QUOTE(DeFaeco @ Mar 14 2011, 01:55 PM)
However, when wearing it on a foot patrol covering hundreds of miles of harsh terrain? That's just silly. The average grunt in Afghanistan carries over 100 - 150 pounds of equipment. Compare that to an average insurgent, which is about 30-40 pounds consisting of a rifle, ammo, food and water.
If insurgents ran out of food, they just knock a door in a village somewhere and they'll be replenish. US soldiers on the other hand can't risk taking food from the local, first because it look's bad on their record, and second the food might have been poisoned. Plus, Taliban fighters, like their vietnamese counterpart, subsist on a very small amount amount of simple food (hard bread, dried jerky, etc).
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just to nitpick,the mujahs that fought the soviets are not the taliban.those guys are in their 50s an 60s now,the warlords now were probably mujahs.some of taliban commanders maybe,not the fighters though.cant comment on the weapons though,weapons supplied by the US are now being used against them
most of the weapons supplied by the US during Soviet occupation was already spent figting the soviets and then fighting among the mujahiddeens. The Mujahiddeens fighting the soviets are not really a single unified front. in it, there's a Kingpins, religious zealots, nationalists and mercenaries all glued together by the common enemy. once the common enemy's gone, the alliance unraveled rather swiftly.