TIC stands for “Troops in Contact.” That means good guys vs. bad guys, on the ground, shooting at each other. The good guys are US and Afghan troops. The bad guys are the insurgents and their foreign-fighter friends. The troublemakers don’t like TICs, because they almost always come out on the short end of a “direct fire engagement.” If small arms fire doesn’t get them, then artillery and helicopters will. Instead, the insurgents fight using indirect means–rocket and mortar attacks, IEDs, suicide bombers.
On patrol with Afghan forces near a TIC site.
March 8, 2009 at 2:32 am |
Scary stuff, Pete,
Your entry made me think of Regis Debray and a Che Guevara book I once read on Guerrilla Warfare, except your final sentence sounds like a much more frightening guerrilla warfare for the twenty-first century.
The picture you’ve posted is surprisingly cinematic–like a still from a John Ford or Sergio Leone film. I want the camera to pan right. . . Perhaps David Lean is a better film analogy. . .
Best,
Chris