01-02-2009, 09:39
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#2
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,585
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Good article. Major (Ret) Girling also offered some good advice:
Quote:
Moreover, there were commonly only 15 British officers scattered among the 4,000 Pashtun troops in the South Waziristan Scouts. Often Mr Girling would spend months at a time in a hilltop fort alongside his Pashtun sepoys without ever seeing another British face.
“As soldiers they were somewhat ill-disciplined among themselves, quarrelling a great deal,” he remarked of both his own troops and the enemy. “But they were brave, fast-moving, and understood the ground - damn good soldiers.”
The advice he was given by his commanding officer when he joined the scouts was simple: learn fluent Pashtu as quickly as possible, do not try to be too clever, and always listen to the advice of native Pashtun officers. “Don't interfere with the tribal customs and, if you have to use force, use it quickly and effectively,” is Mr Girling's advice to today's Nato soldiers.
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