behind the scenes to solve problems, mediate disputes, and deal with issues before they are brought to the chief executive. Often chiefs of staff act as a confidant and advisor to the chief executive, acting as a sounding board for ideas. Ultimately the actual duties depend on the position and the people involved. Civilian Government Brazil *Chief of Staff of the Presidency Canada * Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister *Principal Sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counter-insurgency
Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionaries" and can be considered war by a state against a non-state adversary. Insurgency and counterinsurgency campaigns have been waged since ancient history. However, modern thinking on counterinsurgency was developed during decolonization. Within the military sciences, counterinsurgency is one of the main operational approaches of irregular warfare. During insurgency and counterinsurgency, the distinction between civilians and combatants is often blurred. Counterinsurgency may involve attempting to win the hearts and minds of populations supporting the insurgency. Alternatively, it may be waged in an attempt to intimidate or eliminate civilian populations suspected of loyalty to the insurgency through indiscriminate violence. Models ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "Low-intensity conflict, low-level war". The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England and mainland Europe. The conflict was primarily political and nationalistic, fuelled by historical events. It also had an Ethnic group, ethnic or sectarian dimension but despite use of the terms 'Protestant' and 'Catholic' to refer to the two sides, it was not a Religious war, religious conflict. A key issue was the Partition of Ireland, status of Northern Ireland. Unionism in Ireland, Unionists and Ulster loyalism, loyalists, who for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Warfare
Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both the operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and the complexity of the urban terrain. Urban combat operations may be conducted to capitalize on strategic or tactical advantages associated with the possession or the control of a particular urban area or to deny these advantages to the enemy. Fighting in urban areas negates the advantages that one side may have over the other in armor, heavy artillery, or air support. Ambushes laid down by small groups of soldiers with handheld anti-tank weapons can destroy entire columns of modern armor (as in the First Battle of Grozny), while artillery and air support can be severely reduced if the "superior" party wants to limit civilian casualties as much as possible, but the defending party does not (or even uses civilians as human shields). Some civ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamism, Islamist, Jihadism, jihadist, and Pashtun nationalism, Pashtun nationalist political movement in Afghanistan. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001), from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the United States invasion of Afghanistan, United States invasion. It Fall of Kabul (2021), recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 after nearly 20 years of Taliban insurgency, insurgency, and currently controls all of the country, although its government has Recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, not yet been recognized by any country. The Taliban government has been criticized for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women in Afgh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abdul Salaam Alizai
Mullah Abdul Salaam Alizai is a former member of the Taliban movement who defected to the Afghan government in December 2007. He is a leader of the Alizai, a Pashtun tribe. In the 1980s, Mullah Abdul Salaam took part in the resistance against the Soviets. During the Taliban rule of Afghanistan, he was a military commander, and held the posts of governor of Orūzgān Province, and later district governor of Kajaki. He was said to be on good terms with Taliban leader Mullah Omar. After the demise of the Taliban regime in 2001, Mullah Abdul Salaam returned to a civilian life but was later imprisoned by the governor of Helmand province Sher Mohammed Akhundzada for eight months. The two men both belong to the Alizai tribe, but are from rival sub-tribes. Eventually, they reconciled and Mullah Salaam served as head of Sher Mohammed's security detail, but the enmity between sub-tribes has not abated. Mullah Salaam later returned to his home town of Musa Qala to become a member of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ambushes
An ambush is a long-established military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind mountaintops. Ambushes have been used consistently throughout history, from ancient to modern warfare. In the 20th century, an ambush might involve thousands of soldiers on a large scale, such as over a choke point such as a mountain pass, or a small irregulars band or insurgent group attacking a regular armed force patrols. Theoretically, a single well-armed and concealed soldier could ambush other troops in a surprise attack. Sometimes an ambush can involve the exclusive or combined use of improvised explosive devices, that allow the attackers to hit enemy convoys or patrols while minimizing the risk of being exposed to return fire. History This use by early people of ambushing may date as far back as two million years when anthropologi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and a sight. They launch explosive shells (technically called bombs) in high-arcing ballistic trajectories. Mortars are typically used as indirect fire weapons for close fire support with a variety of ammunition. History Mortars have been used for hundreds of years. The earliest mortars were used in Korea in a 1413 naval battle when Korean gunsmiths developed the ''wan'gu'' (gourd-shaped mortar) (완구, 碗口). The earliest version of the ''wan'gu'' dates back to 1407. Choi Hae-san (최해산, 崔海山) (1380–1443), the son of Choe Mu-seon (최무선, 崔茂宣) (1325–1395), is generally credited with inventing the ''wan'gu''. In the Ming dynasty, general Qi Jiguang recorded the use of a mini cannon called the Hu dun pao that was simi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Grey
Stephen Grey (born 1968 in Rotterdam, Netherlands) is a British investigative journalist and author best known for revealing details of the CIA's program of 'extraordinary rendition.'Overseas Press Club of Americ2007 award winner citations/ref> He has also reported extensively from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Early career Grey was educated at the British School of Brussels, St Alban's School, and The Windsor Boys' School, and then studied politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford University. He was an active member of the National League of Young Liberals and was elected to their National Executive Committee in 1984. He was one of the key members of the Young Liberal Green Guard. After training on the ''Eastern Daily Press'' in Norfolk, Grey worked successively for ''The Sunday Times'', London, as Home Affairs Correspondent, South Asia Correspondent, European Correspondent, and as editor of the paper's investigative unit, the Insight team. Investigation into C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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